Like a breath of fresh air, Menthol has impressed many with its music, crowd and approach. Nomadic in its short life, it’s now settled back at the Factory in Vauxhall and now I’m sitting in a pub in Angel, waiting for an angel.
One of the freshest nicest promoters you’re ever likely to meet on the scene is about to sit down and have a drink with me. Tara Carty, better know as Taz, burst onto the scene just over a year ago now with the principally gay trance party Menthol. That’s not to say us straights can’t go, in fact you’re positively encouraged, with the only precondition being you leave any attitude you might have at home. With a big frame and even bigger personality, I feel instantly at home with her as we talk about her background.
Tara Carty
“I’ve been clubbing since 96 when I first came to London, starting at GAY (would you believe) and being from the country I thought it was the best club in the world. One day, two friends took us to Trade and it was the most amazing experience I’d ever had and I loved it. I was there at Trade most weekends for a good three, four years, until the day it got raided. One of my best friends used to hold a chill out party in their house after and they were always asking me to come out on the straight scene, telling me I’d love it, but we thought we’d stand out especially as I’m quite big and butch.”
This was all to change about three weeks before the closure of Trade, when Taz was to experience Frantic at The Rocket. “I was impressed by the whole production of the party. Although Trade was a good party, it was an underground party. They had the odd dancer, the odd live acts but there was never any real money spent on it. At Frantic there was a guy in a robot outfit, a laser shining off his chest, another guy on stilts, banners all around. It was just a completely different experience.”
It helped that everyone was friendly, with most people even interested in the fact that they were gay and they had gone there instead of to a gay club. Meeting up with Lisa Porter and Robyn Hicks at the after party, Taz struck up quite a friendship and got herself down as a permanent name on the guestlist, along with her girlfriend Kay, as The Lezzos, and it was straight clubbing all the way for the next couple of years. “Although I loved it doing Tidy events, going up to Coalville for Passion, going further to Gatecrasher, I missed the gay scene as well because I wasn’t really mixing with gay people.”
Lasers
Events would conspire to get Taz back to Trade for one of their series of one off parties and during the downtime afterwards the discussion turned to how the gay scene had changed. “It was overrun with funky house; the djs in every club was more or less the same. One company in particular had made the gay scene quite a corporate thing. We talked about what we’d do if we had the opportunity to do our own night and I came up with the idea of doing a trance night as I had noticed on the straight scene trance was coming back in a big way. I loved trance when I was younger, the whole 90s period of trance. I never ever went to a trance club but I had the music and I loved it.”
It’s quite fair to say there were no nights dedicated to trance for gay people so avoiding comparisons with Trade by starting a hard house club, the idea was seeded. The structure would be based around starting with the camper side of the scene before building it up to a harder, more driving sound, but always keeping the music uplifting, something that can be lost from the music at some straight trance parties. “Everyone was in agreement that there could be a market for this type of thing.”
The Lezzos
All this happened in October 04. Not long after in December Taz decided to put on a small party for her birthday using the ideas they had formulated as a basis. “I wasn’t going to charge my friends to come to my birthday party, but I thought to advertise it in the gay press to see if we got any response. I was in the Oak Bar, a lesbian bar in Stoke Newington and the manager there approached me and said they’d like some hard house on some of the free nights they had available.”
Suggesting trance instead, they agreed and 75 people turned up for the party. The key was Taz invited a number of people from the gay press, who raved about the party the week after. “The review went out on the Wednesday after the party. On the Thursday I had a call from Steve Darragh, then of Orange, who said, ‘why don’t you bring your party to Fire?’ I had a verbal agreement with The Oak Bar for another party but decided to go the month after that and I moved to Fire in February 05. Fire is a great club, it’s got a great location, a great layout, though I haven’t been to it since they added the extra arch, but the party really kicked off there and they did help me a lot. We went from 75 people in a pub to near enough 500 people in a club.” This was a massive increase which set the scene for the party to develop and grow.
