If there's a unifying theme to Adam Bravin's Cloak and Dagger festival, it's the same theme as his weekly nightclub concept in Hollywood of the same name: dark music.
"It's all dark music from all genres, based on lyrics or mood," he said of the weekly party at the Pig and Whistle on Hollywood Boulevard, where only members can attend and attendees must dress in all black. Bravin is opening up the concept to the public with the launch of the two-day Cloak and Dagger festival (Oct. 20 and 21) at the Globe and Palace theaters in Los Angeles.
Bravin said he conceptualized the festival with his agent Pete Anderson at APA, building an event "that mixes genres in the way that I mix the music at the club," he tells Billboard. "There are a few industrial and goth festivals that incorporate one hip-hop act or one dark house act, but there was nothing really mixing the genres in the way that we were imagining."
Headlined by The Jesus and Mary Chain, KMFDM, Bravin's own She Wants Revenge and Poptone (which includes members of Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love & Rockets), Cloak and Dagger is a dusk-to-dawn event, starting at 5 p.m. and going until the wee hours of the morning. Cloak and Dagger is being promoted by Spaceland and Restless Nites Presents with tickets priced $99 for one day and $175 for a two-day pass.
Bravin has stayed busy since She Wants Revenge went on hiatus in 2012, working on solo projects and serving as Barack Obama's go-to DJ for events at the White House. She Wants Revenge reunited last year for the 10-year anniversary of their inaugural self-titled album, playing a few shows at the Fonda in L.A. before launching a U.S. tour with plans to continue touring into 2018.
It took about nine months of planning to develop Cloak and Dagger, Bravin says, working collaboratively to book the bands, telling Billboard, "The Jesus and Mary Chain was on everybody's list. After a few phone calls, they agreed to do it. It just happened."
Bravin will also be debuting his new solo project LXT (stands for Love, Ecstasy and Terror), which has him singing for the first time.
"I'm super excited and nervous," he says, explaining the idea came about four years ago from She Wants Revenge bandmate Justin Warfield. "In an attempt to figure out a new way to express myself creatively at this point in my life, I reluctantly gave it a shot and I hated it at first," Bravin explains. "Justin kept pushing me and pushing me and helping me write a couple songs and develop the melodies. He pushed me through the first two or three songs, and I realized that I really loved doing it."
He finally finished recording his album and two of his songs -- "Carousel" and "My Little Sin" -- are available on Spotify.
"We'll start rehearsals soon," he says. "At some point, I need to play live, so I figure at the festival would be the perfect opportunity to debut my solo project. It's super exciting and terrifying as well."
Fans who want to see him play in either LXT or with She Wants Revenge need to dress in all black (including shoes). While phones and taking pictures is banned from his club night, he said he will likely allow it during the festival.
"I've been DJing for a long time and, in my opinion, bottle service and smartphones kind of ruined nightlife," he said. "We try to get everybody to focus on the moment in the club and not be so caught up in Snapchatting or Instagramming and just dance and flirt. It might be hard to enforce that, but we thought we could enforce the requirement to wear all black. If somebody shows up not wearing all black, there'll be an opportunity for them to purchase something outside. There's been people that come to the club that literally taped on black trash bags over what they were wearing to get in or marked up their shoes with sharpie or gaff tape."
Learn more at xcloakanddaggerx.com
