Bouncers - An Anecdote

Hello guys,

Sorry I've been a bit M.I.A but I've not been feeling great recently. However, the idea of using bouncers to test the unwritten rules and constraints of the nightlife is a really good idea. Nightlife is generally meant to be a place for self-expression and hedonism (especially the nightlife of specific subcultures), but, as we know, this is closely policed by bouncers, bringing about an interesting contradiction. The kind of overt rules that venues have, and that bouncers enforce, are something we have all encountered. But this really does differ according to which sort of subculture the nightlife belongs to.

For example, I recently went to a night put on by KAOS LONDON, which is an industrial techno event company. It was hosted in an old fetish club called Electrowerks - an old factory conversion. There were bouncers were there but they didn't really do much. No bag or body searches, no not letting people in. As it was a pretty niche event I feel the people who would have already known about it would be serious about the music/culture, so the bouncers didn't need to play a big part in selecting who could come in and accept the atmosphere. Fashion wise, there was a large variety. Huge amounts of people in fetish wear, leather, drag, or completely naked. But then a lot of people in sportswear and t-shirt/jeans/trainers combo too. It seemed that if you looked open-minded about the things that go on and ready to dance, they would let you in. It didn't matter what you wore as long as you looked like 'yourself' and that 'self' rejected the norms of going out in a more mainstream place. The bouncers also were aware of groups of people going to the toilets together to take drugs and also aware of the people taking them on the dancefloor, but they seemed to not care unless there was violence. Although there are very distinct styles and cynics could say that there is a pressure to conform to a certain brand of self-identity, I feel that's untrue. If you actively seek out these kind of events that are usually hard to come by, then you must feel like that style resonates with you and that is the self-expression you wish to take part in. The bouncers basically didn't give a shit. It's very different to the techno scene in Berlin, where the bouncers are notorious for kicking people out, but thats maybe because techno is more out in the open so you inevitably get people who don't know much about it or respect the environment turning up.

What I can gather from this, although there is almost a lack of overt rules that exist in other kinds of genres (e.g. no trainers, no drugs), there is indeed an underlying, hidden rule that can be encapsulated as 'if you dont seem open to shit, then you ain't coming in'.