Rarely, if not ever, have I found myself driving to DC at 2 PM on a Summer Saturday to listen to live bass music. Not until this past June, when I had the pleasure of attending Resonant Language for the second iteration of a brand new event series called Flourish.
Taking place on the patio at Karma Night Club, the Flourish event series is one of the most unique day parties to land in the District of Columbia. What made my experience at this particular show so unique was a profound realization I had about midway through Schmoop’s set.
A few moments after dropping his “Paradonks” flip, I looked around to see smiling faces, warm embraces, swaying bodies, eyes closed, dozens lost in low-end daydreams, and I realized why we had all gathered that day – for connection. Whether that was a connection to the music or people didn’t matter – you could find both, in large quantities, everywhere you looked.
Two weeks after this immaculate event, I came to learn that the individual largely responsible for the show was inspired to throw events for the very same reason – connection. For Carter Holland, the founder of Para Presents, throwing events was originally intended to be a place for his friends to have a good time. And while that focus hasn’t changed, Holland’s vision, capabilities, and curations have experienced an impressive evolution.
From getting the cops called on house parties and illegal bridge renegades to curating his own event series at one of the most iconic clubs in underground dance music, the story of Carter Holland and Para Presents is one of bold imagination.
Recently, we got the chance to chat with Holland about how he went from working a 9-to-5 to hosting 6-to-10s, his Capital Conquest of the DC bass scene, and his relentless pursuit to create a space for people to connect.
Maximilian Vanegas: Carter, want to start by saying how much of an awesome time I had at the Resonant Language show. Thank you for inviting River Beats out as your guest.
Carter Holland: Totally, man!
MV: The first question I had for you, as it relates to this particular show and/or any others you’ve thrown, is how much the artists you book are involved in the curation?
CH: So it varies. As for the Karma Patio, that’s our team’s (Para Presents) vision. We’ve been doing a lot of rooftop parties at Flash, and we wanted to continue the outdoor warm-weather show format on a slightly larger scale at Karma. I love that patio space, but we never utilized it solely as the main stage. So the general premise of doing shows in that format and environment was definitely our vision.
For this Resonant Language show, however, it was an event where the artist (Resonant Language) dictated and curated the lineup in collaboration with us. That’s something we’ve done with Pat (Resonant Language) a few times now, which is always an enjoyable experience that we don’t get to do with artists too often.
MV: Why do you think it’s important to strike a balance like that when you collaborate on shows?
CH: You want everyone to be happy. Both from an organizational standpoint, an artist standpoint, and an audience standpoint. I think the best way to get there is to work with the artists, promoters, venue, and all of the organizations that are involved. I honestly wish we had the opportunity to do more events like that, where we work in tandem with the artists and their teams to create a unified vision.
MV: Speaking of vision, it sounds like yours has taken several different forms over the years. Could you talk about the first shows you ever threw?
CH: My first real experiences throwing events were very much non-legitimate. We weren’t working with actual venues, and it was usually friends of mine performing as DJs or bands. Some of those early iterations included a boat party on the Potomac, a mini one-day music festival at an abandoned rock quarry, and a series of pop-up events under bridges in the DMV area.
One of Para Presents’ first renegades under an undisclosed bridge in VA.
CH: The first event we threw as Para Presents was a huge party in my backyard at my old house. We put up a screen, had my friend running visuals, and brought in these awesome turbo sound speakers that pissed off a lot of neighbors. That slowly led to me wanting to take things a bit further and start legitimizing things and working with larger, more nationally renowned venues and artists.
CH: But initially, I didn’t really have this large, grandiose vision. I just always loved bringing people together, especially when it was around a unifying factor like music. The more I did it, the more I realized how much I enjoyed it and that I had somewhat of a knack for it. Now, here we are, four years later.
MV: Any crazy stories from those “illegitimate” days?
CH: For one of the bridge parties we threw, you had to hike a solid 10 to 15 minutes down this steep incline to the base of the bridge. As you can imagine, bringing a huge generator, a bunch of speakers, and tons of people through a steep forested trail is an incredibly strenuous experience. By the end of the night, I was covered in mud and blood, so this is something I can really say I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into.
MV: You mentioned earlier that you were driven to create a place for your friends to gather. Can you talk about how that objective has manifested over time?
CH: Initially, before I started throwing official events, my friend Dwight and I would host these pregames called Cool New Sounds, where our friend group would pick a show in DC and then all gather at one of our houses before heading to the event. It was cool ‘cause I felt like we were playing the role of taste makers and organizers. There’d be a lot of friends who weren’t really into electronic music, but seeing their reaction to something new like that was really cool. I love seeing people experience something for the first time that I truly love. It’s really fulfilling and exciting to witness.
