Ode to Sydneys warehouse parties

I love warehouse parties, and hell why would I? Everyone should love warehouse parties.
I’m not going to try and score cool brownie points by saying I’m down with the scene. I’m just lucky enough to have found myself in a circle of people who love music and parties, and get invited to these things.

The real brownie points go to the crews (DSS, Paradise Lost etc) who put in a hell of a lot of time and effort to put on these parties for the love of it. They get instant hall of fame cool cred in my books.

So what’s all the fuss about?

Well firstly they’re free. And byo. Then there’s the music, it’s always about the music. And it’s not always the doof doof you think it is. There’s usually lots of stages, with different types of doof doof! No really though, I was at a warehouse do in the back of Marrickville once getting down to disco funk all night long. Til I got tired and walked home in the freezing fcuking cold. Yay for walking home though.

You can’t talk about warehouse parties without mentioning the obvious- the kick-ass venues. There’s just something so comforting about being in a dirty venue. It’s exciting too cause there’s always more to explore. I love the thrill of finding random room after room and not know what to expect. Although, they also come with their downfalls. For example, no running water at Taren Point, which meant no flushing toilets- yep, EW. The upside was, we did find a ‘secret’ toilet that no-one else knew about- but see, it’s all part of the adventure.

And finally, what I love the most is the crowd. It’s sans the wankers, posers and dodgy sleazebags who inhibit the rest of the social world. Everyone is there to have fun and are 99% of the time about the music- not just about getting trashed.

You get the most random people and you can never be too much of a freak- no one gives a shit. There’s also this mutual understanding of what you’re experiencing is the most awesome thing ever, and there’s always this feeling of intimacy. Afterall, chances are if you’re there, you probably know every person around you by 6 degrees. Hell, this is Sydney, even less.

So all this brings me to the best party ever- the Chanel party on Parramatta Road in Camperdown two weeks ago. The really outdid themselves this time, and it was so unbelievably awesome. It was such a great massive venue, the what really gets my respect was they fact they set it up so well. 7 stages, 3 venues, and the sound was perfectly set-up for the space. They even had a live stage which I couldn’t drag myself away from. Rumpunch even played which I missed out on damnit! Nevermind, Day of the Meerkat blew my mind just as much.

So this is how is went. Cops turned up. It was bound to happen, we all knew it.
Hell, is WAS on Parramatta Road. I didn’t think much of it, cause then they left. But a little while later Joe told us they had shut down Parra Rd. WTF? We went to peep out the windows and apparently so. It was seriously so weird and surreal. My theory was they were going to kick us out anyway so we should stay and enjoy it while it lasted, but Joe was seriously freaking out, and my housemate Ben messaged me saying they were about to storm the place. As we were walking out of the doorway, the riot police were walking (well storming) in. Check it out mom- I made the channel 9 news!

I can’t wait to use this story on my teenage kids one day.