Road to Season
City stops, showcases and special bookings that build the path into each annual Season.
Electronic music · events · community
Built around the music, the people and the weekend.
Essential Freaks brings together destination events, club nights, Road to Season shows, collaborations and original music. At the center is Season, the annual multi day resort takeover that turns Hotel Venezia into a world of stages, poolside sets, late nights and shared experience.
The artist
FACTORe + Zak Davis
The story
More than one night.
Essential Freaks is the pairing of FACTORe and Zak Davis: a high energy, genre fluid artist project that moves between melodic, progressive, house, breaks and harder edged electronic sounds.
Around that artist project is a larger world of events, releases and community. The event side ranges from club shows and collaborations to Road to Season stops in different cities. Season is where those worlds meet at full scale.
The flagship
Season
Season is the annual Essential Freaks resort experience. Multiple stages, poolside programming, overnight energy, national and regional talent, performers, vendors and community all live inside one shared weekend.
26
The archive
Season 5
2026
Explore the Essential Freaks event archive.
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25
The archive
Season 4
2025
Explore the Essential Freaks event archive.
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24
The archive
Season 3
2024
Explore the Essential Freaks event archive.
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23
The archive
Summer Splash II
2023
Explore the Essential Freaks event archive.
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22
The archive
Summer Splash
2022
Summer Splash — where it all began.
→Season cards are generated from published public CMS records and update automatically as new Seasons are added.
First access
Join the Freaks.
Get the important stuff first: Season news, ticket and room access, event announcements, music and drops.
Season accessTicket + room dropsEvent announcementsMusic + releases
Essential Freaks list
Be there before the feed catches up.
Sign up through Laylo for Essential Freaks updates and early-access alerts. Email and text options can be managed from the signup flow.
Join the FreaksMessaging and incentives can change without changing this section structure.
All year long
Season is the destination. The road happens all year.
Club nights + takeovers
One room, one night or a full venue. Essential Freaks continues outside the resort weekend.
Collaborations
Shared bills and cross crew events connect different scenes, sounds and communities.
Essential Freaks
FACTORe + Zak Davis
Behind the decks
The artist side.
Essential Freaks is the production and performance duo of FACTORe and Zak Davis. Together they bring underground roots, international festival experience and a genre fluid approach that moves from melodic and progressive sounds into house, breaks and harder edged territory.
FACTORe
Chicago rooted DJ and producer with appearances spanning Electric Forest, Groove Cruise, Ultra Miami, EDC Orlando, Amsterdam Dance Event and more. His catalog includes releases on Black Hole Recordings, Avanti, Dissident Music and 20K Freaks.
Zak Davis
Florida based veteran DJ whose musical foundation reaches back to Memphis and a childhood around Al Green's studio. Zak is the founder of Essential Freaks, bassic and Essential Bass, and a co-owner of 20K Freaks.
Follow the music, releases and upcoming appearances through the links below.
New music
Latest Releases
The three newest Essential Freaks releases and collaborations, updated as new music lands.
Record label
20K Freaks
20K Freaks is FACTORe's imprint, co-owned by Zak Davis, and the record label at the center of the Essential Freaks music side. It is a home for original releases from Essential Freaks, FACTORe, Zak Davis and artists across their wider creative network.
Essential Freaks releases include “Fantasy” with Zak Davis and “Live And Breathe” with Keith Mackenzie. The 2026 ILL Freaks EP with Keith Mackenzie pushed that catalog further with NLF Beat, Al Dente and Want U Back.
Original releases
Music from Essential Freaks, FACTORe, Zak Davis and label artists.
Remixes + collaborations
Cross genre releases that connect artists across the Freaks network.
A home for the music
The recorded music side of the same community built through the events.
Merch
Wear the story.
Essential Freaks merch and Season drops now live in one shared store. Shop general pieces, current-event releases and selected merch from past Seasons without jumping between separate storefronts.
Shop Essential Freaks merch →Connected projects
The wider FREAKOSYSTEM
Music + label
20K Freaks
The Essential Freaks record label and home for releases from the artist project, its collaborators and a growing roster of electronic music.
About the label →Club culture
bassic
Another Zak Davis founded project and part of the broader history behind the Essential Freaks event and music ecosystem.
Events + bass culture
Essential Bass
Bass focused programming and events that connect into the same larger community and year round event network.
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