However, after a successful run of three months a double booking with Extreme Euphoria would see Menthol head off to find new pastures. “I didn’t find out about it until I’d seen the flyer for Extreme Euphoria. I phoned Orange and they apologised but it would have meant stopping the party for three months to get my every second Saturday night back. I just couldn’t afford to do that after all the hard work I’d put in and the crowd the party had built up.”
Luckily Steve Darragh had moved over to the Factory and Taz decided to move with him. “We lost a bit of our crowd on the move; mostly walk ins, though there were others. Whether they don’t like where you are moving to or they just couldn’t do that Saturday or whatever. We were still getting 300 people in and the third party I had there was the best in terms of numbers. Unfortunately I got a call from the Factory telling me they had decided it wasn’t the right party for that venue for some reason.” Strange indeed.
Menthol clubbers
Undeterred Menthol had already been in talks with hUJe about putting a Friday night collaboration together at Brixton’s Mass. The plan was to do a ‘straighter’ version of Menthol. “I was going to use it as a showcase, a chance to try out new djs and give them a chance to see if they were the right sound, rather than playing them on the Saturday night at Factory. I’d made a couple of mistakes with my guest djs and I think it was because I hadn’t heard them properly before and just gone on their demo. I though the Friday nigh party would help Menthol grow a little more and help open up the market to more of a straight crowd. We’d always marketed it at gay people, though straight people were always welcome as long as they didn’t have an attitude but it was predominantly a gay party.” A polysexual night if you will, along the lines of DTPM at Fabric.
Leaving the Factory meant all her eggs were in one basket, though the show went on and the next party was held in November with the hope that the crowd would follow. They didn’t. Was this because of the venue? Couldn’t they adapt to the Mass? Gay clubbing in Brixton had been confined to just SubStation South before and it seemed as this was the way it was going to stay. “There are two things they are nervous about; new venues that are predominantly straight and a predominantly straight party. I could walk into a straight party and it wouldn’t bother me at all. A lot of gay people don’t feel comfortable in a straight environment, they don’t feel they can be themselves, they’re nervous about security especially about things like HIV and AIDS, for example if they’ve got their drugs on them a straight club isn’t used to that and people ask questions that can be embarrassing. With gay clubs and bouncers they’re used to seeing them and questions aren’t asked. I think some gay people are just happier in a gay environment and although Menthol was in one room and hUJe was in another the fact that it was a predominantly straight environment made some of my crowd nervous. It’s a shame and it’s sad that in 2005 you can’t have a mixed party any more.”
Is that indicative of the homophobia that many gay people face on a day to day basis? “If straight people come into a gay club, gay people are accepting of that because it’s their territory and they feel comfortable. If they walk into a straight environment that’s when they start feeling nervous, it’s about getting that happy medium.”
Lil’ Vik — one of the Menthol residents
Still the residents Nelly B, Lil’Vik and Steve Higgins have built a good following for the next step back to Factory. “One of the other reasons I started Menthol was Steve Higgins. He is one of my best friends, we’ve known each other about 6 years. I’ve been trying to get that guy playing hard house all over the place taking out demos for him everywhere. He’s a shy guy and even though he knows his music and his stuff he hasn’t been able to sell himself. I’ve always been outgoing and have known the right people so I’ve always been quite pushy with Steve and got him out there, like a few years ago at a lesbian party called A Deeper Love where I got him a residency. Nelly B had only played at a few gay bars and so I wanted to get them together as they’re both technically sound DJs and they’re both quite versatile in their sounds.”
Pushing them into the trance sound didn’t seem to much hard work for Taz and the beginnings were there. But back at the Oak Bar an undiscovered gem was waiting. “Vicky was the assistant manager and she was very enthusiastic, saying that she was a dj and showed me where she had played, so I thought I’d give her a go and at the first party she was great.”
The most interesting part of the story was Lil’ Vik’s lack of decks. “She literally gets up there at Menthol and she just goes off. She’s got her own style and the crowd just love her.” She was even awarded runner up in the Best New DJ category at the Scene Out awards, a gay website. Taz was also awarded Best New Promoter at the same awards.
