Inside Sydney’s secret rave culture

Unauthorised, drug-fuelled dance parties are thriving in Sydney, with partygoers saying they feel safer and happier at the word-of-mouth gatherings than at traditional nightlife venues.

It’s 10pm in a dimly lit warehouse district in Sydney. The streets are dark and still, the only resident outside is a sneaking street cat. And then the cars arrive.

One by one, a staggered line of Uber cars approach, depositing clusters of people into the street.

Their passengers are quiet, whispering. They carry backpacks and drink cans, smiles plastered on their face as they slink into the shadows.

There are no pubs nearby, no raging nightclubs. No obvious place for these people to go. No reason for them to be here at all. Yet they all have somewhere to be.

They are here for one of Sydney’s secret raves, hidden affairs that happen every night in our city and its surrounds. This one is in a warehouse. The next could just as easily be in a train station tunnel, a derelict cinema, or deep in a national park.

Frank Southan gets his groove on before a rave in Sydney. Picture: Tom Parrish

You won’t know about most of them. They are rarely advertised, the only way in via an invitation from a friend who is already in the know.

But look close enough, and there will be signs.

The small roadside burger truck, out of place in this empty industrial area, yet inexplicably full of customers.

The lonely burly man (is he security?) sitting in front of a seemingly abandoned building. And the barely audible music pulsing from beneath layers of thick soundproofing.

Sydney’s night-life isn’t dead. It’s just hidden.

People travel far to get here. One girl, decked in a beanie and oversized shirt, explains she has travelled from the Gold Coast. Another is from Wollongong.

Inside an underground rave in Sydney.

An impressive number of attendees are from other countries. We meet a man from Afghanistan, some from India, and another from Japan.

In a city that is increasingly described as a place that is impossible to meet new people, raves are a melting pot, a chance to make friends in a city that has a tendency to lock people out.

Why not go to a club?

If you ask rave attendees, Sydney’s policed clubs and bars, lined with burly bouncers, and 20-something-dollar drinks, are, to many people, toxic environments.

They prefer the safety of an unregulated warehouse, void of security and rules, and rampant with free-flowing alcohol and drugs.

It’s cheaper, freer, and if you ask Frank Southan, safer.

“I have never heard of someone getting bashed at a rave,” says Frank, a 20-something-year-old Sydneysider who is an avid rave attendee.

‘This is one of the few place you can go to just let loose,” says on raver.

People look out for each other here, explains Frank.

“This is one of the few places you can go to just let loose and really have a good time with chill people. Everyone is super welcoming. I have met doctors, a lawyer, business administrators and bartenders.

‘You meet people from all walks of life. Old people, young people. Everyone can come and chat with people that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to meet anywhere else.”

There’s rules to raving, outlined clearly in an email sent to attendees two hours before the event begins.

“No funny business in the bathrooms. Be quick and keep it neat for the next person. Be mindful of your limits.”

“Don’t linger on the streets and draw attention to us,”

“Take care of yourself and your mates. Party responsibly. Respect each other and speak up.

There are unwritten rules, such as not lingering on the street and drawing attention to the venue inside.

And the golden rule, according to the organiser – “don’t be a dickhead.”

The message sign-off is clear – “we are all in this together and to have a good time.”

It’s a clear motto and one that everyone appears to adhere to.

Inside the rave, people wave to each other, embracing. We are deep in conversation when a stranger walks past, waving at Frank.

“Do you know him?,” we ask.

“Nah but I see him at every rave, I just don’t know his name.”

Such an interaction is common here, explains 22-year-old Northern Beaches local Tom (not his real name).

“You know you aren’t going to get any troublemakers at raves. Everyone is there for one reason and one reason only, and it’s to have a good time, enjoy the music and experience good vibes.

“You don’t have to worry about a lot of the pressures that come when you go clubbing.

“Once you are in, you’re in. It becomes a lot easier to find out what’s going on and people want to include you,” he said.

For many, the thrill comes from the secrecy. There are levels to raving, explains Frank.

If the layers of Sydney’s underworld night scene start at the clubs on Kings Cross, the event we are at is just below the surface, under the first sprinkle of dirt.

