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We chatted to Amy of Sink the Pink ahead of Gloria's fabulous XOYO Loves night
Other | Wednesday 12th November 2014 |
Sink the Pink was originally founded back in 2008 by best friends Amy and Glynn. 6 years on, their polysexual parties have become so notorious that they've performed at huge parties like Bestival, Glastonbury, and a very special after party at the MTV EMAs. After a succesful residency alongside the 2 Bears at XOYO, they've now joined forces with the club to curate a special series of nights under the name of Gloria's. With a big Gloria x XOYO Loves night coming up at the Coronet this Saturday, we took the opportunity to chat to Amy about what we can expect.
Hey Amy, how are you?
Good yeah! Just on the train back from Glasgow!
Yeah, I saw on the Sink the Pink Twitter that you guys did the MTV EMA thing up there! How did that come about?
Yeah, we were playing the after party and people really got into it, it was great. It was because we'd been on tour with the 2 Bears who were playing - they're friends of ours, we link up on a lot of parties because we have a similar vibe and its really fun... yeah it was quite surreal to be doing the EMAs. It’s pretty mental what we've been doing, but I think it’s a good kind of mental!
Yeah definitely!
It was weird because Sink the Pink celebrates the ridiculousness of costume and colour and camp and drag and Britishness, but we thought the EMAs seem like they'd be quite contrived. Especially when you're watching it being filmed, all that smoke and mirrors of television - Nicki Minaj was reading her script! It initially seemed to be the opposite of what we do but it was really fun.
Well speaking of the 2 Bears, I actually was at one of their parties at XOYO where you had taken over Room 2 and I was wondering how that came about? Was it XOYO that approached you first or did you already know the 2 Bears?
Oh God yeah, I’ve known the Bears for a very long time, me and Raf crossed paths years and years ago when I was working in radio and he was in that industry as well. We always got on really well. So once Sink the Pink started taking off and we started being able to book our mates to DJ, I knew that Raf would be up for it. He plays such great music and he loves the gay parties because the vibe is so good… you know, they wouldn't call their act the 2 Bears if they weren't aware of those connotations! They love the gay scene. So with XOYO's residency program it was up to the bears to curate their own nights, and they asked us if we would do their room 2 which was a total honour. We booked everyone from the East London gay scene who we knew was a really good performer so we just filled the upstairs with madness! I think people club in a different way now, they wanna see stuff to take a photo of, put a bit of makeup on their face... it just feels a bit more interactive and friendly, rather than you know the old school clubbing thing where people are a bit grumpy and not very welcoming and you're just like I’ve just paid 15 pounds to come here!
After I went I actually said how much more friendly and less aggressive it was, it seemed to attract a much more tolerant and open minded crowd which was obviously really nice.
That's just something it does to the clubbing environment, because you're all in on the joke and it’s so silly and welcoming, it makes people lose their inhibitions. Music is great for bringing people together but the vibe is really important too. All the little things and a lot of clubs have staff that aren't welcoming, and Sink the Pink has always been about the opposite of that. If I'm honest, I think even XOYO can sometimes be a bit like that. But when Raf and Joe said they were doing it and I knew how amazing their lineup was, I just said let's just take a risk and bring our energy somewhere new! People need to have an alternative and they shouldn't be kept in different special places. So it was a bit of a sort of therapy session in my own head going, lets not just stay in our little bubble. Maybe there is a place for it in the mainstream... I mean it worked last night at the EMAs!
So now you're regularly working with XOYO right?
Yeah, I suppose XOYO is seen as "cool", in that whole Shoreditch thing.... but I think anyone that's been in London for a while sees through that, you want something with a bit of heart. So I think we bought a nrew energy to XOYO, and they picked up on it and really wanted a piece of it and that was where the Gloria thing was born. Andy (the director of the club) had a meeting with us after the Bear residency was over and just said look, we don't want this to end. That thing you brought to our club is something that we need, and they were very open and honest. As we were starting something new, like half XOYO half us, we came up with this character Gloria, who was born out of all the things that we wanted in a club: all the things that the guys at XOYO wanted and all this stuff that we think works based on what we've learnt from Sink the Pink and the2 Bears residency. We just thought it would be nice if Gloria was a person instead of just like a name like any other club night; she's a drag queen who's really welcoming and very camp and always has a drink, you know she's a character, she's got a cheeky way of talking to people as well...you can always blame Gloria! Once that started rolling it all just made sense. It's just quite a nice way to sell it on a flyer.
