Tim Trainor spends every waking moment finding out what's all the gay rage in Perth right now. Events, culture and random bits and pieces from Perth, Australia.
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Viewing posts tagged ‘alternative nights’
July 18
Battle of the weekend love
We have a new contender on the Perth weekend nightlife scene, promising to deliver salvation from boring winter nights spent on the couch with only the company of bad commercial television. ‘Love Saves Fridays’ (fb), not to be confused with the previously blogged ‘Love Sundays’ (post) is a weekly collection of Perth’s best DJs let loose on the turntables with one thing in mind: to save your Friday night from dying a dull, danceless, music death.
It all launches 10pm Friday 24 July at the Republic (Corner Wellington and Shafto Lane), which you may be familiar with as the venue for the now very popular SEXY nights (a personal favourite of mine). Whereas ‘Love Sundays’ was a bit of a coosh plastic glam night, ‘Love Saves Fridays’ is all about the atmosphere, company and music: You can expect sounds of the 70s, including indie-funk and glam rock, with different mixes each week.
The night has been created by Petrosex and the team from Bourgeois Bogan, who have a solid reputation for great events in Perth. Anyone with SEXY experience will know these events are all about creating an inner-city haven, where you can just have a plain ‘ol good time without the BS. There is also word that Perth’s performance superstar Ash Baroque will be the evening’s hostess to ensure no unappreciatives enter the walls of Love Saves Fridays.
So if you’re growing weary of the decreasing crowds at the Maddox Mansion (hey, it happens in winter), then do head along to the launch of Love Saves Fridays. It’s something new and fresh, and will save your winter weekends with a bit of soul.
Be sure to download the Love Saves Fridays flyer and check them out on facebook.
July 13
For the fantasy inclined
Winter is the best time to dress up because you can strip or layer as your heart desires without the sweat and sticky heat. SPANK! Productions have some awesome costume nights in the coming weeks. First, the next installment in the SHAMELESS! Series at Connections, ‘Mental Oriental’ (fb1 | fb2). This Saturday night - $10 before 1am, $20 thereafter.
I don’t know which tag line I like best: A night of sweet and sour eastern naughtiness! or Join the steamy throngs of Asia’s red light districts!. Either way, you’re going to get it on like a gangland geisha. Other dress ideas include lap dancers, ladyboys, ninjas, pole dancers, ping-pong artistes and Seoul sistas. I would LOVE to see some one dress up as a slutty ninja. I don’t exactly know how that would work but I’m sure it’s awesome. Your incentive to take on the slutty ninja challenge is the $250 prize which goes to the best dressed attendee.
If you like your dress up a little heavier, SPANK! are also putting on their next fetish and fantasy party: ‘Doctors and Nurses’ (web) on Saturday 22 August. The night will include a performance by top international fetish model Emily Marilyn, plus a Flesh Rubber ‘Medical Mayhem’ demo, Male Slave Strip, Dungeon, and Hysterical Healthchecks by Nurses Depravity & Deviance. I told you this dress up was a little heavier.
Unlike SHAMELESS!, the regular SPANK! parties have a very strict dress code so if you’re not in costume, no entry. Of course it’s an 18+ event and you’ll need to buy a ticket beforehand. All the details are on the SPANK! website.
July 13
Revisited: The Ellington
Apologies are once again in order for my sparatic updates. What can I say, I’m a very busy woman. Two weekends ago after my visit to Andaluz, my review posse stopped in for the Late Night Groove Series at the Ellington Jazz Club (web). We prebooked a table, and it ended up being an awesome closer to the evening.
I’ve previously written about The Ellington for Soho Nights (fb), their queer friendly evening. This time around though it was a different crowd, a different ’scene’. While Soho Nights is suave and relaxed, the Saturday Late Night Groove Series is energetic bop in your chair action. The atmosphere is rich, and in my lubricated state I could feel each and every person in the room tapping their feet or nodding their head in unison. One guy was enjoying things a little too much… and had to be escorted out of the premises. Hah.
As a side note, the next Soho Nights is this Tuesday 14 July !.
I don’t know too much about jazz so I can’t really give an analytical commentary on the entertainment, but even if you’re musically sceptical you will still enjoy the the grooves, funk and beats at the Ellington on a Saturday night, plus the artists are fun and engaging on stage.. Basically, I loved it.
So book a table. Now. Yes, Now. The late night series sits at 11.30pm, and you will be left out in the cold if you don’t pre-book a table.
