Featuring the best in acid/bitch/hip-house, Italo disco & Hi-NRG, old & nu electro, and a smattering of freestyle, rave, and sissy bounce. All lovingly edited and mixed by resident DJ THE NIALLIST (Dissident Distribution / Radius Records), with additional live drum machine workouts and acid squiggles. BANG THE BOX is the first Friday of every month and our first guest is MISS ISSY (House of Tranarchy) bringin fierce vibes and filthy rhymes. So dress 2 sweat and get yr freak on!
Adonis // Egyptian Lover // Peaches // Bobby O // Tiga // Timbaland // Ali Renault // Afrika Bambaataa // Heaven 17 // Dam Funk // Arthur Baker // Hercules & Love Affair // Jamie Principle // Mr Fingers // A Guy Called Gerald // Funkineven // Radioactive Man // DJ Zinc // Bobby Konders // Masters At Work // Big Freedia // Rusty Lazer // Rustie // Sly & Robbie // Kraftwerk // Giorgio Moroder // Prince // Prince Jammy // Patrick Cowley // // Jellybean Benitez // Juan Atkins // Rick Rubin // Spank Rock // Azari & III // and lots more…
Woah, there's LOADS of great pictures from last Friday's Tranarchy v Bollox party - here's just a smattering, you can see a lot more over at Tranarchy.co.uk...
Door Queen Paddy B!
The Niallist & Pam Grier do "I Came"
King of Downstairs DAVE TESTER!
Queen of Downstairs BECCA crowned by Joyce D'Vision
The House of Tranarchy was kindly invited to guest on Fiona Ledgard's ANYTHING GOES Breakfast Show for ALL FM in Manchester. There's interviews with myself, Joyce, Paddy B and Miss Issy, and music by Prince, Missy Elliot, Sylvester, Amanda LePore and more. Check it out:
''Be yourself but times it by a THOUSAND...'' The Niallist
Tranarchy is a clubnight in Manchester in the queer hub of tunnels, big dark rooms, bondage gear and carpeted living rooms that is Legends. Tranarchy is inspired by the 8Os New York drag dance-offs and the film Paris Is Burning.
I interviewed 4 members of Tranarchy about what to expect at Legends tomorrow night; their influences; favourite outfits and I let them choose the music. I loved it!
I played 2 tracks from The Niallist's new album 'AKA' http://www.niallism.com
Bollox is kicking off upstairs in Legends and Tranarchy is downstairs.
Find out more: http://www.facebook.com/tranarchy
FIERCE quotations throughout this interview: ''We've all been called freaks in us lives...'' ''Let's through down everything we are forced to be.'' ''You know, the standard black lip..'' ''Sheela Blige will be happy to be there.'' ''The door to the house of Tranarchy is always open.''
I got a wee bit riled by the sexist coverage of MIA's "finger incident" (during Madonna's Super Bowl performance) by the supposedly forward-thinking music criticism site Pitchfork, so I wrote this little piece for Dangerous Minds:
It’s been brought to my attention by Collapse Board’s Wallace Wylie that Pitchfork have dedicated an entire page to calling MIA an asshole because she apparently told the American public to fuck off during Madonna’s Super Bowl performance last night. In case you hadn’t heard, MIA did indeed raise her middle finger during Madonna’s overblown performance of “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” on which the rapper makes a guest appearance. To see the incident, scroll down to the bottom of this post.
Here’s an extract from the offending Pitchfork article:
What’s extra annoying about last night’s event is that M.I.A. doesn’t need these cheap ploys to up her visibility, even when the stage design and costuming is best described as “GoldenPalace.com.” After all, she released her first great single in years just last Thursday, and its music video had already racked up more than 3 million YouTube views even before the Super Bowl send-up. Following the rep-shattering press surrounding 2010’s /\/\/\Y/\, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to draw as much focus as possible back to her music. [So why run this story?]
Instead, in the few bars Madonna was kind enough to grant her during the biggest television event of the year, M.I.A.‘s message to America was simply, “Fuck you.” Well, in M.I.A.‘s own words, the little people will never win, but they can fuck shit up. Success might be the best revenge, but apparently, being an asshole is forever.