Para Presents launch party
Now that we’ve expanded to the point where a lot of people who are attending these events aren’t necessarily personal friends of mine, I really enjoy looking across the crowd and seeing people getting down and having a good ass time. I love seeing people who I don’t know by name, but recognize because I see them at all of our shows. It feels like we’ve developed a strong community and that’s something that really fills my heart.
MV: We really do have a special community here in DC. And one that is still fairly young as far as the bass scene goes, thanks in part to the events you’ve thrown here. Can you discuss a little bit about how you first planted the flag in the DC scene? How did your capital conquest really begin?
CH: Before Para existed, I was always firmly rooted in this area, going to shows at U-Hall, Echostage, etc. So I was always well-connected to the scene in DC. How we took that step towards legitimacy was when I reached out to Jared Oppenheim over at The Gradient Perspective when I first started Para. It was more or less a pitch email saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been to a few of your shows, I like what you’re doing, I’ve got some ideas of my own, I think we could work well together.’ He emailed me back quite quickly, and we hopped on a phone call a day later.
He pretty much immediately brought me into the fold and took a shot on me. At that point, they had done one show previously at Flash with the Closed Sessions crew. The second bass show at Flash and the first one I got to work on with them was VCTRE in August 2021, right when things were opening up post-lockdown. That was the first legitimate show we did and the first time I got hands-on experience with a legitimate curation.
CH: For a while, we were doing just one show every other month on Wednesdays at Flash. That slowly grew to where we got Thursdays available at Flash and eventually larger shows at Karma, to the point where we are now, doing an average of three to four shows a month. So it really started from The Gradient Perspective and Closed Sessions crews taking a chance on me. Since then, things have really blown up, and it’s been a hell of a ride.
MV: That is quite the journey, man. It sounds like Flash Night Club wasn’t always your office though, right?
CH: Yeah, for the first two years or so that I was doing Para, I was also working in software sales, which I had been doing for six years. But as Para started to grow, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to juggle the two of them simultaneously and decided to take that leap of faith and leave the corporate world to put my time, energy, and focus solely on Para.
MV: Salute to you for making the jump. I personally know that transitioning to the music business full-time is a scary road and one that isn’t traveled lightly. Could you talk about the hardest parts about making that transition?
CH: The whole notion of a consistent paycheck is something that I really miss. There are a lot of stressors involved when you can’t guarantee each show will do well. So there are a lot of things that I struggled with during that transition.
One piece of advice I’d give is to try and do both for as long as you can when it comes to working a “day job” and chasing your passion.
Save up as much money as you can to ease into that transition. And then once you are at a point where you’re either – A: At a a breaking point when you can’t juggle both, or B: You think that your art, music, or whatever it might be has gotten to a point where it’s large enough and legitimate enough that you can kind of stay afloat for a bit.
CH: Ripping off that band-aid and going for it is a lot easier said than done, but sometimes you just gotta go for it, you know? This is something I still struggle with – not having the confidence in myself or knowing a definitive roadmap of what’s gonna lead to my success, but keeping in mind that I don’t wanna look back and regret not trying it. And you know what, if six months after I quit my job, I’m back where I started, looking for another job, then it’s not the end of the world.
CH: Just don’t consider yourself a failure, ’cause you did what very few people did, and that’s chasing your dream and going for it. I wish there was an exact science behind it, you know – do this and this will happen, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.
I definitely don’t wanna encourage people to do it on a total whim. I definitely think you should have a few years of consistent momentum, building a resume and repertoire that’s well built out. But, there’s never gonna be a time where it feels perfect. It’s never gonna feel like you’re fully ready. So a piece of it is like, “you know what, I’m just gonna go for it.” And sometimes, that’s just what you gotta do.
MV: That’s great advice. I like how you called it “art,” because curating shows is definitely an art form. It takes creativity to do it. Another hurdle, of the million that there are in the show business, is making that entry and facing competition in the market or scene you’re operating in. For you, it seems like that wasn’t the case at all. On the contrary, it seems like you experienced the exact opposite with The Gradient Perspective and Closed Sessions welcoming you in as a partner. What can you say about the rest of the DC community, and how you were received?
CH: I don’t think there was any competitive energy. We would not be where we are if not for The Gradient Perspective and Closed sessions bringing us into the fold and helping us get our feet wet and what that has led to.
For a while, I truly thought we were kind of competing against ourselves. I just wanted to continue improving and bringing bigger artists out, doing bigger shows. Even with some of the other organizations doing a lot of similar shows in the DMV area, like Headnod, arrival., and everyone else.
I’ve never felt in competition with them. There are gonna be times where you’re targeting the same artist or something like that. But overall, it doesn’t really feel that cutthroat, which is a very relieving experience in the music industry.