July 5
Recap: Horse Meat Disco
On Friday night a slice of iconic London nightlife penetrated the walls of Connections and gave Perth a small taste of Horse Meat Disco. Jim Stanton and James Hillard from the original HMD club night are currently touring Australia, and to support their local appearance were a handful of Perth’s finest electronic acts along with a homage catwalk show involving our prominent drag performers.
The headlining set was just amazing, not just for the sheer funk of it all, but for bringing some much needed new music into Connections. It was also for this reason the night didn’t attract a typical Connections crowd. I spied ‘resident’ attendees of Shape and Republic, plus a crop of random others who I’m assuming discovered HMD from the posters plastered all over Northbridge.
Admittedly the crowd was somewhat sparse, but those who stuck around until the early hours were really getting into their nu-disco. I guess nobody appreciates your favourite type of music as much as you do, and I really love nu-disco, so it was shame the venue wasn’t packed out as it should have been. I point my spiteful index finger at you all and curse that you really missed out on some awesome tunes.
The catwalk show was a big gloating segment to show off some fun costumes, but seemed like a throwaway item. Actually, it agitated me that this 10 minute performance piece became the focal point for the entire evening. So much so that most of the models and ticketholders left when it finished, and before the Horse Meat Disco DJs had even played. A red flag also needs to be raised for that 1 metre x 1 metre ‘media only’ area at the end of the catwalk. How pretentious. Although, it did give my friendly arch nemesis Feminem Hygiene a good vantage point for demanding the photographers test their cameras on her… for 20 minutes. As a side note, Fem and I are back on speaking terms.
So, the conclusory comment for this event is ‘you really missed out’. The sound Horse Meat Disco brought won’t be replicated in Perth for a while yet. Connections have a number of disco nights coming soon, but I’m sceptical. From previous experience ‘disco’ to Perth gay venues means bastardised house music. It’s not the same thing. Lo and behold when I got in my car at the end of the night Triple J’s ‘The Club’ program were talking about how nu-disco is the latest fad in dance music. If it’s the latest overseas right now, it will be the latest in Perth in 12 months time.
I didn’t lug my SLR to Connections, and I didn’t try my luck with the media only area, but I did grab some nice photos of the catwalk show. See them all behind the cut:
June 15
Review: Love Sundays
Sunday was the launch of Love Sundays (fb), a new Sunday session held on Sundays. Sunday. I couldn’t be bothered coming up with a decent introductory sentence. The night is held at Luxe Bar and guns for a glamourous and luxurious atmosphere with gay friendly crowds. Luxe is already pretty posh like that, so the venue choice was only natural.
Perth has a strange curse hovering over Thursday and Sunday bar nights. With the exception of ZOO Sundays, gay events outside of the regular Wednesday and Saturday mould often meet a premature death… Anyone remember ‘Loop’? The ‘Trick’ nights mysteriously never returned either. I can’t predict how successful Love Sundays will be, but the launch night attracted a very respectably sized crowd.
Anyone familiar with Luxe will already know the drill: swanky, low lit velvet seating areas, plunky lounge music and pricey cocktails. It’s all absolute wank, of course, but it’s nice to get dressed up every now and then and pretend you’re a western suburb snob. You should be prepared for a $5 cover charge, which in my annoyance was not advertised anywhere until I reached the front door.
The ‘Love Sunday cocktail’ has been renamed as ‘Love Custard’, which the host James Kay told me had every gay pun intended. He’d be right if guys cum tasted like raspberries. Sadly, it does not. The cocktail however I found pretty nice, but it’s very milky, more of a drink to finish off the night rather than start it. I received mixed feedback about James’ Love Custard, really depends if you’re a fan of milky drinks and raspberries.
The guest vocalist who played early in the night was an absolute wonder - I only caught her first name, Natasha. Definitely an act to bring back in following weeks. The live aspect really made the atmosphere much more vibrant. After her set the regular vocal house music began, and the night felt like it was slipping back into stock standard mode again.
Focus group: (wrap up from the attending reviewers)
I received so many mixed responses from my friends I’m not actually going to post them in this review. Some, particularly the ones who had never been to Luxe before, loved it. Others found the night much of the same old. I do think you should save up at least the $5 cover charge and see for yourself. It’s quite nice for the occasional semi-extravagant night out with friends, but drinks are very expensive, so unless you’re bleeding money attending every week may be a bit much.
Update: There’s a fair amount of gossip making circles about some trouble later on during the night. Apparently the regular Luxe crowd showed up and were very unhappy their venue had been hijacked by gays without prior announcement. Sounds like it ended with staff yelling at patrons and vice versa. Details as they come into the newsroom.
