They expressed their fantasies and made them happen (with the help of a gram of Ketamine.) New York Clubkids, such as 90's club promoters Micheal Alig and James st. James, were so motivated and so serious about Disco that when it wasn't possible to party in a club, they would have illegal parties.
The whole idea of Clubkid was 'letting themselves go' and expressing themselves by seperating themselves from everyone else.
We asked Marc Massive (famous 90's Clubkid) who features in Oggy Yordanov's 'New Clubkids' book if he could do a short interview, he's too busy for us. Fucker. He said...
"to be honest although being
featured in the recent Club Kids book I don't really count myself as
one anymore."
Interesting..... he also features on the website www.londonclubkids.blogspot.com
We also interviewed James. St. James, who features in the film Party Monster which was based on the famous group of Clubkids in the early 90's,
"I don't have as much to say about it anymore, it's been 25 years now. You should write to Michael though. He's in solitary right now and has nothing to do but obsess about these things, and he's always happy for contact from the outside world. He'd probably write your paper for you, lol"
What do you think of the Clubkids today, how are they different to past generation?
Well, it's crazy to me that the style is still around. Or that it's come around again, rather. I get that fashion is cyclical, but we really made such a minor blip on the radar the first time around, it's funny to me that the movement could be revived again. But they're back. And more creative and more fabulous than we EVER were. A lot of the first generation clubkids were pretty tacky, you know. It was just a lot of old halloween costumes, really. By the early '90s, they had gotten slicker and more fabulous, of course. Each generation sort of takes what the last one did and improves upon it and adds their own twists. I could never compete with today's 'clubkids', lol.
What are you up to these days? Still living in K land?
What am I up to? I still go out. Not as much, and not as often to
clubs, but yes I'm still a presence on the scene. I can't imagine there will ever be a time when I'm not excited to see what's new and who the up-and-coming kids are. I'll always be interested in underground fashion and new music. I'm 45, though, so I think my days of actually setting the trends is over. I see myself as sort of an elder statesman/fairy godmother to the kids on the scene. I'm more of a cheerleader now. I don't know if my approval means anything to them, but I give it out freely, and I tell everybody how proud I am of them and how happy they make me. I'd like to think it matters.
................ ALSO, we managed to bag an interview with David Wood (TG), Co-founder, Director and resident DJ for TORTURE
GARDEN, thanks again David, here's what he had to say............
We Asked......
WE HAVE TALKED TO MANY 'CLUBKIDS' ON THE SCENE AND HAVE NOTICED A LOT OF THESE SO CALLED 'CLUBKIDS' DON'T CALL THEMSELVES 'CLUBKIDS' ANYMORE. THE PRESS SEEM TO BE TRYING TO RESURRECT THE SHIT OUT OF THEM BUT ARE THEY STILL ALIVE? ARE YOU A CLUBKID?
Depends what the definition of Club Kid is. I saw the Party Monster film about Michael Alig & New York in the 90's, but it looked no more than a copy of the Leigh Bowery circle from London in the early 80's. The first 3 people i saw in the reception at my first ever London club were Leigh Bowery, Boy George & Marilyn, so it was hard to impress me after that.
For me Club Kid is just the latest young art school / fashion school types spending half their lives in nightclubs experimenting & dressing up. There'll always be a new scene and crowd. The trouble is the press love to put scenes in narrow boxes, and they expect a Club Kid to look the same in 2011, as 1991 or 1981!
The last good London club to attract the Club Kid vibe of old was Kashpoint at it's peak. But i don't see so much creativity around now as a young scene.
Prob the 3 most dressed up clubs in London now are Last Tuesday Society, Circus and Torture Garden. But the crowds are much more mixed & individual and a lot of the most dressed up people are older eccentrics rather than younger!
