More than music goes into an Electronic Dance Music deejay production. There’s lights, lasers, laptops, sound boards, speakers and now projection mapping — also known as spatial augmented reality. And all these add-ons come with a price.
“A year or so ago, I packed everything in my car,” said Micah Cruver, or DJ Anski, who was raised in the Moscow-Pullman area. “I realized I had at least $30,000 in my car.”
Jameson Dill, or DJ Errant of Washington State University, used money earned from fishing in Alaska to buy his first set of DJ tables for $300 two years ago. He has since bought two more, plus a new MacBook for production purposes.
Sometimes, the expensive hobby is worth it. Cruver played a gig his sophomore year of college at Portland State University and 760 people showed up. Now, his business FundRaver pulls crowds of thousands to universities to raise money for the college or other causes.
“It’s a good platform for people to get a good thing out of house music,” Cruver said.
FundRaver helps universities host EDM productions through an “all-inclusive package.”
“We’re going to help provide them with marketing materials, flyers, promo videos, production campaigns,” Cruver said. “We’re going to bring a media team, special photographer and videographer. It’s a full-blown experience for people.”
FundRaver is teaming with University of Idaho’s Vandal Entertainment to host a Massive EDM Party 9 p.m.-midnight Friday in the Student Union Building ballroom — free for students. Professional photographers and a documentary production team will be at the UI event, as well as a 3-D video projection stage, lasers, lights, prizes and glow-in-the-dark glow sticks and wristbands.
Cruver will deejay along with Dill and Moscow’s DJ CnDyCain.
Cruver described his own music as high energy and nostalgic, remixing hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“I do a lot of live mash-ups and sampling,” he said.
Dill mixes mostly house music, and said he gained his appreciation for EDM while backpacking in Europe. He learned how to mix by watching YouTube videos and playing house parties in Pullman. As a bartender at Stubblefields, he’ll sometimes get on stage with his boss’s approval.
DJ CnDyCain, or Nick Cain, on the other hand, plays heavier dub-step and electro, and is influenced by producers such as 3LAU, Krewella and Adventure Club. Cain has played multiple shows at WSU and is a deejay at CJ’s Nightclub in Moscow. (More on Cain and the EDM hype can be found at http://bit.ly/172oahC).
Cruver said Dill and Cain’s music styles are like night and day.
“They know what they’re doing,” Cruver said. “They have good music taste.”
Lauren Pinney, Lectures and Performing Arts chair of Vandal Entertainment, is running the event. She borrowed PE class parachutes from local elementary schools to drape from the ceiling and simulate a circus tent.
Pinney said she met Cruver at an entertainment convention last year after his flashy booth caught her eye. They stayed in touch and later booked the gig.
“I’ve seen a big success in EDM events over at Wazzu,” Pinney said. “Just this semester, they had Adventure Club, and it was sold out ... It seems to be the thing to do. For the most part our events are magicians, comedians or small events, and we usually get 100 RSVPs.”
But for the Massive EDM Party, Vandal Entertainment received 200 RSVPs in one day alone, and are almost up to 500 respondents.
Treffry can be reached at (208) 883-4640 or ltreffry@inland360.com. Follow her on Twitter @LindseyTreffry.
->if you go: WHAT: University of Idaho's Massive EDM Party WHEN: 9 p.m.-midnight Friday. DJ Errant plays 9-9:45 p.m., DJ CnDyCain plays 9:45-10:30 p.m. and DJ Anski performs 10:30 p.m.-midnight. WHERE: Student Union Building ballroom, University of Idaho, Moscow. COST: Free for students with valid student ID and $5 at the door for the public.