June 10
New bar nights for June / July
You can tell winter is coming; a whole crop of new bar nights and events in Perth are making their debut (or return) over the next two months. Here’s some suggestions for your diary:
Gay friendly: Love Sundays (fb) starts this weekend at Luxe Bar as a weekly Sunday sesh. Putting aside my little huff at their resident faux DJ, the evening will be worth checking out. When it was first promoted on Facebook we all assumed it was a gay event, but after reading their very self indulgent press release I’m going to have to downgrade it to ‘gay friendly’. Public Relations 101: List the performers before you name the venue owner and PR director in a media release! No offence, but the public don’t give a rats who owns Luxe and who does their PR.
Gals only: Cocktails and Girls (fb) is a new quarterly event for lesbians and their friends starting 18 June at… Luxe Bar! (is the gay community getting a bulk discount there?). Described as ‘a place where you can relax to some funky tunes and talk with your friends over a beautifully made cocktail’. $1 from each ticket goes to the Breast Cancer Foundation WA.
Everyone: Cabaret night Voix de la Ville (fb) premieres on 28 June at The Castle. The evening is a platform for new and established performance artists of all varieties to showcase their work. You can expect musical, drag, magicians, clowns, burlesque and more. More details in my interview with Ash Baroque.
Guys and gals: After taking a few years sabbatical, Fruits in Suits (fb) returns to Perth on 2 July. It’s a relaxed sundowner affair for gay professionals, and yes women are welcome too. To be regularly hosted at Bar 138 on Barrack Street, and is a fundraiser for Pride WA.
June 8
Horse Meat Disco in Perth
Horse Meat Disco was very briefly mentioned in this month’s Out In Perth, but because I’m not constrained to monthly deadlines I can give you the full details now. Woo! So what’s all this business about? HMD is all for disco music - Italo, dub disco, electrofunk etc, and started as a regular club night in London six years ago. Originally aimed to adapt the trendsetting alternative parties of New York for the London crowd, it has expanded to become involved in the fashion scene, creating it’s own little fashionista melting pot. Now it’s coming to Perth.
Two of the founding members of Horse Meat Disco, James Hillard and Jim Stanton (all four founders are pictured above) will be playing at Connections on Friday 3 July from 10pm. Support acts are local electro artists Brash and Sassy, along with Petrosex (most known for gigs at Shape Bar and SEXY) plus other guests.
Horse Meat Disco describes itself as “the queer party for everyone: homos and heteros, club kids, bears, fashionistas, naturists, guerilla drag queens and ladies who munch”. Perth is their first stop in the Australian arm of the tour, and they’re being supported by Modular, so this event should get a fair amount of attention. Likewise tickets cost more than a regular Connections night: $25 + BF. For the price you’re also promised a “catwalk extravaganza”. Here’s a taste of the music:
Presale Tickets Available from Connections, heatseeker.com.au, Planet Video, 78 Records and Mills Records.
Props to Will and Jack on this post.
May 28
New gig guide + what to do this weekend
Thanks to the suggestion from my bestie David, and some hard work, I am very proud to present the only source you’ll ever need to schedule your social life: the gayrage gig guide … for gays (G4). It’s a very convenient collection of gay community, commercial and gay friendly events, plus other happenings around Perth which may be of interest to you.
Why is it better than all the other gig guides? Because I made it, fool. Actually it’s so you don’t have to go trawling through street press papers and get yucky ink all over your hands. It’s also electronic so it’s always up to date and geeks can download event details to their computers or yuppie phones. LOOK NOW.
My picks on what to do in Perth this long weekend:
Events:
- Friday: Get dressed up for the SPANK! Beauty and the Beast party (tickets and outfit required, see website) at Bar Open
- Saturday: For something different check out SEXY, opens just after midnight, Shafto Lane
- Sunday: Rozalla Live at Connections - this is a fundraiser for Pride WA!
Music:
- Saturday: If you scored tickets, check out how awesome Lady Gaga’s set, stage and costume designs are, and laugh at how bad her singing is. Apparently a group of whorish strippers are also performing at the same event.
- Sunday: Head along to We Love Ministry of Sound and pop some E, maaaan.
Shopping
- Check out the last days of the Millington Street Popup Shop: lots of trendy discounted streetwear brands: 454 William Street in Northbridge.
Arts
- Check out the Year 12 Perspectives show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. I went last week and there are some great pieces from around WA, and some on exchange from Japan.
- While you’re there head across the road and check out the Nick Cave exhibition at the WA Museum.
