How two bearcat dj’s are building community through undeniably energetic underground EDM shows.
On the occasional weekend night, hundreds of young people crowd into an unsuspecting warehouse in Cincinnati for the independent, grassroots rave known as Club Joy. Feeling the beat of the resounding Electronic Dance Music, better known as EDM, Instagram videos show seas of 20-somethings in graphic tees and lacy tank tops taking over the makeshift dance floor. At Club Joy, imperfection is encouraged, creativity is rewarded, and community is formed.
Social Scene
In an era of social media and group chats, young people everywhere are seeking third spaces to connect with others. Live performances, especially EDM shows, have become that third space for many young people. With a growing list of prominent local DJ’s, the underground EDM scene has become an integral part of Cincinnati’s nightlife, especially for Gen Z and younger Millennials.
Club Joy’s distinct mission of “Bringing back shared joy” reflects the EDM culture in Cincinnati, a culture emphasizing creative expression, freedom, and community.
Club Joy doesn’t have a single location or host events every weekend; instead, shows are sporadic and held in rented venues, typically unused warehouse spaces. For the night, the venue becomes an energetic rave, filled with young people freely dancing to sets by some of the most well-known Cincinnati DJs, such as Djboywife and KennfAYE.
Behind the Scenes
The faces behind this energetic club are Rory Walsh and Skylinn Jenkins, both local DJs themselves. Walsh, who performs as “Rorycorp,” and Jenkins as “Twkrbtch,” started Club Joy in May of 2025 and have hosted three events since. Their desire to retain creative control over shows and create events that prioritize a positive experience for the attendees led them to the do-it-yourself style club scene. “It’s become our shared creative outlet,” Walsh says. Together, Walsh and Jenkins bring their creative and organizational skills to the table to curate their vision for each show.
It’s no small feat, as DIY shows require planning the event from top to bottom – organizing staff, ticketing, booking DJs, and setting up venues all falls on Walsh and Jenkins. Walsh is responsible for much of the graphics and atmospheric lighting design, while Jenkins primarily handles logistics like booking venues and promoting the event. With the help of friends and family, each event is planned and promoted with their design in mind. “We get to control the lighting, we get to control how good the sound is, and that just makes it easier on us to give out a better product,” Jenkins says.
Jenkins and Walsh say they want every Club Joy event to be rooted in the idea of bringing music lovers together and providing a space to build an accepting community. “It is for the people that are coming. That’s kind of it,” Jenkins says. “We’re not trying to make money off bar sales; we’re just trying to put on as good of an event as we can.”
The Environment
Each show has been a little different, and they have experimented with things like flipping the traditional bar-style show layout to have DJs in the back. By doing this, they hoped to shift the focus from the stage to the dance floor. Jenkins also noted that at the last Club Joy event, an Instagram commenter inspired them to ask attendees to cover phone cameras, encouraging guests to be fully present in the event.
“We want an environment where people don’t have to worry about performing or being seen,” Walsh says. “I think nightlife and going out sometimes turns into this coolness contest when it really shouldn’t. We wanted to get away from all that. We wanted it to be a space where people could just be and exist and have fun and not really worry about all that.”
The Club Joy Instagram bio and y2k graphic posters feature the phrase “bring back shared joy,” and that mission drives Jenkins and Walsh with each show they organize. “Having a safe space to be able to go and be happy and forget about the world outside of you, for at least a few hours, that’s important to have; it’s an important release,” Jenkins says.
Sanfilipo’s Experience
In its first year, Club Joy has attracted a wide audience of Cincinnati electronic music lovers, and according to attendees, has already become that safe, carefree space for many. “It’s very ethereal, very queer; you just go, and you just be, and as long as you’re trying to be nice and as long as you love, we’re all here for it,” Maria Sanfilipo says.
Sanfilipo is a recent University of Cincinnati graduate and an active part of the Cincinnati EDM scene. She takes photos at shows across the city and has organized EDM shows of her own to celebrate the release of her zine, Surround Sound, which is a continuation of the homonymous Bearcast Media podcast she co-founded in college. Through her projects, she has become familiar with the Cincinnati EDM scene and the people involved.
Sanfilipo has been to every Club Joy show and noted that the emphasis on creating an open, safe, and accepting space reflects the Cincinnati EDM community. “It is just a different kind of energy, where you feel safe, and you feel free,” says Sanfilipo.
Music lovers like Walsh, Jenkins, and Sanfilipo say that the accepting and supportive community Club Joy cultivates can be found across Cincinnati’s underground music scene, as creatives around the city host events like backyard raves and basement band performances. “At DIY shows your presence is really everything,” Sanfillipo says. “Supporting locally and supporting small groups gives a lot of hope to a lot of people, and especially in times like this, hope and love and community are all you can really count on when you feel lost.”
Sanfillipo graduated from the University of Cincinnati last year and said having this community has helped her with the transition out of college. “The same crowd kind of sticks together and moves together. We’re all here to support each other,” she says.
A Chance to Reconnect
Noah MacKenzie, a professor of Psychology specializing in auditory perception at the University of Cincinnati, noted that since our species’ earliest days, live music has been a way of getting groups of people to reconnect. “Music, it is argued, evolved because of the fact that it promotes social cohesion, and it still does that,” Makenzie says.
At a Club Joy event, bonding over a shared love of music, dance, fashion and creativity cultivates the loving community Sanfilipo and other attendees have described. “A lot of why that is, is because you’re all in that moment together,” Makenzie says. “You have this massive, shared experience, this synchronous experience that really promotes that kind of connection.”
The bonds formed at EDM shows go beyond the dance floor; for people like Sanfilipo, the community is filled with love that has helped comfort her during times of uncertainty. It’s the stories of relationships strengthened at Club Joy that keep Jenkins and Walsh inspired to put on more shows. “Someone told us at the last one that they met their girlfriend there, and they just made it official they’re dating,” Walsh says. “It’s cute little things like that that make us want to do more.”
“Bring Back Shared Joy”
When the last beat drops and Club Joy’s doors close for the night, the energy doesn’t stop. The buzz around Club Joy is a sign of hope for many young people in search of community, and Walsh and Jenkin’s mission to “bring back shared joy” has been immensely successful so far. “I don’t think we had high expectations at all,” Walsh says. “It was just something we wanted to do for fun first, and now it’s become something much bigger. There are a lot of good things to come.”