Award winning promoter
With the return of Menthol to the Factory things are looking healthier than they have done in quite some time. “The party wasn’t working at Mass and we needed to return to an environment that worked before. As soon as I announced we were going back to the Factory I received so many emails that said ‘Thank God’ and ‘We’re really pleased’ and ‘We’ve missed it’.”
“The fact that it’s back on a Saturday and it’s in a venue that they like, hopefully now we can grow and become a stronger party. Now I just want to focus on Menthol and not do anything else. It’s the time factor as I work full time and also I need to put all my energy into the party to get it back on its feet. To start with I’m going to keep Menthol in the formula that it’s in, with the residents and a guest each month but by the summer I’d like to start rotating my residents so the sound doesn’t get stagnant. I don’t want it to become too samey in the night and we may open up the first set to DJs that haven’t played before but have produced a good demo. We’d still have the middle, 2 till 4 slot for the guests, then rotate the other two slots with the residents to help them grow as well. But at the moment I want the crowd to be happy that they’re going to hear four decent sets of music in the night.”
Adam Symbiosis
Pandora SK — one of Menthol’s long line of guests
Noble sentiments from a promoter that actually cares. If you like your trance with a feel good feeling, then make sure you get that hit of fresh air with Menthol.
Photos courtesy of Symbiosis. Not to be reproduced without permission.
The UK's only Gay trance club, but all are welcome with no attitude.
*special offer £5 mems & £7 non b4 11pm wi flyer*
The music is uplifting & euphoric trance & hard trance on the main floor with residents Lil'Vik, Nelly B & Steve Higgins. Each month a special guest joins the residents to bring a different element into the club.
This month's special guest is Jurranne who has played at Menthol twice before. He is a very energetic & talented dj who has fast become a big name on the London trance scene producing his own records as well as playing some fantastic uplifting & bouncy trance/hard trance. We're very excited to have him back.
In room two is sister club DisFunKtion playing some durtysexy electro, underground house with pumping basslines & tribal. Residents Simon Wallis (MEAT & Barcode) & Steven Black (MEAT & Barcode) will be joined by special guest Chris D who will set the decks on fire with her deep vocal house & durty electro.
Flyer:
Region:
London
Music:
Trance. Euro Trance. Hard Trance. Tech Trance. Hi NRG. House. Deep House. Tribal House. Vocal House.
DJ's:
MENTHOL
2200 - 0000 Lil'Vik 0000 - 0200 Jurranne (Boundless)
0200 - 0400 Steve Higgins 0400 - 0530 Nelly B
DisFunKtion
2200 - 0000 Chris D
0000 - 0230 Simon Wallis (Barcode Soho)
0230 - 0500 Steven Black (Barcode Vaux)
From: Aaron Baskervilleon 3rd May 2006 23:40.42 Nice one Taz, you are a gem. Great work on securing a venue again... hope it works out well for you this time. Catch you soon..
Pandora, great pic as well
From: Alan-Bankson 3rd May 2006 23:43.12 Yeah its a great party if your gay or straight and Taz is one of the nicest people you'll meet, Really can't wait to play for them in June
From: theviceroyon 4th May 2006 01:50.33 Wicked party Taz and one of the most switched on promoters ive had the pleasure of meeting, keep it up!!
From: tidyrichardon 4th May 2006 10:59.57 A great party month in ....month out .....
From: Pandora S-Kon 4th May 2006 13:20.20 Great interview Taz!! These guy's (and gals.. ;P) really do a great job @ Menthol, from promoting, res DJ's to the energy of such an 'up 4 it crowd. They all put their heart and souls into this and it shows!
Keep doing the good work Taz and L'Vik.. keep thinking..'China In your hand' x x C U @ the next installment!
