Back a few months ago, at this small but well-known bar in Buffalo, a moderately successful weekly DJ night booked a gentleman named Grimace to spin an hour-and-a-half Happy Hardcore set. The night’s patrons who had danced and respectfully acknowledged the other DJs on this lineup, who were mainly Trance in style, immediately swept off the floor while the annoyingly bouncy feel of Grimace came banging off the walls.

Outside of the bar, a large group of the bar’s audience crowded the narrow sidewalk, many socializing as a way to kill time until the next DJ came on, several others not-so-subtly complaining about this god-awful DJ wrecking the vibe of the evening. Inside, a few brave souls ventured on to the floor but quite obviously couldn’t find a rhythm satisfying enough to justify their staying out there in an attempt to groove to this super-hyper style.

At that point in time, after having consumed and completely ignored Anabolic Frolic’s Happy 2B Hardcore Chapter Five for being too damn giddy, I wasn’t surprised at the crowd’s reaction. Following these two experiences with the style and a widely circulated, and resoundingly sobering, tale of a rare and fatal stabbing and a drug overdose from two past Hullabaloo parties, it wasn’t too hard to turn a cold shoulder against HHC. The thought process was something like, “Hell, even ‘shady’ Junglists don’t wreck a vibe like the folks associated with this style do.”

With a very loud groan I discovered Hapy 2B Hardcore Chapter Six – The Final Chapter sitting in my mailbox with the all-too-familiar and stomach-churning smiley faces plastered all over its cover. But in an attempt at fairness and open-mindedness I ventured through Anabolic again.

Three months after “The Final Chapter” has been released I now find myself waiting, with extreme excitement, for a batch of photos to come in from Jon Ko, one of this site’s photographers, that he took of Anabolic Frolic’s latest frisky gathering entitled “Make Believe.” I also sit with a lengthy accumulation of quotes and insights from Anabolic himself about his world-famous Hullabaloo events (widely acknowledged as the most memorable events in North America), his trials and tribulations, his tragedies, his future and, most importantly, those “annoying” sounds that have made him one of the most recognized names in the whole of Electronic music.

Of course, it likely seems odd to go from a mind-set described in the top two paragraphs to a lengthy project outlined in this last paragraph. But I also have in my hands the most important tool needed to complete a venture like this. It’s a 15-track mix CD of hard, happy and invigorating Happy Hardcore tracks that is so dramatically altered in mood from what one should expect from this style that (gulp!) you may just find yourself enjoying it. Lord help me, but I love it!

“It’s not any less hard than the previous couple of chapters, however it is paced entirely different than any other chapter,” Anabolic explains. “Seeing as this was the sixth album, the ‘final’ chapter no less, I wanted to do something with it that had never been done with the series previously. Rather than a slow and steady build for seventy minutes, it’s more of a roller coaster, both in style and in emotion. I definitely did not want this to be ‘just another chapter’ and hoped to please both the ravers and the critics who always complain it all sounds the same.”

Being one of those critics, I say mission accomplished. Whereas Chapter Five began instantly on a happy-go-lucky barrage of infinite beats-per-minute slapping itself against a listener’s head, Chapter Six is emotional, moody, smoothly paced and, unlike much in this style, completely invigorating. Instead of a non-stop, boomeranging bass making the “sounds the same,” there’s a deeper, racing bass and an exceeding selection of tracks and effects that speaks to a much wider audience.

It begins on the disarmingly lithe vocals of Kaos & Ethos’ “Drift On A Dream” that will catch nearly every House ear in the room. Next up, Visa’s “All I Need” and its catchy vocal layout might be most appropriate to the HHC crowd, but hard Electronic fans (take your pick of genres, it doesn’t matter here) will assuredly love that fast, thudding and fantastically rhythmic bass. But before you even begin to think “sell-out,” think instead of Happy 2B Hardcore Chapter Six as a true Happy classic with the potential for a wide appeal. One of the miraculous things about Anabolic’s beat-steady work is that it convincingly debunks the myth of Happy Hardcore as being thoughtless drivel with no vision while simultaneously blazing through the speakers at full-on HHC speed to please the candy ravers in their child-like euphoric state of mind.

“To this day I still have a hard time believing all that happened. Looking back at videos from our earlier parties, I can’t help but feel a loss of innocence for the whole scene. No one had a care in the world except having a fantastic time, myself included. Now (two high-profile deaths at two separate Hullabaloo parties) it’s like a severe dose of reality was brought in and things were never the same. The stabbing was shocking, especially knowing the crowd that we’re known for attracting. The stabbing affected me a bit more deeply, as someone’s life was taken as versus someone dying of their own actions. I was also saddened as to how much more quickly our society can accept a stabbing than an ecstasy overdose. It was out of the news after a few days.

“The drug overdose was the worst. It sparked a huge media frenzy which lasted a good part of a year. It became the most debated topic amongst our local politicians and sparked a coroner’s inquest which was no fun time.”

