Talking Disc Jockeys and Jock Straps With Gloria's, London's Wildest Night Out

There has been a lot of talk about Gloria's, Sink the Pink and XOYO's wildest party. It straddles an invisible line between different communities, musical (and sexual) preferences. It's not easily defined and even less easily ignored. Put simply, it's a queer club night, but one that puts no emphasis or expectation on its crowd. From the sounds of things the night is as hospitable to a drag queen with twenty years experience on the scene as it would be for a construction site worker with a rapidly emerging penchant for fishnets. Everyone is welcome — provided they're ready willing and able to let go. Then there are the line ups, featuring the likes of Heidi, Greg Wilson, Waze & Odyssey, and Kim Ann Foxman. Filling out bills with names of that quality is no mean feat. It's even less of one to do it with a night that looks crazier than a piss up in fancy dress shop.

It's all too easy to think of LGBTQ clubbing as something that only exists within the smallish circles where it began — and you can blame the heteronormative whiles of clubland for that. It's this that makes the the rise of Gloria's feel new, radical, and exciting. We wanted to find out a bit more about the night, it's creators, and what we should wear — so we got in touch with one of the whole operation's founders Glyn Fussell AKA Glynfamous, to grill him on everything from disc jockeys, to jock straps.

THUMP: How did Sink the Pink become the force of nature it is today?
Glyn: Sink the pink started as this very small idea between two friends — me and Amy. It started with very little fanfare, but kid's TV presenter-like enthusiasm from us. We never handed out flyers, never stuck up posters, it was just word of mouth. I suppose it started like a naughty little house party, and then it just grew and grew until we got to where we are now, where we can sell out the Troxy.

And how did you end up working with XOYO?
We did our 5th birthday with XOYO, and we also did room two during the 2 Bears residency. We just work really well with them. I got talking with them about stuff we could do and the idea for Gloria's came about. As much as I'm a total pop princess, and I love all that music, I also really love my dance music. To be honest, when it comes to dance music, I still think there's a lot of rubbish out there, but there is still so much stuff that is creative and queer. We wanted to create a party that was a bit darker and a bit dingier, but it's also got that sense of true hedonism, where anything can happen. Amazingly XOYO were totally open to that.

Do you think other clubs would have been less receptive?
Most clubs are so caught up on rules. XOYO give us license to tear the place up! We've been there for a while now. We've had this amazing run of DJs, Kim Ann Foxman, Two Bears, Hercules and Love Affair — and we've got incredible people coming up.

The night seems to be really popular, not just in the LGBT community…
We've made a deliberate decision to never define ourselves as a gay club. We're a queer club, or a club night for people with a queer sensibility. You don't have to be an anything. You could work in a bank all week, but then have an interest in something queer on the weekend. There are other mega-clubs but they are very much gay clubs. You go, tear your shirt off, you rub your body against somebody else and listen to music without lyrics and that's cool, but that's not what we wanted to do. We're all about creating this sort of queer, head-fuck of a club, and I feel we've done that with Gloria's.

So it's about losing the labels as much as anything?
I'm just not interested in being ghettoised, I find it incredibly boring. I think that when a minority is a minority, you have no choice but to become a ghetto — then what can happen is you forget to break out of the ghetto. The beauty of London is we have this opportunity to break out and flourish, yet for some reason we don't. I think East London has always definitely pushed that forward, there were people doing it before us, we're not radicals, but we are doing it on a bigger scale maybe.

With all the organising, do you still get a chance to perform?
I used to perform a lot more than I do now. It's such a big operation now, that most of the bookings come through me. Off the back of doing everything we've done we've also set up an agency that looks after performers and DJs. I will always perform at Gloria's. I'm lucky now, I can pick and choose which I do.

How did you get into drag in the first place?
I'm an accidental drag queen really. I wasn't an ambition. I just started all these nights that were about self-expression, then you get swept up in it, and you're enjoying it, then all of a sudden you're doing it 7 nights a week and you think "oh, I don't know if I want to be putting eye liner on a tuesday night, I'd rather be at home watching 24." So I think that has inspired me to only do it, if I really really want to do it. And I don't need to, we're an army of people now.

With everyone turning up in costume, do you ever lose track of who is performing and who is a punter?
Oh totally, but that's what we want. It tends to follow that at the start of the night, it's just our lot going mad, but within a few minutes everyone will be losing it, getting on the stage and going crazy. People are really getting into it. All our parties come with a license to do whatever.

Okay, and finally, what should I wear for my first night at Gloria's? What is a solid entry level outfit?
I would say you want to look a little bit like a hooker. Best thing you can get is a jockstrap, then over that put some sexy negligee. So you've got the hooker look. Then you want to make it raw, so maybe put on a bomber jacket. I always think, screw the heels on a night like that, put on some Nike Air Max, and some knee high socks, then a big crazy massive wig and you're done.

So street-hooker chic?
Street-hooker on a night bus. Maybe bring a kebab and use it as a handbag.

Gloria's continues this Friday with Heidi at the helm. Find out more here.

Glynfamous is on Twitter.