It’s one of the higher production raves, advertised on social media, with a caveat. To gain access, you must request an invitation from the organisers.

The legality of unauthorised raves is a gray area.

Other raves, the ones held inside the bush or on top of random cliffsides or abandoned train stations, are hidden deep in Sydney’s mantle.

To get to those ones, you need to know people.

It’s in this deep underground that one rave organiser, who speaks to us on the condition of anonymity, knows and operates best.

He calls himself V, and is responsible for some of the biggest raves in Sydney.

For V, his journey into the rave scene started like all good raves do, in Berlin. After living in Germany, a place infamous for hardcore raves, V was determined to be a part of the scene in Sydney.

“When I started going to raves, I finally felt like I belonged somewhere where I could just lose myself in the music and be with my friends and not be hyperconscious like you are in clubs,” he said.

Legality of raves

Unauthorised crowds. BYO drinks. Music that goes until early morning. And of course, the drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. It beggars the question – are these raves legal?

The answer is as murky as the smoke that fills these parties. For police, whether a rave is legal or not depends on where it is held and the activities that occur there.

Both police and council are reluctant to outright condemn these raves, explaining that legality happens on a case-by-case basis.

In theory, for a rave to be legal, it must be held in a licensed venue that has been approved by council, meeting fire safety, liquor and noise requirements.

Raves held in national parks must receive consent from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services.

In reality, they rarely meet these standards.

Frank Southan ahead of a rave in Sydney. Picture: Tom Parrish

A council spokesman from Sydney’s Inner West Council, an area considered the mecca of Sydney’s underground raves, said the council had received no complaints about organised raves.

Marrickville local and inner west Sydney councillor Justine Langford noted that there are certainly risks in conducting these events. Licensed venues bring a sense of safety with them.

“We really want to encourage people to socialise and enjoy themselves and be creative ways, however, safety is an important concern as well as respecting neighbours and compliance with zoning,” she said.

Police are reluctant to speak on the record about raves.

An official spokesman advised “anyone who witnesses criminal behaviour or activity at any event to report it to Police or Crime Stoppers,” and urged “anyone organising a social gathering to register their party online via the NSW Police website.”

However, there was a general sense among attendees and organisers that police are willing to look sideways as long as they aren’t making too much noise and no one gets hurt.

A Sydney criminal lawyers says people are fed-up with Sydney’s night-life culture and turning to the underground scene instead.

Sydney Criminal Lawyer Raymond Zhai said while he hasn’t had any clients with rave related legal issues, he understands why underground parties are becoming popular.

“Sydney’s night life seems a lot more dead than it used to be,” he says, and suspects its because many people are turning to the underground scene.

He said that many of his clients are fed up with Sydney’s night-life culture.

“I have cases where they are bringing police sniffer dogs into licensed venues and bouncers can be heavy handed with people,” he said.

For many, the thrill comes in the illegality.

Organiser V acknowledges drugs are a major part of rave culture.

“Not everyone who attends raves is on drugs. It also depends on the type of rave you are at, some raves and music styles have more intense drugs.

“A rave in the bush will have more psychedelic-related drug use. A techno rave will use stimulants.

“The important distinction is that drug use is just as prevalent in Sydney’s license club scene. “The only difference is they are a lot more irresponsible in the way they use drugs.

“With security wandering around, people are more secretive in how they consume narcotics. People don’t know how to consume drugs safely.

“At raves, there isn’t that heavy police presence. People are more supportive and explain to others how to consume drugs in a safer way.

“I feel like the club scene could benefit from the harm minimisation strategies raves use, rather than just cancelling it all together and assuming people don’t do drugs because they do.

V has organised a number of both legal and illegal raves. He likes to keep raves illegal “to keep a renegade soulful feeling.”

“We have taken Sydney’s night-life into our own hands. Sydney’s music culture is underground. And that’s the way we like to keep it because it weeds out the bullsh*t people.

“We are here for the music and the art. The people who don’t get that get weeded out, and the people who behave badly will be weeded out as well.

“We only invite people who are friends because we know they are good people and less likely to cause trouble.”

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