In DC, I would say a huge competitive factor is going against the “Insomniacs” of the world. Because two of the main electronic music venues in DC are Insomniac-owned and run. The main electronic music festival in DC is Insomniac-owned and run. So, that can be very difficult to combat, especially when going after larger artists. But I can find a little solace in the fact that if who I’m competing against is a huge multi-billion-dollar organization, it means I’m probably doing something right.
You know what I mean? It means I’m probably knocking on the right doors. But I don’t want to be in a competitive place with other local, independent-sized organizations that are run by friends of mine. I think there’s always room for collaboration, especially amongst the independent organizations of the world. We have the odds stacked against us, and the way we can flip the odds more in our favor is if we are working together and helping promote each other’s shows. Because a lot of times, we’re targeting the same audience, and if we can help each other out, I think that’s good for everyone in the long run.
MV: That’s the attitude we need to have. That’s the attitude every scene needs to have, It’s like we’re the rebellion against the empire. Did you want to comment on the relationship that you formed with Nü Androids and the collaboration you started when you found yourself competing for the same artists?
CH: Totally. We’ve done a few shows with them (Nü Androids) now, specifically with UKG artists, which is a realm that we started getting involved in outside of our bass shows. We wanted to figure it out like, “Hey, we’re pitching the same artists here, it doesn’t behoove either of us to drive up the price and get into a bidding war. I think if we put our combined efforts behind it, I think it’ll make for a bigger show than either of us could do independently.” Thankfully, the team over there was receptive and now we’ve got a decent working relationship going and some plays in the works for later this year and early 2026 as well.
Nü Androids is another organization that I was friendly with but had never really done anything with. But I just shot my shot to see if they’d feel similarly, and thankfully, they did, and they’re a great crew to work with. I don’t think there’s another independent organizer in DC who does it better than them. They’re a true inspiration and have gotten to the point where they have their own venues and everything, so it’s awesome to see what Nayef, Connor, and the team over there have been able to do.
I’ve long been a fan of theirs for a while and actually at one point was briefly on their street team as a promoter, like six or seven years ago. So it was cool to be in a position to work with them on bringing some awesome artists out.
MV: That sounds like a super full circle experience. They have truly helped build this scene in so many ways, so it’s cool to see you guys teaming up. As far as the competitiveness and saturation of the DC scene goes, it seems like you’ve turned that problem into a fruitful solution, specifically as it pertains to Flash and the new 6to10 show series you’ve launched. Can you tell me about how that came about?
CH: Yeah, so as you mentioned, it was birthed from a lack of availability. ‘Cause Flash typically doesn’t allow outside promoter groups to do shows there. Friday or Saturday nights, they do their own in-house bookings pretty much exclusively.
So I thought, ‘how the hell do we get availability at Flash?’ The only time slot they would work with an outside promoter on was daytime Saturday slots on the rooftop. But that, for a very long time, as you may know, was exclusive to Nü Androids.
CH: Then I thought to myself that no one was doing rooftop shows on Fridays. If we can do them right after work during that happy hour time period, ending at 10:00 PM, I think it could have legs. I think it could work.
So I reached out to Flash and asked, “Hey, is this something we can explore?” And they’re like “Yeah, we’ve never really done that, but I don’t see why not.” And I was very torn at first ’cause I wasn’t sure if people were going to be able to mobilize, get out the door, and head out to see a show that early. But overall, the reception has been amazing, and I think it’s awesome because it caters perfectly to both sides of our audience, with some of our crowd on the “older end,” such as myself, who are stoked by the premise of a show ending at 10:00 PM.
MV: It’s beautiful that you turned a problem, as far as venue availability goes, into a great solution. That’s how you become successful in life.
CH: Thank you, man.
MV: So these day parties, they’re typically chiller as far as crowds go. At least earlier on. As someone who has hosted and experienced several different types of shows, what is your opinion on dance floor energy in the States? Do you think it’s something that people should be frustrated about? Do you think it’s something that international artists are justified in calling out?
CH: I think it is totally dependent on what the sound is and what the artist is known for. Do I think that there are crowds in the US that lack energy when it should be higher? Yes. But I’ve also been to so many shows of ours where people are very lively and energetic. Then there are some where people are loudly talking, in a circle, in the center of the dance floor. And that’s one thing I am a huge proponent of – if you want to talk, beyond a quick 10 seconds to your friend, and want to have a full-on conversation, there is a time and place for that. But in my opinion, it shouldn’t be on the dance floor. I feel like dance floors should be the place where you’re trying to be in front of a fat speaker and taken on a journey. That’s how I prefer to enjoy shows.
