FERAL: DC Nightlife Event Series

Born out of a townhouse with nothing but a Spotify playlist and borrowed speakers, FERAL has, in just a year, grown into one of Washington D.C.’s most talked-about nightlife series.

What began as a DIY experiment has now become a fixture in DC’s club circuit—throwing sold-out shows at Transmission (formerly Bar 618), No Kisses Bar, Zeba Bar, Sun’s Cinema, Le Mont Royal, and Sinners & Saints, while collaborating with some of the city’s leading selectors, including Amal (Black Rave Culture), Diyanna Monet, Franxx, Les the DJ, and My Friend Jack.

The themed series pays homage to bygone dance eras—spanning ’80s new jack swing, ’90s London rave, and ’70s funk and soul—and has gone on to host official tour after-parties for artists like Dhruv and UK dance stalwart Joy Orbison.

Nightclubbing often asks its attendees to choose between the pop and the underground. FERAL’s take? Don’t choose — bridge it.

Select event photography by Saygın Geçener (portfolio)

The pop-underground strategy

FERAL operates on dual frequencies — the pop and the underground. The invisible and hypervisible. The grit and the gloss. These contradictions are where we find our magic.

Our visuals provide the pop. Each FERAL event is built around a theme—complete with an adjoining photoshoot that mirrors the style and rollout of a pop star’s album campaign. It’s our way of taking the album release model and applying it to nightlife—a strategy that, to our knowledge, hasn’t really been done before.

The “FERAL models,” selected and shot by me, aren’t hired faces but DC community members—friends, regulars, and cultural connectors who become collaborators in the FERAL brand.

Then comes the underground — the music. Each lineup is curated with intention—DJs whose sets are in conversation with the world around them and the musical histories we choose to spotlight. From the sweat of Baltimore club, to the propulsion of new jack swing, to the liberating chaos of hyper-perreo, or the bounce of UK garage, FERAL’s curation process is a love letter to every niche subculture that raised us.

Together, it’s a strategy in two acts: pop aesthetics as invitation, underground curation as sublimation. The visuals bring you to the dance floor, the music keeps you there.