Have you ever been to a party that went so HAM, the hosts got effing evicted?
We have, but it wasn't just any damn Wynwood loft party. It was a beat-freaking Boiler Room, the locals-only III Points edition that went down after James Murphy's Point Blank set.
After a week of editing or so, the videos are finally available in all their sweaty glory. Performances from Pirate Stereo, Will Buck, Dude Skywalker, Chalk, and Oscar G with Lazaro Casanova made this the ultimate Boiler Room Miami deserves.
Locals only ... International players can suck a dee.
See also: Oscar G: "Wynwood's Changed the Culture, I See a Different State of Mind in Miami"
Something like 200 fierce and fabulous hipster socialites crammed into the third-story space off of NW 25th Street. You had to pull some serious rank just to get in the damn place, as what was meant to be an invite-only gathering caught social wind. Miami was in full-effect.
Once inside the gate, you climbed three flights of concrete stairs and followed the trail of wet and wide-eyed faces. The music pumped through the hall, you turned a corner and stepped through the double-doors into the darkest, dankest house party you've ever seen. Holy. Fucking. Shit. It was really real.
"In this game, you're always looking to Boiler Room as the flagship of what we're doing. It's the standard," said Pirate Stereo, who opened the night. He models his own work with the Slap and Tickle crew off of the vibe the famed Boiler Room sets provide. "For us to be up and coming, based out of Miami, to have the opportunity to do that, the word is 'surreal.'"
Boiler Room bills itself as "the world's leading underground music show." Founded in March of 2010, it has since become one of the most respected names in real down-hard dance music. With a few small crews around the world, some GoPros and some lights, they bring the best up-and-coming, underground and internationally recognized talent into the living rooms of people around the globe. Characterized by dark, cramped scenes and a no-nonsense about-the-music mentality, their live-streams and recorded offerings are the stuff of social-climber wet-dreams.
It was rowdy as fuck. The place was a mess, but for both the hosts and the partiers, there was no room to care. Bottles were passed around, the kitchen was entirely raided, joints blew up everywhere, and you can imagine what all other manner of substances made the rounds. Everywhere you turned was a drenched body, twisting and turning in the dark, dancing on the sticky floor, making out or laughing or getting high. It was rather magical.
After Pirate Stereo kicked things off, Will Buck let loose on the decks, followed by Dude Skywalker, Chalk, and rounded out by local legends Oscar G and Lazaro Casanova. In the past, Miami has played host to a Boiler Room or two, but never had the city been given the chance to showcase its own talent to its own people in its own gritty streets.
See also: DJ Shadow and XXYYXX Bring Experimental, Evil Beats to Wynwood's III Points Festival
Don't get us wrong, this was a real shit-show, a blur of equipment and flailing limbs. Due to some technical difficulties, not everyone on the original flyer got their chance to throw down. Chalk lost his USB just before hitting his mark and ended up having to do an all-vinyl set - but it worked out in the end.
"I'd say that was the most I've sweated in years," Casanova said, reliving the experience. "They were bright lights set up on the DJ booth and everything was wet. We basically played to a wall with the crowd behind us. All this is usually a recipe for a bad situation, but that shit was awesome."
The place started to clear out around 6 a.m., though some stragglers and friends of the residents' hung around until well into the next day. Shout out to the bodies who found themselves waking up in the studio like "wtf just happened?"
For sure, the night was the stuff of local lore, and we who were there will talk about it for a while. Adding to the legend is the eviction notice that came from the building's owners the very next day. Apparently, it wasn't the noise that killed the loft, but some drunk girl who went around banging on the one other residential door with a pot and pan, or something like that. We feel bad for the cool kids who lost their sweet spot, but we have to admit, it makes the story that much better.
"Wynwood will never feel the same to me," Chalk said, who used to stay in the loft before it was said and done. He said he didn't realize how great it was until it was gone, but even still, considers it all worth it.
The rest of us can't help feeling the same way.
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