After, the prestigious Afterhours Night Club in Las Vegas, has already sent waves in the dance music industry after its set of stringent rules to be followed by each DJ gracing the DJ booth went viral. (Read More about that here.) It is back in the limelight with its stark and direct response to an LA Times article, accusing the management of the club of being racist for banning genres of music like Dubstep and Trap, which have roots within the African American Culture.
According to the recent write up in the prestigious paper, applauding it for implementing stringent rules, the article further goes on to state that banning genres “seems passe and grimly orthodox at best”. It further goes on to conclude, that by banning these genres, it’ a “dog-whistle” that “certain crowds – or types of people” are unwelcome there. The author of the article, journalist August Brown, further goes on to raise certain genre – affiliated questions such as
“Would Gesaffelstein be plucked offstage for playing his “Yeezus” tracks there?
and this one,
“What about Burial, who arguably popularized dubstep in America but feels worlds away from Skrillex?”
You can read the entire LA times article, here.
The club replied on its Facebook page with an open letter to August Brown, the author behind the article.
This is an open letter to August Brown, the LA Times writer who wrote this article. I had to think before I wrote my true response, so my reaction wasn’t a knee jerk. I am Thom Svast, the Managing Partner of After, and the writer of our “DJ rules.” I grew up in the mostly African American city of Gary, IN, just outside of Chicago. I grew up to the sounds of Chicago house and Detroit Techno. The majority of these genres originators are African American. So, for you to even slightly consider that I am against African American style of music is unbelievably stupid. You, my friend, are ignorant. You are also ignorant to the black history and culture of Chicago house music and Detroit techno. Since when is “real” house music about race, or any music for that matter? It is people like you that cause racial tension in America. You have a big influential voice in a big city, and I recommend you use it more wisely, or at least do your journalistic due diligence. It’s even more ignorant to suggest that the African American culture doesn’t like house nor techno, nor is geared towards them. We are music lovers that play the music we want to hear in a city that doesn’t allow it for the most part. If you want to hear hip-hop or dubstep, go to a club that plays it. I have never bashed a club for not playing techno. It’s their choice, as it is mine. I invite you to come to After and see for yourself that we are a community of love and friendship with “real” DJs. The only tension in our club would be you and your moronic assumptions. Oh, we even have black people there too. Just ask Donald Glaude, an influential African American DJ, as he danced the morning away with us.
Clearly, the club “After” seems to be making a name for itself, for stringently setting out rules and passionately defending themselves for the same. This passionate attitude, if indeed a market strategy, seems to be playing out very well for the club, as it is just about that time when the world is literally tired of hearing the same generic sound at almost every festival/club.