RED PARROT Playlist

Some 25 years ago, an icon closed its doors. The Red Parrot was not just a nightclub - it was a fashion and music mecca.

Before there were mobile phones and digital technology, before reality TV, even before MTV, there was a nightclub. But not just any nightclub. New York had its Studio 54, but Perth had the Red Parrot, a place where creative minds flourished, where management took risks and musicians were encouraged to experiment before a live crowd, not be judged on live TV.

From the moment it opened in December 1981 [1982], with animals and a retina-piercing lightshow, the Red Parrot captured the imagination of a generation - and a talented one at that.

Back when hair was huge, Buffalo Gals walked the street and eyeliner was a clubber's best friend, the Red Parrot was the place to be.

Located on the corner of Roe and Milligan streets in Northbridge, it was like nothing Australia had ever experienced. Punks, rockabillies, A-listers, New Romantics, hard-core musos, suburbanites, Mods and disco diehards all mingled together under one big roof for the party of their lives.

I should know. I was there.

"They were certainly halcyon days," recalls the man who made it happen, local businessman Denis Marshall. "The Red Parrot was a barrier breaker."

Together with his jet-setting wife Wendy, owner of the iconic Elle boutique in Nedlands, the ex-footballer had made several visits to New York in the late 1970s. The pair were bowled over by the club scene, in particular Studio 54, where the hoi polloi could party away with the likes of Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Liz Taylor, Andy Warhol and Truman Capote.

Another New York club that stuck in Marshall's mind was the Red Parrot on West 57th St.

"The people were different, more avant-garde. I liked the way you could dress down or up, or outlandish. I came back to Perth and said, 'That's what I want to do here. That's what Perth needs'," Marshall recalls.

"Red Parrot rises like the phoenix" was the newspaper headline for the club's big debut, in the refurbished shell of a fire-ravaged Peters Ice Cream warehouse, when 1200 people flocked through the giant front doors, salvaged from the North Fremantle fire station.

Walls 18m high, lower and upper-level dance floors, two bars and soundproofed VIP booth were just some of the attractions.

The lighting system was the first of its kind in the country with 200 lights operating on 150 different circuits hanging from aluminium trusses that could be raised to the roof or lowered to the dance floor. The result was like being stuck in the middle of a kaleidoscope.

Music was pumped out through a 3000-watt system with four DJs working on playlists. When the music wasn't canned, there were live acts, comedians; even the WA Ballet put on a show. Entry was $5 on the weekend and $2.50 Wednesday and Thursday. Beers were $1.20 and a full measure of spirits with a mixer $2.20.

For 50c you could leave your bags and coats in the cloakroom and if you got hungry you'd buy a kebab or a chilli hotdog from the van parked in the outside courtyard. And, unlike other clubs, jeans weren't banned.

"If someone arrives in good jeans and isn't going to cause trouble we'll let them in," declared British-born manager James Phillips at the time of the opening. "Someone who is in a $500 suit and smashed off their face may not get it."

Marshall added: "We really want to provide an alternative to all the other venues in town. A place where the unexpected can and does happen."

Cue the live parrots.

"I had 10 South American macaws, big red parrots, and they were beautiful, really expensive, sitting in the well of the staircase in a huge cage," Marshall recalls. "But the Licensing Board here said you can't have circus acts in a public venue."

Business entrepreneur Andrea Horwood-Bux, or "Mouse" to those in the know, says the Parrot was "the coolest nightclub in Australia then and there hasn't been anything like it since".

In the Parrot days, the pretty, diminutive brunette could be found striking a pose with her "Priscilla Presley jet-black high hair" with her subgroup of choice - the Rockabillies.

"My friends and I started sneaking in when we were 16," Horwood-Bux says. "Where else could private schoolgirls who had quite a sheltered cultural life in Perth go to see people who were that creative? It was the most exciting place I had ever seen. There was always a slight air of danger to the place which added to its cache."

Like so many other old Parroters, she went on to create her own success story - from magazine mogul with Australian Style to multi-million-dollar entrepreneur with her Invisible Zinc cosmetics brand and its supermodel mascots Elle Macpherson, Jerry Hall and her daughter, Georgia May.

"I wouldn't have started Australian Style had I not had such a talented group of people around me," Horwood-Bux says, "because that's where the first photographers, writers and all those creative people came from. I think we were lucky that we had a place like that. It had an important impact creatively on Perth."

