The Night I Fell in Love With Dance Music: Lara Kelley

In this ongoing series, dance music industry veterans talk about the night they became slaves to the beat.

As the Regional VP of Complex Media, Lara Kathleen Kelley oversees all West Coast sales and media for the online youth culture platform. She also moonlights as a freelance writer for Complex, covering festivals including Holy Ship, BPM and Coachella. Previously, Kelley spent three years at MTV, helping them launch their dance music coverage by doing MTV News’ first interviews with Swedish House Mafia, deadmau5, Avicii, Laidback Luke and more.

After moving to Los Angeles from her native Ohio, Kelley began her career as a Sales & Marketing Manager at the seminal URB Magazine, writing articles while also running point on events and promotions. Here, she recounts the solo journey to SoCal’s Inland Empire that sparked her career.

Did you get into dance music when you moved to L.A.?
I had already been in love with dance music for more than five years, thanks to my first roommate in college, who turned me onto the sounds of LTJ Bukem, DJ Dara, Freaky Flow and the rest of that dark, mysterious jungle music scene.

After graduating from Ohio State University, I moved to Los Angeles to write for my favorite music publication, URB Magazine. It was 2004, and I was sent to San Diego to cover Street Scene, a now extinct but once really successful festival in the Gaslamp district of Downtown SD. It was my 21st birthday, and I jammed out to headliners A Tribe Called Quest—who were performing together for the first time in six years—and had a blast taking notes for what would be my second published story ever for URB.

What were your thoughts on that event?
Something was missing. Street Scene didn’t have the dance music acts that I was becoming more passionate about, and I left the festival wondering where I could go in California to find my fix.

And then?
As I’m walking out the exit, I noticed a massive flyer in the middle of the street, and its artwork caught my eye. I picked it up—yes, off the street—and turned it over to find details about something called “Nocturnal Wonderland,” which was celebrating its 10th anniversary and had the lineup I’d been after: Dieselboy, Goldie, Doc Martin, Kaskade, Donald Glaude, etc.

What did you do?
I went home that night to plan out how I would get to San Bernardino for the party. I emailed Insomniac and told them I wanted to cover the festival for URB, and decided to go to my first rave in L.A. alone and force myself to meet new friends.

Ballsy.
Two weeks later, I rented a Ford Escort for the day and drove myself out to the desert in pursuit of pleasure. When I got to the National Orange Show, I was greeted at a side gate by two promoters, Disco Donnie and Pasquale, who picked me up on their golf cart and welcomed me into the festival. They showed me around the park, and I was blown away by all the party kids and the massive stages that were set up, all booming the sounds that I loved. It was the biggest dance festival I had ever been to.

How did you feel?
I was head over feet.

Then what happened?
Pasquale and Donnie dropped me off at the drum & bass stage, per my request, and left me to fend for myself. I took a deep breath, entered the dome, and was greeted with heavy bass and shining LEDs that took over all of my senses.

What stands out in your memory from that event?
That day, I met friends that I would keep ‘til this day: MC Dino, DJ Machete and Justin Ford [the Respect crew], Lonnie Thompson, and others who shared my tastes in music and culture. That day, the L.A. dance music scene became my new home.

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