In Wichita, electronic dance music becoming mainstream

Tim Cunningham remembers going to a warehouse party here in the late ’90s.

It was one of the few places that would play electronic music, which drew “a couple hundred” people to the party, he said.

At the end of the night, police would show up and the crowds would scatter, he said.

Now, electronic dance music (EDM) is much more mainstream in Wichita, with multiple bars playing it on the weekends.

The city is also starting to attract major EDM acts – this Wednesday, British EDM producer Flux Pavilion is playing at the Cotillion. Last year, Canadian EDM producer Excision played the Cotillion.

On the first night of this year’s Riverfest, there’s a major EDM paint party taking place on the RedGuard Stage.

Those in the scene say EDM has grown exponentially in Wichita in the past five years, and they expect it to grow further yet.

“It took a while for it to work its way in from the coast,” said Cunningham, a Wichita-based EDM producer who does work for record labels across the country. “For the first few years, it was kind of slow, but within the last three or four years, it’s blown up and grown exponentially.”

What is EDM?

To define EDM succinctly is difficult.

There are a variety of musical subgenres that fall under the EDM umbrella, including dubstep, house, drum-and-bass and techno. Well-known EDM artists include Zedd, David Guetta, Skrillex, Deadmau5 and Calvin Harris.

Just like any other musical genre, there’s a particular culture associated with EDM.

At an EDM show, you’ll likely see a diverse mix of people, some in clothing typically associated with raves – bright colors, neon and lots of plastic jewelry.

Also unique to EDM shows are flow artists – performance artists who spin LED lights on strings, or, in outdoor settings, fire-spinners.

Will Wohlgemuth, 28, said Wichita’s EDM scene is friendly and “pretty accepting.”

“They’re not very judgmental of anyone, which is pretty nice compared to a lot of music genres,” he said.

Anthony Osu Jr. has photographed all of the major EDM shows in Wichita in recent years. He said the crowds unite “in the name of PLUR,” a term that stands for “Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.”

“They basically come to these shows to bond and express themselves in a way that allows them to alleviate some of their worries during the week and really allows them to dance all of their problems away as a community,” Osu said. “They all know each other. … The key word is camaraderie.”

An EDM production company

Wohlgemuth runs Nocturnal by Nature, a company that promotes and books EDM acts in Wichita.

When he formed the group in 2011, he said a good show was one that attracted 100 people. But over the years, as larger, more high-production acts came to town, attendance increased.

He’s expecting about 1,400 at the Flux Pavilion show on Wednesday, which he is co-promoting with the Cotillion.

He said he often has to schedule dates on weeknights, because for EDM – and other genres – Wichita is a fill-in show location.

“We’re still not at the point where we can get weekend dates with those big artists, but I don’t know if Wichita’s ever going to be at that point,” he said, while pointing out that 1,400 came out to Excision on a Wednesday last March.

Cunningham, the Wichita-based EDM producer, said Wohlgemuth’s efforts have been a major contributor to the local scene.

“We’ve been slowly watching it grow year by year – I remember when there were 200 people showing up and we were happy with that,” he said. “It’s a lot of work. We try to promote really hard. … I’ve seen it grow through a lot of hard work.”

The Cotillion partners with Nocturnal by Nature on its EDM shows, which Wohlgemuth said has been “pretty helpful.”

Ryan Stevenson, manager at the Cotillion, said the venue has taken “calculated risks” on EDM shows.

“With anything, we compare what shows have done in the past, something that would be a comparable show, the success of a show or lack of success in the past, how the artist is doing nationally touring-wise, a lot of different factors,” Stevenson said. “With Flux, we have been getting … a lot of people from outside of the immediate Wichita area as well. It’s going to be a very well-attended show.”

How it’s grown

Marc Lujan, perhaps better known by his DJ name Injun Trubl, is an electronic music lover.

When he first started DJing in Wichita in 2005, most of the Old Town bars he was playing at wanted Top 40 music. For the most part, they still do, he said – but more bars are beginning to experiment with EDM.

Now he regularly DJs electronic music in Wichita, and he recently started to develop an informal group called the Wichita House Music Society, focused on the house subgenre of EDM.

“Wichita is definitely a Top 40 crowd,” he said. “What we’d really like is to reach more people (with EDM music), but I guess it’s kind of uphill. It’s still Top 40 land out there in Wichita, and I believe it always will be. But it’s getting better. It’s growing.”

If you want to hear EDM in Wichita, try XY Bar, Steel Bar, sometimes Gianni Bacci’s and even the former Cortez Mexican Restaurant, he said.

Osu, the photographer, said he sees a close relationship between Wichita’s DJs and EDM fans.

“These local DJs are the ones that fill in the gap between the Excisions and the Flux Pavilions,” Osu said. “Those guys don’t come but once a year, so who’s DJing all these shows in between? You can expect to see the local guys really putting in that work.”

But why is EDM becoming popular now?

Part of the reason is simply that electronic music has taken more of a place at the forefront of popular music. Take, for example, The Chainsmokers, whose hit single, “Closer,” dominated the popular airwaves for much of last fall and winter and is still heard on Top 40 stations.

“It’s our generation’s kind of rock and roll,” Wohlgemuth said. “It’s a younger thing, and as our generation’s gotten older it’s just grown and grown. It really has changed a lot of things – you’ll see a lot more electronic jam bands and a lot more electronic influence in a lot of bands too.”

Don’t discredit the internet’s influence, either – online, fans can access music anytime, from anywhere.

“With the internet and social media, it’s been a lot easier for producers and DJs to get their sound out,” Cunningham said. “That has helped expand it pretty quickly.”

Wichita also is relatively near Denver, which has a thriving EDM scene. Often, Wichita can pick up a tour date here and there from acts traveling to or from Denver, Wohlgemuth said.

Another sign of the scene’s growth: There are now rival EDM production companies in Wichita, including DCE Entertainment (run by DJ Alex Martinez, or Karetaker) and Team No Sleep.

If shows like Flux Pavilion are well-attended, the likelihood of Wichita’s EDM scene continuing to grow is greater, Wohlgemuth said.

“Really you should support whatever comes out especially in a small town like this, because even if you’re not really into that style of music, coming out and supporting will just help increase the chances of an artist that you like coming out,” he said.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 7:39 PM with the headline "In Wichita, electronic dance music becoming mainstream."