Back in 1982, Justin Smith was heading for a career as a classical violinist. Smith has since gone on to photograph supermodels, style rock stars and launch modelling careers, most notably Gemma Ward. He remembers his formative years partying at the Red Parrot.

"It wasn't just a teenage fad. It formed our lives," he says. "I remember it being a bit like a dream at the time. Perth was a very small town but had very smart and sophisticated people. We had a cultural influx of English in the late 1970s which made Perth a very strange and surreal landscape. It was a small town so all of that was magnified."

For talented, stylish Italian boy-about-town Ray Costarella, the club offered him his first big break. Today Aurelio Costarella is the man behind the gowns worn by celebrities.

"My fashion career was launched at the Red Parrot in 1983," Costarella says. "I participated in a collective fashion show, Against the Wall. My very first collection was of deconstructed, tie-dyed calico, knitted and woven pieces."

One moment in particular stands out in the designer's mind - dancing to All Night Long at the Parrot with the effervescent Fenella Peacock dressed as Carmen Miranda. And she, too, now has her own successful label, Antipodium.

Hairdressers and make-up artists who also cut their teeth at the Parrot have gone on to bigger and better things. Val Garland, formerly of Head Office, is now a much sought after make-up artist based in London. Linda Jefferyes, a former Parrot parade model, is also a big name in the fashion industry, living in Sydney and doing make-up for major parades and shoots.

It wasn't just catwalk wannabes who were given a break. Ian Jopson was a music-loving follower of alternative fashion when he was given the DJ job for the Parrot's opening night.

"Basically, (it was) my haircut, my record collection and my street fashion sense. It couldn't have been anything else, seeing as I'd never DJ'd a day in my life," he says.

Now living in New York as a senior motion designer at Fox News Digital, Jopson has fond memories of spinning all the latest new releases with fellow DJ S***f.

"Rockabilly brackets, Motown for the mods, great English and Australian pop and rock, world music, whatever was happening out in the music world at the time would get worked into the evening," he says. "I remember seeing Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet there in the VIP area. Another time, the Beats [a ska band] and the Motels were drinking, like, 250 B52s."

Music industry veteran Neil Wedd was a promoter in the '80s booking live acts for the Parrot. "We had Violent Femmes, Hunters & Collectors, The Birthday Party, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Lighthouse Keepers, The Particles. It was a fantastic venue," he says.

And it could get wild. "There was a night when somebody pulled a toy gun on Australian Crawl and it cleared the venue out," Wedd recalls.

For club owner Denis Marshall, it was a case of "rolling with the punches".

"How the hell did I know who Australian Crawl were or Mental as Anything? They (management) would suggest someone and I'd just say, 'Righto'," he says.

While the Parrot may be gone (it closed in 1987), it's not forgotten. A page, Red Parrot Remembered, has 800 members with postings of memorabilia and photos, many taken by lensman and former Rockabilly Michael Kuba.

There are reunion plans for next year. Since touting the idea on Facebook, Sharon McCourt Harkins has received "overwhelming" support.

"I'd love it to be the event of the year. I want it to be spectacular," she says.

A call has gone out for old Parrot photos and any memorabilia to do with the club.

"We could project old photographic images on walls and have we**am and Skype link-ups with past members. Lots of interviews, especially after they've had a few drinks," laughs co-organiser Reg Miffin, former owner of the hip '80s Wizz Bar nightclub in Hay St.

Talks are happening with Artrage, which leases part of the building, to hold the reunion at the original site, with an after-party at The Bakery in James St.

For Marshall, it will not just mean a trip down memory lane. "I will have to put a rinse in my hair, that's for sure," he chuckles. Source: http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/call-of-the-wild/story-e6frg12c-1226424437704

