3:52 A.M. The muddy earth beneath me mashes into a grimy pulp with every step of my Doc Martens. In the not-so-far off distance of Grand Avenue, the train blares its horn. The closer I get to the warehouse entrance, the clearer the fast-paced beats become.
Incessant bass rumbles as it travels from the speakers through the ground to my feet up through my stomach. It seems to radiate off of everyone around me, as they dance and jump synchronously with the rhythm. Along with the constant fog over our heads, white and red colored lights bounce off the warehouse walls and directly into my eyes, blinding me in cadence with the song’s tempo. Everyone’s movements look like a stop motion film, their faces a blur in the haze.
NIGHT MODE: AFTERHOURS is the all-encompassing event title name for one of the after parties thrown by production company Techno Snobs. Starting at the ripe hour of 2 a.m. and lasting until 6 a.m Techno Snobs had also just hosted a show at Walter Where House from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. with globally-known DJ, Sara Landry.
But, the party for electronic dance music (EDM) lovers never ends that early.
Co-founded by Lex Gonzalez, otherwise known by his DJ alias Disco Zombie, Techno Snobs has been around since 2017 initially as a DJ “crew,” according to Phoenix New Times.
Techno is a subgenre to EDM, characterized by its quick tempo of 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). Although places like Berlin are sometimes accredited to the origination of techno, David Grandison Jr. of the Music Origin Project describes how African-American DJ and producer Juan Atkins from Detroit, Michigan, paved the way for this synthesizer-filled music scene.
According to Grandison Jr., the genre was influenced by, “Funk, Chicago House music, NY Disco, German Synth-pop, Italio Disco, Motown, Jazz, and Soul that was being played in Detroit’s underground party scene in the 80s.”
For someone like former Techno Snobs event promoter, Tyler Stone, this niche scene has grown and spread throughout the Valley during his six years in the state.
“Techno Snobs, at the time, was pretty small, they were just hosting events in the upstairs level of the Bar Smith, called the Scarlet room,” Tyler laughs. “It was a carpeted floor, it was so musty, but that’s what the vibe was: very musty, dark, underground, it was so weird, but so fun!”
On his lunch break from his corporate property management 9-to-5, Stone looks sharp, with his 6’3 stature, wearing a sleek black button-up and slacks. His natural blondish-brown roots peek through his bleached blond hair, and his nails are perfectly manicured with black French tips.
After moving from Seattle to Arizona, Stone began attending Techno Snob’s events with his friends to find the Valley’s EDM community. Stone became a promoter after catching the owner’s attention at one of the company’s notorious themed events.
His sentiments toward the community are nothing but positive. He says that the company’s owners are DJs themselves, and their passion for the decks and the culture inspires them to make these events that much more welcoming for both the talent and the attendees.
“I stumbled upon Techno Snobs at Full Moon Festival in 2018 and everything changed, I finally had found my home,” long-time local DJ CD-6 explains. “Lex invited me on the team and showed interest in the music I was making. I will always show my gratitude to that man for changing the course of my life. Techno has opened up so many doors for me including starting my own business. I guess the thought of starting my own business would have never crossed my mind if it wasn’t for Techno Snobs.”
Despite the tight-knit community techno holds in its hands, defining traits like their no-phone policy and not releasing the address until the night of events lends a sense of allure to the experience for someone new to the underground world.
“The techno scene definitely has a game element to it in a way. You show up and you can really be anyone you want,” Stone said. “It's almost like you can go there and not know anybody but you still have that shared passion or interest. You don’t have to introduce yourself to people, because it feels like you already know everyone. There really is this carelessness to it, obviously there's a lot of love and care put into the scene, but anything kinda goes.”
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4:15 A.M. I look around at all of the unfamiliar bodies. From shirtless men jumping and bumping their fists in the air to the sound, to foggy figures dancing on top of the speakers in latex bodysuits, everyone instinctively moves in tune with the music. In brief lulls of the music, the crowd cheers for the DJ, before the beat regains its momentum. One couple behind me makes up their own lyrics and adlibs to each song, singing and laughing with each other.
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Although Tyler finds it exciting that the techno scene is growing, he also recognizes that the feeling and culture is changing along with it.
“It’s less niche, and you know what, the niche aspect of it was really cool when we first started going because nobody knew about it,” Stone said, shaking and stirring his iced lavender oat milk latte. “When it was a little smaller, people would just be so carefree, really let it all out. But, now that there’s more people in the room, people are a little more apprehensive about just having fun and enjoying it…Techno definitely is something you have to get used to, I truly think that a lot of people are new to the scene and just observing.”