Seriously Pitchfork, GET A FUCKING GRIP.
As I stated in my last post about her, I am an MIA skeptic. I have found her performances and music to be underwhelming in the past, though I have really warmed to her latest video “Bad Girls.” The same goes for last night’s performance at the Super Bowl - it ain’t no great shakes, though she does look great. But if you take this much offense at last night’s throw-away hand gesture—which I honestly might not have noticed if it hadn’t been pointed out to me—then you seriously need your head examined. Yes, seriously. Just look at the clip below, and then tell us how offended you are on a scale of one to ten.
So, somebody called Michael Trombley has started a new night in Detroit called Menergy. Hmm, "Menergy"... that name is familiar. OK, it's a Patrick Cowley song - we don't claim ownership of the name.
So, what is this new night's music policy? Italo disco and Hi-NRG, you say? Well, everyone loves disco! Right? Sure, can't take credit for that, especially when we admit to being influenced by well established club nights like Melting Pot and Horse Meat Disco. Only, we were one of the first clubs to focus strictly on Hi-NRG, a sound that is a huge and under-acknowledged part of Scotland's clubbing history (if you're in doubt about that, ask Optimo's Twitch about Fire Island or Bennets, or check out this Menergy guest mix from Stuart MacLean aka Frenchbloke)
But anyway, this must all be just a simple co-incidence. Oh, wait a minute...
Menergy Detroit poster (FEB 2012):
Menergy Glasgow Poster (JAN 2011):
Hmmm, ok. But that's a popular song lyric.
Sure.
So check this...
Menergy Detroit flyer (FEB 2012):
Menegy Glasgow flyer (NOV 2010):
Yeah, it's pretty obvious there's some direct "inspiration" going on here.
But I'm gonna let you in on a little something - my jaded tone of indifference to all of this (as opposed to fuming anger) has got less to do with a hipsterite archness and more to do with having experienced it before.
Since January of 2011 I have been promoting drag-and-disco parties in Manchester with my partner Joe Spencer. We go by the name of TRANARCHY. You can find out more about us at www.tranarchy.co.uk.
despite DM and Disinfo sharing staff members in the past who left very acrimoniously (including myself). Yep. No "inspiration" going on there - just pure, blind co-incidence.
So. do you think I should be angry about all of this? Because, surprisingly, I am not.
Maybe I'm just too jaded by the repeat experience, but I DO take being copied as a compliment. I take what I do very seriously, even if that is not apparent to everyone all of the time. I pride myself on being a writer and musician of intelligence and integrity who is often ahead of the curve (or on a totally different tangent to most other folks). This can work to my detriment sometimes, but I still put a huge amount of effort into all my endevours, because I believe a half-arsed job is not worth doing.
There's nothing I can do to stop people copying me, and conversely there's nothing copyists can do to stop me doing my thing. If someone else comes along and likes what I do enough to want to do it too, or even if they think they can do it better, that's their call. Because at the end of the day, when you bite me, it's a sign that I'm doing something right.
Featuring the House of Tranarchy's very own Scott Gillespie! This is the night at which we'll be hijacking the downstairs, and at which I will be launching "AKA":
EVERYTHING's GREAT is an art exhibition in The Hive Gallery in The Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre (Rochdale) featuring work from Gary Fisher, Lou Woodcock, Jennifer McCarthy and Helen Shanahan of the band Womb. Joyce was on hand to do the official show unveiling, you can see that here:
I posted a much longer entry on this video on Dangerous Minds, and I am sharing it here too because I love it so much.
This video fills me with happiness every time I watch it. Sure, it's funny and kitsch, but it's also full of valuable information. David Gibson comes across as very likeable and does a great job of imparting tips for mixing music well, but also just the sheer joy of working with music:
It was almost exactly one year ago that Growler and Niallist held our screening of Paris Is Burning at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. We met some pretty awesome people that night, people who have become good friends and work colleagues. Sadly, some of those folks are not with us any more, but from tragedy can spring triumph.