CH: One thing I’ve noticed about crowd energy, as far as American crowds go, is that they are very courteous for the most part. Granted, there are exceptions to that, but I’ve noticed that at a lot of our events, people will say excuse me and give you your space. People are way more courteous compared to the drum and bass or dubstep shows that I’ve seen in the UK and Europe, where people are bulldozing into you. So that’s one thing I’ve noticed that US crowds got going for ’em – is that we’re generally a respectful and courteous bunch. What we sometimes lack in energy is made up for by being a little more polite.
MV: Yeah, I firmy believe that as long as you’re not interfering with other people’s experience, you should be able to enjoy the show however you want. Whether that’s standing like a stone in the back or moshing in the front with your friends. With that in mind, I wanted to ask you about a difficult situation you had to handle a couple weeks ago when one of your shows landed on the same day as a protest downtown. Do you feel like your events become even more necessary in tough times like that? What is your stance on going forward with events in lieu of hard times?
CH: When there is political and social turmoil, gathering in places with like-minded individuals is probably all the more important. For sure. But I also think there’s a line you want to tiptoe ’cause I don’t want to be tone deaf. And it does feel weird sometimes – promoting events and using social media to garner and generate attention around events when there are a lot more deserving causes that attention should be brought to.
So sometimes I do feel weird promoting events, especially in DC, with what’s going on politically right now. But at the same time, I do think that we are serving a valuable role within our community by providing these outlets where people can go and express themselves freely and leave their worries at the door to have a good time.
MV: It’s honest work, if you ask me. At this point, we’ve talked a lot about yesterday and today. Now, let’s talk about tomorrow and your goals for the future. What made you start wanting to do solo shows and what does this next chapter of Para Presents, coinciding with your four year anniversary this week, look like?
CH: When I first started Para, I was never doing it with the explicit intention of only promoting bass music. I’ve always been a fan of a number of different styles of music and genres, and over the last few years, people like Max Wilner (Para Presents partner) have put me onto a lot more of the UKG and club-oriented sounds. As my personal taste and interests have grown, my desire to book those artists has risen in tandem.
I also wanted to do things that could make us stand out independently. So that turned into throwing events with acts like Interplanetary Criminal. That was our first UKG/clubby show that we did. Then soon after we started doing this event series called Terminal, which focuses on booking primarily UK and EU acts that spin UKG, breaks, and stuff like that.
That includes acts like MPH, Main Phase, Zero, and Taiki Nulight. Like I said, it’s very much intertwined in how my personal tastes have evolved but also emanated from a place of us wanting to do something that we can be known for.
CH: Para is doing a lot of awesome UKG events as well and I think there is a lot of crossover between those crowds. And that’s the direction we took with our four-year anniversary lineup that’s going to be headlined by Conducta and Swami Sound. Conducta is an artist I’ve been trying to bring out for years and was finally able to book. He’s doing a special four-hour set to commemorate the four-year anniversary, so that’s gonna be absolutely nuts.
CH: I think our future plans entail a lot of what we’re currently doing, with DC being the main focus. We’ve done a few shows down in Florida, and I think we’ll still do a handful of those on an annual basis, ’cause one of our team members, Dan, is based down in St. Pete now, and, we’ve got some homies and partners down there that we’ve got stuff in the works with and have done a few events with.
So that’s something that’s a focus as well, is doing shows down there. But also staying true to what we’ve been doing. I think we’re at a point now, and this ties back to what I was saying to a previous question, which is maintaining integrity while also maintaining viability and relevance.
We’re at a point now where there aren’t too many readily available growth opportunities within my purview and our wheelhouse that I want to explore. Do I want to expand and grow in the future? Definitely. But I don’t want to do that at risk of losing what has made Para, Para either.
CH: I wish I could lay out these exciting plans to be on the lookout for. But honestly, what you can be on the lookout for from Para is more of what people have enjoyed so far, and that’s well-curated, well-thought-out lineups, in great environments, and great venues. And that’s what we’ll continue bringing to the table.
MV: That’s super authentic, to play it as it comes, and ride the times. Carter, do you have any other message you want to share with the scene or anything else you’d like to add?
CH: I definitely want to shout out a lot of people who have got me to this place. Like my partners at The Gradient Perspective and Closed Sessions, like Max, Dan, and Nika. My fiancé Alex, who’s been super supportive throughout the whole process, and all my close friends who’ve been coming to our events from my backyard to now over the last four years. I would not be here without all of these supportive people.
Like I said, just keep it posted and keep it locked on Para Presents. I would love to see everyone at the four-year anniversary party. It’s the first time we’ve gotten access to all three floors of Flash on a Friday night. It’s special for a number of reasons, that being one of them – it’s gonna be an awesome time.
Grab your tickets to Para Presents four-year anniversary here and stay tuned with everything they’ve got going on in the links below.
