JUNE CALDWELL INTERVIEWS DAVE DEAN, PRODUCER OF ‘GIANT VILLAGE 06’
(picture of Giant 05, courtesy of Marc Goldstein)

On New Years Eve this year, 6 blocks of downtown Los Angeles will be transformed into Giant Village 06, a huge party featuring Crystal Method, The Black Eyed Peas, Z-Trip, Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, and more. That’s right, downtown Los Angeles! How did downtown Los Angeles do a complete 360 in a few short years from a nowhere land of homeless, grime and scary streets to the glittering posh home of The Standard, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and upscale condos lacing the peripheries of the huge Staples Center, and the go-to destination for New Year’s Eve of this millennium? Well, Dave Dean who founded Giant in 2000, was at the head of the pack getting the ball rolling! Taking electronic music live events out of top-secret locations of drug-laden fields and abandoned warehouses in the nineties…and into the upscale Avalon and downtown LA, Giant transformed not only Los Angeles, and his clubs across the country, but also the face of music and nightlife itself. I had a chat with Dave about the upcoming extravaganza.

June: Both downtown Los Angeles and electronic music have changed a lot in the last 5 years!

Dave: We like to think that we are a big part of that change! Of bringing big crowds and big names downtown, extending on the Standard that broke a lot of ground with their hotel.. as we broke a lot of ground with our first Giant Village New Years Eve in 2000. I personally have lived in downtown Los Angeles for 6 years!

June: I remember the first time you did this downtown, and lots of people said ‘it would never work, LA is too spread out!’ and you proved them wrong!

Dave: You know, one asset of this event is the 4 hotels, one at each block. We have 2000 hotel rooms within a block of the event. Really makes it nice where you can check in, settle down and then walk a block to the event! I don’t know of any other event around here where you have that. And we link into Wilshire Blvd really well with dead ends into Grand so we don’t obstruct any traffic. Last year we were 4 blocks and this year we are 6 blocks. There are…I don’t know the exact number… I think over 80,000 that come to work downtown every day, and we’re only bringing a fourth of that, so there is plenty of patrolled parking.

June: It was an act of brilliance adding The Killers to your line up last year, a band that nearly defined 2005, mixing electronic and indie music. how do you feel about mixing up rock and electronic dance music?

Dave: Yeah that was a timely booking. It was something that we always wanted to do – expand the reach of the event.

June: This year the line up includes the DJ staples like Crystal Method, which are legends, and expanding more to Black Eye Peas, the ultimate convergence of hip-hop and rock, and Death Cab for Cutie and Jr Sr way on the other side of the spectrum of indie bands…what is the common thread between all these acts?

Dave: This year's theme is about having fun! Black Eyed Peas are arguably the best party band on the planet, and Z-Trip on one stage, on another stage Flaming Lips, arguably the most creative band on the planet, and Death Cab another good timing booking where it just so happens their record is doing very well. OK, honestly? Sometimes I just like a band’s music, so I book them!

June: Mixing different genres of music in a festival - instead of funneling crowds into a single genre - is starting to look like the trend of 2005, as was the case at the Vegoose Festival, San Diego Street Scene, etc. Does this reflect the current trend in people’s listening habits – the Ipod, ‘Jack’ radio random listening trend?

Dave: Yes…and it’s also important to us. We have a great core audience from the DJ world. And we have 4 DJs this year in addition to 2 live stages. Then at 1 am and 1:30 am the live stages become DJ stages as well. So we certainly haven’t drifted away from the core audience. The common thread between all the bands is that they all relate to dance music. But it also expands the reach of our event, and makes it more appealing for everybody as a representative event for downtown. It also provides an opportunity for people who would not have exposure to Miguel Migs and Junkie XL a chance to enjoy them. So it’s really a win-win for everyone!

June: You really helped change the face of music since the year 2000…

Dave: (lol) on New Years!

June: What has happened to electronic music since then?

