Toronto’s CineCycle may be slightly cursed. With a speaker failing at 10 minutes to doors, organiser DJ Ace searching for his missing bartender and Estella Maise aka DJ Ms.GothicFish running in with her own DDJ-800 deck as a backup, all seemed to be in semi-chaos. Like most DIY raves held in this space, this was a normal night of getting the party started. Toronto is currently going through somewhat of a renaissance when it comes to rave culture. With the underground scene at the forefront of its most exciting nightlife, the city is finding itself being thrown back to the 90s and early 00s with the resurgence of happy hardcore.
The playful rave subculture was at its prime over 25 years ago, with happy hardcore icon DJ Anabolic Frolic at the forefront. But in 2005, his event series Hullabaloo! hosted its final event, leaving many fond memories of kandi culture behind.
In 2023, the scene is rising back up, holding space for the same sounds of the past with a new perspective. With PLURR — peace, love, unity, respect and responsibility — at the forefront, DJs and organisers Ace, Tyrique Clarke (TyriqueOrDie), Angel Nayyar (Angelphroot) and creator of collective EOriginals Estella Maise (Ms.GothicFish), are hosting all age raves infused with safety, inclusivity and the aim of breaking away from Toronto’s exclusionary past. And yes, old heads (former or older ravers) are occasionally pissed off.
In 2021, Ace founded TORONTO HARDCORE with Tyrique as an organiser, and they’ve been hosting raves ever since. Their latest event —which was Freaks and Geeks themed — was held at Cine Cycle on April 29. Alongside the duo, DJs Jacinth Lattiboudeaire, Angelphroot and Ms.GothicFish spun until close, with attendees from every corner of the city hitting the dancefloor. “TORONTO HARDCORE is one of the DIY parties where they’ll set up in a park or a venue that is low-key falling apart, but the kids do not care,” Angel says. “The older generation comes with prejudices or it’s all white men, but the kids are saying ‘fuck that, we’re going to do our own thing’.”
The rave night became the epicentre of a new electronic age, with techno, jungle and gabber taking hold of the space. If you were lucky enough, that night, you would’ve caught the DJs mixing in early 00s techno tracks IRL. We ventured to the hidden venue on Spadina and King with photographer Sarah Berglund to document the ravers ushering in Toronto’s happy hardcore comeback.
Ace & Tyrique
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
Ace: Raging smiley face… peace, love, unity and respect.
Tyrique: Having fun, good energy, good vibes and a lot of love.
How do you organise these events?
Ace: Come up with a theme, where we should do it, what time, the logistics…me, Tyrique, Estella and Angel are a perfect storm of artists for that youth culture.
Tyrique: Ace right here is our bread and butter. He does the cover art, behind the scenes… he does everything.
Why is PLURR important for the scene?
Ace: When we as organisers implement that to our audience, we love to see it flourish — we don’t want people leaving with bad experiences. If one person leaves with a bad experience, even if it’s caused by someone else, it’s on us to perpetuate that PLURR environment and its values.
Tyrique: From the jump, it’s always been about that safe environment so that anyone could pull up and have a good time.
Break down your outfit for me.
Ace: We wanted to hit the freaks and the geeks… I’m just a jock tonight.
Tyrique: I got the varsity look. I’m a jock too.
How important is youth culture when it comes to raves?
Tyrique: When we were teenagers, we always wanted that safe space to go and have that great time. That’s why for [us] we made sure it was our number one thing to give that experience to the kids.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
Ace: Older people feel like they want to tell us how to do things, but one of the things with us is that we’re breaking boundaries and really not doing things how they were done before. We don’t care about what they think.
Tyrique: I just hope it’s love and at the end of the day that’s really all we push.
Aryn, 17
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
Coming out and having a good time with my friends, getting to dress up and meet other cool people who also share the same interests.
How did you find happy hardcore raves?
Mostly through Instagram and group chats with friends telling me where the best raves to go are.
Break down your outfit.
Actually, I was asking my sister what I should wear and she had been to a clothing swap where she got these angel wings. She was like, ‘take them you should wear them with your outfit’.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
You know, I wish I brought more kandi tonight because you can just meet through sharing that kind of love in the community. If you see someone with kandi, you know they’re going to be friendly and I can go to them if I need to.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
Definitely a mixed vibe, it really depends. There are people who say, ‘Oh it’s our thing, we did this,’ then there are people who are like, ‘Fuck yeah, bring the new scene.’
