‘For The Heads: An Oral History Of EXAT, Detroits Legendary 90s Experimental And Ambient Techno Night At Zoots Coffeehouse
Detroit's underground dance scene of the 1990s is justifiably legendary, but one of the most vibrant and influential events of the decade was small, packed, and not at all about dance.
EXAT - Experimental and Ambient Techno - takes place every Monday evening at the legendary Zoot's Coffee Shop. Founded in late 1992 by Dan Solomon, who sold the business three years later to two associates, Aaron Anderson and Scott Michalski, Zoot has hosted everyone from His Name Is Live, Windy & Carl, to Slater-Kinney. blood box From about 1994 - no one remembers the exact date - until the closing of the concert hall in the early autumn of 1997, the last night of which was September 29, EXAT undoubtedly strengthened Jut's musical record.
EXAT is promoted by veteran party organizer Adriel Thornton, who has hosted secondary ambient venues for legendary events such as Kevin Saunderson's Hardcore Journey (State Theatre, 6 September 1992); He ran Space 19, a boutique for his projects, and a permanent rave venue run by Zoots. The event's resident DJs, Carlos Saffront and Clark Warner, have had illustrious careers behind the scenes. EXAT has also hosted sets by various local (Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin) and international (Outtake) electronic music writers. It was a place where artists and stage freaks gathered after a weekend party, often to do tricks.
EXAT drew a crowd of listeners, or it was a social crowd with background music: "Sometimes it was both," Thornton said. It was more than that, as several locals and regulars attested to.
"By law, it was the only cafe in the city center."
Patrick Russell [DJ]: Zoot was great. It was a small coffee shop near the Wayne University campus.
Clark Warner [XAT Resident]: If you've seen [the documentary] In Search of Sugar Man , it looks like the house that Rodriguez lived in. This is one of the classic Detroit-Woodbridge homes on the Wayne State campus.
Aaron Anderson [Zoot contributor, 1993-95 and co-owner, 1995-98] : For years I thought of it as a holdover from beatniks and hippies. I remember there was a San Francisco coffee shop in Birmingham. But there were not many of them in the city.
Adriel Thornton [XAT promoter]: I was at Wayne State at the time. It was the only legit cafe - I think it was, I literally can't think of another - at least close to the center of town.
Warning: You entered the cafe to read a book or pick someone up It wasn't a bar for singles, but it was also a place where cool people hang out, because who wants to spend $3 on a cup of coffee?
Thornton: I remember trying to explain to someone what a coffee shop is: "It's not just coffee." I went there to read magazines, to bookstores, and then I sat there and flipped through the wallpapers .
Colleen Dureno [Joot Contributor; Detroit Is It , October 2019]: Zoot opened as a coffee shop, but I don't recall ever serving much coffee. There was no liquor license, but there was plenty of beer and sometimes other goods.
Sean Horton [DJ]: The owner was friendly with everyone. There were many university students. There were about 50 people.
Anderson: I think I saw a sign that said [capacity] 71 people. I know that we brought more than one hundred and fifty people to the concert.
Dureno: The property was deserted and people with money didn't frequent the area.
Carlos Sofffront [XAT Resident]: It was a house. You will come to the front door. So you order a coffee straight down the stairs. To the right, in front of the house, was the stage, perhaps four or five inches from the main floor. It had an old creaky wooden floor.
Sarah Vidosh [very natural]: lots of furniture: mismatched tables and chairs, shelves. Flyers are everywhere.
Rob Theakston [Regular Exat]: Another advantage of cafes was that they were automatically local to all ages.
Anderson: I think there was a need in the city for an alternative venue that was all-ages and a little more laid-back and unconventional, with different scenes.
Vidos: It was the most diverse music.
Thornton: It was reading poetry, acting, just a lot going on.
Anderson: On Sundays there was jazz, sometimes a rock band would play, a little acoustic when I first started - not necessarily DJing.
"Twenty-five dollars a night."
Vidosh: It was great that Aaron was so open about everything. It was like the Wild West [Cas] in that bandit time.
Anderson: I just got back from a trip to the countryside . "I want to work here." And I stayed until they hired me. It was still temporary weekly meals.