Rarely, if not ever, have I found myself driving to DC at 2 PM on a Summer Saturday to listen to live bass music. Not until this past June, when I had the pleasure of attending Resonant Language for the second iteration of a brand new event series called Flourish.
Taking place on the patio at Karma Night Club, the Flourish event series is one of the most unique day parties to land in the District of Columbia. What made my experience at this particular show so unique was a profound realization I had about midway through Schmoop’s set.
A few moments after dropping his “Paradonks” flip, I looked around to see smiling faces, warm embraces, swaying bodies, eyes closed, dozens lost in low-end daydreams, and I realized why we had all gathered that day – for connection. Whether that was a connection to the music or people didn’t matter – you could find both, in large quantities, everywhere you looked.
Two weeks after this immaculate event, I came to learn that the individual largely responsible for the show was inspired to throw events for the very same reason – connection. For Carter Holland, the founder of Para Presents, throwing events was originally intended to be a place for his friends to have a good time. And while that focus hasn’t changed, Holland’s vision, capabilities, and curations have experienced an impressive evolution.
From getting the cops called on house parties and illegal bridge renegades to curating his own event series at one of the most iconic clubs in underground dance music, the story of Carter Holland and Para Presents is one of bold imagination.
Recently, we got the chance to chat with Holland about how he went from working a 9-to-5 to hosting 6-to-10s, his Capital Conquest of the DC bass scene, and his relentless pursuit to create a space for people to connect.
Maximilian Vanegas: Carter, want to start by saying how much of an awesome time I had at the Resonant Language show. Thank you for inviting River Beats out as your guest.
Carter Holland: Totally, man!
MV: The first question I had for you, as it relates to this particular show and/or any others you’ve thrown, is how much the artists you book are involved in the curation?
CH: So it varies. As for the Karma Patio, that’s our team’s (Para Presents) vision. We’ve been doing a lot of rooftop parties at Flash, and we wanted to continue the outdoor warm-weather show format on a slightly larger scale at Karma. I love that patio space, but we never utilized it solely as the main stage. So the general premise of doing shows in that format and environment was definitely our vision.
For this Resonant Language show, however, it was an event where the artist (Resonant Language) dictated and curated the lineup in collaboration with us. That’s something we’ve done with Pat (Resonant Language) a few times now, which is always an enjoyable experience that we don’t get to do with artists too often.
MV: Why do you think it’s important to strike a balance like that when you collaborate on shows?
CH: You want everyone to be happy. Both from an organizational standpoint, an artist standpoint, and an audience standpoint. I think the best way to get there is to work with the artists, promoters, venue, and all of the organizations that are involved. I honestly wish we had the opportunity to do more events like that, where we work in tandem with the artists and their teams to create a unified vision.
MV: Speaking of vision, it sounds like yours has taken several different forms over the years. Could you talk about the first shows you ever threw?
CH: My first real experiences throwing events were very much non-legitimate. We weren’t working with actual venues, and it was usually friends of mine performing as DJs or bands. Some of those early iterations included a boat party on the Potomac, a mini one-day music festival at an abandoned rock quarry, and a series of pop-up events under bridges in the DMV area.
CH: The first event we threw as Para Presents was a huge party in my backyard at my old house. We put up a screen, had my friend running visuals, and brought in these awesome turbo sound speakers that pissed off a lot of neighbors. That slowly led to me wanting to take things a bit further and start legitimizing things and working with larger, more nationally renowned venues and artists.
CH: But initially, I didn’t really have this large, grandiose vision. I just always loved bringing people together, especially when it was around a unifying factor like music. The more I did it, the more I realized how much I enjoyed it and that I had somewhat of a knack for it. Now, here we are, four years later.
MV: Any crazy stories from those “illegitimate” days?
CH: For one of the bridge parties we threw, you had to hike a solid 10 to 15 minutes down this steep incline to the base of the bridge. As you can imagine, bringing a huge generator, a bunch of speakers, and tons of people through a steep forested trail is an incredibly strenuous experience. By the end of the night, I was covered in mud and blood, so this is something I can really say I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into.
MV: You mentioned earlier that you were driven to create a place for your friends to gather. Can you talk about how that objective has manifested over time?
CH: Initially, before I started throwing official events, my friend Dwight and I would host these pregames called Cool New Sounds, where our friend group would pick a show in DC and then all gather at one of our houses before heading to the event. It was cool ‘cause I felt like we were playing the role of taste makers and organizers. There’d be a lot of friends who weren’t really into electronic music, but seeing their reaction to something new like that was really cool. I love seeing people experience something for the first time that I truly love. It’s really fulfilling and exciting to witness.
