The Toronto Stop of Zeds Dead’s Two Night Stand Tour Was A Family Affair

A Zeds Dead concert in Toronto is a family affair.

At the hometown stop of their 2 Night Stand Tour, a section of seats on the upper level of the Danforth Music Hall are reserved for "The Godfather." Although it's not quite a stretch to think the duo's often hallucinogenic bass music might attract a local drug lord or two, these seats are not for them. Rather, the exclusive front-row seating is for the fathers of Zeds Dead's Dylan "DC" Mamid and Zach "Hooks" Rapp-Rovan.

"My dad brings more people than I do," says Mamid, who anticipates that both his and Rapp-Rovan's entire families will be present at this annual holiday show. Although their blood relatives may be situated up top, another sort of family will occupy the lower half of the venue. Having made a name for themselves in the late 2000s by throwing parties at Toronto hole-in-the-walls, the boys from Zeds Dead hope the small size of tonight's venue will reunite the tight-knit community that was once fostered at their now-extinct Bassmentality events.

"We wanted to try and go back to that vibe," says Mamid. "We miss that unknown craziness of it. You never knew what was going to happen." Situated at since-retired venues in the city's youthful neighbourhoods, such as Wrongbar on Queen Street West, the legendary parties were often characterized by frisky, rebellious moments. "When it was a free party, you never knew what kind of people would show up," Rapp-Rovan says. "The main danger was people hanging off the rafters. There was a lot of exposed electrical shit and we were just like 'Man, people are crazy.'" Although the duo since upgraded to more established settings, like the Mad Decent stage at the 360,000-person Tomorrowland festival in Belgium, they still want to play intimate venues for their fans.

"We were at Mad Decent Boat Party and this couple won the chance to have us give the ring to a guy for him to propose," Rapp-Rovan shares. "He was having dinner with his girlfriend and we basically came out of nowhere and handed him the ring and he proposed to her." While the pair admit that they found the experience to be just a little awkward, they pride themselves on their ability to create anomalous moments with their followers—including, most recently, an experiment in Austin, Texas, where they put heart rate monitors on select concertgoers.

"It was a study to see what songs or what parts of a set bring people's heart rates up the most," says Mamid. The results revealed that most moments of physiological arousal were instigated by songs that were well-familiar to the participants, such as the radio-friendly Twin Shadow collaboration "Lost You." Both agree that the outcome of the experiment was not exactly news to them, but the project offered more than just data and numbers. The activity was an outside-the-box method of reaching out to their fans. And that mentality is what coaxes fans to return to their hometown heroes' holiday show, year after year.

"You have to be motivated by creativity, not money," says Mamid.

While the men may have now progressed far beyond the days of hanging off "exposed electrical shit," they claim the only thing that's truly different in their lives is the growing length of Rapp-Rovan's Rapunzel-like locks. "We just do what we love," says Mamid. "It hasn't changed very much."

Watch our interview with Zeds Dead during their soundcheck on today's episode of Daily VICE here.

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