Under the Brooklyn and Whitestone bridges, under Pelham Parkway in The Bronx and in the Van Wyck tunnels under Queens---in abandoned warehouses in every borough---kids gathered to listen to music in a new way: to dance, to rave, to experience the unity and artistic expression enjoyed by their parent’s hippie generation: a counter-cultural movement that was lost in the commercialism and materialist obsessions of the 70s and 80s. There were clubs like Limelight, Tunnel (NASA), Roxy, and Sound Factory that picked up the rave trends originating in England and provided venues for unknown Dj’s like Moby, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyck, Carl Cox and Richie Hawton, who all played their first gigs then. What we now call EDM could be heard at a place on Long Island called Club Caffeine in Dix Hills. Dorian Cuomo, graffiti writer and dancer, and Michael Salzillo, musician and DJ… the founders and principals of NEON EAST, were there…. In 2009, the founders decided that the time had come to reach back to bring the best of their past rave experiences into the new millennium. The 90’s rave culture experience of artistic and personal expression that defines who they are would become their company’s mission. Dorian and Michael set out to create nothing less than a new musical present, a new rave experience unlike anything ever heard or seen. The decision was made to spawn NEON EAST as a way to educate a new generation of rave culture to its rich and humble beginnings. The mission is to infuse the older values of rave culture into current EDM trends, maintaining the core values of counter-cultural unity and artistic expression that the original 90’s scene was built upon.....and they are succeeding. And so at the first major NEON EAST events: Mixtape and Hardnox NYE in 2010, two thousand raver's experienced for the first time multiple EDM styles in multi-room venues. NEON EAST events have introduced marker tagging, live graffiti walls, performance art, and artists being filmed by MTV. These experiences have never before been seen at contemporary raves. NEON EAST went out of the box and brought three thousand ravers to new, never before used venues like Thunderdome's 60K sq. theater in Brooklyn, a mega event where old “Rave” Dj’s and new “EDM” Dj’s spun different genres of Electronic Music under one roof: Hardstyle, Dubstep, Jungle, Trance, House… all in one night: just another old rave concept that NEON EAST is re-inventing and re-introducing to the EDM scene. NEON EAST has worked with the renowned Warsaw and The Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, for the first time bringing dance music together with the indie rock movement, creating an explosive synergy never before thought possible. NEON EAST’S staff of over 40 street and internet promoters, Djs, Security personal, Go Go Dancers, and Photographers, bolstered by the promotional wizardry of Jesse Free, has successfully executed over 50 events in just the last 3 years…and this is just the beginning. The growth of NEON EAST since 2010 has been steady and focused, and the company is now poised to bring to the EDM scene an artistic culture and youth movement of unlimited potential. NEON EAST has its ear to the street; current trends are created by us. Think Haight Ashbury, Woodstock and the Hippie movement, NYC (CBGB), Punk Rock, Rap. This is the stage we are at right now. Our events are not just bringing thousands together to dance and party. Our events are not just creating trends. Our events are creating no less than the next great wave of musical experience.