Now that we’ve expanded to the point where a lot of people who are attending these events aren’t necessarily personal friends of mine, I really enjoy looking across the crowd and seeing people getting down and having a good ass time. I love seeing people who I don’t know by name, but recognize because I see them at all of our shows. It feels like we’ve developed a strong community and that’s something that really fills my heart.
MV: We really do have a special community here in DC. And one that is still fairly young as far as the bass scene goes, thanks in part to the events you’ve thrown here. Can you discuss a little bit about how you first planted the flag in the DC scene? How did your capital conquest really begin?
CH: Before Para existed, I was always firmly rooted in this area, going to shows at U-Hall, Echostage, etc. So I was always well-connected to the scene in DC. How we took that step towards legitimacy was when I reached out to Jared Oppenheim over at The Gradient Perspective when I first started Para. It was more or less a pitch email saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been to a few of your shows, I like what you’re doing, I’ve got some ideas of my own, I think we could work well together.’ He emailed me back quite quickly, and we hopped on a phone call a day later.
He pretty much immediately brought me into the fold and took a shot on me. At that point, they had done one show previously at Flash with the Closed Sessions crew. The second bass show at Flash and the first one I got to work on with them was VCTRE in August 2021, right when things were opening up post-lockdown. That was the first legitimate show we did and the first time I got hands-on experience with a legitimate curation.
CH: For a while, we were doing just one show every other month on Wednesdays at Flash. That slowly grew to where we got Thursdays available at Flash and eventually larger shows at Karma, to the point where we are now, doing an average of three to four shows a month. So it really started from The Gradient Perspective and Closed Sessions crews taking a chance on me. Since then, things have really blown up, and it’s been a hell of a ride.
MV: That is quite the journey, man. It sounds like Flash Night Club wasn’t always your office though, right?
CH: Yeah, for the first two years or so that I was doing Para, I was also working in software sales, which I had been doing for six years. But as Para started to grow, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to juggle the two of them simultaneously and decided to take that leap of faith and leave the corporate world to put my time, energy, and focus solely on Para.
MV: Salute to you for making the jump. I personally know that transitioning to the music business full-time is a scary road and one that isn’t traveled lightly. Could you talk about the hardest parts about making that transition?
CH: The whole notion of a consistent paycheck is something that I really miss. There are a lot of stressors involved when you can’t guarantee each show will do well. So there are a lot of things that I struggled with during that transition.
One piece of advice I’d give is to try and do both for as long as you can when it comes to working a “day job” and chasing your passion.
Save up as much money as you can to ease into that transition. And then once you are at a point where you’re either – A: At a a breaking point when you can’t juggle both, or B: You think that your art, music, or whatever it might be has gotten to a point where it’s large enough and legitimate enough that you can kind of stay afloat for a bit.
CH: Ripping off that band-aid and going for it is a lot easier said than done, but sometimes you just gotta go for it, you know? This is something I still struggle with – not having the confidence in myself or knowing a definitive roadmap of what’s gonna lead to my success, but keeping in mind that I don’t wanna look back and regret not trying it. And you know what, if six months after I quit my job, I’m back where I started, looking for another job, then it’s not the end of the world.
CH: Just don’t consider yourself a failure, ’cause you did what very few people did, and that’s chasing your dream and going for it. I wish there was an exact science behind it, you know – do this and this will happen, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.
I definitely don’t wanna encourage people to do it on a total whim. I definitely think you should have a few years of consistent momentum, building a resume and repertoire that’s well built out. But, there’s never gonna be a time where it feels perfect. It’s never gonna feel like you’re fully ready. So a piece of it is like, “you know what, I’m just gonna go for it.” And sometimes, that’s just what you gotta do.
MV: That’s great advice. I like how you called it “art,” because curating shows is definitely an art form. It takes creativity to do it. Another hurdle, of the million that there are in the show business, is making that entry and facing competition in the market or scene you’re operating in. For you, it seems like that wasn’t the case at all. On the contrary, it seems like you experienced the exact opposite with The Gradient Perspective and Closed Sessions welcoming you in as a partner. What can you say about the rest of the DC community, and how you were received?
CH: I don’t think there was any competitive energy. We would not be where we are if not for The Gradient Perspective and Closed sessions bringing us into the fold and helping us get our feet wet and what that has led to.
For a while, I truly thought we were kind of competing against ourselves. I just wanted to continue improving and bringing bigger artists out, doing bigger shows. Even with some of the other organizations doing a lot of similar shows in the DMV area, like Headnod, arrival., and everyone else.
I’ve never felt in competition with them. There are gonna be times where you’re targeting the same artist or something like that. But overall, it doesn’t really feel that cutthroat, which is a very relieving experience in the music industry.