Yeah it definitely makes it stand out, for sure. So on that note can yoiu tell us a bit more about this night coming up on Saturday, because it's such a great, interesting line up but you guys are having such a big part in it... can you tell us a bit more about it? Are you excited?
Yeah we're really excited! We don't normally get to book such amazing DJs partly for budget reasons and partly because we like to work with people from the East London scene who we know well. Linking up with XOYO takes it to another level because they have all the contacts and budget to do that kind of thing. I was listening to their mixes at home, and I wouldn't necessairly go to a club to see them because I'd be worried that it would be too expensive, but we've been able to make what I think is a managable ticket price. We're true to the underground but with the clubs we're now able to do things which are really credible in a big space. We're letting people know that you can go out clubbing consciously and choose the places that are run by interesting, creative and intelligent people rather than somebody with dollar signs in their eyes. We're all on rubbish money in London, we all work hard, but I've never been thinking about money with Sink the Pink, because its my baby. On Saturday we're gonna have all the Sink the Pink drag queens on the stage, plus these incredible DJs, I think the energy of all these things mixed together is what Gloria is all about, the whole intention is that we can bring that to new people. So yeah I'm really excited!
Yeah, I mean its definitely helping to open new people's minds I think, it's gonna be really good.
Yeah, I think that is definitely part of it as well, opening minds... I mean all these drag queens, they're so proud of who they are, and they're all going for it on the dancefloor, and I think everyone gets it. Even big groups of straight men are all like this is amazing! I think it makes girls more comfortable as well because like, something about it makes straight men not be such dicks... back when I was single I would hate it when men would come up behind you and just be weird, but there's something about clubbing with gays, you just realise you're having such a great evening without that. I think there's something in it for everyone.
Definitely. Obviously you have your regular night at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club and you have your biannual balls as well... what's interesting is that this seems to be quite different musically from your Summer Ball with the Vengaboys and the winter one coming up with Sophie Ellis-Bextor. So are you expecting very different crowds?
Yeah, definitely. I think the two do cross over and I think thats a sign of the times, like I listen to all of the music that's going on at Gloria's as well as loving things like Sophie-Ellis Bextor... i think we all do, if you look at people's iTunes we've all got all these different types of music. People know what they're getting with Sink the Pink you know, its pop, its a bit silly, and you know all the lyrics, you can put your arms in the air and sing out loud and its not necessarily musical education but we all love indulging our guilty pleasures. But to me personally as a club promoter and someone that runs events, with my radio background too, I have a real interest in exciting and new music, and I love good DJs that can take the crowd on a journey. So yeah I think there will be different crowds but there'll also be real crossovers. When that happens its really interesting and I think our way of bringing our scene into more of a mainstream clubbing environment, but maintaining that credibility.
So in terms of the kind of show and all of the other features of your normal parties, is it gonna be pretty much exactly the same except for the soundtrack, or are you gonna tame it a little bit?
Yeah, I mean there's not gonna be like crazy lip syncing drag queens covering each other in flour and getting their willies out or anything...
That's a shame!
I know, well that's what Sink the Pink is known for, but you never know, it could end up happening... but it is about the DJs and the music so i dont want the drag queens to upstage that! But sometimes they can't help it because they're just so fabulous! Either way, that stage is gonna be full of colourful drag queens all night, so that in itself is the show really! They're gonna be enjoying the music with the audience and connecting with them, chatting and hugging and having a nice time, so there'll be that real interactive feel to it. That's what its all about, but there isn't gonna be a lot of the weirder shit that happens at Sink the Pink sometimes. But we've got loads of fun things that we're gonna give out, like loads of ridiculous colourful light-up costume jewellery, and like, loads of amazing accesories and makeup and glitter! Plus we've got an amazing set with visuals, and lighting and lasers and some really cool decor in the club. With Sink the Pink we always go the extra mile, that's just how we've always done it.
Sounds like you're really just gonna be bringing the vibes basically!
Yeah, that's kind of our motto really! Party starters, bringing the vibe! Its just I always find it really funny to say that when people ask what I do for a living.
So now you've obviously got pretty big, you've done the MTV EMAs, you're doing all this stuff with XOYO but what are the weirdest venues that you've ever managed to set up a party in?
Well it started as a house party actually! So that was the original Sink the Pink, and then we did it in a weird sex club art gallery in a railway arch, we did it in loads of tents at festivals, and even the Working Men's Club is pretty weird...