Freaks or Geeks?
Freaks.
Karis, 19
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
It just means freedom. You come here and you dance, everybody here’s friendly, nice and dresses up — you get to see all the effort they put into their outfit to come out.
How did you find happy hardcore raves?
This type of music, way long ago… like 2014, when everyone had early internet access, all the nightcore stuff. Then it grew to Skrillex. For this scene, summer 2022 with the raves outside in August.
Break down your outfit.
More freak than geek… just off-putting, it was all found last minute.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
It’s very very important. Considering it’s all ages there’s a lot of young people out here, you just want to make it really safe.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
I think they’re sick of us… there are a few of them that are happy to see the scene, but there’s a lot of them that should stay away.
Ghost, 19
How did you find happy hardcore raves?
I was searching for events on Instagram, Happy Hardcore came up and I had gone to an EOriginals rave before that in the summer when they were doing a bunch of free shit — it was awesome! Spent the whole summer doing that and just kept following along.
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
It means good music, local DJs and a pretty decently safe space. It’s a fun time in some cycle building with good music.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
As someone who identifies as queer and trans, just knowing that there are people inside that are: A) looking out for my safety, and B) know what’s up. There are no other clubs in Toronto that are doing that.
Break down your outfit.
I was looking for an early 00s douchebag, DIY muscle tank, this jacket my mom bought in the 00s, new metal jeans and this sparkly ass belt… I used to have frosted tips, but I just cut them off!
Freaks or Geeks?
I gotta go freaks.
Rat, 19
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
I’ve been to a lot of the TORONTO HARDCORE shows and they’re amazing. I can’t put it into words. They always have so many different DJs and the regulars are so talented. I love them all very much.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
That’s the basis of rave culture, it’s an essential part of it. PLURR is what rave culture is built around — you can’t have raves without it.
Break down your outfit.
I took the theme Freaks and Geeks and I googled images of 80s punks… I combined my mesh shirt with kandi accessories. A lot of the kandi I made myself.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
A lot of them are racist, misogynistic, transphobic and fatphobic, so those ones would not like this space because [the organisers] make efforts to make it safe. But the ones that don’t sucks, I know, are fans of it. One of the DJ’s moms is here tonight and she rocks, she’s slay.
Freaks or Geeks?
Freaks
Angel, 20
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
HH brings people together and pays homage to the genre that, back in the day, was very pivotal in EDM, rave culture, PLURR and just taking care of each other. Honestly, I’m more attached to the culture that came with the genre.
Break down your outfit.
I’m really into white goth. I went for this lace as an ode to a Victorian/romantic goth style, but I also threw in my Y2K elements with the spikey bun, and wrote PHROOT with eyeliner on my hair. I love the contrast that white has on brown skin, more than black… white on me is more striking.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
PLURR is something that binds the people here together; it promotes a culture of safety that a lot of other raves don’t have. I got called the F slur walking down the street, literally two steps away from the alleyway, and then when I got here everyone was happy, inviting, welcoming. Kids here get to feel solidified in themselves and their expression.
Freaks or Geeks?
The real underlying message of what you’ll find here is that they’re the same thing — the geeks are the freaks most of the time.
Tim, 19
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
I don’t even know where to start. It’s something that you can listen to and not really have to put your mind to it, you kind of just let your body do everything. You just swag out and rock out…
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
If they hate, then that’s kind of on them. We’re on a whole different wave and if they’re not comfortable with it then so be it.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
It’s like a judgment free zone — we’re all weirdos here, we’re not normal, it doesn’t matter who or where you came from.
Break down your outfits.
It’s kind of giving detective vibes, like out of The Matrix. The button up and the tie is kind of a signature I have going on right now.
Freaks or Geeks?
I think we’re all freaks.
Sibyl, 17
How did you find happy hardcore raves?
This is my first one! My friend asked me to come and I was like, ‘Oh my god, yes! It would be great to not go to a metal show for once.’
Break down your outfit.
I had a whole other outfit planned that was way grungier, but then I saw this bra that I always keep on my bed and thought ‘HER!’ These shorts I ‘borrowed’ from Value Village and it’s fucking cute and I love it.