In DC, I would say a huge competitive factor is going against the “Insomniacs” of the world. Because two of the main electronic music venues in DC are Insomniac-owned and run. The main electronic music festival in DC is Insomniac-owned and run. So, that can be very difficult to combat, especially when going after larger artists. But I can find a little solace in the fact that if who I’m competing against is a huge multi-billion-dollar organization, it means I’m probably doing something right.
You know what I mean? It means I’m probably knocking on the right doors. But I don’t want to be in a competitive place with other local, independent-sized organizations that are run by friends of mine. I think there’s always room for collaboration, especially amongst the independent organizations of the world. We have the odds stacked against us, and the way we can flip the odds more in our favor is if we are working together and helping promote each other’s shows. Because a lot of times, we’re targeting the same audience, and if we can help each other out, I think that’s good for everyone in the long run.
MV: That’s the attitude we need to have. That’s the attitude every scene needs to have, It’s like we’re the rebellion against the empire. Did you want to comment on the relationship that you formed with Nü Androids and the collaboration you started when you found yourself competing for the same artists?
CH: Totally. We’ve done a few shows with them (Nü Androids) now, specifically with UKG artists, which is a realm that we started getting involved in outside of our bass shows. We wanted to figure it out like, “Hey, we’re pitching the same artists here, it doesn’t behoove either of us to drive up the price and get into a bidding war. I think if we put our combined efforts behind it, I think it’ll make for a bigger show than either of us could do independently.” Thankfully, the team over there was receptive and now we’ve got a decent working relationship going and some plays in the works for later this year and early 2026 as well.
Nü Androids is another organization that I was friendly with but had never really done anything with. But I just shot my shot to see if they’d feel similarly, and thankfully, they did, and they’re a great crew to work with. I don’t think there’s another independent organizer in DC who does it better than them. They’re a true inspiration and have gotten to the point where they have their own venues and everything, so it’s awesome to see what Nayef, Connor, and the team over there have been able to do.
I’ve long been a fan of theirs for a while and actually at one point was briefly on their street team as a promoter, like six or seven years ago. So it was cool to be in a position to work with them on bringing some awesome artists out.
MV: That sounds like a super full circle experience. They have truly helped build this scene in so many ways, so it’s cool to see you guys teaming up. As far as the competitiveness and saturation of the DC scene goes, it seems like you’ve turned that problem into a fruitful solution, specifically as it pertains to Flash and the new 6to10 show series you’ve launched. Can you tell me about how that came about?
CH: Yeah, so as you mentioned, it was birthed from a lack of availability. ‘Cause Flash typically doesn’t allow outside promoter groups to do shows there. Friday or Saturday nights, they do their own in-house bookings pretty much exclusively.
So I thought, ‘how the hell do we get availability at Flash?’ The only time slot they would work with an outside promoter on was daytime Saturday slots on the rooftop. But that, for a very long time, as you may know, was exclusive to Nü Androids.
CH: Then I thought to myself that no one was doing rooftop shows on Fridays. If we can do them right after work during that happy hour time period, ending at 10:00 PM, I think it could have legs. I think it could work.
So I reached out to Flash and asked, “Hey, is this something we can explore?” And they’re like “Yeah, we’ve never really done that, but I don’t see why not.” And I was very torn at first ’cause I wasn’t sure if people were going to be able to mobilize, get out the door, and head out to see a show that early. But overall, the reception has been amazing, and I think it’s awesome because it caters perfectly to both sides of our audience, with some of our crowd on the “older end,” such as myself, who are stoked by the premise of a show ending at 10:00 PM.
MV: It’s beautiful that you turned a problem, as far as venue availability goes, into a great solution. That’s how you become successful in life.
CH: Thank you, man.
MV: So these day parties, they’re typically chiller as far as crowds go. At least earlier on. As someone who has hosted and experienced several different types of shows, what is your opinion on dance floor energy in the States? Do you think it’s something that people should be frustrated about? Do you think it’s something that international artists are justified in calling out?
CH: I think it is totally dependent on what the sound is and what the artist is known for. Do I think that there are crowds in the US that lack energy when it should be higher? Yes. But I’ve also been to so many shows of ours where people are very lively and energetic. Then there are some where people are loudly talking, in a circle, in the center of the dance floor. And that’s one thing I am a huge proponent of – if you want to talk, beyond a quick 10 seconds to your friend, and want to have a full-on conversation, there is a time and place for that. But in my opinion, it shouldn’t be on the dance floor. I feel like dance floors should be the place where you’re trying to be in front of a fat speaker and taken on a journey. That’s how I prefer to enjoy shows.
