Birthday Bash: Bingay

What's happened with Bingay since it began? Bingay started off as a fortnightly Wednesday night at what used to be called Manhattan's Bar in Victoria Park. We had a cover charge and Sandy Beaches was our host. In fact there was an ex-editor of Drum Magazine who hosted it for us in drag once…his legs were amazing. Since then, we moved it to The Queens as a free weekly Wednesday night were it gained a lot of momentum before finally settling into our amazing home at Connections on Thursday nights where we're now booked out a week in advance regularly.

What do you put the success of Bingay down to? Hilarious drag queens who love doing it. Hannah Conda, Val Nourished and Barbie have been stars playing with our balls each week, plus our amazing intern Kelly and Connies superstar Toni are there each and every week ensuring that punters are looked after. Also we give out free pizza and dildos which I think probably helps.

Has any one ever worn their birthday suit to Bingay? There was an occasion while we were running it at The Queens when a Bingay fan hit me up on Facebook and dared me to do a lap of The Queens in just a g-string. I of course said fuck off, he persisted, so I set a challenge that if he could get our Facebook page an extra 500 likes in 5 days I would do it. And he amazingly did it. Needless to say, there was a lot of tequila had that night.

If Bingay was a stripper, what would its stage name be, and why?  Alotta Via Brators

Who takes the cake for the best/craziest shenanigans at Bingay over the last year? There is a lot of nudity and general inappropriate behaviour and commentary every week,  but usually shit goes fairly awry when the drag queen doesn't have to work the next day and they use their bar card quite significantly while hosting. There are too many ridiculous situations to put it down to one, but there is usually a granny doing laps of Connections without her top on by around 10pm.

What are you most proud that Bingay has contributed to the Perth nightlife scene, and why? The fact that a couple of straighties can run a gay night that brings both the straight and gay community together. We've been running Bingay for about two years now and it's the biggest it has ever been right now and we've never been prouder. The support that Gavin and the team at Connections have given the night and us at Bingay's “new” home over the past year has been huge and we thank them for that.

What other gigs have you got coming up? An amazing two week gig called “My holiday in Bali”. But in all seriousness we've got Sampology at The Leederville Hotel TOMORROW! Plus some exciting new concepts about to be launched at The Aviary, Beaufort Street Festival planning has just started, plus a heap more. It's going to be a massive 2013!

What sort of celebration is in order (who've you got playing on the night, anything out of the ordinary planned)? Male strippers, obnoxious drag queen banter, free dildos, a heap of lube and we'll just see what happens from there.

WHAT: Bingay at Connections 1st Birthday Party
WHEN & WHERE:  Thursday 7 March - Connections Nightclub, Perth WA