By now, everyone has heard that Far East Movement DJed Sigma Pi’s quarterly this past week. The question on everyone’s mind is – how did that get pulled off?!
Meet Cameron Holl, Antony Protonotarios, Alex Serrano, and Ateeth Kosuri – a group of incredibly talented and ambitious UCLA students with big plans to completely transform the experience of going to events and appreciating amazing music. Working together with other members of their fraternity, they managed to put on one of the most talked about parties at UCLA. These same students worked to put on last quarter’s infamous White Wonderland party. You probably saw the video that went viral last quarter – if not, check it out here!
The success of White Wonderland might have been the key to snagging Far East Movement for this quarter’s foam party. The video caught everyone’s attention and put the guys in contact with different companies wanting to work with them, from Extreme Greeks to the new app Fling. While trying to find the perfect DJ for the event, Fling reached out to Antony and expressed how impressed they were with the White Wonderland video. “Fling put me in touch with their own DJ, Michael Marra, and he put me in contact with James from Far East Movement. James texted me and said he would love to help out at the party, being a UCLA alumni himself. Tuesday night, the week of the party, we booked it. Wednesday evening everything came together – we had the equipment, and the lighting and stage were ready – it all fell into place.”
It didn’t take long for all of UCLA to find out what was happening. “After 5 posts about Far East Movement, within a few hours half of UCLA knew they were coming.” Hundreds of students came to the house on Thursday to see Far East Movement, desperate to get in any way they could. People tried to climb over the fence, onto the roof, and through the house’s windows to get into the event.
According to Cameron and Antony, “Working with Far East Movement was incredible. They’re really great guys – down-to-earth, professional, amazing energy and an amazing ability to interact with the crowd. Booking them was really last minute, but they worked with us and we were able to throw it together in two days. They were great, their manager was great, and UCLA loved it.”
After working together to coordinate White Wonderland and Foam featuring Far East Movement, the group realized they have the ability and desire to transform nightlife in the UCLA area. “We got practice putting together a large-scale event really quickly, working with big artists, networking, making contacts – we were really impressed and happy with what we did.” Each having experience throwing events in the entertainment industry and an interest in music and event planning, they came together and are working to form an event production group called ourWAV.
The idea for the project started last summer when Cameron and a friend started throwing community-based concerts in NorCal, working to expose underrepresented, underappreciated, amazing bands. “I realized it wasn’t working out – we had a small budget and weren’t able to pay people right away. The difficult part is getting people to believe in a project when they can’t see it come to fruition until later.” Cameron and Antony met over the summer, and things kicked off from there.
“LA is a much better place to put on the type of events we are interested in because there are a lot more people, more resources, and a greater interest in what we want to do. It was really quiet over summer. Nothing was happening and people were just sitting in their rooms. I sat down with Cameron and we talked about how people are here, but there is nothing for them to do. Cameron has a great talent for projection mapping, and one night we just blasted a party video on a huge wall and everyone saw it, and they loved it. We realized then that we could do something great and change the party experience.”
Their name, ourWAV, embodies everything they hope to represent through the events they coordinate. It’s a play on the name for a WAV file, or an uncompressed music file, but the name also implies something about the unique experience they want to create for event-goers. “It’s about being authentic and going with the flow. The whole idea of ourWAV is being unique and representing oneself.”
Their goals are simple – they hope to take advantage of their skills and use them to benefit not only Greek Week, but also the school. “We want to create a specific type of environment for our events, one where parties don’t revolve around alcohol. It’s about the music – an artistic, interactive experience. We want to create an environment where people come and feel like they’re in a different place and are able to appreciate artists and their work.” In the long run, they hope to someday put on a large-scale event for all of SoCal, similar to Lightning in a Bottle or the Life is Beautiful Festival.
Each member of ourWAV brings something different to the table, and together they form a dynamic group capable of creating an unforgettable experience for event-goers. With a strong talent for production, Cameron is in charge of creating the environment that is so unique to their events. Antony is “the face of ourWav. He’s in charge of the networking, programming the events, and marketing them.” Meanwhile, Alex “holds us together. He’s the one who is keeping track of what has to get done and making sure we don’t slack off.” Finally, Ateeth “is the crux of everything. He’s in charge of our video and social media – getting us out there to as many people as possible.”
Their next event in May is a pool party in Beverly Hills, so be sure to check out their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ourwav), and follow them on Instagram (https://instagram.com/ourwav/) to stay updated on details for that and all of ourWAV’s future events!
Interested in Fling? Check out their website for a link to download!