Hi Nightkids! I figure I’d personally update on the going-ons of HakubiVerse as it’s been some time after our last major event, Nation of the Nightkids (NotNK) Online, the official Okashicon after-party. As this is the second Nation of the Nightkids, I’ve felt that this particular event series hold near and dear to me as this event can be recognized as my official birthday show, considering it takes place within my birth month (July 5th is officially my birthday). The same consideration was true last year when we had our first NotNK with Hard Dance Texas (HD:TX) at 800 Live in downtown San Antonio when I got to open directly for Fracus & Darwin and play alongside many Texas Hard Dance and EDM rising stars and legends. The first Nation of the Nightkids with Fracus & Darwin was the show that put San Antonio on the Texas Hardcore map and the second installment, Nation of the Nightkids Online was the night that had the world recognize us that weekend. As massive as that experience was, so was the workload and stress level, but ultimately, the event was massively fun as well.
2020 is a year of adapting new paradigms in order to continue our ways of life; indeed, I had to adapt to continue to produce the magic of Hard Dance and AnimEDM raves without risking a single nightkid to the novel coronavirus discovered in late 2019. As Smash! Festa 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19, this new paradigm was tried at WeekEND Rave Smash where I’ve hosted multiple DJ sets on internet radio across 2 days, a format akin to virtual music festivals like Ramen Dream and Otaku Hardcore Revolution. WRSFestival turned out to be successful enough that the momentum encouraged me to bring back my Rave Smash weekly show, but this time to Twitch. As it appeared that the cancellation of Nation of the Nightkids 2020 live event appeared to be a reality, that reality was already made certain with Okashicon 2020, an anime convention that would take place within the same month. Virtual events were starting to propagate as a result of the necessary restrictions on live events and Okashicon as well as HakubiVerse both researched the idea of pulling of a virtual event. The collaboration between both organizations allowed the stand-up of a virtual joint-venture anime convention and music festival: Okashicon at Home & Nation of the Nightkids Online.
I was not sure of everyone’s experience level who has participated in either event; although, I admit I was a novice when it came to streaming as I never really had the equipment to support it until earlier this Spring. Despite a few botch jobs and a complete disaster of technical difficulties during the kickoff of Nation of the Nightkids; overall Okashicon was very fun and NotNK Online was completed in full. As I along with DJ Wildfire were engineering the infrastructure for the music festival, some of the other DJs on the lineup suggested some options, which seemed detrimental upon application but thanks to luck (which I rarely believe in), some of these features did work out and allowed us to keep consistent connection on the stream. I have made a list of most of our technical difficulties experienced during Nation of the Nightkids yet I still need to research root causes and determine alternatives when I compile the lessons learned; I may share these lessons learned or a streaming guide for those that want to do their own festival. Personally, some of the fun things about Nation of the Nightkids Online were the connections and configurations, seeing how certain hook-ups and settings work together. I’ve just streamlined my setups for both HakubiVerse and my sephihakubi Twitch streams and you’ll be able to catch my new setup on Rave Smash this Thursday at 7PM Central as well as my sephihakubi channel when I debut my JRPG streams in September.
Finally, I wanted to thank and recognize all the DJs that were on the lineup and participated with me (Sephi Hakubi): Baeritoki, Creep-P, DK Bean, The D, Eduardo Serrano, Kawaii Club, Nimbuz, DJ Pamdemonium, Pearl Grey, Reno, Sebris, SOTUI, Syntho, W.T. Snacks, and DJ Wildfire. Each set was absolutely special in some way and considering I’ve had a lingering anxiety making sure the event worked out just as any event promoter would feel, I had a lot of fun listening to everyone and I want to give special shootouts to those that played House, Techno, and other downtempo tunes as it was very relaxing. I also want to thank my wife Amethyst for keeping me sane and helping to manage things along with DJ Wildfire who was here managing the virtual stage with me; as well as, Jon-Tin for his efforts in promoting and hyping the festival. Unfortunately, we were unable to work out his set and was subbed for W.T. Snacks, but I plan to give Jon-Tin his proper chance and hopefully we can get everything ready before our next virtual event taking place in October. Last but not least, much thanks to Okashicon for making this weekend supershow possible by joining forces with HakubiVerse and the talent that came together to put this festival together.
As far as my Nightkid fans, much thanks for supporting HakubiVerse and everything my label and family does. We hope to bring you the best when it comes to a pure rave experience and AnimEDM and we’re definitely back to work at it after recovering from the festival. I will still be playing online every Thursday nights for Rave Smash so while we’re waiting for that next fest, take the Rave Smash journey every Thursday on twitch.tv/hakubiverse.
