Abby Cooper (she/they), a 26 year old woman from Los Angeles, CA and the Founder of Bass n Babes shares her thoughts about building intentional and inclusive spaces in the rave scene.
Jack: For our audience who doesn’t know, what is Bass n Babes?
Abby: Yeah, Bass n Babes is a femme-forward and queer rave for LGBTQ ravers. We are a community and a music collective and event series and our goal is to provide inclusive and welcoming spaces for anyone who might feel like they don’t totally fit in at mainstream events.
Jack: That’s really cool. I know that the rave space was built on being inclusive and helping those communities that are oftentimes pushed outside of the regular spaces. So that’s really cool that you are focusing on helping those communities find spaces where everyone feels welcome. So, what inspired you to start Bass n Babes?
Abby: Yeah, basically it just came from my love for two different communities that were both kind of lacking in some way to me. One of those was the queer sapphic scene. I felt like these parties didn’t really play music that I liked. It’s a lot of pop, indie, just, you know, good music, but it’s not always like what I want to listen to when I go out. Cuz I love the rave scene. I love festivals. I love shows. I love bass music. I love weird, wonky, underground sounds. And I found that a lot of those shows that I went to were extremely male-dominated. You know, men on the lineups, men in the crowd. There weren’t that many women there, which is sad because like you said, a lot of electronic music came from queer communities. But even when I was at these festivals or shows, I would notice there are queer people here, there are women here, but it’s just not the majority. And so I wanted to create an intentional space where we could be the majority and where it could be an extension of queer culture instead of being a typical mainstream heteronormative space. Bass n Babes came from a love for those two communities and wanting to bridge the gap between them and create a new space for folks to express themselves.
Jack: Really cool. I think that’s awesome that you are bringing together your passions and inviting people in to create a safe space where you know you can find the music you love and the community that you relate to. So, is there anything exciting happening with Bass n Babes in the future?
Abby: Yeah! I am so glad you asked. We are really excited because this year we are bringing Bass n Babes to new cities. We’ve been in LA the past 2 years and we actually have our first event in a new city next Friday on March 7th in San Francisco Bay Area. We’re really excited to present Hot Girl Bayss. We have a lineup of Bass music DJs, all women, all queer women. We are bringing amazing cross genre fluid bass music to The Stud SF. We are really excited to work with local businesses like Raveival and some other vendors. We have live painting. We have dancers. And this is all taking place at the Stud SF, which is a recently reopened LGBTQ club in SOMA.
Jack: Yeah, we are super excited here at Raveival for Hot Girl Bayss. It’s going to pop off, and I’m excited to, you know, bring sustainable rave fashion into the space.
Abby: Yeah, one thing we’ve always tried to center at Bass n Babes is uplifting other queer-owned small businesses. We’ve always made a point to have local vendors at our shows showcasing their art and their businesses. We are really excited. I think, making raving more sustainable is definitely huge in the current environment. And so, we’re really excited to partner with another queer-owned business such as Raveival.
Jack: Yeah, we’ve worked together in the past and it’s always been super fun collaborating. And something that I really appreciate is that Bass n Babes was actually the first small business who reached out to do a collab with Raveival, and I always found that to be really cool. It brought a lot of excitement to my life when someone actually saw the value in what I was bringing to the world. So thank you for that.
Since you talked a little bit about small businesses, what’s something you want the audience to remember when they think about how they can support the community?
Abby: I think it’s important to remember in the world we live in, we make choices with how we spend our money. And with super mainstream festivals and events, it can be easy to see that huge artist that you love and want to go to that show. But you have to remember all these artists that are huge now started somewhere. They didn’t start off making hits. They started off playing at a local venue for a local promoter. And so going to those smaller events that are run by independent promoters that aren’t sponsored by huge companies really makes a difference. You can find underrated artists that are really amazing that just haven’t come up yet.
And it’s just really important to, support those local event promoters and support smaller artists because, it’ll help you feel more like a part of the community as well. That’s where the community starts, at these smaller events where there are artists playing who haven’t come up yet. That’s really where the magic happens.
That’s where the culture is being pushed forward. And so tapping in with your local scene and finding those events is just a really great way to, get involved and meet the people who are making this stuff happen.
Jack: Yeah, that’s really awesome. Thank you. What can ravers do to help make the rave scene more inclusive?
Abby: Yeah, great question. Like I had said too, when you decide to go to a show, paying attention to what the promoter is doing to make their space inclusive. A lot of smaller events that I see happening in LA and other places, they make a point to have community guidelines and they talk about how hate speech is not welcome at their events, like sexism, homophobia, this is all not welcome. They’re looking out for each other. They talk about creating a space of respect. And so just paying attention to those promoters and who is doing that and making it a central part of their mission to be inclusive is really important. Paying attention to who’s being booked on these lineups. Is the lineup inclusive? Is it a diverse lineup when it comes to gender, race, queer identity? You can make the scene more inclusive by supporting events that are inclusive.
Jack: Yeah, it’s like be the change you want to see in the world. If we want to see more queer, femme bookings, where race is also considered and we’re trying to include all of these voices in the conversation, we have to actively be seeking out these opportunities and going and supporting these people.
Abby: And you show your support with the events you choose to spend money on and the ways that you show up when you’re going out to shows. But also just like being aware of the space that you’re in and the people around you be aware of the space that you’re taking up and if you’re in a space where, you’re being considerate of people around you, it really shows.
Jack: Mhm. Thank you for that.
I would love to learn a little bit more about you. How long have you been DJing?
Abby: I’ve been DJing for about three years, a little over three years.
Jack: And what’s your stage name?
Abby: My stage name is Baby Kush.
Jack: I love it. where can we find some of your music?
Abby: Currently you can find my music on my Soundcloud. And right now I have two remixes out on Soundcloud. But one thing that is really exciting coming up with Bass n Babes is we are launching our label this year. And so you’ll be able to find my first original track released on that label in June.
Jack: Are there any artists that you want to call out that inspire your own mixing and music production?
Abby: I would say Canabliss is a huge inspiration. Sharlitz Web and A Hundred Drums. And then just the communities of people that I work with in Bass n Babes and Kyra Collective like all the artists releasing music and producing in those communities like Kyra, So Sus, Beat Kitty. There’s so many amazing women in the scene who’s talent hasn’t really been tapped into yet by the top festival talent buyers and all that. But yeah, there’s a lot of really amazing music being made by all these women and queer artists.
Jack: And Beat Kitty is the headliner for Hot Girl Bayss. Is that right?
Abby: Yes, that is right! Really excited for her set.
Jack: I’m super excited to listening to them!
You touched on a lot of meaningful topics. and I was wondering, is there any last words that you want to leave our readers with?
Abby: My last words would be just like find your community. I think a lot of us love raving because we’re able to feel free and accepted and it’s a really amazing scene, but there’s so many niche smaller communities within that that really can help you feel accepted and loved and finding that with the type of music that you love and the type of people is really important. So for me that’s a huge reason that Bass n Babes has been so important to me. It really led me to so many amazing people and a community of people that support me and we support each other. So I would just say that is a number one thing just of human existence like finding your community is so important.
Jack: Awesome. Thank you Abby. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you.
Abby: Thanks for interviewing me.
