Thomas Turner founded Relentless Beats, Arizona’s leading electronic dance music (EDM) concert promoter, as a “passion project.”
Since its inception in the mid-’90s, it has evolved into a large-scale production company that produces and hosts shows in half a dozen states across the country. “It’s still very much a passion project. When I started the company, I was looking to host parties for 50 people in an old post office in Flagstaff,” Turner says. “It’s a much different beast now, but it’s still the same mechanics with regards to being inspired by the feedback that we get from the people that attend our shows. I still really enjoy bringing in new artists and curating the weekend for thousands of people.”
Turner’s first role in the electronic music scene was as a raver and DJ at a now defunct dance club in Tempe called Freedom. “That club closed and there was a void in the Phoenix market and in my life,” Turner says. “I filled that by starting to produce events.”
Relentless Beats has hosted hundreds of events featuring an eclectic range of artists and fans at various venues around Phoenix. “We need more alternative environments to allow fans to connect with the content that they care about most,” he says. “That’s a work in progress, always.”
Last month, Turner and his team were slated to host their first exclusively hip-hop festival, IYKYK, headlined by Lil Uzi Vert and Metro Boomin. After a monsoon destroyed the stage, Relentless Beats reluctantly had to cancel the show. Fans were excited to experience the company’s expansion into other genres. But Turner says he plans to grow the brand to include other types of music, including Latin and country. “When we build these environments, it’s a shame not to utilize them for other fans to experience them for their favorite kinds of music,” he says. He says Relentless Beats is ramping up to provide fans of genres beyond electronic music the opportunity to enjoy their festival experiences.
On October 6, Turner partnered with Universatile Music and AEG to host rap duo $UICIDEBOY$ at Phoenix Raceway, a premier venue in Avondale with upgraded bathrooms and VIP viewing decks. “It’s really about hosting a hip-hop event in a party environment instead of an arena,” Turner explains. “It’s a little more liberating, a little more of a festive, party environment, and we can get away with making a little bit more noise.”
This weekend (October 7-8), the Gold Rush: Sonoran Skies festival will return to Phoenix Raceway with big-name acts like Alison Wonderland, Louis The Child, Tiësto, Zeds Dead and Zhu.
Turner says he is always coming up with potential names and ideas for future festivals. “I literally have a notepad with 100 different names,” he says. “I go through, get rid of some, keep some and sometimes they come to life.”
Relentless Beats recently wrapped season one of its six-part web series, Relentless Pursuit, which features in-depth interviews with global artists who have performed at past festivals and shows. “When an artist comes to a show, they come in and they play. It’s not like they can talk to all the fans attending the show and they have no way to convey how they feel about social issues or how they arrived at being the public figure that they are,” Turner explains. “It’s fascinating for fans to be able to connect with the people who create the content that we’re entertained by… It’s a labor of love in creating this special content that we hope lives for a long time and is valuable to the community of people who support what we do and the electronic music industry as a whole.”
As a Phoenix native, Turner has had a front-row seat to the Valley’s rise as a hub for arts and entertainment. “We are working vigorously with different development partners to make premier venues and scenarios to host fans,” he says. “I’m really excited about the future projects and irons we have in the fire.”
For more information about Relentless Beats or to purchase tickets for this weekend’s shows, visit relentlessbeats.com.
