Open House Conspiracy is turning 15, and the St. Petersburg dance music collective is marking the occasion Saturday night with a set from Chicago house scene staple Vick Lavender at Suite E Studios in the city's Warehouse Arts District. Doors open at 9 p.m. and run until 3 a.m., with tickets priced at $25 before 11 p.m. and $30 after, according to Eventbrite.
The collective got its start in Tallahassee back in 2011 before relocating and building its primary following in St. Petersburg, where co-founders Brad Ashwell and Austen van der Bleek have steered it into a fixture of the Tampa Bay area's underground dance scene, as reported by WUSF. According to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, the group has previously brought DJs Mystic Bill and Patrice Scott through town, part of a track record that has made Open House Conspiracy a go-to curator for serious dance music heads in the region.
A Legacy of Milestone Bookings
Saturday's headliner slots into a pattern Open House Conspiracy has followed for past milestone years. For its 5th, 7th, and 10th anniversaries, the collective booked internationally known house figures Roy Davis Jr., François K, and Timmy Regisford, respectively, per Eventbrite. Vick Lavender's booking for the 15-year mark continues that tradition of pairing local anniversaries with house music's biggest names.
Lavender, born in New Orleans and raised in Chicago, is the boss of his own label, Sophisticado Recordings, and will showcase material tied to his work with producer Jerry McCalister and his former Strictly Jaz Unit collaborators Glenn Underground and Boo Williams, per Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. In the mid-1990s, Lavender joined Underground's Strictly Jaz Unit alongside Williams, debuting with the track “Medone's Thought” on Defender Records, according to Eventbrite. He later co-founded the live deep house band Mr. A.L.I. (African Latin Influences) with McCalister in 1998, producing tracks including “Cast Your Spell” featuring Carla Prather for West End Records.
From Vinyl Label to Record Store Owner
Lavender's reach extends well beyond the DJ booth. NYC house icon Joaquin “Joe” Claussell championed Sophisticado Recordings after its 2006 launch, distributing its releases on vinyl through Sacred Rhythm Music, Resident Advisor reports. More recently, Lavender co-founded the Chicago vinyl shop Bridgeport Records in July 2024 and opened Onion City Records in Chicago's West Town last month, tying his St. Petersburg performance to a broader career spent preserving physical music formats.
Filling a Gap in St. Pete's DIY Scene
The anniversary show also lands at a moment when small St. Petersburg venues are taking on outsized importance for Tampa Bay's underground music community. Suite E Studios, a 100-capacity warehouse venue and multimedia production space at 615 27th St. S., opened in February 2025 in St. Petersburg's Warehouse Arts District, according to Resident Advisor. Spaces like it have picked up more weight hosting underground dance and alternative acts following the permanent closure of Tampa Bay's long-running Ybor City venue Crowbar in July 2026, Hoodline previously reported in its piece on St. Pete's DIY venue shift.
Open House Conspiracy has also built out a membership program to sustain its community between marquee events like this one, offering perks such as priority door entry, ticket discounts, exclusive annual member events, and access to a private Discord community, according to the collective. That kind of community-backed model has helped the DIY dance scene in St. Petersburg endure even as larger regional venues have shuttered.
