Books: The Raver Stories Project

The Raver Stories Project is the book that reveals the rave scene as it really was and is, compiled and edited by one of the ultimate rave insiders—dance music photojournalist Michael Tullberg. Having worked for virtually all the major electronic music magazines of the period, such as URB, MIXER, BPM Culture and Insider, Tullberg has long been dissatisfied with the mainstream public’s negative perception of raving. In late 2016, he put out a Call for Story Submissions to the electronic music community, asking for their most memorable, exciting and even transformative experiences in the rave scene. The response he got was nothing less than phenomenal.

Tullberg received stories from around the world, ranging in time from the original UK rave explosion in the late 1980s until the present day. The scope of the stories is impressively wide, including warehouse parties, desert raves, mansion parties, underground clubs, and much more. Tales came in about the over-the-top lunacy of Electric Daisy Carnival, the elite VIP room at Ministry of Sound London, and the desert wastes of Burning Man, among many others.

“There’s never been an American book about electronic music like this one,” said Tullberg. “Never before have fans of electronic music banded together to tell their stories of what the rave scene is really like, and why it means so much to them. For the first time, their voices can now be heard as a legitimate and productive counter to the negatively-tinged narrative found in much of the mainstream media.”