Photos From the Gold Coast’s Growing Underground Rave Scene

Roid-heads in singlets, wearing speed-dealer sunglasses pushed up the bridge of their nose. Blonde-haired bimbos slathered in fake tan, wearing bikinis with the Australian flag printed across fake breasts. Golden beaches, pristine water, mouthwatering surfers. This is the Gold Coast. 

For years, the East Coast stretch has been the fodder for postcards – the quintessential image of Australians that unaware Americans purport to fill the mainland. Instead, they’re often met by mullets and VB-drinking alcoholics (I say this with love). It is, at its heart, the place of the Australian stereotype. But an underground party scene, bubbling under the fake eyelashes and gym freaks, is looking to change that.

“You go past a venue and you hear “Losing It” by Fischer or something,” says Beau Kelly, the owner of Bouquet Studios and a man behind the shift.

“It’s that kind of music. Just cheesy shit.”

A year and a half ago, fed up with the uniform top 40 playlists of Gold Coast clubs, Kelly, along with a couple of friends, threw their first party at a small studio in the suburb of Miami. They fenced off a car-park, set up a projector and turned the space into a temporary boiler room. 

“It was kind of rogue,” he says.

“It was just 100 metres off the highway and we had people pulling up off the street. We ended up with 200 people filling up this carpark.”

The crowd that came had common interests: techno, alternative fashion and the atmosphere that comes with a continually experimenting culture. And though he wasn’t the first bringing something new to the golden beached suburbs, he was among the most tenacious.

“I just wanted to push the fashion and music culture. Try to elevate it a bit here,” he says.

It’s the natural end result of the cultural trends that famously travel up the East Coast of Australia. It starts in Melbourne, moves to Sydney and ends up somewhere in Brisbane. A trend will start in the South, 5 years later it’ll be in the north. Take those cursed hats with bleached flowers on them that, for a couple of summers, were circulating around the young, trendy ecosystem. I’m still not sure they’ve found their way to Queensland.

But music acts much in the same way. So do the parties. And so does the culture that surrounds them. Kelly himself is inspired by Melbourne’s vast nightlife and the DJs and promoters behind it. Butter Sessions, a record label responsible for some of Melbourne’s best parties, sits at the top.

“My goal is to bring parties of that calibre to the Gold Coast. But they've been doing it for 10 years. I’ve got a way to go but I think it’s achievable,” says Kelly.

“I think our party's are servicing the people with that common interest: techno or European international techno music. Because there is a market for it here, but it’s just so suppressed because no one’s got a way to go listen to it. There's talented DJs on the Gold Coast that don't have a chance to play anywhere. So I like to provide that kind of platform.”

To date, Kelly and his gang have thrown six parties, with a seventh on the near horizon, funding them from his own pocket. They cost upwards of $10,000 – a price he now breaks even on with ticket sales. He’s brought in acclaimed DJs like Kia and CRUSH3D, as well as lesser known, but equally as good, DJs to soundtrack the space. His last party brought in 450 people. 

“We started off at 150 people, so it’s going up by 50 each party,” he says.

“At the start it was all my mates and they just came because I was doing something. And now, the majority of them I’m like, “Who the fuck?” I don’t check anymore cause I don’t know anyone.”

While the scene doesn’t yet attract thousands ("I can see it catching on, but it’s a slow burn,” says Kelly), his aim by the end of next year is to have a 1000-person cap on one of his parties. 

“I want to create a scene or such a good party where, through the sound and the lighting, people that like it will come just cause they know it's a good party. They don't necessarily have to know the artist. And then they’ll walk away like, “oh, I didn’t know I liked that music”. 

“And slowly we’ll see a shift into the Gold Coast having taste.”

You can get tickets to the next party here.

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