Sam Photius [promoter]: There were many groups of people : rock people, artists, college kids.
Vidosh: I don't think there's much difference between the indie guys and the techno guys. A lot of indie guys in bands end up at dance parties anyway.
Anderson: I grew up in Detroit. The techno scene is also a part of it. I went to dance school and they played the Model 500. Growing up, I had "Clear" on my 12-inch [Cybotron debuted in 1981]. I knew him.
I also went to school with Sam Fatias. We both went to Kash together. Earlier, the world moved from Detroit techno to the rave scene. Once when we were recovering, he said, “I have this party. Take a look below. It is new. I'll take you to the door. I grew up with techno, was familiar with the rave scene and knew its members.
Dan Solomon opened a coffee shop, ran it for about three or four years, and decided to do something else. I think at that time he wanted to try to get an architecture degree.
Thornton: Dan has more roots in the punk scene. Zoot was his dog.
Anderson: I started working there in late '93. I worked there for about a year and a half, and then Dan offered it to his staff - so Scott Michalski and I took it and bought it - it was '95. For $10,000, one month's payment and all debts, Scott and I took over the business. Our parents gave us a loan.
THORNTON: I remember sitting down with Clark Warner. I said, "Hey, how about ambient night?" Even though I'm a fan of the dance floor, I loved the stage. Like Clark. I could play with a title like "Etude" or something like that. It was really about listening to those words. What we could call the "library" was the second room on the way to the bathroom, there was a TV, so we played there just like movies, just for the pictures. The goal was to come and relax.
SUFFRONT: He booked me and Clark Warner as residents.
Anderson: I think from the beginning it had a huge audience. He had his own inner crowd. The whole party in Detroit was brilliant then. It was at the height of raves in the Midwest.
Thornton: I was a well-known rave promoter in town at the time, so it made sense, we all loved ambient music at the time. And Jut had it all. He really served all the dungeons.
Anderson: It was $25 a night . Basically, anyone with a good or interesting idea can book a room there for $25 a night.
"EXAT was for the head."
Saffron: Adriel was an idealistic man. He doesn't really have any equipment. That's why I brought equipment. I always carried a turntable and a mixer, as well as a CD player. You couldn't adjust the pitch, but it was ambient, so it didn't do a hard beat mix or anything like that.
Robert Gorrell [inside regular]: Carlos was the sweetest guy to me, but also the scariest guy to me, because even then his profile was completely encyclopedic. Every time I've been there, I've heard a lot of music that I've never heard before. It was also the beginning of Clark's operation M_nus. EXAT was for executives .
Derek Plaslico [DJ]: Every time Clarke played a short, it was always something memorable. He seemed to have a theme. It wasn't just the ambience - it added something of old classic rock, it was great.
THICKSTON: They're going to play the Biosphere and the CIA . But then they came back and played Derrick May and Ten Second Dynasty, another Detroit space rock band. And then Clarke would pull something like The Beatles' "Flying" from The Magic Mystery Tour .
THORNTON: Maybe ten of us are laying there listening to it, and someone goes up on the deck, tries to see what the record is, and then talks to Carlos for ten minutes.
Russell. You sometimes see children there on weekends. There they hung on the stairs.
Horton: It was the first time I felt like I could share ideas about music, communicate in a community. You're not in a loud club or an environment where you can't talk.
Vidosh: I remember one time Derek Plyko and I were hanging out in the back room.
Pluslico: I remember sitting in the bathroom with Sarah Vidosh a few times. It was always like, "What the hell, kiss."
ANDERSON: There's some interesting zoo footage that the woman uploaded to YouTube. Julie was working on a VCR at a local coffee shop. Walked in and recorded EXAT all night long. He was a movie buff, he hung out in bars, and whenever something interesting happened, he would bring a camera and film it.
Matthew Hawtin [DJ]: As far as coffee is concerned , we've had a coffee night in Windsor and Jutes in Detroit. There was another one in Toronto - it seemed like a place where the music was acceptable, but it was a Monday or Tuesday night, after the weekend, everyone wanted to get together, not have crazy nights, but just be together. I think people will only talk about it on Facebook now.
