There were echoes of sirens wailing in the distance. Our leaders stood before the masses raising their hands. Great explosions of light filtered through the warehouse. Fear was visible upon some faces, excitement showed on others. With thoughts of loved family and friends left behind, together we all marched towards an uncertain destiny. Then, a young girl approaches me and offers me a chupa-chup. No longer did thoughts of war travel through my mind. I was at Synapse. I was here to party!

Melbourne based event management crew Cabana has been operating since 2001. This was the fourth installment of their Synapse parties, but the first at their recently acquired “Cabana HQ” warehouse in Moorabbin. Previous Synapse parties had been very successful due to hosting internationally acclaimed acts (Trance Generators, YOMC, Thomas Trouble), their unrestricted sound systems, friendly crowds and of course the various warehouses themselves providing each party with unique characteristics. With a star-studded local DJ lineup and working toilets, Synapse – The Rearmament looked very likely to be another feather in Cabana’s cap.

A last minute change to the DJ lineup put the exuberant Steve Black formerly known as Stevie B was on stage first. The doors were open to the public from 11 pm, but Steve had already played for an hour and so we only got to see a small selection of his tracks. Myself, with a small handful of eager punters watched on as he jumped around behind the decks and pumped out a few lesser-known songs ranging from acid to techno and hard trance.

I took time out to meet friends and explore this new venue. It was a very large warehouse, encasing maybe 5 or 6 indoor tennis courts reminding me a lot of the Sports Centre in Altona. About three quarters of the warehouse was fenced off to provide a closer environment, and the toilets worked fine. We weren’t allowed to smoke inside the venue, but there was an exit to a small outside area full of playground equipment towards the rear of the dancefloor. There was also a stall selling Cabana T-shirts and water.

Jewelz took over from Steve and kept the ever increasing crowd on the dancefloor. An absolute perfectionist, the only times she wasn’t fine tuning the eq’s was when she needed to get another record from her crate. This, along with her charisma and smile has made Jewelz a fan favourite since the mid 90’s. Her set was very dark, hard and fast typified by her playing Bloody Sl*t (Uberdruck Rmx). One punter spoke for many when she described Jewelz’s set as ”...Incredible, just as always!”.

Klassic and Sanders are local DJ’s / Producers and form part of Devil’s Ear (with DJ Neuro), signed by Future Sound Corporation based in Italy. Having recently unleashed their distinctive dark sounds on the commercial market and selling out their self-titled release, I could sense the anticipation in the crowd. The dancefloor was soon at its capacity as the two men combined to provide an excellent set. I have very rarely been so inspired to stay on the dancefloor for such a long time. Combining perfectly, they helped each other regularly to fine tune the songs they were playing. They combined songs of their own (“Devil’s Ear – Devil’s Ear” and “Space Odyssey”), with some more well known songs (“Marco V – God”, “And then they start to dance” and “Save me”) to keep the dark Synapse vibe flowing. Thunderous applauding and cheering saw Klassic and Sanders conclude their set although not one raver wanted them to finish.

Their departure however did not mean that the warehouse would now clear out. They stayed in the knowledge that more darkness and evil was to be unleashed. Hellraiser took to the stage undaunted by the crowd’s expectations to keep up with the proceeding act. With a push of a button and a pump of his fist, he began to give the new sound system a real test. He has always given the crowd more of a performance than other DJ’s while playing his trademark dark and evil songs that inspire nightmares. But at Synapse, he uncharacteristically mixed in a few songs that could even be described as “uplifting”. I thoroughly enjoyed this change as I watched him smile at various punters shouting their approval of his set. His beat mixing was sensational, and songs like Uberdruck – Fat as f**k had me reaching for my water bottle to replenish lost fluids.

DJ Neuro has been dubbed as being ”...known for his seamless fusion of evil, twisted, and relentless hard trance…tech-trance and a splash of something new out of the studio.”. Like the other DJ’s before him, Neuro played another fine set intertwining his dark sounds with a number of uplifting hard trance tracks. The full dancefloor, together with these uplifting songs and a large green laser created the perfect atmosphere inside the warehouse.

Another change in music styles came when Entactogen (a.k.a. Dr. B.) took control of the party. He’s made a name for himself at the Earthcore parties playing dark and sinister psy-trance. Personally, I’d never been a fan of this style of music, but I was keen to see how this style would fit in to this timeslot. I sat on the side of the dancefloor to rest my weary legs, however I did find myself getting up and dancing on a number of occasions to his music. Using a combination of vinyl CD’s, Entactogen thrilled the crowd gaining high praises from peers and punters alike.

It was starting to get lighter outside. We were all very weary from what had been a spectacular event. Many punters retreated from the dancefloor to rest. Enter DJ Nexus. Suddenly, it appeared as if someone had blown up a dam, and gushes of seemingly weary ravers flooded back to the dancefloor. Their hands rose into the air for Yoji Biomehanika – Bangin globe, some hugged at hearing the first notes of Barthez – On the move and together we shuffled to Dark Monks – Insane/i>. All were smiling. Unfortunately, Nexus’ time was restricted for the clean up operation and we were only treated to a single hour. DJ’s Neuro and Entactogen joined Nexus on stage for the last song of the night, the ultimate morning trance anthem Melt – Be Liquid.

Then it was over. The ravers were gently herded out of the warehouse like sheep from a paddock and the doors were closed. Later this year, Y.O.M.C. – (100% LIVE) from Germany will be gracing our shores for Synapse 5 again at Cabana HQ. An extremely good night with a friendly crowd, awesome venue, some of the finest DJ’s in Melbourne and most importantly: flushing water.