Chapter Headings

1. THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP
2. THE WINDS OF CHANGE
   - The Roaring Twenties
   - The Swinging Sixties
   - The Revolution of Rave
3. WHAT IS A RAVE?
4. THE HISTORY OF RAVE
5. THE RAVE EXPERIENCE
6. NEW MUSIC, NEW TOOLS, NEW SOUNDS
   - Early Electronic Experiments
   - An interview with James Lumb of Electric Skychurch
   - The History of Electronic Dance Music
   - New Sounds, New Ears
   - Musical Categories and Definitions
   - Interview with Brent Carmichael
7. THE BUSINESS OF RAVE
   - The Underground
   - The Midground
   - The Overground
   - Events and Clubs, Facts and Figures
   - Sample Budget
   - The Business of Music
   - The Art of Flyers
8. DRUGS, DRUGS, DRUGS
   - MDMA
   - The Psychedelic Experience
   - The Healing Qualities of Ecstasy
   - A Rave as a Healthy Environment
   - Buyer Beware: Ecstasy Buying Tips
   - Additives Sometimes Found in Ecstasy
   - Other Drugs Used in Rave Culture
   - A Profile of MAPS
9. SEXUALITY
10. THE TRIBAL EXPERIENCE
    - Neo-Tribalism
    - The Moontribe Collective
11. RAVE AS RELIGION
12. THE RAVERS
13. THE PHILOSOPHY OF RAVE
14. FASHION
15. THE POLITICS OF RAVE
16. RAVING AROUND THE WORLD
17. A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE
18. RAVING ON
    - Some Final Words
19. RECOMMENDED WEB SITES

Samples of some of the hundreds of quotes included in the book:

On Raves and the Rave experience...

      "A general definition of a rave would be a modern high-tech form of an ancient tribal ritual where shamans gather to dance themselves into deep trance or self-hypnosis. Raving is a very deep spiritual experience like the enlightenment states in many religions."

- Janne Leino, raver, Helsinki, Finland.

      "Rave culture has changed my whole life. I was brought up in Tokyo in a middle class family and had no appreciation for nature or connections to other people. Rave culture and trance music has given me direction and spiritual fulfillment. My life is more valuable to me now. I have seen other people change too. They become happier."

- Chika, Solstice DJ, rave promoter, Tokyo, Japan.

On Music...

      "The qualities in this music that effect people so deeply are the energy and the melody. It's uplifting and spiritual. There's a lot of soul in it and it really is about the feeling. It's similar to soul music in that you listen to it from an emotional standpoint."

- Paul Oakenfold, DJ, London, England.

      "If you listen to trance music you'll hear a lot of emotion and feeling in it. If you are on a dance floor with six or seven hundred other people and you hear those lush strings and beautiful melodies it has a euphoric effect. That's what it does for me. These tracks really take you somewhere and a good DJ puts these elements together and creates a journey."

- Dave Ralph, DJ, Liverpool, England.

      "When I hear people say that rave music is just a lot of electronic noise I know that they haven't listened to it. They only hear the beat and that's it. They miss all the layers and depth and subtleties. As far as I'm concerned, the best rave music has all the depth and texture as the best classical music."

- Tim Laughlin, The Vibe Crew, England.

On Tribalism...

      "The role of the DJ is ultimately a role of responsibility. To understand that you are wielding an incredible amount of potential power and to be aware of where you are taking people. Like the shaman, the DJ is a facilitator of a transformative experience. It's all about controlling the pulse and rhythm of the party and guides the level of consciousness and awareness from one reality to another. A DJ rides the energy between themselves and the participants and guides the journey like an expedition. With techno or house music, the four-on-the-floor rhythm acts as the shamans drum."

- Andrew Rawnsley, musician, DJ, Editor of XLR8R magazine,
San Francisco, USA.

      "I think that the music sets the dancer up to fully let go, to allow the body to do the magic and let the mind create an epiphany of group dynamics. Everyone becomes a sea of rhythm and that creates a phenomenal feeling of being one, which is the essence of our own being. It's about realizing and remembering that we are not separate."

- Gena Womack, founding member of Moontribe,
Los Angeles, USA.

On Religion...

      "Raves are comparable to American Indian religious ceremonies - where music is the key towards pulling oneself into a unique emotional and psychological state, a state in which one experiences a wash of sensations and visions. The hypnotizing effect of techno music coupled with the seamless transitions and thematic progressions as the night progresses can be quite intoxicating, resulting in what could be closely compared to a religious experience."

-Brian Behlendorf, founder of SFRaves and Hyperreal.com,
San Francisco, USA.

      "Rave is the worship of music and art, which is the creation of the mind, which is the creation of the creator. Ravers go to church just like anyone else. They just go twelve hours earlier."

- J, The Trip Factory, Saltspring Island, Canada.

On Politics...

      "The feeling is like, if you are a raver you are a suspect."

- Fredrik Larsson, electronic musician, Stockholm, Sweden.

      "Russia is a police country! Now there is a law: if police find drugs at a club, the club will be closed. But it's not a problem if the club is supervised by criminals. Open-air parties after 23:00 are also forbidden! But it's possible to make a big open-air rave in afternoon. In July we had a rave with 55,000 people!"

- Stardiver a.k.a. Alex, student, raver, Moscow, Russia.

      "The prestige of the government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition laws. Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced."

- Albert Einstein, physicist, philosopher,
Nobel Laureate. 1879-1955.

On raving around the world...

      "There are raves all across America. You can find them in Wisconsin and South Carolina and places that we've never heard of. We show up and there's a scene and a thousand people in a warehouse ready to party."

- Dennis Barton, Skylab2000, Los Angeles, USA.

      "People can dance together, no matter where you are. Many people often go to raves and techno festivals in other countries. It's the same music. The dance unites us."

- Mikael Jergefelt, raver, Stockholm, Sweden.

On the future of rave culture...

      "I think the scene will just get bigger. In the last five or six years I've seen it become a huge worldwide scene. I play in countries all over the world and get pretty much the same reaction everywhere I go. I think that in the future we will see more and more people making electronic music in pockets all over the world taking elements from different cultures and just keep growing. The music is truly international."

- John Digweed, DJ, producer, England.

      "I think that we will continue to see more and more kinds of music merge into each other making more hybrids which will be very exciting. Also we will see all kinds of different artists embraced under the banner of electronica. I think that's very good for electronica and very exciting in general. I see this trend continuing to develop into the next decade and I definitely see the music getting bigger."

- Dave Jurman, senior director of dance music,
Columbia Records / SONY.

      "Before dance music came along, people would dance to bands like Duran Duran and get up and dance to one or two songs and sit down again. When dance music came along, people got up and danced all night. I think that on some kind of tribal level, people just like to dance. I don't know where dance music will be in ten years but I'm ninety-nine per cent certain that people will still want to dance."

- Chris Cowie, producer, DJ, Hook Records, Scotland.