Lauren Flax Wants To Celebrate NYC's Queer Clubbing Renaissance [Q&A]

Dance clubs are essential to New York's social and cultural fabric, and they would not exist without the Black and brown queer ancestors who gathered to sweat out their troubles on the dance floor. Without the gays, the Dolls, the theys, the women, and everyone in between who built these spaces, the scene would not be as alive, expansive, or plain fun as it is today.

A huge part of New York's world-class sound system, DJ, and club culture can be traced back to two deeply queer spaces of the '70s and '80s: David Mancuso's Loft parties and the Larry Levan-helmed Paradise Garage. Richard Long, also a gay man, built the infamous Paradise Garage system and helped shape how records were heard at Studio 54, Area, Limelight, Funhouse, Zanzibar in Newark, the Warehouse and the Box in Chicago. There is no New York club culture without queer culture, and the current moment has only made that clearer.

Things looked a lot different when Lauren Flax moved to Brooklyn from Detroit in 2002. The city was still reeling from 9/11, nightlife had been gutted by Rudy Giuliani's revival of the long-dormant Prohibition-era "no dancing" cabaret law, and DIY spaces were closing. Eventually, new clubs sprouted up, and Flax says the city has now been in a queer clubbing renaissance for about a decade, with queer parties taking up more space than ever before at venues like Knockdown Center, Basement, Nowadays, Bossa Nova Civic Club and beyond.

Today, there is a party for everyone, with queer and queer-centered promoters helping shape what New York nightlife looks, sounds and feels like now. LadyLand, T4T LUV NRG, Wrecked, Carry Nation, Papi Juice, Merge, Bound, Battle Hymn, XOXA and countless others have helped push the underground above ground, without losing the sense of community that made it matter in the first place. As more Gen-Z ravers and DJs enter the fold, their more fluid and less binary ideas around gender and queerness continue to stretch the edges of what queer clubbing can be.

Lauren Flax will join Nico Machlitt, Co-Founder and Co-President of Queer Capita, and Brooklyn-based artist / Papi Juice founder Oscar Nñ for the panel "The Evolution of Queer Club Culture in New York: Then, Now, What’s Next" on June 12 during Beatport Connect NY at Refuge in Brooklyn. 

Find more information here and secure your passes below.

We recently caught up with Flax to unpack what is driving and supporting all this gay excellence. Read on for the tea.

Ahead of this call, you said we're in a queer club clubbing renaissance here in NYC. What made you say that, and what makes you most excited about this moment?

I was thinking about this recently, and back in the day, if I were playing mostly queer parties, it would be almost pigeonholing myself. It's not like that today. I will play in front of 4000 people at Knockdown Center and the majority of the crowd will be queer. Everywhere I'm involved in now is mostly these queer spaces that take up a lot of space, and it wasn't always like that. It feels much more comfortable and safer than playing these big straight events. It's great.

When you were starting out, did it feel like parties were mostly smaller and underground?

Starting out was 30 years ago, in Detroit, so it was a different sort of golden era that, being a teenager, I had no idea that era was so special. You normally just don't know it until it's over.

That's the problem of nostalgia, right?

It is, but what's beautiful now is I keep talking to people, and like, We are in this golden era right now. It feels so good to experience it knowing how special it is, and how many years of development it took to get here.

What do you think allowed queer clubbing to reach this larger scale?

That's a good question. I don't know if it kind of started with recognizing how little women are booked and having to make changes in supporting femmes and queers around 10 years ago. I feel like the movement started happening around MeToo; we needed to create these safer spaces, not just in the underground community, which is what we always did, we always had to create spaces for queers, and now these safer spaces are in mainstream clubs. You go to Nowadays, and you get the speech [when you enter] and there are safe space people around. That grew into being the norm, and so people are just more willing to be out in these spaces, and in more mainstream spaces.

I'm also glad that these illegal underground spaces exist like QNCC which isn't illegal, actually, it's a 501c3. QNCC is really cool because you're throwing the all-night, all-day raves there, and they're also doing these panel discussions on a Sunday afternoon when people are raving downstairs. That's not unique to New York, a lot of cities do that, but it's nice that it seems more open to all types of people, whether you are in your peak rave stage or if you're older, like some of us elders who don't necessarily want to even go out at night. I can wake up in the morning and get my ass to the club at 8 am fresh as a fucking daisy, smelling good, and being in that environment.

The nonstop style parties allow you to enter when you please, when it suits you, your body and your schedule.

It's so essential. I've been really appreciating that this year especially, as I think a lot of us that are slowing down and don't necessarily want to be like out of the height of the night [are as well]. It can even go a step further; there can be a guestlist line, and there can be a 50-and-up line, where they can just go to the front, always.

A lot of these places are offering food now. That's so important, because aging is one thing, but also you might become sober, or not want to take drugs anymore, and you need to be able to do it in this way that's supportive. It's easier if it's a morning and they can come and have their breakfast sandwich and bop around to a really sick DJ they've loved forever and still feel welcome. That's how I feel this city is right now.

What have been the growing pains of implementing safer space policies as they become more common?

I mean, there's always going to be room for improvement, and we always have to check in with the community about the community's needs. All these spaces should have regular town halls or ways to communicate with the community about how things can grow and be better and feel safer – because people still do get attacked and get roofied – and it takes a village. It's not just up to the venue, it's up to all of us as a community, which is, again, something we as queer people have always done in the rave scene since the beginning. We were the only ones to do that for each other – the government, the police, they never protected us, we always had to protect each other, but now it seems we have these bigger spaces that are in on it as well. And that feels good to me.