Thinking it’s some hassle being a raver sometimes, what with a typical ignored attitude from the popular mainstream and constant stereotypes perpetrated by members of that same mind-frame, that’s likely nothing compared to Anabolic Frolic. He’s easily the biggest figurehead of the North American Happy Hardcore scene, easily the most disrespected style within the Electronic forum, but is also a very successful rave promoter and a very vocal advocate within the Toronto Electronic community, duties with their own fair share of complications.

With constant dislike levelled toward the sounds he is obsessed about promoting (“It’s eight years since I first found it, and to this day no other genre of music gets me as excited”), it would be all too easy for Anabolic Frolic to isolate his never-never land escape from reality raves away from the rest of the Electronic world. Instead, when the typical knee-jerk reaction to a drug overdose prompted intense scrutiny and ultra-tight city regulations from Toronto officials seeking to contain the rave culture, the love-him-or-hate-him HHC icon became one of the strongest advocates within a rare rave success story.

Through involvement with an organization called Toronto Dance Safety Committee, Anabolic became an unlikely, but widely effective, responsible voice for the scene. “A handful of representatives, myself included, began having monthly meetings with police, fire department, public health and city officials,” he said. “We wanted to show them that the rave scene wasn’t just a bunch of crooks throwing dodgy parties filled with people looking to get wasted, but people who were very passionate about their music and community, and do the best they can.”

The end result was a peaceful demonstration concert in downtown Toronto that rallied against severe regulations focused on the city’s rave culture. It was called iDance and, along with the high-profile success of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, may be among one of North America’s most vital rave events. Two years ago, the unauthorized iDance amazed an entire city and changed the political climate that was running rampant against ravers. The all-day event, a showcase of local and international DJs from all genres performing for a massive supportive turnout, came off peacefully and encouraged the retraction of many unfair regulations. For all its effectiveness, perhaps it was more surprising when the event was invited back one year later by city officials.

It’s quite the extreme opposite to recent travesties of justice in New Orleans where local law enforcement agencies, however unsuccessfully their attempts were, brought a promoter to trial under a “crack house” statute that claimed raves were little more than parties set up for the consumption and sale of drugs. While a ridiculous notion to begin with, it also went a long way toward cementing the rave reputation of being a drug-addled culture more firmly in the minds of a misunderstanding mainstream culture.

“I recently met with the (Toronto) police to be open and honest with them about the possibility of throwing a large event again. They were quite cooperative and very accomodating,” Anabolic said. “If we used Toronto as an example of a city that went ‘rave crazy’ for a bit, you can see the positive effects of the entire scene made to save it.

“We were able to meet with individual city councilors and get them on our side. A lot of them won their riding by very small margins so they’re looking for anything that can drum up more support. We mobilized the ravers in town and started email campaigns. Those councilors realized that we were voters and they were making enemies. I’m amazed when I see promoters in cities across the country refuse to work with one another and ultimately have everything flushed down the toilet as local laws are passed to ban raves due to hysteria in the air. There’s power in numbers and I think Toronto should be a text book example of how to fight the powers that be.”

Now that the Toronto rave scene has become legit and admirably respected, new issues have begun to arise within the ranks. Whereas the old days utilized massive warehouses to throw king-sized events, this new legitimacy comes at a price beyond traditional rave custom. No more wide-open warehouses that do not fall Into the realm of appropriate and licensed areas means a scarcity of usable locales for eye-popping events within Toronto’s bustling Electronic culture.

Another issue holding relevancy on the minds of promoters are the new realities of this new chapter versus the past old-school ideals. “The bigger realities we face nowadays are the economic realities of throwing a large event. It’s comparable to size and costs of a reasonably large concert, even more so as it runs all night,” Anabolic said. “At the moment, ticket prices don’t reflect that so it’s impossible to move ahead. The scene was built on some utopian principles so a lot of people are against the commercialism of it, but at the same time, they can’t expect to see large events continue as real world problems face us.

“In the old days you could get away with using all sorts of different venues but due to attention and our own education as to what makes for a safe venue we’re basically limited to clubs. Most of those are very expensive – prohibitively so. For about the last year, we’ve been limited to smaller style Hullas of under 1000 people. In some ways they’re better, certainly easier on me as a promoter but I’ve always loved big events. I love having the budget to pull out all the stops. I love the atmosphere only a crowd of thousands can create. Hopefully something will change and we’ll see a large Hulla again.”

“As a result of a more professional agent, I was flying from Toronto to America every weekend. The U.S. doesn’t offer an easy way to get a work permit for a weekend. They offer a yearly one but they need to know all your dates, who you’re playing for, location. A year in advance doesn’t work well for a DJ who plays for some one different every weekend and gets bookings two or three months in advance. So I continued working without one, telling American customs various reasons why I was travelling. They (finally) got suspicious. They probably thought I was a drug runner since all the flights I had taken were recorded in their computer. So they took me back to question me.”

If candy ravers are known as little more than children with a strong preference for pacifiers, fun fur and loads of candy, then it makes sense that their famous father of sorts is a mischievous businessman. It takes courage, determination and that old-school raver sneakiness to cross the American border each weekend under continuously dishonest terms.