- And if your brain is overloaded and needs something light, check out Lesbian Vampire Killers at the movies.
My gay picks for June (so far):
Can’t go wrong with Soho Nights on the 9th and 23rd. The launch of Love Sundays on the 14th will be worth checking out. And definitely the next SHAMELESS Party at Connections on the 20th. It’s a Viking ‘Roped and Pillaged’ theme… those spiky Viking helmets make me so horny… shit I’m original with my jokes.
May 24
New gay sunday sesh
Update: Apparently my promo isn’t positive enough for Luxe Bar, who deleted the link to this post from their FB event page. Oops, did I anger people by pointing out the obvious?
This event sort of came out of nowhere. Remember a while back I posted a rumour Trick had moved to Luxe Bar? Well instead Trick has apparently been killed off completely and in it’s place is Love Sundays held at… you guessed it, Luxe Bar!
The theme is grandeur and opulence, and the event sports quite a big ego since Luxe have created an entirely new ‘Love Sunday’ cocktail especially for the sophisticates…
“Luxe bar’s legendary cast of sultry sophisticates, charismatic up-and-comers, high maintenance boys and luscious lipstick beauties are reborn this June in quintessential Sunday style.”
Big promises to live up to when it launches on Sunday 14 June. While it’s great to see an increase in anti-scene start up events, Perth’s gay community is still relatively small. It’s a shame that Love Sundays could be cannibalising the ZOO Sundays crowd, an event which has been going strong for a while now.
In the next version of the event flyer I would like to see Johnni P’s name a little higher up. Actually, I would like the names of all the talented Love Sundays musicians put above the faux DJ. Plugging in a Dell laptop and hitting play on iTunes is not DJing. You all know who I’m talking about. Everyone thinks it but no one ever says it.
As a final note, don’t forget about Sunset Coasters: the other, other anti-scene event on Wednesday 17 June at Bar 138.
May 11
Upcoming events
If you got a kick out of dressing up for the SHAMELESS: Detention party at Connections last weekend make sure you check out the upcoming Spank! ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fetish & Fantasy Dance Party (web | fb) on 29 May. It’s from the same organisers who put together SHAMELESS.
And on the topic of SHAMELESS I headed along to the opening in my ripped up high school jersey jumper (RSHS class of ‘02.. woo). Great job to all involved in the schoolyard themeing - I had a gay ol’ dance in my very own high school muck up day. Also great to see people who put in the effort to get dressed up. The slutty nerdy outfit seemed to be the go’er.
The next Soho Night is on tonight (Tuesday 12 May). This is a very cool and relaxed queer night at the Ellington Jazz club. Goes great with a glass of wine!
Pride WA wants you to get involved in Faces For Freedom, a photography competition where you can make a statement against homophobic, and for human rights.
This week Pride WA will also be announcing a very exciting new event on their 2009 calendar… stay tuned 
Zoo are celebrating their first birthday with a silver party on Sunday 17 May.
Rozalla live at Connections is a Pride WA fundraiser on 31 May - you know that song ‘everybody’s free’, right? You can buy tickets online from Pride WA.
If you’re in the mood for some dark and suspenseful theatre check out The Dark Room, playing at PICA until 17 May. Big recommendation from me.
May 2
spank me shameless in detention at connections
So, we’ve had women in uniform, and a gay fairy tale prom… it really is time to turn up the slut-o-meter and get kinky with our Perth dress up events. Introducing DETENTION at Connections on the 9th May.
Now stick with me while I explain all of these names: DETENTION is the first night in a new series of events called SHAMELESS run by Spank! Productions. Got that? If you received your Connections Communique this week you will know the DETENTION launch night is going with a kinky schoolyard theme:
We want to see some buffed up jocks, cute teachers pets, dominating headmistresses, nerds with attitude and plenty of sluts on the strutt
Not to blow my own trumpet but I fall into ALL of those categories. Dress up events go down well this time of year as the nights get cooler and you can wear more clothes but still be a slut about it. So come along, and come early - doors open at 8.00pm. And whatever you do, don’t wear that same white shirt and black tie you wore to gay prom… at least put a bondage collar or leather crotchless chaps on. It’s more fun that way - plus there’s a prize for best dressed.
If you’ve already discovered your hedonistic side and enjoy some good quirky fun, Spank! Productions also put on regular fetish and fantasy parties. These are gay-friendly nights where individual imagination and diversity is encouraged, and it’s not just about leather and BDSM. Check out the Spank! website or Facebook group for more.
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