One of a Kind

As a rule in Arizona, club nights — those wittily monikered weekly or monthly dance events (or non-events) — have the staying power and life span of a box of Krispy Kremes at an AA meeting. That’s what makes the longevity of Kind, the up-with-people-themed Friday-night DJ extravaganza at Freedom in Tempe, something to celebrate. So in honor of Kind’s fourth birthday, promoter Jas Tynan is presenting SuperKind, a two-night dance music festival featuring some of the world’s premier DJ talents — Sasha, Richard “Humpty” Vission, Seb Fontaine, John Debo and others.

Kind’s evolving legacy is that it’s brought many DJs to the Valley who would ordinarily ignore our B-market metropolis. “Most of them were just skipping Arizona,” Tynan recalls. “Initially, it took a lot of convincing just to get them to consider coming here. We’re not L.A. or New York or San Francisco, where it’s like, Yeah, we’re coming for sure.’ Now it’s a matter of staying on it and hammering the point home. Now we’ve got a bit of a reputation, and Phoenix has a bit of a reputation on its own.”

With a history that includes the state’s first visit by huger-than-Jesus DJ Paul Oakenfold, massive New Year’s parties with talent such as DJ Peretz (Perry Farrell, head freak of Jane’s Addiction) and the Roots’ beatbox master Rahzel, plus appearances by elite turntablists like DJ Craze and MixMaster Mike, Kind has managed to encompass the whole spectrum of dance music’s incarnations.

That musical diversity has reflected itself in Kind’s Crayola box of patrons. “The thing I really like best about it is the people,” Tynan says. “It’s a good mix of people from all different parts of the city, all different races and sexual preferences and stuff. That to me is really what makes Kind unique.”