Featured photo: Owners of Lighthouse Lounge Jason Bechen (left) and Christina Broderick (right) will be performing as Space Queen and Bechen will DJ as Mr. Chknpkl at Light House Lounge’s first ever Break the Lake show. Photo courtesy of Jason Bechen and Christina Broderick.
LAKE HAVASU — If you enjoy dancing the night away to a variety of unique music, you’re in luck as Lake Havasu’s Lighthouse Lounge will be hosting their first Break the Lake show next weekend.
Lighthouse Lounge’s launch happened last year with husband and wife team Jason Bechen and Christina Broderick. Originally from Iowa, the couple’s inspiration to open the venue came from a local restaurant bar of the same name in their former midwestern town.
As frequent patrons, the pair brought their fond memories of the business with their move to Havasu. The partners remember the bar’s above and beyond customer service and delicious food and drink. Other influences also came from the numerous lighthouse displays in Lake Havasu.
Since the opening of their own cocktail lounge, they’ve earned a solid reputation of bringing ongoing free live music to the community. Local bands like Scott Perry Band, Mile High, Roadwork, and many other groups, have become frequent weekly performers of the downstairs stage. With the lounge being two stories, the space also has what the owners call the Sky Lounge space located upstairs.
With the consistent encouragement from friends and customers to provide music entertainment on the upper level, the owners finally made the executive decision to create an event that would fulfill the ongoing requests.
The kick off of next week’s electronic dance music (EDM) event will feature an abundance of DJs ranging from Lake Havasu, California, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Not just proprietors, the spouses are also DJs themselves.
Broderick will be performing at the show using her stage name Space Queen and Bechen will DJ as Mr. Chknpkl. The duo will be bringing an array of different styles such as old school hip hop, reggae, and house. New listeners of the sound genres will be able to hear other unique tunes of dubstep. Which is a fashion of EDM music distinguished by heavy basslines, reduced tempos, and ambient melodies.
Giving performance opportunities to longtime friends and networking with newcomers, Bechen invited Dominic Kurn to play as GHz who is part of the local Quake Collective while Dustin Wade was invited as Yuxie. Kurn’s inner spark to become a DJ happened while in middle school and watching music videos filled with bright lights, music, and dancing. Before Lighthouse Lounge came into existence, Kurn met Bechen while working as a server at Havasu’s Legendz Sports Bar and Grill. As a bartender there, Bechen bonded with Kurn over music and the love of DJing. Kurn will be bringing a mixture of rhythmic styles like house music, drum base, and heavy tunes to the show.
Kurn enjoys watching audiences move to the beats of his harmonies and seeing the many people in the crowds letting their personalities show through dance. He also is thrilled about their being a production in Havasu that will aim to a younger crowd. “The live music scene in Havasu is usually more of classic rock and country styles. I’m excited that Lighthouse will be creating a space for younger audiences,” Kurn said.
The newbie making his debut to the venue will be Wade, also known as Yuxie. While exploring DJs for next week’s show, Bechen recruited Wade while sending an invite to DJ Larj, a longtime friend and collaborator of Wades. Traveling from San Diego for Break the Lake jam session, Wade had been an avid listener of electronic music since high school. However, it wasn’t until he attended a Hard Summer Music Festival at age nineteen that the performer wanted to begin creating his own music for EDM enthusiasts. Wade still remembers the musicians that fueled the want to join the DJ industry.
“Three artists I saw at my first Hard Summer show were Getter, Ghastly, and Kill the Noise. Something I find quite inspiring about them is that all three produce a wide variety of music inside of the electronic spectrum but still have managed to carve out unique sound identities for themselves while still being fairly multi-genre,” Wade said.
The DJ’s first onstage occurrence happened at age 23 and the entertainer was once again refueled with that same positive energy he felt at that first music festival. Fascinated with classical and medieval music, attendees of the Break the Lake concert will get a chance to hear Wade’s unique mix of choir, brass tunes, and bass house.
Wade’s inspiration for these types of scores comes from other DJs who play similar sounds and Wade maintains that, “Some other artists that inspire me very heavily currently are Apashe, Imanu, and Zingara for their frequent incorporation of classical music elements inside their electronic music projects. This has always spoken to me very deeply and you will hear similar classical elements and themes in my music as well!”
Owners of Lighthouse Lounge are looking forward to sharing their passions and enthusiasm of mixing melodies with attendees. “We just want to spread joy and love with our energy,” Broderick said.
The premiere of Break the Lake will be a two-day event that will feature 14 DJs on both levels of the venue. DJs will entertain on the downstairs main stage and the Sky Lounge area upstairs.
For a complete listing of Lighthouse Lounge’s performers for the Break the Lake concert and their other upcoming shows visit (12) Facebook. These shows are free to the public and are scheduled to take place on Friday, August 22 and Saturday, August 23 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Lighthouse Lounge, located at 317 South Lake Havasu Avenue in Lake Havasu City.
