TOMAGAN.
Oida, let’s go to RAM!
Tomagan on Rave Am Mittwoch, a community at Werk and the opportunity to play a first closing set.
In conversation with Thomas · Tomagan / Rave Am Mittwoch
A raving couple over sixty on the left, students beside them, a tour group from Japan on the right: that is how Tomagan describes a packed Wednesday at Werk. With Rave Am Mittwoch, he wants to create a night without unnecessary fuss, with room to dance, a good sound system and an open route into Vienna’s scene. We talk about the move from Pratersauna to Werk, musical ideas of your own and why the nights when DJs are not booked matter too.
Thomas, known as DJ Tomagan, answered these five questions by email on 22 October 2026. The conversation took place ahead of the RAM special edition at Grelle Forelle on 24 October 2026; the event details refer to that date. Answers lightly edited and translated into English.
Oida, let’s go to RAM!
At RAM, people come together in the middle of the week. What happens differently on a Wednesday night compared with the weekend? Is there an encounter or a story that sums up what the series means to you?
People are generally more relaxed during the week than at the weekend – less inhibited. At the weekend there is almost always something “special” at the club: an international headline act, a particular theme, a prescribed dress code and so on. Rave Am Mittwoch is more of a “back to the roots” thing: a place for people who simply want to dance and have fun, casually and without much fuss, but still want a great, large dancefloor and, above all, a powerful sound system. Bars and similar places simply cannot offer that.
What really stands out is the diversity of the audience. It is largely made up of students, the usual Werk crowd and the people I have just described, who simply want an easygoing rave.
I am also surprised by how many tourists from countries and continents all over the world find their way to RAM. Party tourists often have a bad reputation, but our international guests on Wednesdays are not the stereotypical drunken troublemakers. They are proper ravers who come for the music, behave respectfully and do not cause problems. They arrive, check in their jackets, get a drink and dance their feet sore until the early morning, all together, regardless of religion, background, skin colour and so on. Sending love!
Sometimes I am amazed myself when I look across the packed dancefloor: the raving married couple over sixty on the left, the group of WU students beside them, the Japanese tour group on the right and so on.
Despite all those different backgrounds, a caring community formed very quickly. It is beautiful to see, because precisely that diversity and that sense of being together rather than against one another have always been, and should remain, an important part of our subculture and scene.
A Wednesday becomes a fixture.
RAM moved from Pratersauna to Werk. What did you bring with you from the old venue, and what developed in the new place that you had not expected?
RAM only came about because the preceding party at Pratersauna, known as “Nachtschwimmer” and organised by Crazy Sonic, aka Rudi Wrany, ended and the club was looking for something to take over its Wednesdays. The name was inspired by “Rap am Mittwoch”, a format I followed a lot when I was younger. Together with my good relationship with Rudi and his support during the handover, that led to the idea behind the current concept.
The basic idea has stayed the same: making clubbing and raves more accessible has always mattered to us. As we all know, life is not getting cheaper – quite the opposite, it keeps getting more expensive. We wanted to offer a platform that pushes against that development. The keyword is #RavePreisBremse, our rave price brake! ;-)
At Werk, it quickly became clear that this basic concept had created a regular audience and the community I mentioned earlier. Within a few months, Wednesday had become a fixture for many partygoers. “Hey everyone, it’s Wednesday, I feel like doing something – any ideas?” simply became “Oida, gehma RAM!” – week after week. Since moving to Werk, RAM has become more than a straightforward Wednesday party: it is an established meeting point for the scene, also known for its focus on newcomer DJs and diversity in the line-up. I see it as a place where people new to DJing or raving can make their first connections with the local scene.
“Hey everyone, it’s Wednesday, I feel like doing something – any ideas?” simply became “Oida, gehma RAM!”
A musical idea of your own.
In your DJ contest, the community first decides who gets to submit a mix; you then listen for selection, technique and creativity. How do you hear whether someone has a musical idea of their own? What can surprise you?
Personally, I always like it when someone does not fixate too much on a particular genre or tempo, but tries to create their own vibe using several subgenres or even different styles of music. If someone manages to create a continuous vibe across a mixtape without staying rigidly within one genre or BPM range, perhaps adding samples, vocals or some crazy effects, and is also comfortable playing both records and CDJs, that impresses me much more than the typical ping-pong approach – the standard, routine mixing from one track to the next.
Life after the closing set.
The prize is a paid two-hour closing slot in the Kitchen. What would you tell someone getting an opportunity like this for the first time? And how can the connection continue after that one appearance?
They should familiarise themselves with RAM itself and with the line-up – in other words, the music played there – so they can fit their set to the party as well as possible without losing their own signature. RAM has already built a bridge into the scene for countless DJs. Of course there will be nerves at first, but that is not a bad thing. Quite the opposite: it shows that they really take it seriously. After the second or third transition at the latest, the nerves tend to disappear and you can give yourself over completely to the crowd and the music. Besides, they were deliberately selected, so they should trust themselves and the set they have prepared.
How can the connection continue afterwards? After a successful gig, there is naturally a chance to do it again with us, or to use RAM as a broader springboard, as many people already have. From my own experience, I can say that other promoters and bookers are always among the crowd, looking for artists for their own events. I have brought plenty of DJs into the RAM line-up after hearing them impress me at other events, and I have also secured countless gigs for myself by connecting with other bookers through my sets. Networking is the key! Whether I am there privately or as a DJ, I always try to maintain old contacts and make new ones, because nothing comes from nothing. There are enough DJs who barely set foot in a club outside their own gigs and then wonder why the bookings do not come. Regularly going to events by other collectives, including ones playing completely different music, also broadens your musical horizons and gives you inspiration to develop your sound. I would never be where I am today if I had not spent thousands of hours on all kinds of dancefloors and at other promoters’ parties.
Two floors, the same connection.
On 24 October 2026, RAM returns to Grelle Forelle for a special edition. What should feel the same as your Wednesdays at Werk, and what would you like to try differently across the two floors?
The informality, relaxed atmosphere and usual RAM vibe should of course remain, even in the larger venue. The typical Rave Am Mittwoch sound is always fast and hard, and that will not change just because we are playing somewhere else. We want to find out whether our close-knit concept can also work in larger clubs – in this case, even with two floors. Musically, the Kitchen will be a little more trancey and groovy, while on the main floor, especially from peak time onwards, we will move towards dark bounce and eventually even tek.
Because of the different scale and the increased organisational work, unfortunately we cannot run these special editions at Grelle Forelle with donations at the door as we do at Werk. With admission at €12 before midnight and €15 afterwards, though, I would say we are in an entirely reasonable price range when you look at what other comparable local events there charge – no offence, of course.
TOMAGAN
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. Tomagan / Rave Am Mittwoch (bereitgestellt) · Tomagan / Rave Am Mittwoch (bereitgestellt) · SCENE:ID art direction