Hardcore ravers join forces to fight homelessness

Toronto underground rave DJ Angelphroot is teaming up with McMaster civil engineering student, and emerging DJ, Ollie Take, AKA Doll Brawl–both only 22-years-old–to raise funds for the homeless community in Hamilton. After a successful first hardcore charity rave at Hamilton’s Andthenyou venue in March that raised $1,700, the pair are bringing back the event, dubbed “Hardcore Against Homelessness,” Saturday (Aug. 2,) with funds directed to the Hamilton Encampment Support Network, Positive Health Network, and Hamilton’s Sexual Assault Centre.

The artists feel that the Hardcore community, which shares ties between the two cities, is both rare and particularly well equipped to support this cause. “Hardcore is a niche genre. There's cities that don't have a hardcore scene at all,” said Angel, who has spun alongside well known artists like Young Teesh, Ace, Bambii Nino Brown, and Chippy Nonstop.

“Toronto used to be the rave capital of North America, ‘Happy hardcore’ was huge here, and now we’re bringing back that spirit of community,” she added. “People are actually taking care of each other, and looking out for one another. Even when ravers make money, they’re not doing it for profit, and they’re very intentional about where they direct their funds.”

“Hardcore rave music was born out of a need for inclusion and anti-prejudice to combat exclusion in nightlife. By working with Angel, I’m looking for Hamilton to retool the genre’s origins and ethos into a rallying call for the city to help out those most excluded here,” Take said.

The event will also feature a coat check room repurposed as a food/supply drive to accumulate highly requested items on behalf of Hamilton's unhoused community, during a time when these individuals are facing heat waves and increased pressures from bylaw officers to clear local encampments. 

A list of commonly requested items provided by the Hamilton Encampment Support Network includes:

• Cases of water

• Electrolyte drinks & packets

• Fruits

• Granola bars

• Sanitary products

• Bars of soap

• Toothpaste

• Toothbrushes

• Hand sanitizer

• Cups, plates, napkins

• Disposable cutlery

• Tents

• Tarps

• Blankets

• Sleeping bags

• Clothing

• Socks & underwear

Q&A:

Emma: How did you come up with this idea?

Ollie: It started when I moved outside of the student neighborhood in McMaster, where I ended up moving into an apartment downtown, and so that meant that I had a proper commute to school. 

While driving to school every day, I had the idea to scale up something that I was already doing on that commute, which was that I had started to pack granola bars and water bottles and other things, to hand out to people that were at different intersections on my drive to school, that were in need of help. 

And so I started reaching out to friends, where I would ask them if they wanted to put anything in my car on the way back and forth to help give out. [Then] on one drive back, this alliteration and the thinking behind it caught my attention (‘Hardcore Against Homelessness’). At the time I was looking for an opportunity to play that genre of music in Hamilton.

I had a friend who was a part of the Hamilton Encampment Support Network and she was incredibly down to sort of facilitate the organizational side of things and get me in touch with the right people. I also had another friend who was willing to open for me, so we shot that whole proposal out to Andthenyou venue, which is a local club in Hamilton, and they were super game as well. 

We were able to raise that first night, $1,700.

Emma: What did the atmosphere feel like?

Ollie: It really felt like a coming together of my demographic, that sort of student/ 20-something age of people in the city.

Angel: Very queer!

Ollie: It had a lot of focus. There was a moment halfway through where we stopped the music and gave a bit of a speech from both myself and my friend Leah who helped facilitate partnerships with the organizations. It felt like a concentrated effort of two sides: letting loose to some crazy tunes, but at the same time being keen on joining a mailing list, and collecting zines that were being handed out. Really just a lot of keen 20-somethings looking to make the city a better place.

Emma: What is your relationship to Toronto? (as an arts and culture journalist in Toronto, this is a question I always ask): 

Angel: I actually grew up in Mississauga, but I came here in the eighth grade and living in Toronto was really a big change, because it felt like whatever you want, you could get it here. 

I think it's also interesting because I think hardcore is a niche genre. There's cities that don't have a hardcore scene at all entirely, so being in Toronto, it's really cool that you can find niches like hardcore and other rave genres, like ravecore, that's for some people, are only accessible in an online space. 

That’s why I was really interested in what Ollie was doing, because I wouldn't have thought Hamilton would have a hardcore scene, but when I was playing at Andthenyou, I was really surprised at how people appreciated gabber and hardstyle and those faster genres of music. It’s honestly really hard to get booked to play those genres in Toronto because it's considered childish–people play hardcore, but they call it hard techno, because that's seen as more respectable. 

I think Toronto is really unique in that the diversity and multiculturalism lends itself to fusion music and [allows] people from totally different communities coming together.

I've always loved Toronto, you can't convince me otherwise. I’ve played in New York, I’ve played LA but there really is nothing like Toronto when it comes to that fusion of music and subculture and cultural backgrounds.

Ollie: The art scene in Hamilton and the hardcore scene in Toronto pushed me to create this fusion community. 

I've never really lived in Toronto, but having moved to Hamilton four or five years ago to start my undergrad degree, I sort of caught wind of the scene that angelphroot was describing just now, and I was looking to bring that scene to Hamilton, but re-envision it in my own way and recentre it around philanthropy. I think that Hamilton does that really well as a city. These two cities are so close but you really see them interact to this scale. 

Emma: Do you think this kind of community effort is unique to the hardcore scene?

Angel: I do think that there’s a real raver ethos that you see present, from when I’ve played at a venue [that hosts this kind of music] to the venue ownership. The owners of this venue are two brothers, they’re super cool and they’re also musicians themselves. 

The way I met them is that at the start of my DJ career I paid money for an open deck slot for 30 minutes, and I remember thinking to myself ‘Why did I do this? There was nobody there. This is such a waste of money.’ And after I was with my friends, we were break dancing in the Pizza Nova parking lot, and these two guys came up to us and said ‘Hey, we just opened a venue in Hamilton. Do you want to play?’ And that was my first club set–$500 bucks for four hours.

That's not super a thing anymore, but back in the 90s, in the hardcore and techno days, it was like that. You’d have one DJ curating the energy and playing the whole night. 

Toronto used to be the rave capital of North America, and happy hardcore and gabber was huge here. People would come for 3000-person warehouse raves at Guvernment.

I feel like we’re now bringing back that spirit of community. I don’t want to be corny but ‘PLUR’– actually taking care of each other, looking out for one another and using the rave to bring about good, rather than a self-indulgent event.

The ravers, that culture that existed in the 90s and that exists now in Toronto, is thriving. There’s a thriving underground scene. 

Ravers are being so intentional. Even when ravers make money, they’re not doing it for the money, they’re doing it for the culture and to help the community.

Ollie: Bringing up the 90s, the genre was really born out of the need for inclusion and the anti prejudice banner for those that were being excluded in nightlife.

I’m really looking to retool the genre’s origins and ethos into a rallying call beyond a single event, or nightlife in general, to action Hamilton to help out the people who are most excluded in our city.