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The following interview was done for X-Press Magazine, and published w/c 29/4/2013. RED PARROT The Place To Be The Red Parrot Reunion celebrates the legendary Perth club's 30th anniversary this Saturday, May 4, at The Bakery, just a stone's throw from its old home at the corner of Roe & Milligan Streets, Northbridge. Original DJ S***f is flying in for the night; DJ Ian Jopson has had to cancel due to recent eye surgery - the pair worked together during the early years, sharing a long residency. CLAUDE MONO walks with them down memory lane in the lead up to this sold-out event. The Red Parrot opened in 1981 and closed somewhere around 1987 when it morphed into Berlin. How did you get to be a DJ there? S***f: “There was a lot of talk on the street about the Parrot before it opened, including rumours about the music that might be played there. At that time there was something of a disconnect between what many people were listening to at home and at parties with what was being played in the bigger clubs, which was still essentially Top 40. I made a C-90 mixtape and gave it to James Phillips. I probably mentioned that I’d done some radio work, but simply said that if he gave me the gig, this was the sort of music I’d be interested in playing. I don’t remember exactly what was on it, but there would have been songs by Simple Minds, Joy Division, Grace Jones, The Clash, B52s, The Cure, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Birthday Party, British Beat, The Pretenders, Hunters and Collectors, Stray Cats, The Police, Cabaret Voltaire, etc. About six months later he rang me one Wednesday evening and said that although the club was going well, he was considering being more adventurous with the music, and could I come in that night. Of course I said yes, but then immediately called him back and said that what I’d be able to do that evening would be the equivalent of an impromptu speech, and asked him if I could have more time. We settled on a week, so the following Wednesday evening I started with Radio Clash, and the rest, as they say … I was there every night for the next three years, until Denis Marshall sold it to Bill Oddy. They dropped me when they took over but offered me the job again within a few weeks. I’d already made plans to leave Perth by then, so I agreed to work for 10 weeks, after which my tenure there ended.” Ian: “I started opening night and was resident for about two-and-a-half years. I had been a barman at the Clarendon Hotel, a gay bar run by James Phillips who was also given the Red Parrot to run. Monday nights I used to take my record collection to the bar to give to the DJ (Furby) to play for me and my friends to dance to. James saw this and asked me if I'd consider working at the Parrot - incredibly I'd never DJ'd before, but in those days it was about the music and not how you put it together.” For the 2013 Red Parrot Reunion nearly 700 tickets sold out in just a few days and many people are still trying to get tickets. For a venue that only existed for a few years - and some 30 years ago - many people seem to hold unique and special memories of The Parrot. What made it so special? S***f: “Looking back, it was certainly a seminal time for our generation, and I think The Parrot helped engender a belief for us that anything was possible. Above all, what I think made it so special was the mix of people, a mix that had probably never come together before in the way they did. They were so diverse, so extreme, and all were up for a wild time. The Parrot was anything but mainstream, but that anything was a very broad church. It was a place where everyone felt free to be whoever they wanted to be, a sanctuary where people could explore limits, unconstrained by what many saw as the straitjacket of suburban society. Those extremes proved destructive for some; creative for others. I think it’s also important to acknowledge what a brilliant job James Phillips did as Manager. He was the one who carefully oversaw the concept, chose the staff, organised the events, and who really set the standard. Best. Boss. Ever.” Ian: “I think what made it so special was the mixture of people that attended, at the time most big clubs just played from the Top 40 chart, disco or mainstream pop. It was unusual for a club the size of the Red Parrot (1000+) to attempt to be cutting edge. Perth at the time was filled with British ex-pats, and we definitely had our eyes on the UK music pulse, so I think many people felt at home. The mix of live music and club vibe was also a unique thing. There was an early ‘live music’ crowd and a later ‘club’ crowd - this ensured a full night, every night.” There are lots of interesting stories about what went on both in the venue and behind the scenes - what are some of your more interesting memories? Is it true there was a VIP spa room? What can you tell us without risking defamatory laws? S***f: “Far be it for me to spoil the mystery, so I refuse to confirm or deny whether there was a spa in the manager’s office, or whether it was kept immaculately clean with the finest Columbian chlorine. There are many great stories so we could be here for a while, so I might restrict myself to just two out of left field. Denis Marshall threw the best staff parties, and one summer morning we boarded his boat and set off for shores unknown. Eventually we anchored in a glassy, secluded cove off Rottnest and just as we did a catering van magically appeared on the horizon. Their staff proceeded to