The Hideaway and local resident Daniel Jones, who performs throughout Louisiana and parts of Texas under the moniker Dan Chilwell, invite all to experience “Something Completely Different” on July 26.
On deck is a night of house music, lights, and camaraderie that will offer an experience that is a true rarity for Sabine Parish.
“Music as a whole, and especially house music, has been a driving force in my life and I cannot express how pleased I am to finally be able to present this unique and unifying type of event in my hometown of Many,” Chilwell says. “After 25 years of playing this type of music overall and over 15 years of performing throughout several states, it feels good to bring it home to Sabine. This will be something truly unique and different experience for the parish, which is what I’m all about.” Chilwell began his journey into electronic types of music in the mid-to-late 1990s, when a modern British invasion of the styles came stateside.
“I was a teenager heavily into metal and rock music, but all of a sudden these amazing British acts such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and the Chemical Brothers began receiving airplay on MTV, radio, and several movie soundtracks,” he says. “I was hooked immediately. By 1999, I bought my first turntables and mixer with no idea what I was really doing or how to properly mix different tracks together to make seamless transitions or even something new entirely out of what was being played.”
Not long after he met the similar-minded John Morris, son of Phillip and Fran Morris, former owners of Dreamcatcher Campground on Highway 191 closest to Converse. He introduced me to the actual rave scene in the south through trips to Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans. John was also an aspiring DJ who shown me the very basics about actual DJing.
“Throughout the 2000s I’d practice in my bedroom with no aspirations of actually performing in public,” Chilwell says. “John was a bit of a wanderer who went from place to place, but he moved back home around 2008 or 2009 and, of course, we started playing music again,” he says. “Something was different this time though. He’d tell me that I had gotten too good and needed to play actual gigs.”
Since then, there have been off and on times with gigs, but over the past few years, gigs have been constant.
Now, Chilwell looks forward to his extremely rare hometown gig at The Hideaway outside of Many city limits on July 28.
“I’ll be kicking things off at about 8 p.m. and play until I absolutely can’t anymore,” he said. “These long, marathon sets allow me to show multiple genres of this music I love so much from house to breakbeats to techno and even beyond. I promise this is a night not to be missed.”
He continues. “The thing is, this music has always been a unifier,” Chilwell explains. “Back then, this music brought people on the fringes of society together for socialization and unity. Now, with its widespread worldwide popularity it’s a vessel to bring us all together if you give it a try.”
The Hideaway is located at 1644 Texas Highway, Many, La., close to the Tourist Commission.