Electric Forest celebrated their biggest year yet. The Forest was decked out with art, paintings and adorned with people enjoying themselves.
The night brought light displays through the trees and even a surprise or two during the weekend. Bryan and Hugh of Golf Clap, a Detroit techno and house duo, know full well of the magic of the forest.
Photo by David Pauly
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They had a talk with F4L about EF and “What can happen if you open your mind to it.”
They have been playing somewhere at the festival for about three years now and have watched the synchronicity grow over the years. Hugh mentioned a chance occurrence of meeting the woman who does all the bookings for Electric Forest or simply bumming a cigarette and being able to play a special guest last year. They have been part of the Electric Glens, a place behind the Tripolee stage where the new gear is available and able to be used or tested. They have become an interwoven part of a crew that Hugh mentioned as some of their life long friends made in the very forest that many others hopefully were making.
Courtesy of Golf Clap, shot from the roof of the RV on the Wednesday night set.
They played a pop-up set on the top of an RV on Hugh’s birthday on Wednesday night and kicking off the festivities. The set was a last minute thing with, “even someone else’s laptop.” With a seemingly not perfect set-up and even possibly dangerous. “The RV was shaking from the people dancing down on the ground,” said Hugh. Even if it was a little nerve racking the set went great and there was no real issues. There is even a limited edition hat pin in the works commemorating all the people involved, mentioned Hugh.
“It’s pretty much our favorite festival, so we go each year. We play the artist’s pool everyday and keep our feelers out and try and play as many sets as we can,” said Bryan. “The observatory stage was not planned, we were asked to play the day of.”
Sunday night set at the Observatory stage. Photo By David Pauly
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The Sunday night observatory set was packed with people, and the vibes were great. Hugh mentioned, there was every piece of equipment that we possibly could have dreamed of, which was a total difference from the RV set-up.
“We also pulled off Cris Angel ‘Mind Freak’ moves all weekend,” said Hugh. “Anyone who was there will know what we were talking about, making random things disappear.”
Photo by David Pauly
https://www.instagram.com/n0_parking/
In closing, Hugh offered some lovely advice for those who haven’t been to EF before, and are hoping to come in the future.
It’s great to come with a crew, especially at least one person who has come before. It’s a tough festival to navigate by yourself and truly enjoy, because it is rather large. Having the comforts that you enjoy are a perk because the GA camping is out in the open, and in some cases Good Life passes are the way to go. There is always time to wander off into the forest and make new friends but a little organization goes a long way into making sure you are prepared enough for magic to happen.
Thank you Hugh and Bryan for being so lovely!
Golf Clap will be playing many more shows this summer including Charivari on Belle Isle, Dirty Bird Camp-out Detroit, and North Coast Music Festival.
For music and more info, check their Facebook.
