Joe Giuliano on October 9th, 2015

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In a market over-saturated with electronic music festivals, the crew at Dirtybird Records managed to put a new twist on the thinly spread scene last weekend. The inaugural Dirtybird Campout made its way to Oak Canyon Park in Orange County for three full days and nights, Oct. 2-5. Held at the old home of Lightning in a Bottle, the Do LaB even came on board to co-produce the event, lending their superb production skills and years of experience to their friends from the Bay Area. Co-founder Claude Von Stroke, originally from Detroit, is even rumored to have moved to Venice, hopefully solidifying a partnership for years to come.

Equal parts electronic music festival and summer camp, a host of camping “activities” appealed to everyone’s inner kid. The grounds were literally transformed into a traditional campground, with the main stage and after-hours stages situated within log cabins, tire swings hanging throughout the property and a tree house in the middle of it all. While there were countless activities, including volleyball, badminton, basketball, miniature golf, kickball, a nature hike, dodgeball, kickball, tug-of-war, relay races, and the ever-present yoga, the highlights of the weekend seemed to be boating in the beautiful Oak Canyon pond, archery (thankfully well-supervised) and the slip-and-slide. All made use of the woodsy venue, and offered unique opportunities in place of the typical day-drinking commonplace at these events. The Dirtybird’s fresh take served as a distraction from the ravers usually absent from the “transformational” festival scene.

The music, curated from the Dirtybird record label, was pretty much what everyone would expect. Justin Martin expertly closed the main stage Friday night, carrying the momentum from SoCal festival regular and Desert Hearts founder Mikey Lion’s early-evening set. Sunrise and the closing of Saturday morning’s after-hours stage was conquered by none other than Justin Martin’s brother Christian Martin. Those that made it that long were sent to bed satisfied by the Dirtybird brother tag team.

With only one stage running at a time, attendees for better or worse were left with few musical options. While I’m a devout Dirtybird fan, the overabundance of trap music the rest of the weekend left me wandering the campground to find the renegade stages I’ve come to know and love. A new favorite would be the duo of PLURNT Wulfpack and Yellow Submarines, with a particularly fun set by Eduardo Manilla. I knew it was a good sign when our camp neighbors had a Beatles-era yellow submarine snugly wrapped around their van.

My only real disappointment with the Dirtybird Campout was the barbecue. These guys literally tour the states under the Dirtybird BBQ moniker so they should be owning it. However, $15 prepaid tickets (+ $6.83 surcharge!) sadly only got you a burger or hot dog, a bag of chips, a high school cafeteria-sized side of potato salad and a bottle of iced tea. Disappointed is an understatement. If this event returns next year, I suggest they take notes from the Boogaloo Mountain Jam, held at the same campground earlier in the year, and throw an actual afternoon barbecue, replete with brisket, pulled pork, and fixins — otherwise remove the ‘BBQ’ from your reputation altogether.

That being said, the first time around for the Campout appeared to be a resounding success. Even the weather —  rain for the third time at this location this year —  held no one back. You can attribute the awareness of the drought just as much as everyone’s childlike carefree demeanor. If the weather at the Oak Canyon Park is some sort of pattern, more festivals need to pop up here for the sake of California’s future. Maybe techno really does save lives.

Photos by Glen Ayrton Silva; more at CuetheDanger.com