Miami Beach is notorious for drawing in droves of sun-starved, horny spring breakers this time of year. But with an already magnetic pull to its sandy beaches and bikini-clad blondes, Miami makes the perfect site to host the yearly Winter Music Conference— where DJs, industry bigwigs, and dedicated electronic music fans from around the world flock to sweat through a week-long dance fest. Hailed as one of the most important music events of the year, the conference packs a tight schedule of countless industry parties and over 300 acts that range from staples like Sascha & Digweed or Tiesto, to more relative newcomers like Shy Child and Calvin Harris.

With such an overwhelming event to navigate, psychoPEDIA enlisted the help of an expert to show the ropes: Adrian Michna, more popularly known as DJ Egg Foo Young, of Turntable Lab (ultimate DJ supply store turned renowned DJ collective) is a true veteran of the WMC mayhem, both as a former resident of Miami and now in his twelfth year at the conference. Explaining just how to party, stay cool, and not go broke is Egg Foo himself:

Has the conference changed much since the first time you went?
In ‘97 it was absolutely nothing— it felt like it was 4 to 6 venues. The two acts I really remember were Rabbit in the Moon, a Florida collective, and then Goldie (from Metalheadz) that really stood out. Every year [after that] it got bigger and bigger, until around '03. At that point, it’s kind of stayed as huge as it is. Since then, you can see certain labels have the same line-up, same venues. Things got pretty established.

Is the vibe different at WMC as opposed to other music conferences?
Miami is a party city. Mainly because you have tons of New Yorkers and people from the UK and Europe coming— just the fact that most are coming from snow and cold— you come here and it’s like, “Damn!” even if the music is whatever. And since DJs are mostly guys, you’re just staring at girls. It’s definitely fun because everyone’s open to mingling and stuff. You just have to watch out for meatheads and spring breakers.

So the conference gets infiltrated with MTV-style “spring breakers"?
Yeah, it’s a little frustrating, but what can you do? You get the meathead factor. The funniest thing is that one year, it must’ve been some major university’s spring break, and then there was this big hip-hop festival, BET's Spring Bling. On top of jocks here to party, you had total hip-hop heads, and every hip-hop icon trying to do their party, too.

How do you avoid them?
South Beach is always going to be that random mix, but if you do a party downtown— like warehouse parties— the scene is all music people.

Who are some of the most highly-anticipated acts or parties this year?
Justice is doing something with ULTRA, but mostly the rest of the lineup is big household names like Carl Cox. WMC has accepted more European, electro-house stuff. I feel like there were better things in the past like The Orb and Kid Koala. Underworld is a crazy show. Other than that, it’s cool that you have people like Switch. Turntable Lab is still doing their small parties. None of the DJ’s are super-duper stars, but it’s like a network of East Coast and West Coast DJs.

Did anyone emerge out of nowhere and blow people away?
Justice were a really new act before ‘03— before that they never even made music. You had Scion do a party [where they DJ’ed], and now they’re probably the best example of coming from absolutely nothing to world-famous.

Is there a new style you see evolving out of this year’s conference?
“Niche”, or baseline music. It’s like house. Switch is one of the heads of that. He started it but now people are taking that wobbly base and pushing it forward. It’s very London-grime, but I think that American producers are making that more of a norm.

With over 150 different clubs and bars in South Beach, are there places to avoid?
Ugh, Automatic Slims, and sports bars. If you see the line on a Friday or Saturday outside of Mansion, you’re going to ask yourself, do I want to party with these people?

What are the most underrated places to get quality grub during the conference?
Downtown Miami. There’s a hot dog place near the American Airlines arena, Dogma Grill— it’s vegetarian. And there’s a secret diner— the place people take you at six in the morning and it’s all locals. The food’s not that bad actually. If you avoid the chains, you can find decent food.

Where do people go to cool off when it gets too hot?
Hotel pool sides. The Raleigh is nice— that pool is cool, the way it’s shaped. The best secret pool is The Standard. You can sneak in there late in the night after the club, if you’re with your female friend. All of a sudden you’re in this huge pool— just you and your date.

Surely you get loaded with free stuff from sponsors throughout the conference. What's actually worth pocketing?
You can always grab mix-tapes, but out of 10 CDs, 9 might suck. Sometimes you’ll have a kid from Japan who just hands you something. And you can always try to score free food and drinks, like if Scion has a party. And, a Red Bull or something.

Where do people stay when they're too drunk to make it home?
Sometimes they wake up in their cars, or they’ll stay on someone’s couch. It’s all about couch-crashing.

Partying in Miami Beach can get pretty expensive. What are your mainstays to avoid breaking the bank?
If your friend is DJ-ing, make sure you get free drinks. Go to more of the local stops to eat as opposed to a fancy restaurant. And if you can, sublet a place on Craigslist. Hotels are way too expensive. For food, Taco Rico and the Pizza Rustica.

What's the craziest thing you've seen happen in all the years you've been going?
Last year there was a shooting. I was basically a block away. It was just random people with road rage in Miami, but it was right near The Raleigh hotel party. Everyone who went in was totally bummed.

Will you miss anything about Miami once you make the trek back to NYC?
Just that people generally enjoy themselves a little more down here. You feel free to be on vacation, then you go and it's back to work. You miss the sun.

Is there something you want to see at next year's WMC?
A wider range of stuff. Now every place is playing house or trance. That’s the core of the festival, but the reason I keep coming back to WMC is because I usually hear new stuff. Even a conference in ‘99 or '00, had obscure, experimental, electronic stuff— so, I feel like there’s still room for so many other genres of music.

~Leann Peterson


Go There:
Taco Rico, 1608 Alton Road. (305) 535-5757

First photo by EddieBirk via Flickr
Second photo via The Bus Bank
Third photo courtesy of Egg Foo Young
Fourth photo by kioralle via Flickr
Fifth & fifteenth photos by betamaxxx via Flickr
Sixth photo by flannalette via Flickr
Seventh photo by sidemedia.nl via Flickr
Eighth photo courtesy of Flavorpill
Ninth photo by itspeterhill via Flickr
Tenth photo courtesy of The Raleigh
Eleventh photo by Anthony Altamore via Flickr
Twelfth photo by Dave Malkoff via Flickr
Thirteenth photo courtesy of Dogma Grill
Fourteenth photo by oraclejulio via Flickr