Dave: It’s still alive and kicking! Crowds still come out in great numbers, it’s just a different crowd. That’s the great thing about new years, we get a lot of the original base, my friends back from 2000, 2001. They all still don’t come out as much, but they all still come out for new years. And we all are reminded how fun it is to dance in the middle of the street! So it’s all kind of a Giant reunion for everybody.

June: You have always been a visionary. What is the future of electronic music? What is the next turn?

Dave: I think electronic music is doing very well. It has split off into different genres, and we try to represent that at our event, we have the house stage, break stage, progressive house stage, we have Christopher Lawrence, America’s top pop trance DJ, and Z-Trip who has really blown up in the last couple of years in the mash up scene.

June: So the event is sort of one big mash-up running from stage to stage!

Dave: (lol) I would say there’s something for everybody.

June: Let’s talk about safety. In the back of everyone’s mind we are waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of Los Angeles being one of the next major targets for terrorists. What security measures are going to be engaged for the crowd at Giant?

Dave: This really isn’t comparably a very big event. Well the good thing about this event is it is in the Financial District of Los Angeles, so it is in an area that is very secure already. Having said that, we’re an event that is about 18,000. They get 19,000 at Clipper’s games every day at staples Center, and 90,000 at the Coliseum. Looking in perspective, we are not the biggest event in the world. This is not really about politics, it’s a party!

June: Last year’s event almost got rained out. If it does rain this year, what modifications will be made to the event?

Dave: A lot of the stages are tented. The one thing about LA, for example it did rain at 10 on the day of New Years Eve. LA weather at it’s worst is nothing to worry about…

June: (lol)…like Glastonbury in the UK, where everyone is in rain gear the whole time.

Dave: that’s right! My hope is that people will realize that party has been going on for 5 years, and it always goes on! We are very accommodating if people want to bring raingear, we have a huge coat check. We have been doing this for 5 years – when it was t-shirt weather, or when it was a little chilly, and we always have a great time. There are several indoor seated areas of this event. It’s LA!

June: Will this be the event that makes Los Angeles the go-to place for New Years Eve? And why?

Dave: It sure will. This is the largest 21 and over event for New Years Eve. This is our 6th year of doing it. It is very compact and loaded with stages and lounges and bars and a variety of things to do!

June: Los Angeles is so spread out. How does that hinder or how does that spice up the electronic music scene?

Dave: Really, it is a great asset. It is said that Los Angeles is segregated. But that makes great pockets of a variety of music for every taste. Echo park and Silverlake, the West Side, the burgeoning scene downtown. For New Years Eve, downtown is very central no matter where – or what music scene - you are coming from.

June: Will there be fireworks at midnight?

Dave: Oh yes! In fact this year we will have fireworks at midnight behind 3 stages at once! So wherever you are at the event you will be able to see at least one or more fireworks.

June: So, the party’s on!…where are tickets available?

Dave: Tickets are only available at Virgin Megastores, or our Website www.giantvillage.com, where you can get directions, hotel and any other information you need.

June: Thanks so much Dave… It is great for me to be speaking to a legend!

Dave: (lol) Well, I’ve really just been doing this for so long, it’s all I know how to do.

Giant Village New Years Eve Entertainment Line Up:

Grand Stage
The Black Eyed Peas
Z-Trip
Christopher Lawrence

Hope Stage
Death Cab for Cutie
Junkie XL
Junior Senior
Jason Bentley

Flower Stage
John Digweed
Jimmy Van M

Community Service Stage
The Crystal Method
Adam Freeland

Deep Stage
Miguel Migs
Marques Wyatt

Mutaytor Stage
Mutaytor




-June Caldwell
 

June Caldwell lives amidst drawers stuffed with an array of earplugs, clipped wristbands, and notes scrawled on ticket stubs… splitting her time between concert reviews, and doing radio airplay promotions for Indie bands at Bryan Farrish Radio Promotions. She covers the LA music scene for artrocker.com, the largest bi-weekly new music publication in the UK, and www.fly.co.uk with her shutterbug hubby Roger.

June’s always interested in Indie bands looking for promotion, and can be contacted at: junejer@gmail.com.