Deep Tropics: Sustainability, Queer DJs and Dance Parties Made for All
PHOTOS BY ABBIE MURPHY
At the tail end of a weekend-long music festival, fireworks lit up the fest grounds as the headlining artist finished the last song of their set. The party’s over, and the crowd of fest-atteendees, covered in glitter and sweat, dispersed to unveil a grassy sea of empty Miller Lite cans, glow sticks, water bottles and other ground scores that are oftentimes left for others to clean up. The truth of the matter is that a lot of the litter left at festivals ends up in a landfill due to improper recycling efforts. It’s a difficult feat to tackle, but Deep Tropics music festival in Nashville, Tennessee makes it their mission to be as sustainable as possible as a part of their innovative mission to change the future of music festivals.
This past year marked Deep Tropics’ seventh year hosting the festival, and there was a truly iconic selection of EDM artists on the bill. Internationally recognized DJs such as Alison Wonderland, Subtronics, Disco Lines, Chris Lake and more graced the stages set up around Bi-Cenntenial Park, with bass so intense the ground shook under the feet of concert goers. Music could be heard from each of the three stages at Deep Tropics, each one being their own work of art designed around the subgenre of EDM that artists play there. With house music played on the Meru Stage, heavy bass over on the Lotus Stage and an immersive 360 experience at the Congo Stage, there was truly something for every house head and bass baddie at Deep Tropics.
Although in the past it’s felt like DJs were something for frat parties or bro-basement gatherings, it is truly the time for the girl DJ takeover. It’s so much more fun to dance along to queer and women artist mixes, which is something that hometown hero Aliyah Allen, aka Afrosheen, proved on Saturday at Deep Tropics. Afrosheen sat down to talk with Pleaser after their set to tell us all the tea on what it means to be a queer DJ and the importance of making space for women in male-dominated spaces.
“It is such an honor to be here. EDM literally comes from Black people. It comes from black queer people, and we are the least represented even though we created a lot of this music that people are jamming to,” Afrosheen told Pleaser sitting on a hot pink couch on the fest grounds at Deep Tropics. “Fuck a man. Fuck a white man, I’m over it!”
As an Antioch native, Afrosheen finds themself bouncing around the community to spin disco, house and electronic music at events all around Nashville. They make it a goal to promote a lot of love and inclusivity through the music they create.
“Within every single subgenre, I guarantee you a Black, Brown, Indigenous or queer person created that in electronic music,” Afrosheen said. “I do appreciate Deep Tropics, they are mad intentional, and I’ve worked with them for several years now. They really put their money where their mouth is to make sure that they include everybody.”
An Afrosheen set is nothing short of inspirational, and it is a magical experience to watch so many people connect through music and dance. The culture at EDM events is incredibly accepting, and the dancefloor is a place where free movement is encouraged as opposed to a regular night club. At Afrosheen’s set, people from all walks of life were seen dancing with soul and passion, a mass of people being kind to themselves and one another to the expressive beats Afrosheen mixed on stage.
“People are free moving, and they aren’t afraid to be themselves,” Afrosheen said. “They’re unapologetically being what society doesn’t really want you to be: nonconforming, which is everything I represent. From being a Black, queer, nonbinary person, everything I do is nonconformity. It’s joyful resistance.”
Sydney Clancy, best known for her DJ name Squuid, doesn’t mess around when it comes to her DJ career. The techno artist can be seen playing at Night We Met or The Office in Nashville, two of the only real EDM clubs in the scene. Squuid played an immensely high-energy set on Saturday night at Deep Tropics where she hypnotized the crowd with her hour-long, unifying set that felt just as euphoric as it did connecting. Although her set was scheduled to play at the same time as headliner Subtronics, there was still a good turnout of techno-lovers that crowded around the Congo Stage around 9pm that night.
Prior to her Deep Tropics set, Squuid sat down with Pleaser on a makeshift couch on the outskirts of the festival. Leaning against the edge of the couch, fully comfortable and confident, Squuid talked with passion about how, truthfully, if you want to get booked as a DJ (especially as a woman), you’ve got to be all in.
“Practice it. Be fucking good at it. Find what you love and the sound that works best for you and then get out there. Don’t be afraid of what people think of you, because the bottom line is that people care about the music you make, not the way you’re perceived,” Squuid told Pleaser.
Deep Tropics culture is reminiscent of what some would consider a fantasy land. It is a world where crowds of people covered in glitter and neon glow gather to totally lose themselves for a weekend.
Deep Tropics isn’t just about the music, either. There’s also a heavy artistic element to the festival that sets it apart from others in the Nashville area. Psychedelic murals, live painters and a recycled materials fashion show were included to make the festival just as much of a visual experience as it was an audible one. As Deep Tropics is committed to being “the greenest festival in North America,” there were so many unique and intriguing spins on environmentally friendly art all throughout the festival.
From elaborately-crafted outfits made from recycled materials to groups of people dressed up in gorgeous DIY costumes hired to keep trash off the ground, the sustainability efforts at Deep Tropics were just as visually effective as they were environmentally. Julianna Kilo, a festival connoisseur, outfit curator and visual artist for Deep Tropics, finds joy in curating outfits for the festivals she attends and tends to fully go all-out with her festival outfits. It’s not uncommon to see Kilo dressed in carefully curated clothes that she E-thrifts on Depop. To promote environmentally friendly practices that are fun and resourceful, she wears the pieces once or twice more then re-sells them.
“Creating outfits around the Deep Tropics theme is extra special to me every year. I love the festival’s connection with nature and incorporating that into fashion. Deep Tropics always does an amazing job dressing their performers and it’s always so fun to feel free to get creative as a patron,” Kilo said, donning a blue-harnessed rave ‘fit detailed with silver chains and butterflies.
At Deep Tropics, festival goers feel good knowing they leave the party with a purpose. Festivals are a beautiful place to grow community, but it’s important that we take note of the environmental impact they make on our Earth. Deep Tropics is taking leaps in the right direction when it comes to the future of sustainable festivals, and hopefully other larger-scale fests will start to pick up on the environmental procedures Deep Tropics has implemented over the years.