CH: One thing I’ve noticed about crowd energy, as far as American crowds go, is that they are very courteous for the most part. Granted, there are exceptions to that, but I’ve noticed that at a lot of our events, people will say excuse me and give you your space. People are way more courteous compared to the drum and bass or dubstep shows that I’ve seen in the UK and Europe, where people are bulldozing into you. So that’s one thing I’ve noticed that US crowds got going for ’em – is that we’re generally a respectful and courteous bunch. What we sometimes lack in energy is made up for by being a little more polite.
MV: Yeah, I firmy believe that as long as you’re not interfering with other people’s experience, you should be able to enjoy the show however you want. Whether that’s standing like a stone in the back or moshing in the front with your friends. With that in mind, I wanted to ask you about a difficult situation you had to handle a couple weeks ago when one of your shows landed on the same day as a protest downtown. Do you feel like your events become even more necessary in tough times like that? What is your stance on going forward with events in lieu of hard times?
CH: When there is political and social turmoil, gathering in places with like-minded individuals is probably all the more important. For sure. But I also think there’s a line you want to tiptoe ’cause I don’t want to be tone deaf. And it does feel weird sometimes – promoting events and using social media to garner and generate attention around events when there are a lot more deserving causes that attention should be brought to.
So sometimes I do feel weird promoting events, especially in DC, with what’s going on politically right now. But at the same time, I do think that we are serving a valuable role within our community by providing these outlets where people can go and express themselves freely and leave their worries at the door to have a good time.
MV: It’s honest work, if you ask me. At this point, we’ve talked a lot about yesterday and today. Now, let’s talk about tomorrow and your goals for the future. What made you start wanting to do solo shows and what does this next chapter of Para Presents, coinciding with your four year anniversary this week, look like?
CH: When I first started Para, I was never doing it with the explicit intention of only promoting bass music. I’ve always been a fan of a number of different styles of music and genres, and over the last few years, people like Max Wilner (Para Presents partner) have put me onto a lot more of the UKG and club-oriented sounds. As my personal taste and interests have grown, my desire to book those artists has risen in tandem.
I also wanted to do things that could make us stand out independently. So that turned into throwing events with acts like Interplanetary Criminal. That was our first UKG/clubby show that we did. Then soon after we started doing this event series called Terminal, which focuses on booking primarily UK and EU acts that spin UKG, breaks, and stuff like that.
That includes acts like MPH, Main Phase, Zero, and Taiki Nulight. Like I said, it’s very much intertwined in how my personal tastes have evolved but also emanated from a place of us wanting to do something that we can be known for.
CH: Para is doing a lot of awesome UKG events as well and I think there is a lot of crossover between those crowds. And that’s the direction we took with our four-year anniversary lineup that’s going to be headlined by Conducta and Swami Sound. Conducta is an artist I’ve been trying to bring out for years and was finally able to book. He’s doing a special four-hour set to commemorate the four-year anniversary, so that’s gonna be absolutely nuts.
MV: So what does the future look like?
CH: I think our future plans entail a lot of what we’re currently doing, with DC being the main focus. We’ve done a few shows down in Florida, and I think we’ll still do a handful of those on an annual basis, ’cause one of our team members, Dan, is based down in St. Pete now, and, we’ve got some homies and partners down there that we’ve got stuff in the works with and have done a few events with.
So that’s something that’s a focus as well, is doing shows down there. But also staying true to what we’ve been doing. I think we’re at a point now, and this ties back to what I was saying to a previous question, which is maintaining integrity while also maintaining viability and relevance.
We’re at a point now where there aren’t too many readily available growth opportunities within my purview and our wheelhouse that I want to explore. Do I want to expand and grow in the future? Definitely. But I don’t want to do that at risk of losing what has made Para, Para either.
CH: I wish I could lay out these exciting plans to be on the lookout for. But honestly, what you can be on the lookout for from Para is more of what people have enjoyed so far, and that’s well-curated, well-thought-out lineups, in great environments, and great venues. And that’s what we’ll continue bringing to the table.
MV: That’s super authentic, to play it as it comes, and ride the times. Carter, do you have any other message you want to share with the scene or anything else you’d like to add?
CH: I definitely want to shout out a lot of people who have got me to this place. Like my partners at The Gradient Perspective and Closed Sessions, like Max, Dan, and Nika. My fiancé Alex, who’s been super supportive throughout the whole process, and all my close friends who’ve been coming to our events from my backyard to now over the last four years. I would not be here without all of these supportive people.
Like I said, just keep it posted and keep it locked on Para Presents. I would love to see everyone at the four-year anniversary party. It’s the first time we’ve gotten access to all three floors of Flash on a Friday night. It’s special for a number of reasons, that being one of them – it’s gonna be an awesome time.
Grab your tickets to Para Presents four-year anniversary here and stay tuned with everything they’ve got going on in the links below.
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