BangOn!NYC is throwing New York City's most spectacular warehouse parties

In the depths of Brooklyn, beyond the industrial construction work and unmarked towers, is the faint sound of pulsating bass. It’s shaking the very foundations of a warehouse nearby, making bricks quake and sheet metal shake.

Excitement builds as you approach the dark, mysterious building and push your way through the stained PVC strips that hang from a two-metre tall metal door. At last, the electronic wonderland that you’ve traveled so far to explore reveals itself. You’re cast in a menagerie of neon light with holographic contours stretching their way across the length of the ceiling. Beeps ‘n bleeps fill the air and all available space between bodies.

Welcome to the New York City warehouse experience.

And, more specifically, the BangOn!NYC warehouse experience.

The party crew is taking over the city that never sleeps with underground, covertly promoted, ultra stimulating raves. But these aren’t your typical warehouse parties, decorated with laser pointers and makeshift disco balls. BangOn!NYC flips the warehouse concept upside down and pumps it with steroids. Think monstrous installations, elite sound systems, and on-point artist bookings.

BangOn!NYC is special because it allows visual artists to run wild. A sense of bewilderment and wonder captures its audiences and pushes them toward a euphoric experience. Dream meets reality at these events and the possibilities are endless.

The music ain't bad either, with Lee Burridge, Justin Martin, Brenmar and many more soundtracking the spectacular events. Indeed, founders Tim Monkiewicz and Brett Herman take spectacle very seriously, with a consistent “Holy shit!” factor.

We sat down with the two to chat about artistic values, how BangOn!NYC has evolved over the years and what it means to lead the New York City warehouse scene.

How did BangOn!NYC start? Tell us about your first event.

It definitely started small, very small. We were just a couple of kids who loved to throw house parties and such. The first BangOn! event was seven years ago, maybe 300 people in a tiny loft.

Regardless of size, we knew we wanted to create something different. We had a vision of truly entertaining our people, something more than just a DJ and a soundsystem. We wanted something you could interact with, communicate with. Somewhere to build experiences and connections beyond music.

That’s a really beautiful thing. Over the years has your philosophy evolved?

It’s stayed very true to itself. Our main goal is to make something that’s really special. It sounds cliche, but that’s it. We told ourselves from the very beginning: we’re always going to push the envelope. Each time we’re going to create something more wild, more over the top. Multiply that by the 50 or so events we’ve thrown and here we stand.

To put our philosophy into words, we guess it’s to always create a fully immersive experience. Unusual locations, keep finding stranger, more beautiful, more unlikely spots. Push the sentiment of creativity. If you want to put it simply, we want our people to leave thinking, “Holy shit, I’ve never seen something like that before.”

What’s the process for curating so many artistic elements and visuals?

We started doing open calls lately because there’s just so much amazing and rich talent in New York. Some bigger artists have been coming forward and pitching us crazy ideas and we have a very hard time saying no. We’ve been doing this for seven years, so we’re deeply involved in Brooklyn’s creative community and have an amazing group of friends we usually work with. But of course, we’re always open to new things and new minds.

It’s the breathtaking visual feature that sets BangOn! apart. What does it take to pull of these environments?

After we brainstorm a theme - New Year’s Eve is Time & Space, for instance - we throw in a network of artists and team members and say, “OK, what’s the craziest thing we can do around this?” There’s never really a set budget or strict schedule; we just want to make something amazing. It’s always a collaborative effort. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes it takes days. Sometimes we have a couple of teams over the weekend, other times we have 25 people working 18-hour shifts day in, day out.

Do you think that the rise of warehouse events over clubs and venues is a reflection of how the dance music scene is growing?

The scene has definitely doubled in popularity over the past five years. But to be honest, we think it has to do more with people just constantly wanting something out of the ordinary. Clubs and venues are great, and a totally different world. With warehouse events, there’s no repeat, there’s no going back or revisiting. We’re throwing a one night only experience - and that’s what’s monumental.

We love that you’re also getting into throwing festivals.

Right! ELEMENTS in 2015 was the first time we threw a large scale festival. Nighttime events have a much more predictable arch of attendance, people spend their hours in a certain way. With a festival, you’re creating someone’s entire day. To see people waiting at our doors in the morning knowing they’d spend the next 12 hours with us was refreshing.

How would you describe BangOn’s musical taste?

We always want to test the boundaries of what’s up and coming. We want to show our fans something they’ve never heard. Multiple stages gives us the option to explore multiple genres - house, future beats, hip hop - and curating a variation is very important to us. We need to always provide a spectrum of music.

Finally, what’s the next big thing for BangOn!?

ELEMENTS 2016 is definitely the biggest thing. We just kicked off a new party series; SESSIONS; which is geared toward a more intimate vibe while bringing our best art & installations. On this level we are able to put more effort towards the music and design.

Besides that, spreading outside of NYC to different cities and what they can offer us is something we are exploring. And, a camping festival coming soon…

Sydney Jow is Mixmag's US Digital Content Editor. Follow her on Twitter here

[Photo Credit: Frank Monkiewicz, Razberry Photography, Khadija Bhuiyan]