We have some very exciting news about events that are coming up in the immediate future, as well as expansion of the whole Tranarchy enterprise. SO watch this space. The future is very exciting - we gonna be runnin tings!
The New Yorker has posted an article on its blog about Dangerous Minds, explaining how it came into being, who writes for it and what's it's generally about. Joyce D'Vision is even mentioned:
What follows is an e-mail exchange with the site’s founder, Richard Metzger, edited and shortened for clarity.
Who puts Dangerous Minds together, and what is everyone’s current (or previous) day gig?
I was the co-owner of a left-leaning book publishing and DVD distribution company called Disinformation (which I left in 2005). We released “OutFoxed” and documentaries like that. I hosted an underground culture show for Britain’s Channel 4 for a couple of years. I’d interview people like Robert Anton Wilson, Douglas Rushkoff, Grant Morrison, and Genesis P-Orridge and then do a mock “60 Minutes” type of piece where I’d investigate a conspiracy theory. The segments played like documentaries directed by Christopher Guest but they were real, just about people who believed crackpot things. I was an advertising executive and then I worked at the Los Angeles Times on their ill-fated, now defunct competitor to the LA Weekly, Brand X.
Tara McGinley was a fashion stylist and Hollywood costumer from about 1997 to 2005, dressing people like Mila Kunis and rock groups like The Strokes. Marc Campbell had a hit in the eighties with a song called “88 Lines About 44 Women” and owned some video-rental stores in Taos. Paul Gallagher, who lives in Scotland, was a comics publisher and a stand-up comedian who now produces pop-culture documentaries for the BBC. Niall Connolly, who is also based in the U.K., runs a record label, DJs, and is in a drag queen Joy Division tribute act called “Joyce Division.” Brad Laner is a musician and producer who has worked with people ranging from Van Dyke Parks to Brian Eno. He used to have a band called Medicine in the nineties, whose back catalog is about to be rereleased.
Tara and I are married, and I know Brad Laner, but the rest of us have never met in person.
Is there an editorial mission for DM? How would you describe what you’re interested in?
Marc, Paul, and I write about pop culture that “men of a certain age” would know about, but for many younger readers, it’s stuff they’ve never been exposed to before. One day Tara was talking to these two young guys we know—both of them as smart as you can possibly be, real otaku-types—and they were excitedly asking her how we heard about that totally amazing band, Devo, which they pronounced like “Da-voe”!
Tara has a particular knack for finding loopy stuff and viral videos before they go viral. Niall writes about new music and electronic music in particular. He contacted us one day and said, “What about covering the music you don’t read about in Mojo? I’m your man.” And so he was. I can’t write about dance music. I don’t know the first thing about it. It takes a younger person than me to do that convincingly. We also don’t post about cyberpunk and techie stuff because it’s covered better elsewhere. We’re aware that our audience is largely a subset of Boing Boing’s vast readership, and we’re all friends, so we try not to “me too” them.
Joe got me this wonderful book for Christmas! A pictoral history of NY's vogue scene in the late 80s / early 90s, you can read my thoughts about it on Dangerous Minds.
"Life moves pretty fast sometimes. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. "
Thanks Ferris. With that in mind, and the dawning of a new year (a new era and all that jazz), I have decided to look back over the last 12 months of my life and pick out my top 15 highlights. From a music and performance perspective mostly, so not including stuff like Murdochgate (which I was obsessed with over the summer), the August riots and the Japanese earthquake. Looking back it turns out 2011 was quite event packed:
1) Boyz Magazine cover
The year got off to a good start with a cover feature in the London magazine Boyz (above). The interview is not online, but you can read this one at Bent mag instead.
2) Writing for Dangerous Minds
In January I landed a job writing about music (and other stuff) for my favourite website Dangerous Minds. I had been reading and commenting for over a year when I decided to chance my arm and send them a pitch - and they were into it! I've done well over 200 posts now, you can see a list of them here.
