Candy Dubstep Ravers

OK, I know we've written about Mark Hunter a million times, but last time I was on the Cobrasnake website I found all these pictures from Identity, a huge traveling rave festival. Weirdly, when I checked the festival out it mostly featured dubstep DJs and producers. Something didn't really add up.

If you were to go to a FWD>> night 10 years ago, or even one of Digital Mystikz' pioneering DMZ events a few years later, not one of the kids sulkily skanking away to what was the beginning of the UK dubstep genre would have been seen dead wearing anything other than labeled sportswear, a black New Era, and expensive sneakers. It's what most of the early Croydon heads were wearing while they DJ'd.

Ten years down the line, just as the real UK dubstep scene has quietly imploded and producers not chasing a radio buck or placement in cereal adverts started doing anything they could to distance themselves from the genre, it finally made its way over to the States. Whether it's the fault of Skrillex, formerly of emo-beyond-belief band From First To Last, or just the fact that American dubstep fans lumped it in with all dance music in the Kandi Kid scene, seeing the US dubstep fans in all this garish colorful gear is freaking me out.

VICE: So, you did a month long rave tour? How was it?
Mark Hunter: Dude, it's pretty phenomenal that this culture is once again revived and, I think, is still growing. It's been around for ages and then with all this new dubstep shit it's like a hybrid virus, or something. It's just spreading and spreading all over the States.

A wobbly neon virus, yeah. What was the first thing you noticed about what people were wearing?
Um, I can't remember where the first place was, but when we got there I thought, 'This is a place where people dress up kind of like Halloween and kind of like they don't want to wear any clothes, at all', like they're going to the beach, or something. It's really good eye-candy for photos, though, because you see some pretty ridiculous outfits.

Yeah, there are a lot of girls really not wearing a lot at all. Is that part of the US dubstep fashion, or was it just super-hot?
Yeah, loads of girls were just wearing those little skirts and, like, a bikini top and that's considered an outfit. I don't know, though, I think it's definitely part of the dubstep raver look, because they would all be in fluorescent bikinis and they'd dress them up with beads and lights and stuff. There were also a lot of girls wearing stuff with words on it, like the sounds in dubstep songs, you know?

Sadly, I do. That stuff's been around here for a while. Where was the craziest for clothes? It looks like Dallas were going in pretty hard with the gas masks and fluorescent stuff.
Yeah, Dallas was good for that stuff. I think the kind of steampunk look is the coolest, you know? Because the more extreme side of that whole Boy London hipster scene is picking up on it. I think there's always a bit of a crossover between the fashion of those ravers and other groups, actually. Then, obviously, it gets reinterpreted the whole time and it could be anything from people wearing the stuff ironically, all the way to high fashion designers using it as inspiration for their collections, you know?

Yes, I do. What are the hardcore dubstep fans into style-wise? Would it surprise you that kids wouldn't dare wear any of the brightly colored stuff when dubstep was first kicking off over here?
Yeah, definitely. There's definitely a look here, man, and it's all very neon and bright. I love all the nostalgia. Like, there was one guy dressed up in a full Mario costume, but he had all those rave beads around his neck. Then, another guy had a Sonic The Hedgehog outfit on. I like those things. I call dubstep "video game music" anyway, so I figure that when these people get dressed up they're like, "I've gotta get into this video game world as much as I can, so I might as well just go all out", which is pretty cool.

Aside from the video game stuff, I noticed a lot of colored Wayfarers and Superman New Era caps as well, which is kind of what kids getting into dubstep here are wearing now.
Yeah, for sure. Shirts with curse words on them, Wayfarers and New Eras are pretty much the uniform if you're not going for that techy, futuristic look.

Talking of the uniform, is there any rave slang? I saw the photo of all the caps with one saying SO CA$H, is that a thing?
Yeah. You know, there were these guys on the tour—I think they were called Party Hats, or something—and I loved them because they made all these hats that said stuff like Fuck, So Ca$h, Dubstep, all that stuff, and they made a killing. All these kids were out of their minds having fun and were like, "Ooh, a neon cap with a funny word on it. I'm a buy it". But yeah, man, there's so much rave slang that I don't even know where it's coming from or what it means.

OK. So what's the vibe like? Peace and love?
Yeah, same as always ecstacy pills. Everyone was really friendly. I liked all the glowstick-twirling people, in particular, the girls with the multi-colored dreadlocks who wear those luminous furry boots. They're great. They were always really pilled-up and having a good time.

You have no idea how different that sounds to the K-fests that dubstep nights always are over here. But, yeah, it looks like there were quite a few cyber hippies around.
Yeah, definitely. And I liked the plus-size ravers, too. The big guys and girls.

Last thing, what's the deal with all the bandana masks? That seems to be part of the uniform, too.
You know, it's funny. In certain cities the police were going up to the kids wearing the bandanas and saying that they had to take them off because it's a bit too much of a gang-looking thing. They thought they were going to riot or something. But, I mean, in some of those places it's almost practical because it's super-dusty and hot, so they're good protection for that. I think it looks pretty tacky when they have the fang masks and stuff, though, too much like Halloween. Photos by Mark Hunter