On April 9, 2001 in Houston, Texas the owner of Club Waxx at 101 Leeland began receiving pressure from the local sports authority. The owner, Mike Jacksis, was advised to shut down Club Waxx to make way for a new basketball arena parking garage. Jacksis had intentions of keeping the club open, however an agreement was reached that relinquished his lease of the hip-hop & underground club. Club Waxx featured techno, trance and jungle since 1997. After the demolition of the club, Jacksis teamed up with Neil Heller who owned Club Hyperia at 2001 Commerce Street. Together they continued to host a variety of music from house, trance and drum & bass to hip-hop.
Outside of the club scene in 2001, raves in Houston continued with fairly minimal disruption. Production companies like the KAOS crew hosted events like Revolution, KAOS Thursdays, and Mystery Machine. Bigtyme Productions hosted a massive on July 7, 2001 called “Audiotitstic.” The event was hosted in Audio Park at 2550 Reed Road in Houston. This party drew thousands of people and featured talent like Green Velvet, Mark Grant, Donald Glaude, Q-Bert, P-Trix, Dieselboy and DJ Brian.
The Houston electronic dance music scene originally began to flourish as early as many other cities with disco and gay nightlife. At the start of the 1990s, there was a huge buzz over house music and the “party ‘til dawn” lifestyle that it fostered. JD Arnold and Michael DeGrace, both established DJs pushed house music in clubs like Rich’s, Therapy and Club Some.
DJs that were not fully established in nightclubs had begun to host their own parties near the break of 1992. These were Houston’s first raves. The first full scale rave in Houston was called “Unity” which came later that year. Shortly after this first event a DJ named Chris Anderson of the Matrix Crew began hosting events, his first party was called "Brain Machine" and took place in October of 1992. The next year he started a radio show which was titled "Transmissions" on 91.7FM KTRU.
Another DJ named Chris Sill had also created major waves for the Houston scene. He began his career playing nightclubs in Austin, Texas, moved to Houston to work for the legendary Rich’s nightclub, and left for San Diego to open a second Rich’s club in 1991 He was the co-host of a Thursday night event called “Hedonism” which was promoting house music events in San Diego. The weekly event became so well known and the nights were so memorable that in 1994 he moved back to Houston and opened the second installment of “Hedonism" events.
In 1995, Albert Rowan aka DJ Bizz hosted his first rave in a Montrose club called Attica shortly after he was released from a short prison sentence for distribution of LSD. The party was called “Resurrection” and drew approximately 550 people. DJ Bizz’s event became popular and he began to work together with Chris Anderson who was still hosting parties as Matrix Crew. In 1998 the two became partners in Chemistry Records in Houston. Chemistry Records was a place for ravers to find party fliers and where dj's congregated to listen to and purchase new music. The operation became an epicenter of the city’s rave scene.
While raves in the city snowballed in frequency and size since “Resurrection”, there have been some bumps in the road as had been seen elsewhere in the world. On November 24, 1996, DJ Bizz & Chris Anderson became a target of a Houston police initiative as officials attempted to put an end to the growing rave culture in the city. Authorities raided a party called “Reach” by Bizz’s crew Good Vibe Tribe which was hosted at a nightclub called Middle Earth. The raid included local TV coverage and 59 people were taken into custody and most juveniles were cited for violating curfew laws.
The bust made it’s way onto news networks around the city while the nation was simultaneously receiving negative news regarding raves. For a short time the scene had diminished in Houston as parties shrank in size and less in frequency. Promoters during this time learned to become more thorough with their events by acquiring necessary permits and covering their bases legally.
From this point and leading up to the year 2001, a wide range of venues was used for events hosting electronic dance music in Houston. Some events were weekly events while others were one time parties. DJ Dizzy hosted “Suave” at Slider’s, Gotta Move Productions hosted “Soul Phusion” at Waxx, Sundance & Mercury hosted “Dragonfly” at Power Tools at 709 Franklin, Ducttape Productions hosted “Digital Interface” at 1815 Washington, and Protoculture hosted “Rhythmatic Technology” at International Ballroom.
The featured mix was a practice session that was recorded in 2001. This was a period where I was heavily involved in the trance scene. While I no longer have the recordings, some similar mixes that I released at the time played a major role in the acquiring the bookings that were offered to me nationwide.
Joker Jam - Innocence (Chillout Intro)
Shine - Feelings (DJ Tandu Remix)
Lillian - You Give Me Music (Jaimy & Kenny D remix)
Hardy Heller & Ray Boye - Lovin' (Fred Numf & Five Point-O remix)
Matt Darey - Liberation (Deep Mix)
Agnelli & Nelson - Vegas (Fear & Loathing Mix)
Mark Norman - Return 2 Eden
Patrick Reid - Splat
Free State - Release (Dirt Devils Remix)
Members of Mayday - 10 in 01 (Paul Van Dyk Club Mix)
Ralphie B - Massive
Cygnus X - Superstring (Rank 1 Remix)
Insigma - Open Our Eyes (Odyssey One Mix)
