AWOL had been one of the driving forces of what rave scene there was, promoting weekly events and large-scale productions such as the yearly, landmark Stargate desert parties. In recent years, however, such promotions have been infrequent at best, invisible at worst, leading some to question whether Devil's Night (formerly known as Devil's Knight) would happen this year.
"After AWOL canned their anniversary-party plans in August, I was a little skeptical this event would even take place," says Kevin Grimes of eternalbeats.net, a Las Vegas-based resource for events and live DJ feeds. "Fortunately, things did come together." The lineup for this year's Devil's Night diverges from past events, focusing more on live electronic music, including Los Angeles' Skylab 2000 and Houston's Dead P.A. Craig is bringing in a diverse collection of DJs and MCs from around the country to round out the music on two stages. "I'm trying to bring in live acts from a range of music to inspire local DJs," Craig says. "The point is to bring a completely new style of music and live performance aspect to Vegas."
This doesn't mean local DJs are getting the shaft at the 18-and-over event. There will be tag-team sets from John Michael and Soulo and Super K! and Pengo, as well as Vegas' Soul Kitchen collective manning the tables in the upstairs "chill room." "I've gotten flack from a lot of locals saying there aren't local DJs," says Craig. "Since there's no scene here, seeing the same local DJs is just redundant."
Judging by the very active discussion boards at eternalbeats.net, ravers are thankful for Devil's Night's existence, despite misgivings about the location and lineup.
"We haven't had a good solid party since Rewind, which was last January," says Brandon Habich, a member of eternalbeats.net's online community. "We're hoping to have a good party on Devil's Night and hope a lot more people come into this rave scene." If AWOL has been somewhat inactive this year, The Crystal Method might be to blame. This summer, Craig took over as the duo's North American tour manager. "It doesn't pay crap, but it's a lot of fun," Craig says.
He plans to put on four more parties between this year's and next year's Devil's Night events, the next one being a Valentine's Day party, in order to build up for a larger Halloween production in 2007. "My ultimate goal is to get The Crystal Method for No. 10," he says.
Presale tickets for Devil's Night 9 have been lean—about 70 so far—but Craig says that's typical. Last year's presale was low, but the event saw about 900 attendees. You might want to buy early: Presale tickets, available at groovetickets.com, are $25. The price goes up to $35 at the door.
Despite the lack of large-scale events, there are some signs of activity around the Valley—particularly Downtown—that give hope to the scene. Detn8or and Soul in Motion are bringing drum 'n' bass night back to the Art Bar every Friday night starting in November, and during November's First Friday, a new monthly, 18-and-over party called Good Friday is being held behind the Arts Factory. "There is still plenty of room for a nonclub and nonbar electronic-music scene to exist in Las Vegas," Grimes says. "It just needs some direction and a few production teams willing to put in that effort to provide us with something different."
Pj Perez
Musical Chairs
Kid Deposit Triumph has become the latest prominent Las Vegas band to endure a major lineup change. Two months ago, bassist and founding member Radley Griego—he also played with the band's previous incarnation, Sorry About Tomorrow—left KDT. "Radley had a lot going on in his life and felt he could no longer give 100 percent to the band," said KDT singer Mike Otto. "We remain close friends, and no bad blood exists between us."
About the same time, another band with close connections to KDT, Seconds to Spare, dissolved, spinning off two of its members into the KDT fray: Michael Schwab, who adds keyboards, samples and backing screams to the band's sound, and Chuck Bailey, replacing Griego on bass duties.
Saturday, Bailey played his fourth show with KDT at the Emergency Room Lounge for The Day After ...'s CD-release party, the band just arriving in Vegas after playing a gig that evening in Cedar City, Utah.
"We thought it was going to be difficult," said drummer Roger Pikrone of the transition from Bailey. "It was seamless." KDT's lineup change came shortly after the band signed with Massachusetts-based Crimson Management, and other recent Vegas band shake-ups also followed new levels of success. YouInSeries lost guitarist/songwriter Logan Lanning and drummer Cheyne Smith in the midst of touring to support its Equal Vision release, Outside We Are Fine. Escape the Fate, whose Epitaph Records debut dropped last month, split with lead singer Ronnie Radke on September 11. Radke's firing, however, was short-lived. He performed with ETF at The Bamboozle Left festival in Pomona, California, on October 15, and a publicist for Epitaph confirmed that Ronnie is "back in the band."
PjP
Country time
"Hi, guys," smiles Paige Overton, rhythm guitarist, howling songstress and bumpkin-ballad-writer for Vegas' most beloved country-rockers, The Clydesdale. Pleased with the packed bar, lead guitarist, fail-safe vocalist and satirical songwriter Andrew Karasa makes certain to thank the Bunkhouse's Monday-night crowd. While filling the seats during their own set is always a consideration, tonight The Clydesdale is encouraging people to stay through the next. Overton takes an authoritative tone: "I want everyone to know that there's a really really awesome band comin' up after us, Dusty Rhodes and The River Band. So stick around." Among the handful of local acts to make the recent Rolling Stone Vegas issue, The Clydesdale haven't yet let their heads get bigger than their Stetsons. When asked if the 100-word blurb in that hallowed industry rag has garnered them any additional attention, the band giggles. "We got four really good, down-to-earth MySpace friends," says Overton with a laugh. But with a nudge from drummer Courtney Carroll she admits, "We did get two CD orders from New York, but I don't think anyone else even knows we're in there." How did The Clydesdale get to be such good pals with the band they were endorsing, bluegrass-rock revivalists Dusty Rhodes and The River Band, out of Anaheim, California? "Love at first MySpace," they say. Take that, Rolling Stone. Jennifer Henry