Don't Bring Sunblock to the "Beach"

By Natalia Pavlina

Annual electronic music show draws in more each year
Natalia Pavlina
Associate Reporter

Students will be lining up to enter Club Illusions, anticipating a night to remember at the annual winter quarter event "Don't Bring Sand to the Beach" this Feb. 2.

In previous years, students have looked forward to a night of fancy lighting, dancing and loud, thumping electronic music at the hands of student announcers alongside the rest of their peers. This year, they are eagerly anticipating even more.
It all began four years ago when Leve1, a student-run production company, decided they wanted more out of the Santa Clara party life.

"All the house parties were getting shut down because of the noise," said Connor O'Rourke, present chief manager at Leve1. "They wanted to create a way for (Santa Clara) kids to party safely without sacrificing the type of music they wanted to play."

It seems that in the past few years at Santa Clara, more and more students have been picking up on the growing electronic dance music subculture, some even trying their luck on the turn-tables. And as any EDM-head will tell you, this genre sounds best when blasted through high definition speakers.
Santa Clara senior Raymond Jacob, known by many as announcer and producer, "Atlas," can attest to this fact. "Artists and DJs love to hear their music played loud," said Jacob. "When it's turned up you hear the nuances and accents that make the music what it is. Plus it's really fun, because if the music is up, then so is the dance floor."

The first DBSTTB was held in a modest coffee shop in Santa Cruz, music provided entirely by student DJs. Only about 80 people attended.

The following year, Leve1 was able to accommodate a greater population by finding a more adequate location. Around 400 people showed during the second year, and though the performers were still all resident DJs, the event lasted hours longer, and was held at a larger venue.

By the third DBSTTB event, Leve1 had grown as a company, and hopes of expanding the event further were high. Instead of hiring only student DJs, they were also able to book a few more pronounced artists, specifically Autoerotique, La Sape and Crunch Theory. The hard work paid off and over 600 people attended.
Entering this year, Leve1 had their sights set on making even more progress, so they called in Top Shelf Lighting and DJ Services, another local production company that has grown a great deal in the past year.

The two companies were proud to announce that DJ and producer TJR would be headlining this year's event. With over 30,000 likes on Facebook, 18 million views on YouTube and a song sitting in the Top 10 on the iTunes song charts, it's safe to say that this is kind of a big deal.

As it turns out, securing such a big-shot headliner took a lot of foresight and a little bit of luck. "We had to pick someone who is going to be big in the future, someone people will want to see by the time the event comes around," O'Rourke said. "We had the ball rolling with him before any of his big stuff was even out."

Considering the amount of growth the event has seen in just four years, it seems the only direction DBSTTB will go from here is up. But no matter what happens in future years, O'Rourke reiterated that the goal of DBSTTB will always be to create a safe environment that is "for the love of the music."

Contact Natalia Pavlina at npavlina@scu.edu.