3) Vogue Brawl
At the end of January Growler & Niallist held our inaugural Vogue Brawl in Legends. The night was a huge success with Manchester's fiercest and most fabulous showing out. Music was supplied by Pumping Iron and Menergy, and prizes went to Woof Woof, Sebastian, Zsa Zsa Noir and the House of Blige. Vogue Brawl will be back this year, bigger and better than ever! Funnily enough, the Facebook event page is still up.
4) The Birth of Joyce D'Vision
I knew from the moment that Joe Spencer told me his idea for a Joy Division based drag act called Joyce that it was beyond brilliant. So big props to Scottee Scottee for insisting that Joe do some kind of performance piece at Eat Your Heart Out in February, kicking Joe's arse into gear and giving birth to the whole Joyce D'Vision thing! [Eat Your Heart Out pics here]
5) Dirty Minds - a tribute to Prince
In March Growler and Niallist hosted a Prince tribute night at the Purple Pussycat with help from local scene queens Sheela Blige, Kurt Dirt and Emma Peate (who incredibly dj'ed for 4 hours playing NON STOP Prince music and not even resorting to extended mixes!) This was a major blast, and I wanna do it again... [Dirty Minds pics here]
6) Facebook gay kiss controversy
In April Dangerous Minds had our biggest story of the year, unintentionally inspired by a post I wrote on a London pub's gay "kiss-in". This post was removed from Facebook, inspiring Richard Metzger to write another post that got shared 85,000 times on Facebook and gaining coverage in the international media.
7) Ariel Pink & Haunted Graffiti live
This was a great gig, but it was what happened on the walk home with Joe Spencer that was the real magic. Call it another gay kissing controversy if you will.
8) Supporting JD Samson's MEN at the Islington Mill
Another awesome gig by one of my favourite bands, and this time I was honoured to be able to share a stage with them too. Me and Joyce D'Vision also got to interview JD Samson and talk about queer issues, and it turns out she's lovely! You can see that (unedited) interview here.
9) Sharing a stage with David Hoyle
David Hoyle is a natural comedy genius, a legendary performer and a huge inspiration to pretty much everyone I know. Getting to share a stage with him (as part of Joyce D'Vision) was another great honour for me last year. As for the show, well, it was smashing...
10) Biophilia live
Bjork's Biophilia show as part of the Manchester international Festival was by far the best thing I saw live lsat year. It was a perfect blend of the old and the new, the organic and the technological and in a beautiful setting too (the Museum of Science and industry). The music was wondrous, rapturous - this was pretty much some kind of religious experience. You can read my review on Dangerous Minds.
11) Tranarchy presents Showgirls
As part of a series of alternative events over Pride Weekend, Growler & Niallist screened the cult classic Showgirls with live drag queen stripping, topless (bear) dancing, a thrusting competition, Bad Taste Barbies live and more.
12) Menergy second annual Fierce Ruling Divas Ball
The FRDB returned for it's second outing in Glasgow near the end of August, and saw a huge turn out of drag queens that seemingly never existed in Glasgow before. Have we cast some kind of a spell? Guest judge Jonny Woo might well think so...
13) Zombie Pride 4
A week after FRDB2 saw Zombie Pride return for its fourth year to Legends, packing in well over 400 crazily dressed people into the venue, and going on till 4AM. Although it was a long shift, it basically ran like a dream, and was probably the most successful night I've been involved in running! Here's Kate Hughes' excellent investigative report:
14) Remixxing werk
Although I spent a large part of my musical time this year getting together the AKA album (out soon with guests like Yo Majesty, Andrew WK, Beth Ditto, Ali Renault and more) the work I was most pleased with was my remixxing. I have been honing a sound that takes the best bits of urban music and makes it house (with some acid and disco thrown in).
15) Joyce D'Vision on Harry Hill's TV Burp
What the fuck can I say? This is still like a dream, it all happened so fast. I still have to pinch myself to remind me that it's real - it's one of the biggest comedians in the UK basically saying, in front of one of the largest audiences of prime time television, that he thinks this is great. Thank you Harry, so so much!!