Current Techno Snobs event promoter and social media influencer Mia Perry, has been in the scene for about a year now, offering a slightly different perspective on the culture.
“EDM festivals and even rock festivals are being infiltrated by Chad-like, NPC people that are just like totally destroying everything and making everything a bad time, but there's nothing like that at Techno Snobs and I really appreciate spaces like that,” Perry said, laughing. “I haven’t seen this scene change dramatically in the Chad-like population, luckily it hasn't gotten that mainstream yet…I think it's really cool that I've been seeing lots of people get involved.”
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4:34 A.M. Looking to my right, I see a 5-foot-tall girl wearing blacked out sunglasses on and a leopard-print scarf that’s enveloped her entire body like a blanket. Her two friends, dancing in unison, are all dressed in similar scarves covering their heads and bodies. A subtle smell of marijuana is swirling in the air around us, its source incalculable.
The tallest of the trio taps me on my shoulder and holds her hand out. I extend my palm toward her, and she places a bright pink plastic duck in the center of my hand. It’s about the size of a pinto bean. Instinctively, I laugh.
“You have to name it!” she yells into my ear over the music.
“What should we name it?” I put the ridiculously miniature duck between my thumb and my forefinger, up to the red flickering spotlight in front of our faces.
Suddenly, she turns her back to me, unzipping her friend’s fanny pack and pulling out a bright pink axolotl figurine, also just as tiny.
“That’s so cute!”
“Keep it,” her friend says with a smile, closing them in my hands.
I hug the girls as if we’ve been friends forever, and they weave their way through the crowd toward the exit.
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Under gleaming lights that reflect off a mannequin-shaped disco ball, and faux plant vines wrapped around the warehouse metal beams, characters emerge from the murky shadows of the dance floor. Someone waltzes in wearing a blunt platinum blond bob wig, and a Beetlejuice-esque black-and-white striped suit. Some women are wearing various forms of leather and latex, while others wear bohemian-inspired shawls and scarves, throwing their paper fans in the air with each beat.
“It's a good thing it's bringing different types of communities together and we all share this interest in head banging to good music, being safe and having a good time,” Perry emphasized. “Like Tyler [Stone] and Tatum, they’ve come into the community and introduced their friends and the fashion community to it. I like to see those two communities that I’m a part of come together.”
Fashion isn’t the only subculture intertwining with techno, though. One of the production company’s main events, Foreplay, brings different BDSM and kink groups together to create a safe space for experimentation, education and of course music. Perry describes their experience and recent fascination with this event and culture, learning new things about themselves, their likes and dislikes.
Drug culture also stereotypically goes hand-in-hand with the general EDM scene for its physical and mental amplification effects. Stone seemed to feel that this is not the case, that less and less people take enhancers nowadays, and thinks that, “The production creates a really euphoric feeling, even if you’re sober, so you don’t need to.”
Perry earnestly suggests however that this music scene inherently “implies” a sort of drug culture.
“I’ve been to the Electric Forest Festival for example up in Michigan and there’s people handing stuff out, like they’re peddling drugs,” Perry laughed. “That’s fine of course, because it’s consensual but with the techno or bar rave scene here it’s either done before or after, and if it is during, it’s more on the down low so to speak.”
Furthermore, because of these stereotypes and knowing that people will take enhancers whether it’s spoken about or not, seen or not, Perry explains that people in the crowd and even Techno Snobs team members will have Narcan or Fentanyl testing strips to ensure everyone’s safety.
Techno Snobs leads the scene, with over 14,000 followers on Instagram. Other comparable production companies like Subterra (2,000 followers) and Central Records (9,000 followers) are now collaborating on events, unifying the diverse community.
“It’s not about bottle service, money, being above others or flexing. That’s why I love the techno scene,” CD-6 said. “I feel like people’s light shines brighter in a dark warehouse. The ability to express yourself if you’re a DJ, artist or fashion connoisseur is why so many people turn to raves.”
5:37 A.M. The sun is rising as I close my black-out curtains. I feel like I’m still on a rollercoaster after a long day at an amusement park – my body is recalling the ambience from the past few hours.
The event hasn’t even ended yet, but it’s time to go to bed. I work at 11 A.M.
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