There are other places to find nightlife entertainment in Oklahoma than just sports bars. In fact, there is a whole other scene that thrives at night.

"Techno" was the word everybody used to label the scene in the '90s. Now, the scene can be identified with such terms as drum and bass, electroclash, industrial, dance, jungle, hard house, happy hardcore, trance, and trip hop to name just a few.

Although the scene is arguably sparse, heavy names are not foreign to Oklahoma City or Norman for that matter. This summer, internationally-recognized DJ Darude even made it all the way from Finland to play at Norman's Kongos.

"I haven't had very bad turnouts or gigs here," Darude said. "But when you go to a club here, the event has to be promoted well, and the crowd knows what they are listening to. In bigger cities, super clubs that cost 60 dollars to get in, you can find people in the club and they know the music. It's a problem that our music is so faceless. We don't have moves like Britney or we don't sell with our faces."

Darude said the dance scene is something very touchy when it comes to name-recognition or selling out. The locals are championed, and once a DJ gets to be a household name, suddenly they are outcast.

"BT is one of the examples that have done commercials and stuff," Darude said. "Dirty Vegas is a good thing or Tiesto playing the Olympics. You know that they got blasted for selling the Olympics. How many billions of people saw that or heard that, and now they are wondering what the hell Tiesto is. I think that is a great thing, I was jamming when I heard it myself."

Local DJs in Oklahoma City have their own struggles to deal with, the least of which is worrying about selling out.

Local DJ Ed Crunk had his own club in Del City, the now-defunct Electric Bitch Magnet. Now solo, he has toured with everybody from Dieselboy to Shiny Toy Guns. Crunk has had his ups and downs in Oklahoma, especially since the cops helped diminish the raver scene after 9/11.

Since then, up-and-coming DJs who have continued to make a mark in the local scene include Kelly Trance, DJ Bone, and DJ Parasight.

"It seems like stuff's starting to pick up again," Crunk said. "Everything has moved from raves into the clubs. You can go out pretty much every night. Like Venu. I like that club style. I like something that's nice and kinda upscale.

"I like to play a lot of electroclash. I'm actually gonna stay here a while 'cause there is a lot of people into that. I'm trying to push rock like The Killers or Franz Ferdinand."

All these DJs are accessible enough, not just because they play in the OKC area, but they are also all over MySpace.com.

Darude opener Kenneth Thomas said that the scene is extremely competitive.

There's even DJ etiquette that he follows. The opening DJs are just that, openers to warm up the crowd. Thomas said if he drops the big tracks and tires out the crowd, it can cost them their jobs.

Even Crunk said there are more DJs than there are venues.

"I'll piss off the DJs," Thomas said. "If I play harder than Oakenfold, he's not gonna have me open for him. It's not like a rock concert where they do their own thing."

Crunk said otherwise, especially for the local scene.

"If you have you have the chance to play for a big crowd you throw it down if you can," Crunk said. "When people get on Dallas Dance Music or whatever message board, they will say that you rocked harder than the headliners. I don't see it hurting you. What matters is if people dance."
hello there & you too