SVDDEN DEATH & local talent keep St. Louis up all night

Let me take a moment to paint you a picture with my words. Whether you have been to an EDM show or not, I want you to join me as we walk into the St. Louis venue Mississippi Underground to see SVDDEN DEATH. It was a Friday night and the evening was jam packed with a lineup of DJs ready to perform. It was clear that this show was going to be a big one, especially with it being sold out and the amount of people outside directing traffic for the event.

I hopped out of the car and looked down at myself to inspect the outfit I was wearing. I always get self-conscious when I go to shows, uncertain if what I’m wearing is going to draw too much attention. I was relieved when I looked back up and saw groups of other concertgoers pass me by, each decked out in something more unique or bizarre than the last. I remembered where I was at again and smiled to myself realizing that I had nothing to worry about. I was going to an EDM concert — one of the few places where you can wear just about anything and not be judged or laughed at. My boots greeted the pavement as I approached the venue with the subtle sound of a steady beat growing louder with each step. I watched as people dressed in neon fishnets and rainbow glowing bucket hats disappeared inside. My bag was checked as I held out my wrist to feel the light, colorful paper wrap snug against my skin.

It was 9pm and the night was only just beginning.

This evening had an incredible lineup with 12 different DJs rotated throughout the night, six of which performed in the front room of the venue with the other six in the warehouse. Everywhere you walked, music would be booming throughout your body, with the sharp lines of blue and green lasers striking across a floor of dancing people. While SVDDEN DEATH may have been the main event, there were six hours filled with insane talent. The first half of the night, concertgoers got to experience the sounds of local St. Louis musicians, including RollBro!, Choppie, Executioner, and Necrotic Noise. Every hour, the warehouse would fill with more and more people, building the momentum up to when Ghost Kult took the stage, the words “THIS IS DEFINITELY A FUCKING KULT” illuminated brightly behind them.

I wandered between each room, watching glowing red smoke pool through the doorway. After buying a drink from the front room bar, I turned around to see that Ms. Chiff, another St. Louis native, was deejaying. It was refreshing to see a woman creating such sounds in a genre so often led by men. A vibrant crowd gathered around the stage losing themselves to her music. As a listener, one of the best things to see during a live performance is the musician truly enjoying themselves; this was clear watching Ms. Chiff, who was smiling excitedly as the bass moved us.

It was almost 1am and the warehouse was the most packed I have ever seen it before.

I could feel people pressed on every side of me and could see the sweat sparkling like glitter off of everyone’s skin from the hours of movement and music. I had never been to a SVDDEN DEATH show before, so I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I knew something extraordinary was on its way. The room grew dark… almost felt dead-quiet amongst the hundreds of people excitedly waiting for Danny Howland to appear. The figure of a red, fiery skeleton was projected before us and the glow of phone-filled hands filled the space, ready to press record. No one wanted to forget this moment. The skeleton burst like a wall of flames and SVDDEN DEATH took shape.

The energy and sound that overtook this room was indescribable. Howland, a dubstep and riddim DJ and producer from California, knows exactly how to make a room pulsate with his creations. This wasn’t just electronic dance music people came for, it was an artistic performance of heavy reverberation and intrinsic sound for a crowd to thrash and dissolve to.

From the front of the stage, I watched as a mass of people melted visually and vocally, each fully engaged in the moment. There’s an irony to the name SVDDEN DEATH because it’s clear, after seeing this show, that Howland’s music is what truly brings people alive. If you’ve never been to an EDM show before, I can tell you that you’re missing out on a very special type of magic that cannot be found anywhere else: the music itself is one thing, bringing an auditory experience that reaches beyond the ears and sings to the body; the community is another, where the magic really comes to the surface. Every person there that night (and every night I’ve been to a similar show) always carries a kindness you don’t see every day. The room is free of judgement with a kaleidoscope of people all wanting to just have a fun, memorable night. Even during Howland’s “Wall of Death”, when the crowd formed a circle for people to be shoved and thrown about, I would characterize it as a therapeutic portion of the SVDDEN DEATH’s performance…

…a safe place for strangers to trust in the music and trust in each other.

It was nearly 4am when I got home after six solid hours of booming music, still humming in my ears. You’d think I would have been exhausted, my body still recovering from the humidity, sweat, and dancing. Instead, I was wide awake and full of energy wondering to myself, “So, when’s his next show?”

Photography by Sean Rider

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