place a huge circular table in the bay and then load it up with one incredible feast. We dived overboard, swam over, and indulged until almost sunset, literally waist deep in the Indian Ocean. Surreal, Bacchanalian, and unforgettable. At the other end of the scale; like most clubs, the Parrot would occasionally get bomb threats, which for whatever reasons we rarely took seriously. I lived just five minutes away from the Parrot, and so one night while a band was playing I’d taken the liberty of ducking home to, ahem, powder my nose. James took me aside when I returned and said, 'We’ve had a bomb threat, for 2 o’clock. Can you have a look around the DJ booth and let me know if you find anything?' I rummaged around in the darkness for quite some time and couldn’t see anything unusual, but there was electronic equipment everywhere and I resigned myself to the fact that if someone had really wanted to stash a device in there, it wasn’t likely to be easily found. I told James as much, and went back to work. I had an antique fob watch which I always hung from the lights right in front of the turntables, and I still viscerally recall watching that second hand ticking down to 2 o’clock as I cued up a record.” Ian: “I know you don’t believe it but I don’t really have any juicy behind the scenes stories about the Parrot that I can tell. While I worked there it was a very tight ship; no stories of the staff sh****ng each other or patrons in any dark corners... although that might have happened. We were fairly serious clubbers and as a DJ I worked one hour on/one hour off, so I think I was more like a punter as I'd spend my hour off on the dance floor with everyone just having fun. Some say the VIP spa room existed and others that it’s a total urban myth. Me? Well…” What are some of your favourite musical highlights as a DJ with a long and legendary residency? Is there a Top 5 or a Top 10 that sums it all up for you? S***f: “This question always vexes me greatly, for reasons which I’ll try to explain. There are several vast Red Parrot online threads already devoted to this topic, and there are two things which always stand out to me whenever I peruse them. The first is that everyone had their own favourites, and the second is the broad range of everyone’s favourites. That such different songs were played in the same club, let alone often on the same night, is testimony to the diversity of the crowd. And so whenever I approach this question I’m always conflicted by the thousands of songs which I’m unable to list, by default. I might also take this opportunity to preface my list with some more general reflections on DJing at the Parrot. Being given an unlimited budget was a dream come true, and a luxury which allowed us to venture far and wide. Having said that, with the notable exceptions of the opening and closing songs, the records always had to initially fulfil the first criteria - does it make you want to dance? There were also two standard practices in other clubs at that time which I resolved to never engage in. First, songs which were popular would be played again and again and again on the same night, so I decided I would never play any song more than once per night. If it was your favourite, but you’d missed it; tough. Second, I never spoke. There was a microphone somewhere in the DJ booth but I never used it. I figured people were there to listen to the music and dance, so the last thing they needed was someone banging on between songs like some breakfast radio host about what it was called or who it was by, or asking everyone whether they were having a good time, or requesting that someone meet someone at the front door because they couldn’t find them. I was also unapologetic about turning down the occasional request for popular Top 40 songs. There were plenty of other clubs where people could hear those but what we did was different, was my standard reply; not that it was ever well received. Each evening I’d plan my playlist around songs I just had to play that particular night, which determined the overall structure of where I wanted to begin, the avenues I wanted to explore, and where I wanted to end up. That was then supplemented with maybes, along with a collection of wild cards. Having said that, it was only ever a plan. What I hope was part of the Parrot’s success was that what got played, and when, was determined by constantly reading the crowd, the dancefloor, and what those there were up for. Absolute Parrot classics include Song To The Siren - This Mortal Coil, Release The Bats - The Birthday Party, Somebody Else’s Guy - Jocelyn Brown, Man Overboard - Do Re Mi, Yashar - Cabaret Voltaire, Soweto - Malcolm McLaren, Towtruck - Hunters and Collectors, Slave To The Rhythm - Grace Jones, My Spine Is The Bassline - Shriekback, Blue Monday - New Order, Someone, Somewhere, in Summertime - Simple Minds, Cruiser’s Creek - The Fall… stop me now.” Ian: “Oh God, what a question... that’s too hard, because we pioneered new tracks and also played classics from the '60s onwards... what was distinctively Parrot though: Simple Minds, The The, Cabaret Voltaire, Living On The Ceiling - Blancmange, Right Now - The Creatures, Depeche Mode, Icehouse - Great Southern Land, Hunters and Collectors - Talking To A Stranger or The Slab. We had an advance copy of Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood that used to raise the roof and I had a South American pan pipes track called Carchapaya that sent people out of their minds. The more I think, the more that pop up...”

