The Dare: The Anti-Indie Sleaze Front Man

In South London's own Peckham Audio, The Dare (real name Harrison Patrick Smith) tore up the entire venue to the point of no return.

Beads of sweat dripped as everyone danced, London was rattled by the return of The Dare and his show Freakquencies, the newest DJ/Singer absolutely dominating the scene. He's even received the stamp of approval from London artist Charli XCX.

The Dare, hailing from Seattle, Washington, has been quickly but surely dominating the NYC scene with his indie sleaze-esque songs that have gone viral on several platforms. As he continues to grow, the aesthetic of the pre-streaming era continues to hold onto and closely trail him. It's refreshing to see after an entire decade of what seemed like the slow death of true concert/clubbing culture. The Dare's numerous trips to London and continued growth in NYC show that this era will always find a new and creative way back into our hearts.

Peckham Audio was filled with point-and-shoot cameras, cheap beer, and raunchy early noughties songs. There was dancing and cheers as loud as a Six Nations game as the opening acts warmed up the crowd for the man himself. Before his set, I was able to catch him for a few seconds to discuss his newest label of "Indie Sleaze King." I asked him how he felt about being labeled the newest addition to the Indie Sleaze category, especially after being photographed by Mark Hunter a.k.a. Cobra Snake, a legendary photographer that captured the hottest parties in NYC and LA pre-social media:

"I hate [the label of Indie Sleaze]," he laughed, before backtracking. "No, not really, I'm flattered. I think [the label of Indie Sleaze] is very complicated in a beautiful way. I just feel like we need to move on from the Indie Sleaze term and phase."

While we're all declaring "INDIE SLEAZE IS BACK!", there must be an acknowledgment of the people reinventing the term and the scene because nothing will ever replicate the true beauty of Indie Sleaze. With the booming of social media in the mid-2010s, the Indie Sleaze scene officially ended for that decade as the glitz and glamour was on display for the world in real time. Long gone was the wait of your friends offloading their cameras on Facebook and frantically calling them to tell them to take the photos down before they set the album public on their profile.

Though, as Instagram continues its slow, painful downfall, we're seeing a change within the scene.

With the rise of analogue media such as point-and-shoot digital and film cameras, the continued rising use of vinyl, and the changing narrative around the overconsumption of cell phones in the Western world, we are slowly moving away from such a catered life and back towards an 'idgaf' attitude towards everything, especially social media. With Instagram also losing traction amongst Gen Z and Gen Alpha, soon there might come a time where social media will become obsolete amongst the party scene around the world. Hopefully.

Indie Sleaze will never come back, and The Dare is proof of that. Instead of striving for a time that is long gone and will never return, The Dare takes on the title of pushing the boundaries forward in order to incorporate a new era of partying like no one cares about how you look. Eventually, we'll be able to bring back clubbing of pure joy and dancing rather than who's got enough money for a table and who's pretty enough to sit at it. It was refreshing to see his posse bringing up people from the floor onstage, everyone dancing their hearts out and enjoying the time together as a crowd, including anyone and everyone who could handle the insane amount of smoke and swaying.

The Dare is authentic to himself and his music, his persona somewhat almost Men in Black level of appearance and information. While I'm not the most acquainted with house, dance, and techno music, I had a fantastic time at this event. You won't want to miss out on his next couple of events while he's touring around the EU.

You can stream his music on his Spotify.