THACKSTON: All these little pockets of different club nights from 1994 to 2004—the Mad Hatter and the Zoot—were as important to the continuity of the whole Detroit story as the big clubs like the Motor. The engine was in place, but the engine was not the place to be innovative.
SOUFFRONT : EXAT became a meeting place for out-of-towners that weekend, while still in town, we invited, "Hey, if you want to play in front of a seated audience, you've got to be strong."
Dave Walker [MW-Raves, May 14, 1996]: When guys like Stacey Pullen, Claude Young, Carl pay big bucks to see "DJ Trance" or whatever at an ice rink thirty miles north of town? See Craig, Mike Huckabee, etc. play Jutes, Shelter or Galligan's for $2-5 during the week?
Pluslyco: Kenny Larkin played live there once.
Thornton: Another great thing for me was the weekend when they played Autech after playing another promotional party. My understanding is that they actually stayed because they wanted to come and play EXAT.
Pluslaiko: I remember talking to Ötehr that night. I asked a silly question: "Do you have any advice for aspiring producers?" And they said, "Yes, buy the equipment, study for months, and when you think you've learned everything , study for a few more months." And then just when you think you've learned it all. , he returned after a few months and then bought another piece of equipment. That took me out of production for a few years.
"A super important rave date."
BRENDAN ROAN [Author; Orbita , April 1995]: On March 5, 1995, I participated in a mass police operation in which hundreds of children and several drug dealers were injured. My crime? Try to have some fun. . . . A week before the event, The Detroit News published an article by freelance writer Irwin Jackson listing the drug use and underage sex with the rocks at the party at 1315 Broadway, one block from 1515 Broadway. TV2 presenter Amy Jacobsen revealed she was broadcasting an underground "rave party" days after her bankruptcy. The downside is that this report, with its dark and jarring camera angles, was actually filmed at Zoot's coffee shop during normal hours.
Photius: Every Monday we had a preaching meeting in Detroit. את אמי הב, Dean [Major], Adriel; from time to time, Our friend Jason Vetrano, who used to party, our other friend Alan Bogle. Because there was no email, Facebook, or message boards, people would get together and discuss, "I have these dates," or "What are we going to do about this police situation?" - face to face.
विडोस: आमी नियाई भुल्ब ना: Richie Hawtin came to EXAT on Monday for a very important rave meeting among all promoters. He was about to sit down and said, "Sarah you should stay here." I tried not to hit the floor when I ran there.
Thornton: After the raid, channel two - I'm not sure if they hit me or Zoot. But we knew they would come anyway. And I think we could have done "visual reunion" without the quote. I remember Richie there. Matt was there, Sam [فتياس], all the preachers of the city; there were several DJs. I clearly think that we immediately came up with a plan not to discuss our scene with them. I can be a press secretary. When we saw the final episode, they were trying to act legally like they were confused. It was so stupid. It was something like, "Well, that's a hell of a creative outlet."
"but it's only sustainable for so long."
Thornton: Zoot was still one of those things to be aware of. And it targets such a special audience: raver, some punk and hip-hop. But it is sustainable for now.
Anderson: I was a bad entrepreneur. We are a 23-year-old entrepreneur, you know? At least we knew all the nuances of preparing the drink, organizing the event and promoting it. but the other side was not good. I was pretty wild in my twenties. As an entrepreneur, it didn't bother me.
Thornton: I remember just talking to Aaron once and he was upset that they kept finding burnt spoons in the bathroom.
Anderson : EXAT was active until the very end.
Видош: I can't believe I've had these friends for almost 30 years. I was going to see the same people at EXAT.
Pluslico: That's how I approached all these people. These people are still family to me.
Beat: May 2000
Russell: Carlos Safron's three-hour set [at DEMF 2000; Southfront YouTube page] - Played on the underground stage and it rained all morning. The fluorescent lamp was always on. from front to back, Carlos has played a wider range than that. His EXAT material from Zoot, B-12 is very good early British material. It just got weirder and weirder and weirder and weirder, and the last 45 minutes were just jamming: Kraftwerk, License Dangers, Board of Canada - it became a very intense thing. This was definitely my favorite set of the weekend.
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