Totem Carriers: The Real Heroes of Beyond Bay 2015

Carrying a totem around a festival for hours on end is ostensibly a lot of work, but for many of the people that do it, it’s a badge of honor. Totem carriers are the glue that hold rave families together, ensuring that everyone assembles in the same spot for key sets, and even helping non-totem-affiliated friends orient themselves in the crowd.

Here, we get the stories behind nine of the totems at Beyond Bay 2015.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, this totem is in fact a bass head. Making his debut at Escape from Wonderland 2013 and appearing at five festivals since, it has gotten a recent upgrade with glowing electric eyes and a freshly painted pole. Affectionatly dubbed “Brad the Bass Head,” it came to his owner, Gary, from a friend in Las Vegas who had been using it for target practice. We’re going to assume that Brad prefers the festival lifestyle.

You may remember the episode of The Simpsons in which Mr Burns is mistaken for an alien. Or perhaps you don’t. In any case, this totem depicts the character in that episode. This Oakland, CA-based crew actually found the Mr. Burns alien totem during day three of EDC 2015. They adopted it and have been using it ever since. “Mr Burns is known for being evil,” says group member Diego, “but we flipped it around because we’re in the rave culture, and we’re all about the peace.”

Diego and Dan lost all of their friends on the first day of Beyond Bay and knew they needed to up their game for day two. When they got home on Saturday night, the roommates resourcefully scavenged their apartment and decided that their Swiffer Sweeper and broom would be ideal makeshift totems. “The beat gets really dirty sometimes around here,” Dan observed, “and you’ve got to clean it up.”

Kyle from Napa Valley, CA, (right) spent five hours making his alien totem from styrofoam, foil, a pole and an inflatable alien. He’s brought it to three Insomniac shows thus far and even created an Instagram for his creation (check it @followmyufo). Kyle says that people in the crowd love the alien during the daytime, but they love it even more at night when the UFO lights up. Baller.

Tim from Stockton, CA, (right) made this totem after seeing a Vine video in which the kid in the photo announces, “That was legitness.” Tim went with this particular design upon observing that “everything about this event is legitness, too.” And there you have it.

Armando and Adrian have been friends for four years and wanted to express their friendship via their totems. “We figured that these two characters, R2-D2 and C-3PO, are like the best of friends,” Armando said. “Like us, they’ve been through everything.” The San Jose, CA-based buddies noted that their totems not only helped them find each other the few times they got separated, but that the crowd was enjoying their creations. “I feel that R2 and C-3PO don’t get enough love,” says Adrian. “You see a lot of Storm Troopers and Darth Vader, but these two are a lot more PLUR.”

Alex from Napa Valley, CA, made this totem from a photo of her nephew Grayson. Her dad, a former cop, helped her put it together and will also be attending EDC Vegas 2016 with his daughter. “He totally understands why I love the scene,” she says. While Grayson is only five months old, Alex is sure that he’s going to become a professional soccer player, and she wants Rainbow Rotella to consider him for a future husband.

It was love at first sight when Taylor and Chase met at Beyond Bay 2013, and the happy, tie-dyed couple celebrated their two-year anniversary by carrying around a totem with their faces on it. Though they live in separate cities, they’re both heavily into trance and each other. Before the couple ran off to see David Steven at Mad Hatter’s Castle, Taylor asserted that “this is a real-ass relationship that’s probably going to last forever.” We hope it does!

Bay Area resident Gurprizzi came to Beyond by himself and knew he’d be able to make new friends—a lot of new friends—by handing out free gum and publicizing his offering on his totem. He arrived at the show with 400 pieces of gum and soon had to buy more from the vendor at the festival. “I asked myself what was a good way to meet new people and to meet people’s needs,” he said, “and gum is a need for people.” And yes, he generously gave us some gum.

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