Thomas Turner, the visionary founder of Relentless Beats, joins from Phoenix, Arizona, to discuss his journey from club DJ to one of the most influential live event producers in the United States. With over three decades in the industry, Thomas reflects on starting as an enthusiast and throwing underground events in old post offices before turning his passion into a full-scale business in the early 2000s. Today, Relentless Beats produces more than 500 events annually, from intimate club nights to massive festivals across multiple states. He describes his early motivations as driven not by profit but by a desire to fill a cultural void in Arizona’s nightlife. Over time, this vision expanded nationally through strategic partnerships, including East Meets West in New York. Thomas explains the evolution of major festivals such as Decadence, Gold Rush, and Phoenix Lights, highlighting the creative process behind curating each lineup and venue experience. For him, every event serves as a reflection of the community, emphasizing both artistic diversity and fan connection. The discussion also delves into the modern realities of event culture, from managing safety operations to addressing cell phone use at shows. Thomas offers insight into Relentless Rangers, a fan-first initiative that ensures guests’ well-being at every festival. He also shares thoughts on “proper house” and his passion for maintaining authenticity in an increasingly commercialized scene. Despite overseeing hundreds of productions a year, Thomas remains grounded in creativity and collaboration. His message to fans is simple: join the movement, celebrate responsibly, and help shape the next era of dance music culture. Topics 0:13 - From DJing in Phoenix to building Relentless Beats 3:58 - Early rave inspirations and first underground events 7:50 - Expanding nationally with East Meets West collaborations 9:19 - Partnering with country venues like Harold’s 90th Anniversary 12:31 - Decadence, Gold Rush, and festival production logistics 16:39 - UFOs, Body Language, and defining “proper house” 21:31 - The evolution of electronic genres and fan maturity 23:00 - Cell phone culture and crowd experience at events 28:09 - Event safety, Relentless Rangers, and community outreach 37:21 - Future plans, partnerships, and advice for aspiring DJs Connect with Thomas Turner
- Website:https://relentlessbeats.com
- East Coast:https://emwpresents.com
Instagram:https://instagram.com/relentlessbeats   About Thomas Turner - As the founder of Relentless Beats- Arizona’s leading promoter of electronic and dance music events, Thomas Turner took what was once just a passion for proper house music & built it into a dominating force in the electronic music industry. Beginning in 1996 as a vehicle for showcasing underground dance music, Turner now produces over 400 events a year, booking over 500 artists.  With a goal of continued company growth, Turner is branching out into new music and frequently consults on other events across the country. Among his most notable projects are Goldrush Music Festival, PHXLIGHTS, Body Language, DUSK, Decadence AZ, several concert series featuring some of the globe's biggest acts, the house music sub-brand- RBDeep, and partnerships with Universatile Music, Psyko Steve Presents, and more. In 2023, Turner teamed up with Kevin Mitchell and Max Roseff, formerly of SFX and LiveStyle, to create EMW Presents- servicing New York City’s thriving dance music scene. https://calendly.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Frelentlessbeats.com&user_uuid=4c2b2c86-3956-4a9d-977c-78e986d23990&stage=1&hmac=fa7ff6bc90e39915cd0f9820258f883ed7315f656ce0019b9b8edfcabba7e234https://calendly.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Frelentlessbeats%2F&user_uuid=4c2b2c86-3956-4a9d-977c-78e986d23990&stage=1&hmac=504dfc205ed02f42d20cb0e74c8e513b35f7e801f733ce1aae8be6ced749cd5bhttps://calendly.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frelentlessbeats&user_uuid=4c2b2c86-3956-4a9d-977c-78e986d23990&stage=1&hmac=3b5c648bd4bc0ed62715ef550aa8290cf6c18b4e7473e512bb1c805d07d9b324 About The DJ Sessions - “The DJ Sessions” is a Twitch/Mixcloud "Featured Partner” live streaming/podcast series featuring electronic music DJ’s/Producers via live mixes/interviews and streamed/distributed to a global audience. TheDJSessions.com The series constantly places in the “Top Ten” on Twitch Music and the “Top Five” in the “Electronic Music", “DJ", "Dance Music" categories. TDJS is rated in the Top 0.11% of live streaming shows on Twitch out of millions of live streamers. "The DJ Sessions" is listed in the https://podcast.feedspot.com/edm_podcasts/ directory as one of the https://podcast.feedspot.com/edm_podcasts/. It has also been recognized by Apple twice as a "New and Noteworthy” podcast and featured three times in the Apple Music Store video podcast section. UStream and Livestream have also listed the series as a "Featured" stream on their platforms since its inception. The series is also streamed live to multiple other platforms and hosted on several podcast sites. It has a combined live streaming/podcast audience is over 125,000 viewers per week. With over 2,700 episodes produced over the last 16 years "The DJ Sessions" has featured international artists such as: https://www.thedjsessions.com/MattS8525, https://www.thedjsessions.com/TheMidnight9325, https://www.thedjsessions.com/Felix9425, https://www.thedjsessions.com/Jens91025, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/bt-interviewed-on-the-dj-sessions-presented-by-itv-live-6-11-13/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/plastik-funk-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-7-9-25/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/Redman081625, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/youngr-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-1-25-22/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/dr-fresch-interviewed-on-the-mobile-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-4-28-23/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/ferry-corsten-on-the-on-location-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-at-ade-10-21-22/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/Robert81225, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/darude-on-the-mobile-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-4-21-23/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/herbert-holler-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-thttps://www.thedjsessions.com/Herbert82825he-dj-sessions-6-25-24/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/Meecah81925, https://www.thedjsessions.com/York71525, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/martin-jensen-on%E2%80%A6sessions-9-02-24/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/sevenn-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-2-9-22/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/amber-d-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-8-13-24/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/joey-riot-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-7-2-25/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/drove-on-the-dj-sessions-on-location-sessions-at-ade-2023-10-19-23/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/martin-trevy-on-the-dj-sessions-on-location-sessions-at-ade-2023-10-20-23/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/Thomas81225, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/siryuz-and-smoky-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-7-17-25/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/simon-shackleton-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-4-23-24/, https://www.thedjsessions.com/podcast/surfingdjs-on-the-virtual-sessions-presented-by-the-dj-sessions-6-18-25/,