I never really thought I’d end up with a passion for designing clothing for ravers to wear, but here I am.
At some point in my early 20’s, I was watching that show Project Runway with a former ex-girlfriend and due to arrogance and extreme ADHD I knew I could do what they did. I made a bet with my ex that I could learn to make clothes as good as these people – an easy $20 bet from my perspective. I loved designing things, I loved clothes, and I loved making things. A few months later, a cheap sewing machine, and a handful of “how to sew for idiots” guides later, I was halfway decent at constructing articles of clothing together. Something else caught my attention, probably a bright shiny light and that dream went away and sadly, I lost the bet.
Years later after quitting smoking, I decided I needed a new hobby to entertain my rapid firing brain cells to keep the nicotine habit off limits. I had always thought that DJ’ing was a neat little thing so I bought a used Numark Mixtrack and let my hyper focus abilities settle into all of the flashing and glowing buttons. A new love had been discovered. Playing music, mixing, mashing, and all of the above in my bedroom kept me more than entertained for weeks on end. Each day I practiced, watched videos on how to DJ, read forums, and soaked up all the knowledge I could on how to become a better DJ and discovered a more in-depth love for EDM. Eventually it became it my entire life.
I had befriended a bunch of local DJ’s who let me play on occasion; mostly latin nights and old school hip hop DJ’ing. There wasn’t much of a scene for EDM in the bars and clubs around my town, but there were a handful of places I was able to play it. It eventually grew into the thought process that if I made my own music, got good enough at it, people would invite me from other cities to play EDM music at their club. Fair thought, right?
I signed to my first record label a year later.
I had gotten attention from most of the DJ’s and Producers within my city who knew anything about anything. I became “that guy who’s on the label”. It really helped with the clout and arrogance factor, but I still wasn’t very thrilled with not playing the music I really wanted to play. A few more of my tracks were signed to sub labels of the record label I was on, but it still wasn’t getting me where I wanted to be. A common theme in my life – whenever I see something I like to do, I always think “I can do that better”.
So, I started my own record label.
The label was a smashing success. In all, I think I signed 4 artists (not including myself) to the label. 3 of the 4 have some sort of established successful association with the music industry to this day. One went on to be a HUGE ghost producer, whose had several monumental hits. The limelight was just way too much for him before he went the ghost production route and he was very much satisfied. Another works with a major promotion company, and the other is one of the founding producers of the Bassline genre (it’s a U.K. House style that’s really popular outside of the U.S.). We did major events on a regular basis around the Southeast which sold out numerous events. Every bit of money I earned from the label I put directly back into promotions and scaling the events bigger and bigger so that every time we threw a show, people knew they were going to have an amazing time.
Until it all fell apart…
I’m mostly to blame for the failures of the label and my DJ & producer life. Life is a series of personal choices and I unfortunately chose a lot of the wrong choices spurred by revenge, blinding selfishness, and an absolute hatred for anything that didn’t go my way. I’m a firm believer in not making the same mistake twice, so I tried several times to rebuild those bridge without success. COVID got in the way of a label revival, but the landscape of the EDM scene had also changed drastically by the time I was ready to give it another whirl. The overwhelming sense of failure that occurred during that time period (A LOT of personal failures I didn’t mention to include, but not limited to a divorce) had really screwed my intense commitment to succeeding and being better than everyone else.
The music scene has always been in my genes. I’ve always been a party boy. Always been the life of the party and enjoy having a good time. However, at the ripe old age of 35, the joints and liver just don’t work the same way that they used to. I continued to produce and DJ for some time until it became evident that I had piqued. Until I realized, I had a really, REALLY cool name for a rave inspired clothing company.
Royalty of Rave was born.
I type this 3 days before the official “Grand Opening” of the website with every intention of seeing this brand succeed. For years I spent too much time chasing the high to relive the glory days and adrenaline rush that came from DJ’ing a packed out nightclub. Luckily, I found a new avenue to channel that energy that provides an equal amount of satisfaction. Honestly, I feel like seeing somebody wearing a piece of clothing that I designed without them knowing I’m the one who made it will be a FAR more satisfying feeling than pushing some buttons on a CDJ.
Wish me luck and thanks to anyone and everyone who has and will support me along the way.
Much love. Pierce.