The Parrot pioneered the mix of live bands and clubbing. You were able to go early and see local and international touring acts and then in the same venue for a full on clubbing experience until 3am, often with a pile of serious clubbers who would only arrive after the bands. I don’t think any other 1000+ venue in Perth has ever managed to mix it up like that. What are some of your favourite live memories? S***f: “Perhaps the only comparable venue was Jon Sainken’s Adrian’s, albeit on a smaller scale, with DJ Paul playing great sets before and after the live bands. The live gigs at the Parrot which immediately stand out for me include those by Australian bands like The Birthday Party, Do Re Mi, Hunters & Collectors, Machinations and the Hoodoo Gurus, to name a few. There were also unforgettable gigs from international artists like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Jonathan Richman, along with local bands including The Bamboos and The Triffids. One of the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen, anywhere, was the performance artist Michel Lemieux, and as a jazz lover, I really enjoyed the Manteca evenings. As a DJ, I loved the mix of live bands and vinyl. Different bands would obviously draw different crowds, which allowed me to explore genres complementary to those bands more deeply. While not as broad a spectrum as we’d normally cover, it meant I could delve deeper into music that might have been of interest to those particular audiences. I should also make special mention of the live gigs played in the upstairs bar late on Thursday nights by local band Elroy Flicker & The Fitzroy Gutterslugs. The prodigious talents of Paul Cummings and Karl Hird ensured that those jam-packed, sweaty affairs were fantastic old school R'n'B stomps.” Ian: “Without question the three nights played by The Allnighters were off the hook, people were climbing the walls going crazy. Hunters & Collectors, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Machinations... it became more live focussed after I left.” The Parrot was 100 per cent pre-digital and pre-CD. Do you remember anything of the tech spec of the sound system and DJ setup? I seem to remember three turntables and was there a reel-to-reel? How did that legendary moving light rig work? S***f: “There were just two Technics SL-1200 decks, and what masterpieces of technology they remain. Flawless. There was also one double cassette deck; probably a TEAC. Occasionally I liked to experiment by playing an instrumental B-side together with sound effects tapes; analog mashups, as it were. I don’t recall the specs for the amplifiers and speakers, but everyone knows how massive the sound could be. Of course we blew up the amps and turned the subwoofers inside out on a regular basis. The light rig set-up was truly inspired. As far as I know, mechanically, it was simply an arrangement of electric motors, pulleys, and steel cables. The lighting techs, Baz and Andrew Chambers, did a great job of reconfiguring the lights every week. Although they were often essentially working with the same gear, I always looked forward to seeing what they’d come up with. The real magic of the setup was the way in which you could constantly change the dynamic of the space; from an intense hothouse with the trusses lowered, to a vast cavern with them raised to the ceiling, and everything in between.” Do you have other Perth venues and places you remember from those days? S***f: “Some of my favourites were The Equator, Adrian’s, The Governor Broome, Hernando’s, The Cat And Fiddle, The Clarendon/Fitzgerald Hotel, The Wizbah, The Shenton Park Hotel, Milliways/Meccano, The Underground, The Red Lion, The Old Melbourne and The Silver Slipper. There were also occasionally great live gigs at venues like the old Premier Ice Rink and Canterbury Court. When it came to live gigs, I’d go anywhere that a band I wanted to see was playing, and so I sometimes found myself in odd places. I saw UB40, and Annie Lennox with The Tourists, at the Noonkenbah Hotel, of all places. I also saw The Cure at Blazes, where they couldn’t even finish the gig because some in the small crowd took a dislike to them and threw glasses, bottles and chairs at them. I’m not sure whose idea it was to put Madness on at the Concert Hall. Even though everyone had to take off their boots, dancing on the seats in our socks still wasn’t too good for them. It was very disappointing that the beautiful Embassy Ballroom got demolished, but the last two gigs there, by the Stray Cats and Simple Minds, were phenomenal.” …and final thoughts in 2013? S***f: “I am looking forward to this.” Ian: “It was a long time ago since I left Perth. I spent 20 years in Sydney, opened my own graphic design business, ran a few very cool club-nights - Sugar Shack and Glamourworld, and began a yearly event called DIVA of which I was artistic director and executive producer for 14 years. I moved to NYC in 2004 and I am currently a senior motion designer/animator for Fox Digital. Most importantly I also am committed to helping kids with HIV in third world countries having raised $200,000.00 in the last nine AIDS walks. Eye surgery aside, I am currently preparing for the 2013 AIDS Walk New York.” Source: http://xpressmag.com.au/index.php/interviews/music-interviews/5921-red-parrot For details of the Red Parrott Reunion that took place on Saturday, 4th May, 2013, please refer to the following link: http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=74b34924d54859c1b80fedbce&id=86b559845c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsk6_lM-6QU&feature=youtu.be