2. Update: Though they fall outside the cultural scope of this article, it's important to
mention the importance of influencers such as the SHAHdjs and Kuma Graham of
Lighta! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2398007363/) to name a few who,
throughout the early 2000s, established a bass music scene which is still highly
active today throughout British Columbia.
Before electronic music became what it was today, prolific crossover artists such as
Justice, SebastiAn, and Digitalism bridged the gap between live performances and
digital production. In this edition of CANADIANA, we’re going to explore how these
artists made Vancouver what it is today, and how a handful of individuals grew the
scene from dive bars to sold-out stadiums in just a few years.
I reached out to Matthew Owchar (https://soundcloud.com/expendableyouth)
of Blueprint Events (http://thisisblueprint.com/), a veteran of the scene and
unparalleled tastemaker, for a history lesson. “So everybody knows this guy, Paul
Devro,” he tells me. “In around 2005 Paul Devro and his brother Erik were throwing
tons of parties along with My Gay Husband
(https://soundcloud.com/mghmghmgh)(Jason Sulyma), who were putting on
events with these guys Tony and Tyler called ‘Half Alive’. These parties in
Vancouver are really what blew the electro sound up.” The events started off as
hipster parties in East Side dive bars and were completely separate from the city’s
existing scenes; so separate in fact that when ClubZone approached Half Alive to
list their events and boost exposure they told them that they’d pass. Matt recalls
the time fondly: “It was a really crazy experience because all the music was new.
The style of dress was new, the music was new, and it just got bigger and bigger.
Half Alive ended up moving to the Richards on Richards (when that still existed)
and they were the first guys to bring Flosstradamus, Simian Mobile Disco, and
Digitalism. I remember Paul and Eric brought Justice to Vancouver for the first
time. Justice, Busy P, Medhi, SebastiAn, all the Ed Banger dudes. Back then the
3. landscape was completely different than it is now. This was prior to electronic
music being as big as it is now—right when the first Justice single came out—at the
time, the popular kind of music were mash-ups and electro.”
During a recent trip to LA, I managed to link up with Paul Devro
(https://soundcloud.com/pauldevro) at the Mad Decent HQ and asked him
about his time throwing parties in Vancouver. "At one point I had five nights,” he
explains, “I had a grime night on Tuesdays, I had an R&B and house night at Ginger
62 (https://twitter.com/ginger62) on Fridays. I had a night at Shine, at Section 3.
We also had a party called The Kids that we would do with My Gay Husband and
my brother Erik, and Andrew. Then Alvaro from Blueprint got in touch and basically
said ‘Yo man, let’s just have fun,’ so we did and it was great. I learnt a lot from
Alvaro and we started doing bigger and bigger shows.” If you told a young
Vancouver music-lover today that the head of A&R for Mad Decent used to work
4. for Blueprint's Alvaro Prol they probably wouldn't believe you at first, but it
certainly explains the company's long standing relationship with the label. Dillion
Francis, Baauer, and many more all got their first showings in Vancouver courtesy
of Blueprint before blowing up in the scene.
Paul Devro eventually left Vancouver to live in LA and help Diplo, Derrick, and
Jasper found Mad Decent, but the city’s love affair with electronic music refused to
slow down. The city's most popular long-standing night, Stereotype Fridays at
Celebrities was founded in October of 2006 and started off catering to
purist trance, techno, and house fans before growing to book acts such as
Deadmau5, Skrillex, Avicii, and Laidback Luke for their first ever appearances in the
city. U-Tern (https://soundcloud.com/u-tern) of DJ duo Oliver
(https://soundcloud.com/weareoliver) played regularly at Shine Nightclub
(http://shinenightclub.com/) along with a host of weekly left-field guests and
then in 2010, Matt Owchar and Alvaro Prol brought emerging electronic sounds
from Hypem and SoundCloud to their largest stage yet with a night called
Youngblood Sundays (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDG9SL3OfxI) at
5. Venue (http://venuelive.ca/). Youngblood took the best from Ed Banger, Dim
Mak, Mad Decent, and the first big wave of dubstep, and showed the city what
electronic music could be.
From sold out stadium shows to all-vinyl house throwback nights, you’ll be hard
pressed to find a scene that isn’t catered to in the city these days. Like all cities,
Vancouver has an EDM crowd that don neon tank tops at progressive house
shows, but beneath that furry boot-fueled layer that "coolness" of exploring
electronic sub-genres lives on. If we hadn’t started with those dive bar parties, who
knows where we’d be by now.
Instead of our usual current Canadian selections, enjoy these Vancouver artist
throwbacks and look for our full interview with Paul Devro at the Mad Decent HQ
next week.
kiTight.com [music blog] – MAD DECENT - Make It Rain/Source 16 (Paul Devro DJ Edit)
Cookie policy
7. Ziad Ramley lived in Vancouver and is on Twitter: @bluuuuueeeeeee
(http://twitter.com/bluuuuueeeeeee)
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Jacuzzi Takes Us to LA's Most Exclusive Synth Store
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We Sit Down with Shambhala's Founder
(http://thump.vice.com/en_ca/words/we-sit-down-with-shambhalas-founder)
, ,
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