It is not very common for people to go out and party on a Wednesday night, considering that most work during the week. However, last Wednesday was an exception for me. I went to “Wormhole Wednesday” at The New Parish on San Pablo Avenue in Downtown Oakland, and it was a much greater experience than I originally expected.

Wormhole Wednesday is a night dedicated to heavy-hitting and heart-pounding bass music from an eclectic community of artists from around the world that has been going on for years.

Last week’s event hosted Party Wave with Violin Girl, Loom In Essence, Magellan, Groucho and five other artists who performed in a much smaller room. I did not know what to expect initially, but at the low price of a $5 presale ticket with an open mind, I knew I had nothing to lose.

My only other experience with electronic music prior to the event was in high school at a sketchy abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere, so I was a bit concerned going in. Wormhole Wednesday, on the other hand, was not sketchy at all and everyone was actually super friendly.

“It’s [Wormhole] a community built around a love of bass music,” said veteran show-goer, Sarah Chaaban. “I always feel safe and comfortable here.”

After being checked in at will call, I walked straight to the patio area that was lit up with market lights and flooded with show-goers hanging out and smoking marijuana. After immediately walking into the main stage, I could feel the bass pulsing through my body and the hairs on the back of my neck standing up from the excitement.

“Wormhole kind of reminds me of what the Deadheads had, but with bass,” John, “The Sticker Guy” Warren told The Pioneer. “It’s kind of tribal. Like, electronic tribal. It’s like you’re in a jungle.”

Before diving into the tranced crowd to enjoy the music, I took a lap around the venue to scope it out. I found that the event was surprisingly similar to a music festival. Although it was at a much smaller scale, there were vendors all around selling art, pipes, stickers and even knitted bras. The most surprising was a woman who was giving massages on a professional grade massage chair upstairs.

Downstairs was the main stage where it was much louder, more crowded and lit up than the top floor. There were people dressed in their EDM outfits performing light shows with their light-up fingertip gloves and yo-yo-like pulsing lights.

The show closed out with Party Wave and Violin Girl at two in the morning, and surprisingly most of the attendees stuck it out to the end.

Wormhole Wednesday happens at The New Parish every week with a different artist in the bass music community, and from what I was told I happened to go on one of the “not-so-busy nights.”