7/27/2019 Vancouver's EDM Emergence

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1986:Graceland opens at 1250 Richards Street. Owned byVince Alvaro, the club caters to the post-disco era and functions as a rival to nearbyLuv-A-Fair, owned by the Kerasiotis brothers (The Greeks), which is more tailored tothe industrial, new wave and punk crowd. The Greeks would later acquire Graceland.

1987: Resident DJ Robert Sheaplays the rst night of housemusic to a packed club. Theresponse is immediately posi-tive, and Sheas Come to Housenights become a regular xtureat the club. DJs Debbie Jones,Mick Shea (Roberts brother) pickup the mantle with electronicnights of their own.

1988:Shea and Jones begin pub-lishing Discotext, a monthly magazinededicated to the new house, technoand evolving electronic music sound.The pair starts getting gigs in Seattle,where the house and techno scenesare beginning to boom.

1992 93:Electronic music is get-ting more play withlocal musicians pro-

ducing their ownsounds and releasing

compilations andare working intoregular rotationat raves. By

now, dozensof sub-genres

have emerged(house, acid

house, drum nbass, jungle, techno,

trance, ambient,electronica) each withtheir own devotees.

1993:Luke McKeehan,moves from Torontoto Vancouver andquickly becomesa major playerin the cityselectronicscene.

1994: McKeehan brings electronic music back toclubs with the MoFunk acid jazz night at Richardson Richards with partner Seren Kahlon, bringing inartists that had broken through in Toronto, Europeand Seattle but had yet to enter the Vancouverscene. Mo Funk would also become a record label,primarily licensing and distributing music fromout-of-town artists from 1995 to 1999. Tyler Stadiusopens Bassix, a record store at 217 East Hastingsthat specializes in bringing in new music from theStates and Europe.

Robert Shea returns to Vancouver after a stint in L.A.working for the Harthouse record label to start his

own Map Music in Vancouver. McKeehan and Kahlonopen Chameleon nightclub, where Stadius estab-lishes a regular following. Other production crews,such as Swing Kids, the 1067 crew and DOSE, springup, putting their stamp on the rave scene.

1996:

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Celebrities

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Bassix

Chameleonnightclub

Chameleonnightclub

1997 Luke McKeehan startsNordic Trax record label dedi-cated to developing Vancouver-based house artists along thelines of

Jay Tripwire. McKeehan,Khalon and Stadius take overlong-standing live music venueThe Town Pump and turns it intoelectronic music venue Sonar.

2001 rst indications the bubbleburst. Low ticket sales for the annualSummer Love festival send organizerRichard Gablehouse into a frenzy tryingto save costs by cancelling stunts andlight shows. Indie rock emerges as the

new sound of the underground.

2002 Shea shutters MapRecords. Leaves Vancouver forMontreal and a 10-year stint inbusiness. The electronic sceneretreats further underground.

To be continued on August 8

A comp le te ly in ex ha usti vehistory of Vancouverselectronic emergence.

1991 onward: Shea and co.,following the trends drifting up the coast fromLos Angeles and over from Europe, throw the rstraves in Vancouver. The underground warehouse partiesgo all night and can draw as many as 1,500 people.Straddling a legal line, party locations are kept secret untilthe last moment to prevent police being tipped o. Revellersare often transported to out of town locations on schoolbuses. A young DJ named Tyler (T Bone) Stadius arrivesin Vancouver from Toronto, quickly becomes one of the top

house DJs. The rst Summer Lovemusic festival is held.

Researcher: Jessica Barrett Graphic: Maggie Wong

1999 Height of rave culture in B.C., with attendance at Summer Love peaking at 20,000.Meanwhile, Shea makes a bid to penetrate the mainstream with his live electronic musicnights. The rst show at a newly reopened Commodore Ballroom features Sheas recordingartists: Cooldown, featuring Miss Benny, and Pilgrims of Mind. By now, Stadius and McKeehanare regularly touring Europe, where dance music is huge.