Arden, 19 & Tina, 19
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
Arden: Dancing makes you happy, and this music just makes you want to dance. You can’t stand still and listen to it.
Tina: The best music is music you can jump to and I’m just jumping, it’s so fun.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
Arden: There shouldn’t be any reason to feel judgment towards anyone because there’s a common interest that’s bringing everybody together.
Tina: It’s so important, everyone wants to feel safe so they can do whatever they want to do.
Break down your outfits.
Arden: I’m wearing my camo rave pants with my necklace. I love spirals and stars so much, even so my tattoo right here is a star and spiral together.
Tina: I just have these cargo shorts that have loads of pockets, you know, functionality wise. Everything is inspired by being comfy but also… slay.
Freaks or Geeks?
Arden: Freaks.
Tina: Freaks are elite because you can be a freak in a good way or a bad way.
Maeve, 18
Break down your outfit.
To be honest, the idea came to me when I was on mushrooms. I used to love this video of cyber goths dancing under a bridge in Germany and I found it again while tripping. I had wanted to dress like that ever since I was a kid, so I did it.
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
I first heard HH when I was 10, and ever since I saw what a rave was I was absolutely dreaming of going. I moved out and [now I] go to one every weekend.
When was your first rave?
It was in Toronto. I was with my really shitty boyfriend at the time and there was a New Years rave that was absolutely terrible — only club music, everyone in clubwear. But I still loved it because it was a rave and I’d been dreaming of one.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
It really depends… if I was an old head I would possibly think, oh my god these guys don’t know what it was really like back in the day.
What makes PLURR culture important to you?
I’ve been finding that PLURR has been dying out in other rave scenes and it’s all about the music and drugs, sex and really negative things. Being kind to one another, losing ourselves in the music and the general understanding of being in unity with each other is important.
Freaks or Geeks?
Freaks!
Chris, 28
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
Kandi is for fun, it’s comfort. HH is a genre I love in general because of it’s good energy. I’ve been listening to it for half my life… it means ‘there for the music and there for the community’.
How did you find happy hardcore raves?
It was just a coincidence, it was the early days of YouTube. I was scrolling and found it, the first person I found was DJ Ravine in Australia.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
Some people hate it, some people love it. Most love it.
Break down your outfit.
Geek squad rise up! Kandi is mostly random. I want to do a big kandi hand glove at some point for hand stimulation.
Estella, 20
What does happy hardcore mean to you?
Happy hardcore is an uplifting source of serotonin, honestly. Like all music, it affects your brain and can act therapeutically. When I first really delved into happy hardcore it was at a time in my life where I was experiencing an extreme low, and it definitely played a role in pulling me out of that rut. So, it means a lot to me and personally holds sentimental value.
Tell us about your first happy hardcore rave?
My first was the first rave that I threw, Interstella!, that happened on May 14, 2022 and went till 5 am. I brought in Flapjack, a wicked Happy Hardcore/Gabber DJ and notorious kandi kid from LA.
How do you think old heads feel about these raves?
I think most oldskool ravers are thankful to see that the scene is still alive. Of course, there’s a portion who are passionate on discrediting the new scene because ‘it’s not the same’; but the fact is, we don’t have the control to make 8 am raves legal again, with all change we must compromise and grow. Believe me, I would love to host a 48 hour Jungle party under the DVP, but let’s be realistic. I’ve met my fair share of old heads who admire the new scene though and offer all hands on deck to nurture and keep it alive.
Break down your outfit.
I couldn’t decide what I wanted to be — a freak, a geek, a jock? It was a bit of a glorious clusterfuck of an outfit. Most of it, hand-me-downs from my mum. I wore her old JNCO’s, Ween T-shirt, silk letterman jacket. I wore my crusty-but-trusted pair of steel-toed Adidas Superstars — a jackpot of a thrift store find, because my toes used to get injured in mosh pits and on dancefloors. I wore my signature kandi sleeves and corpse paint. Kandi is a must for me when attending raves, I feel naked without it. Corpse paint makes me feel comfortably ghoulish.
Freaks or Geeks?
Personally, I like the best of both worlds <3
Credits
Photography Sarah Berglund