Thai Fisherman Pants. While I’m a fan of the associated clothing item, it’s a strange name for a club night. I can’t help but ask Richard Lucano how he came up with it.
“At the recent Playground Weekender festival, after all the music had wrapped up on the Sunday night, one Pommy munter was not happy. He was determined to keep partying, yet everyone was walking back to their tents. Amidst his loud cries for narcotics, my girlfriend bumped shoulders with him, to which he shrieked, stopped, pointed at a sign that read ‘Thai Fisherman Pants’ and yelled… “THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE! THAI FISHERMAN PANTS.”
“It wasn’t until a week later that we realised Thai Fisherman Pants was the perfect name for the night.”
That works. I’ve always been a fan of mantras adopted from the drunken ramblings of the malcontent, but there’s a deeper meaning to the association too.
“It reflects something different to the current mentality of club nights & live music. We think of this as the ‘Skinny Jeans’ mentality – everything feels restrictive, stale, uniform and slightly pretentious. You can predict exactly how a night will pan out, because it’s practically the same every week. Bands aren’t really given the opportunity to soak it up, because they’re worried they’ll play a minute over time. Thai Fisherman Pants goes against this grain – relaxed, loose, free, open to interpretation…”
I like that idea. Too often I find myself at a club at 3 o’clock in the morning listening to the same old tired club tracks, vehemently wishing I could see something original, off the cuff.
“We wanted a night where if bands felt like joining each other for an impromptu jam at the end of their sets they could. Also, we wanted to do this somewhere that felt like a pumping 1970’s house party, somewhere where we could create our own CBGB’s or House of Blues… The Dugout bar at the Burdekin Hotel wound up being perfect.”
Sounds like something I could definitely get in to. I ask what kind of people might be frequenting these nights.
“Musos, Uni students, people who sit at desks all day dreaming about going home to plug their guitar in. We’re talking about the people who aren’t going to stand around acting cool in the hope that a photographer sees them acting cool so they can get their mug in The Brag. Anyone who loves live music and the unpredictable is welcome.”
My kind of people then. Rich assures me that every night is different, with the headline act deciding how the night progresses.
“On a live music level, the headline act of each Thai Fisherman Pants event are actually given the opportunity to curate the night, controlling where they’d like the musical direction to go. The opening night saw MC’s and sax players jamming with indie bands – so the style of each night will vary.”
I’m not sure about you, but I’m sold. Rich can see more live venues adopting the virtues of his own night in the near future. One can only hope…
“I see more clubs taking risks. The Burdekin isn’t known for putting on live music nights like this, particularly rock. It’s something new for them. Hopefully club nights diversify themselves a little more and grow through their own individuality. Lots of naked people usually helps.”
Definitely. One last thing, there’s an incentive for actually wearing the pants on the night.
“From April 2, anyone who rocks up wearing Thai fisherman pants will receive FREE ENTRY!”
For more details jump on http://www.tunepaste.com