From: ravechickon 4th May 2006 15:03.19 Great interview, Taz and all the Menthol crew do work hard each and every month, and it shows, the BEST party in town, keep it up and see you next weekend....your fave fag hag xxx
From: Hankyon 4th May 2006 16:42.01 Havent been down to menthol yet, but i have met taz a few times, and she is one of the nicest and most genuine people I have met in a long time. It wont be long before you see Goliath down at menthol!
From: Kris Nobleon 4th May 2006 17:30.23 an awesome party, with an awesome crowd and awesome vibe, from an awesome person!
From: Menthol Tazon 4th May 2006 18:14.16 shucks! Thanks to Adam for a great interview & to all of you for your comments.
I look forward to seeing you all plus a few more new faces at the party on the 13th ......
keep trancing - let's go MENTHOL !!!!
love atcha xx
From: twiston 4th May 2006 18:56.46 I LLUUUUURVE Taz. She gives her party a great vibe and everyone really should check it out. You won't be disappointed.
x
From: K.A.R.L.on 4th May 2006 19:57.26 A fantastic party with a very unique vibe. Keep up the good work Taz.
From: Jennie Bon 4th May 2006 20:27.38 A great party even I like it ( did i say i like trance?) and an AMAZING promoter!!!!
Taz u rock. Anyone who hasnt been get ur butt down there!
From: Lizzie Curiouson 5th May 2006 12:23.53 Taz, I can't think of anything to say that hasn't been said already - you are one of the nicest, most thoughtful, genuine and fun people I have had the honour of meeting and partying with on the club scene. Singing live @ Menthol is one of my best memories and that night will be with me forever :-) Look forward to seeing you and partying @ Menthol again very soon!
From: Lizzie Curiouson 5th May 2006 12:24.17 PS, the story behind the name of the night, Menthol, is fantastic!
From: Pathfinderon 5th May 2006 13:42.37 Well done Taz. You and your party are amongst the best things in the clubbing scene. Friendliness, no attitude and top tuneage are all hallmarks of Menthol. Keep up the good work
From: Tidy Robynon 5th May 2006 14:59.32 Hey Taz...well done you! Before I 'left the dancefloor' for good earlier this year - everytime we talked you really inspired me to be a better promoter and event organiser. You literally were a breath of fresh air to me so the name Menthol is so apt! You're a natural and I wish you all the success in the world. (You'll be pleased to know I took my Menthol lanyard snowboarding in Poland in March to carry my lift pass!) xx
From: msdizziblondeon 5th May 2006 16:11.24 taz taz taz - what a star xxxxxxxxx
From: molesyon 6th May 2006 11:37.04 Alrite Tazy Bird! Wicked interview babe! ;-) Ive known tazy for 6 years & she's one of our closest & genuine friends. Reading this interview reminded me of the early days @ trade n then going to Storm (our 1st straight event) & being "lets jus say" a little over dressed ;-) there we see a flyer for Tidy Weekender no 1,(best clubbing experience) Loadsa frantic nights (thanks Amanda) & 9 weekenders, 2 summer camps & NYE later & the rest is history. Thanks for some top wicked times babe & all the best for the future with Menthol. Love ya Load n Lots. Geezer xx
From: Zelon 7th May 2006 18:07.14 Such a good vibe at MENTHOL lots of friendly faces and top djs
From: pabloon 8th May 2006 23:45.22 I love this party, I love this lady. She puts on a proper trance night. Good luck in the future Taz
Love "n" Hugs
Pablo
From: Bagelon 14th May 2006 14:30.49 Menthol is such a great party...its rare to see such a relaxed vibe, no attitudes and top notch tunes all in one party - really well done guys
From: Ian Edwardson 16th May 2006 11:15.41 Great stuff Taz. Will definatley be coming down to the next one.. sounds awsome..
From: Natalie Grrron 16th May 2006 17:51.55 Taz is one of the loveliest people I have met yet and I wish her ALL the best. If anyone deserves it..she does.
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did i say i like trance?
) and an AMAZING promoter!!!!
