This month, THUMP honors Pride with a celebration of LGBTQ nightlife all across America. Follow our coverage here."We don't always want Milwaukee to be the town just one hour north of Chicago. We're trying to have our own scene here," says DJ, promoter, and scene fixture Max Holiday. Holiday, who runs a label called Close Up of the Serene, moved to the city in 2010 looking to enter the city's DIY scene.
"It never really clicked," he told me. "It felt very homogenous, very straight." So he checked out the city's many gay bars, and was initially disappointed there too, finding them a bit too pop-focused for his tastes.
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So in 2013, he started DJing himself, spinning his bass-heavy club sounds at a variety of nights. Two years later, he started his own label with a similar focus, as well as a monthly party called Precognition that's held at a historic 80-capacity punk bar called Quarters. "Quarters has been operating since the 70s and 80s as a space for metal, hip-hop, noise, punk, and anything that doesn't fit anywhere else—it's very DIY-driven," he explained.
Now, Precognition acts as a beacon for queer clubbers and DJs in the Midwest, often working with likeminded nights like Cleveland's Heaven Is In You and the In Training crew as well as others in Detroit and Chicago. "There's been a longtime contingent of experimental and more noise-driven electronic music here—and there's a big gay community in Milwaukee as well," said Holiday. "We actually have the largest Pride Fest with a permanent venue in the country."Through his party and label, Holiday has gotten the chance up to link up with variety of people, DJs, spaces, and parties in Milwaukee, a city that Holiday was quick to say is behind the times. "It takes longer for things to get here than other places," he said. "The internet obviously makes all the difference now," he adds, noting that he's been able to connect with artists who share his vision outside the city limits, including the Astral Plane in LA. "It's about being open-minded to new sounds and new culture before it's even happened. The gay scene here has not typically been one of an open-minded music policy. People want to hear what they want to hear; they want to go to the spaces they know." Holiday, and various other figures and parties that he outlines below, are helping to change that.
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Precognition
Club Ritual
100
Earth Angel
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