Yeah, the sex club in a railway arch... we thought it was just an art gallery, then when the DJ started doing his set we realised that there was like loads of like, wrestlers in gimp masks, and we were like oh shit! But yeah it was funny. We never wanted to do it in a gay club or a normal club... we needed something that was for everyone, that didn't need a label, but was just a really silly, fun space! Like with the working men's club, it just makes sense, like this ios where we should be doing our parties. We did it under a café, we did it in Vogue Fabrics... What I like at the Working Men's Club is like the plastic cups of wine, its old school, its not about money... someone can just create their own costume. I think part of the success of Sink the Pink is based on it being founded in a recession, nobody has any money and you've got to make your costume out of an old thing you found in a recycling bin, like a hat made out of an old washing powder box! But that's all you've got.
Yeah, so basically clubbing without the pretentiousness.
Yeah, literally! This girl came who'd made a jacket out of a Lidl bag the other day, and I was like that is amazing! Its basically like how it all started for me too with Sink the Pink... making a costume out of a Lidl bag, why not!
I suppose it just really helps to encourage expressivity and creativity and self-expression... as you said its somewhere people can go without being afraid of being judged in a way.
Exactly, and to be able to give a space for people who've just come to London and wanna find that person in themselves. I just can't tell you, when I walk around the club and I see that, it makes me so proud. I call it a Life Orgasm, where I just stand there like ahhhh! I love this! I see mini-versions of us walking around, and I know that I would have loved this club if I was their age and had just moved to London. We wrote a list of things we didn't like about London clubbing and then we wrote a list of things that we would love in our dream night out, and that was how Sink the Pink was founded - it was just full of all these things we hadn't found yet in London. It just felt like Soho was so backwards and there was nothing like this house party in a club, so we just kind of made it happen ourselves.
Yeah, that's really cool! I suppose that must be a really great feeling, to feel like you've done everyone a bit of a service in a sense.
Yeah! It's amazing, I'm so proud, and to be at MTV last night, it was like what have we done?? How do I even deserve to be on this first class train coming back from Glasgow! I can't believe it sometimes.
So obviously you have managed to make it so massive now, but is there anything in the future that you're particularly excited about? Any future big projects that are going to help keep pushing it forwards?
Well because of our collaboration with the 2 Bears, we've been talking about setting up a sound system in summer - we can go to all these festivals and we're going to call it Bear Force!
That sounds like a great idea!
Yeah, basically that's kind of like what we did last night at MTV, because the Bears were DJing, and then we were all in costume dancing round in the crowd, on the stage and the speakers. We have Adelaide too, who was singing live - she's a big black momma who just sings like all the gospel high notes, she's a proper old school house music singer. Then there was Glynn, our Sink the Pink MC, who was talking shit on the mic as he does so brilliantly, and it made just such a nice energy in the room. I think that formula works very well in a club or a festival, so we're going to try and take it to lots of places next year. So that really excites me in terms of like, a new arm of what Sink the Pink can bring to people.
Yeah that sounds like a perfect setup for a sound system really! I think that'll be really cool.
Yeah! And I quite like the idea of a sound system involving trannies because traditionally you think of it being something you'd get at Notting Hill Carnival for example, maybe a bit of a gangsta thing, compared to the vibe that we bring.... Raf can be a bit of a rudeboy, I mean the Guardian called him as glamorous as a saveloy in a review of our show! Coz he just looks a bit like an everyman, like a builder or something, but he loves the whole Sink the Pink vibe. Instead of the mandem he calls us the trandem!
Haha, brilliant!
Yeah there's just something really nice about those cultures coming together and everyone laughing with each other. That's what a really nice clubbing environment is, totally about the love, being able to transcend colour, sexuality and gender. Maybe we're all just total optimists...
Well it seems to be working so far!
Well that's the thing, it is working so far - optimism breeds more optimism. If you're putting out good stuff into the world, people really appreciate that and the positive vibes come back to you.
Yeah, and this party on Saturday sounds fantastic - I'm going, and I'm so excited after hearing about it from you!
Yay! I look forward to seeing you, you can have a dance!
Brilliant, can't wait. Thanks for talking to us and enjoy the rest of that long train journey back from Scotland!
Thanks! I'm going to go and drink all the free tea!
Get all the details for Sink the Pink's upcoming party HERE
Tickets: http://xoyolovesseries.eventgenius.co.uk/events/XOYO-LOVES-2/index.html
