It’s big, it’s beefy and this Friday (17 Mar) BeefMince is back at its regular home at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Dave Cross wanted the recipe for this juicy club night and met up with promoters Argyris Georgopoulos and Dan Prance to find out what makes it so tasty.
Hi Argyris and Dan, how would you describe a night at BeefMince for someone who’s never been?
Dan: Whenever people ask me this question, I always say BeefMince is like a big house party that’s full of bears. It’s truly attitude free, just get in, dance, and leave your working week behind. The weekend starts here.
What’s the music policy?
Argyris: Fun. We play vocal, sexy, dance music with loads of pop references. We balance it with both new music and tracks that people recognise and can relate to – but it is all delivered with the BeefMince style: big, beefy beats that get the dancefloor pumping.
And how would you describe the crowd?
Dan: Being a ‘bear night’ means we get the hairy, beefy, beardy types through the doors, but we also get a whole host of people, all shapes, sizes and colours, male, female or whatever. Anyone can come and everyone is welcome because everyone loves to party, right?
Can you tell us how did BeefMince came to be?
Argyris: We noticed a gap during London Pride 2014, and we decided to put our minds together and put on a huge Pride party for the following year. We secured Corsica Studios for London Pride 2015 and BeefMince was born. Soon after, we did a collaboration with another promoter at the Brixton Academy, and then we moved it into the RVT in January 2016 and we’ve been there every month ever since.
Why did you choose the Royal Vauxhall Tavern as your home venue?
Argyris: We’ve been going to the RVT for years, topping up the bar profits whenever we could. We’ve been running parties there since December 2012, under a different brand. It’s iconic, unique and run by a team of passionate people who manage to fill the old girl up with a variety of club nights and cabaret every week. We love having BeefMince there, and we are honoured to be part of the RVT family and its legendary LGBTQ history.
We love your merchandise – tell us about the designs of the T-shirts etc.
Dan: Thank you. We did it as a little sideline at first when we updated our website and invited our super creative friends, Robert Sexton (who also does all our posters) and Alex Dunlop, to come up with a few designs that we could print onto T-shirts and vests. We hope to expand our line with time. Our Instagram is always full of people showcasing our clobber from all over the world, especially the trucker caps – people go crazy for them!
Argyris, you are co-promoter and also DJ Silverhook – does that ever lead to problems or is it a strength?
Argyris: I love DJing at the club and DJing is the reason I got into promoting in the first place. I get to provide the soundtrack of the night and share all the music I love, both newly discovered tracks as well as BeefMince anthems.
Tell us about your fellow resident Cactushead. And do you ever have guest DJs?
Argyris: We’ve known and worked with Ian Buchan, aka Cactushead, for years and he is truly part of the crew, helping shape our music policy. Also his lovely boyfriend Alex looks after the door. We have guest DJs every month joining us from all over the London scene – Massimo Paramour, Ross Jones, Chris Brogan and Johnny Kalifornia to name a few – and also worldwide names like House of Wallenberg, DJ Perfecto and Division 4.
What are the BeefMince plans for the rest of 2017?
Dan: We’ve got some collaborations in the pipeline for 2017. Bearing (no pun intended) in mind we are still a young brand, there are lot of things we’d love to do and other places we’d love to take BeefMince. One thing’s for sure: we aren’t leaving the RVT until we are thrown out! We love it and long may she reign queen of London’s gay scene.
BeefMince is on Friday 17th March at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, 372 Kennington Lane, London, SE11 5HY vauxhalltavern.com beefmince.co.uk
Recommended for you