“I continued to work in the U.S. for the next few months without incident but finally I was driving across the border to Buffalo. The promoters had sent a car over to take my records ahead. They asked myself and my driver, ‘Have you ever been denied entry to the U.S.?’ to which I answered yes since I didn’t want to be caught lying. They had us pull over, then separated and interrogated us. The clincher was that the hotel I was supposed to be staying at didn’t have the room booked under my real name so when INS called to confirm my story they found I had no room there. They kept me most of the night and finally decided to ban me from entering the U.S. I just wanted to get the hell out of there and go home.”

Aw yes, the U.S./Canada border, a sticky and unstable complication between two friendly countries exchanging musical talent. It isn’t untypical to have international talent show up for an event hours late, or even more unfortunate, not at all, on either side of the border. For the Happy Hardcore icon, since August of 2000 stateside audiences have been denied Anabolic’s presence. Quite the odd turn of events considering Anabolic Frolic is one of the biggest names on one of North America’s biggest Electronic music labels. However, what this duration of absence has ensured is that American audiences will be flocking in mass hordes to see the superstar when he returns stateside.

“I still feel weird about the whole ‘superstar DJ’ thing. To this day I still feel like a kid with a bag of records,” Anabolic said. “It’s always shocking to get stopped in the streets by fans, or when I’m at a restaurant. Some of the weirdest places I’ve been stopped were in line at Disneyland in California or getting a free hotdog delivered to me at a movie theatre was pretty neat. My dad who lives in Ottawa sometimes cashes in on my celebrity as he’s sure to drop my name when he meets sons or daughters of his friends as it always freaks him out when they’ve heard of me.

“On the other side of fame also comes the negative stuff, like rumors or jealous accusations. I’m really shocked at out and out hatred towards me for no apparent reason. But of course you can always gauge popularity with how much bad stuff is said about them. The day no one has anything to say about me is the day I know I’m not at the top of my game.”

But at the very top of his game is where Anabolic now sits. It’s tough to imagine his sounds getting better than the gorgeous Scott Brown selection “Turn Up The Music,” a pounding piano-laden masterpiece or DJ UFO & Stu J’s “Flyin High” that aptly encourages one to “Keep making noise motherfucker!” Well, Anabolic has always done that but not nearly as diversely effective as Chapter Six . However, what may always get better and may not differ too much is the joyous unpredictability of his legendary Hullabaloo raves.

“I’ve met married couples who met at our parties, I’ve met kids who got their lives in order after finding such an accepting crowd. This past year we had a young couple propose marriage on our stage which was really something,” Anabolic said. “My mom was visiting from out of town the same weekend we were having a party so I invited her to come check it out. I was playing at 5 so she set her alarm for 4 and came by. She’s an older lady, in her 50s, with not much of a clue as to what I do for a living. I can’t tell you how impressed she was with the entire thing.

“The MCs announced that my mom was there and she got on stage and the entire crowd just went crazy. She stayed on stage the whole set, dancing with some glowsticks some kids had given her. She had an absolutely wonderful experience. She loved how friendly all the ravers were and a group of them took it upon themselves to escort her around and take care of her while she was there.”

But if being the marquee draw of an event series that he created and promotes isn’t exactly the mark of excellence or influence, one of Anabolic’s last gigs in America justified his reputation. “Just before I got banned from the U.S. I was playing to main rooms of larger and larger parties alongside the scene’s biggest House and Trance DJs,” Anabolic said. “Playing to over 10,000 people in New Jersey immediately following Bad Boy Bill was both my scariest and most exhilirating DJ experience ever. Afterwards it was such a rush to know that I proved I belonged in that main room. People just went completely mad.”

Being 27 doesn’t normally justify having a retirement plan in place but this is the unpredictable music world we’re talking about. In fact, even despite all the spiteful criticisms Happy Hardcore may just be among the most enduring of the Electronic music genres like it or not. However, it’s always nice to have goals and, if all else fails, a lucrative backup plan, just in case.

“I think I’m lucky that I’ve worked myself up to a certain level where my name will be worth something for many years to come but for certain the ride will end at some point,” Anabolic said. “My goal is to cement myself amongst the upper-tier of DJs and prove to everyone that Happy Hardcore has much more than fringe level support and appeal. As long as there is a rave scene, this will continue to be my goal.

“I really don’t see myself having a regular job ever again. I hope that in time I will have enough saved up that I can just start some sort of other business. What that will be, I have no idea!”

Well, for the time being that’s not entirely vital. As a successful DJ, promoter and advocate, Anabolic Frolic surely seems to have a long, successful career in front of him. (Despite its title, The Final Chapter is not Anabolic Frolic’s last work with Moonshine Records). It’s assured that this superstar will soon become a legend. And for that, love him or hate him, the man deserves a hearty congratulations and, more importantly, the encouragement to “keep making noise motherfucker.”

He has more than earned that right!