It's a constant ecosystem that we always have to remain in communication with one another, because it's never going to be perfect, there's always going to be room to grow and listen, and make changes.

I like that Nowadays really did make it a norm. Some people are like, Yeah, whatever, but I still think it's important that it happened.

What are some of the queer spaces and clubs you're most excited about right now, and why?

If you look at New York City as a whole, the people that are here DJing and producing are some of the most exciting people to me. I will go see them DJ when I've seen them 100 times, over seeing somebody in town that I probably won't see again. It just feels exciting to be around these people that are pushing the boundaries so much. I know how much work they put into music and pushing the scene forward and pushing house and techno and all these things forward, many of whom I've known my whole life. I just feel really stoked to be a small part of that ecosystem of DJs doing what we're doing in New York.

I won't go over to Europe now, unless it's for something that is really exciting. I'm in the best city in the world right now for dance music. I really, truly feel this. Between Basement, Good Room, Knockdown Center, Nowadays, Bossa Nova. The importance of Bossa Nova, QNCC, the FAW parties, the ones that are still illegal and underground. It's just a very exciting time to be here. I've been doing this for 30 years and I've never been more excited.

Is there a moment that you feel like this renaissance began?

 I think it's been building for over a decade. It only came into my consciousness within the last year that this was so special, like, whoa, with everything that's going on. I think it honestly just dawned on me one day. We don't normally know until it's over, but we're in it and we know it now, so let's really enjoy this moment and stay present.

Are there any policies, movements, or people that helped pave the way for what is happening now?

The club owners have really taken a lot of the risks to make these spaces safer by offering, for example, test strips, knowing that drugs are illegal and can get you shut down. Taking those small risks are important, and John Barclay [of Bossa Nova and Paragon] and, of course, Nowadays doing that, they're being braver about stepping up for the community and not for the bottom line. I really appreciate that these club owners, [also] Basement's owners, everyone seems very community-minded. I'm genuinely friends with these people because they actually care, and it's not so ego-driven like it has been in the past with many other clubs. And even with DJs, everyone around me feels much more grounded, less competitive and more supportive. I think that happens between clubs as well. It's all community-minded and less competition-minded.

What do you think are the biggest challenges today for the queer club community in New York?

Balancing your mental health and partying. We want to escape, sometimes we want to stay escaped, so not losing yourself completely in it, staying a part of the world and the community, is probably the most challenging thing. The world is ugly, and not everybody wants to fight, understandably.

What excites you about being a part of The Bunker?

It's been really inspiring watching [founder] Brian [Kasenic] parlay the Bunker through still throwing techno parties, but then also lifestyle and community action for people that do still want to be involved in the scene but maybe need to get clean. It's nice that the Bunker is this space that you could go to learn how to do that, and feel supported. They also created a nonprofit organization and are throwing more healing-type events.

It's a really cool thing that Brian has done to grow up in this scene and grow. [To show] this isn't a fad, this is a lifestyle, this music is so important to us, we want to be able to continue existing in it, but in a healthy way.

I've seen you at a lot of women in dance music events, and you'll of course be on the panel about queer NYC club culture at the upcoming Beatport Connected event. Why is it important to you to be so active in these spaces?

I think its part of my dharma. As much as I am terrified to speak publicly and do these things often – it's hard, it's very exposed – it just feels like this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

Through the years, I've had people talk to me about how they were able to get a better perspective, how things I've shared have helped them in their journey, and that always just really gets me. I just feel immense gratitude for it. We're all doing our best, and finding sobriety was not easy but it was important. I learned a lot of tools that other people have benefited from, and it makes all the fear go away, it makes it worth it. 

If someone reading this wants to tap into queer nightlife here, what parties, promoters, and clubs should they follow or look into?

I think the best thing they can do is sign up for Techno Queers mailing list.

That's it! There's so much in there that, every weekend when I get that email, I can't believe how much is going on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and it's a lot of queer stuff. There're so many options, it's more than enough. There's also political action in those emails, so it's one of the best to be signed up for.

What are your biggest hopes for the scene to see it continue to grow and thrive and evolve, as we've been talking about?

We touched on it before; it's just continuing to listen to one another and facilitate these spaces for each other, and to continue to grow and share our stories. It sounds cliché, but it's just more of what we're doing; we have to keep talking to one another. It's more expanding on inclusion and safety and joy and political action, and of course, pushing the boundaries in music.

Why is it important to you to actively use your platform for activism? Do you tend to prefer to work with clubs and promoters that are also doing that?

Absolutely. There are venues I won't play at anymore. I do believe that silence is violence, and I don't care what you stand to lose by speaking up. There's no excuse at this point. We are living through the most insane moment of modern history, and I'll just never forget the people who were silent on all of this, especially with platforms. Last year, I was somewhat worried about how much money I was going to be losing speaking up against Zionism and genocide. I did lose some of these venues that I'll never step foot in again, but the universe provided for me in different ways, it brought in other bookings, and I had one of the best years last year.

Have faith that the universe is going to support you in what you're doing, because if you are living your life in a moral way and you're able to stand up for what's right, you're going to be supported. I've always believed it, but it was made very clear last year.