{"id":618140,"date":"2026-02-26T19:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/618140\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T19:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:00:15","slug":"a-look-back-at-phoenixs-legendary-redmonkey-dance-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/618140\/","title":{"rendered":"A look back at Phoenix\u2019s legendary RedMonkey dance party"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDJ Ellen Ferrato performs at a RedMonkey in February 1999.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ramy Hosseinie<\/a><\/p>\n

When Pete Salaz revives RedMonkey this weekend<\/a>, it won\u2019t be just another night behind the decks for the veteran Phoenix DJ. The beloved dance party, a house music institution that lit up Valley clubs for decades, is making a long-awaited one-off return on Saturday, Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

For Salaz, an esteemed figure in Phoenix nightlife, RedMonkey\u2019s return offers a chance to extend his legacy. For local rave-scene lifers, its a reunion years in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to do with my personal journey and not wanting to just fade off into the sunset,\u201d Salaz says. \u201cPeople kept telling me how they\u2019re nostalgic for RedMonkey and asking if I\u2019d bring it back. Certain things clicked, and I took it as a sign that it was maybe ready for another shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

RedMonkey first launched in 1996, back when electronic dance music and rave culture was surging in Arizona. True to its origins, the party several cues from that era.<\/p>\n

\"\"DJ Pete Salaz, right, on the decks at a RedMonkey dance party in the late \u201990s.<\/p>\n

RedMonkey\u2019s revival unfolds inside an undisclosed warehouse, with the location revealed only hours before. The address drops via an old-school infoline, similar to raves of the \u201990s and 2000s. Admission is $25 at the door, cash only.<\/p>\n

Like many raves of that era, the lineup goes beyond DJs. Live performance and movement are part of the mix.<\/p>\n

House music anchors the night. California DJ and producer COFLO headlines, with Salaz and DJ Santos performing a back-to-back. Luis \u201cJavi Star\u201d Egurrola, choreographer for the Phoenix Mercury\u2019s hip-hop squad, adds a live dance element with his performance.<\/p>\n

\"\"Attendees of a RedMonkey party at the Riverbottom Lounge in 1998.<\/p>\n

Salaz says the revival intentionally leans into nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do things very old-school,\u201d he says. \u201cEverything these days is pre-sales and advance tickets. I wanted to keep the location secret so you don\u2019t find out until the day of the party. It\u2019s in the warehouse district of downtown Phoenix, and it just reminds people of the old days.\u201d<\/p>\n

That longing has been building for nearly a decade. The last RedMonkey went down over Thanksgiving weekend in 2017 at Monarch Theatre, the recently closed downtown nightclub<\/a> Salaz co-owned with longtime collaborator Sean \u201cSenbad\u201d Badger.<\/p>\n

But RedMonkey\u2019s history stretches back much further.<\/p>\n

\"\"Monkeying around on the dance floor.<\/p>\n

The party spun out of Chupa!, an early \u201990s underground dance venue Salaz launched with Eddie Amador<\/a> and other local DJs in downtown Phoenix. (The spot was jokingly billed as the \u201cclub which never sucked so good.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The first RedMonkey was a one-off at Riverbottom Lounge, the now-demolished dive bar on 16th Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cChupa! ended and I was left wondering what to do next,\u201d Salaz says. \u201cWe\u2019d used Riverbottom before, so I threw an event there. I called it Monkey because I didn\u2019t have anything else, added red because I liked the color, and it stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salaz and other local DJs spun different shades of house. What began as a weekly soon shifted to a more sporadic run, but momentum kept building. The roster of local selectors grew, and so did the camouflage netting draped around the room.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dancing amid camouflage netting at a RedMonkey in 1998. <\/p>\n

At first, the camo served a practical purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cRiverbottom Lounge had this low ceiling that wasn\u2019t very sightly, so it was covering things up,\u201d Salaz says. \u201cAnd then it took a life of its own. Every time I did another RedMonkey, I added more and more. It gave it a jungle feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

RedMonkey was embraced by local ravers and house music fans. Salaz says because it offered different vibes than Scottsdale and Tempe clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who loved house music found it,\u201d Salaz says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t in the midst of Scottsdale or Tempe and nothing was going on in downtown Phoenix back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

As RedMonkey\u2019s popularity grew, Salaz began booking bigger-name house DJs and producers from out of town, including Marques Wyatt and Ellen Ferrato.<\/p>\n

\"\"DJ Eddie X, far left, on the decks at a RedMonkey party in 1999,<\/p>\n

After Riverbottom changed hands in the early 2000s, RedMonkey moved to other Valley clubs, including Homme Lounge in Phoenix and Insomnia in Scottsdale.<\/p>\n

By the late 2000s, it scaled back to a few editions a year. Salaz had launched Solstice Saturdays with Badger and later took over Bar Smith in 2009 before opening Monarch Theatre in 2012. Rather than compete with his own Saturday nights, he shifted RedMonkey to holiday weekends where 500 people or more attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to throw RedMonkey against my own night,\u201d Salaz says. \u201cSo I started doing fewer of them and chose Thanksgiving and Memorial Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salaz pulled the plug on RedMonkey in 2017 as crowds began to thin.<\/p>\n

\"\"Revelers at a RedMonkey party in 2015 at Monarch Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers were dropping more and more,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be that boxer who stayed too long. I wanted people to remember it with fondness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then something shifted over the next decade. When Salaz announced RedMonkey\u2019s return in December, the response was immediate and intense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s receiving a lot of hype, and I know a lot of people are flying in from different parts of the country,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The revival also carries added siginificance for longtime EDM fans still reeling from the recent closures of Bar Smith and Monarch<\/a>, the downtown clubs Salaz owned for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never would\u2019ve hoped that it would\u2019ve turned out that way,\u201d he says. \u201cWe always knew someday everything would end, but when it actually does, it still hits hard. It\u2019s creating a funneling effect where people are going, \u2018Maybe we kind of took Solstice or Monarch for granted. We better not take RedMonkey for granted.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what happens after Saturday, Salaz isn\u2019t making promises.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking beyond this one date. It could be the last one. I really don\u2019t know,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m never going to say never.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, here\u2019s a look back at RedMonkey\u2019s history through photos dating to the \u201990s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DJ Ellen Ferrato performs at a RedMonkey in February 1999. Ramy Hosseinie When Pete Salaz revives RedMonkey this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":618141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,21201,141257,1589,2136,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-618140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-edm","tag-history-nostalgia","tag-phoenix","tag-photos","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116138478233533658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}