Rory Boyle is the host of Queer Ear, a podcast that shines a light and spills the tea on unexplored queer issues
Before he moved to London to study he had a gap year in his home town of Dublin where he got to explore his sexuality safely and dance all night (on the podium, no less) at cult club night WAR at Andrew’s Lane Theatre.
We caught up to discuss the weird etiquette with bathroom attendants, conversations that happen in smoking areas, and favourite Spice Girls songs….
And, after you’ve done listening to this episode go and check out the Queer Ear podcast, and follow it on instagram.
TranscriptRory Boyle 00:00
So that was at the point where like I said, I’d finished secondary school I was had pretty much all my friends on some people that started college, there were other people who were, you know, figuring out what they wanted to do, maybe working, maybe taking a gap year. But because the vast majority of us had stayed in Dublin last year, we all kind of came together on a Friday night to go here. And war wasn’t strictly an LGBTQ club night. But it was, I mean, it was run by, I think it was run by three people, two of which were queer. And the vast majority of wars club goers were Queer as well. So while it didn’t strictly advertise itself as that kind of space, it really was one. And I suppose this was a time when secondary school was over. And all my friends, whether they were queer or not, were either starting to come out or just starting to come into their own and be themselves a bit more, because I think you’re kind of free from those conformist shackles of secondary school. So it was a fun place for us to go and have no inhibitions and just kind of let loose. And I think that’s what kept us coming back week after week.
K Anderson 01:19
Hello, I am K Anderson and you are listening to lost spaces. The podcast that mourns the death of queer nightlife. Every episode I talk to a different person about a venue from their past, the memories they’re created there, and the people that they used to know. Rory Boyle is the host of queer here, a podcast that shines a light and spills the tea on unexplored queer issues. Before he moved to London to study, he had a gap year in his hometown of Dublin, where he got to explore his sexuality safely, and dance all night long. on the podium, nervous at cult club night war at Andrew Lane Theatre, we caught up to discuss the weird etiquette with bathroom attendant conversations that happen in the smoking area, and favourite Spice Girl songs.
Rory Boyle 02:41
One thing that I find interesting comparing Dublin to London is that in war again, because Dublin is a small place, you kind of saw the same faces week after week. So I wouldn’t necessarily become friends with these people. But you know, they’d be someone who you might bump into in the line and know to say hi to, or someone you might see on the dance floor and kind of you’d recognise them in London, I find that doesn’t happen as much. I think if you go to the same venues again and again, and again, it would, but if you’re in Soho, you know, there’s always going to be tourists, there’s always going to be people who’ve come from different parts of the country, for the weekend. And I think in Dublin that happened less than less. So I don’t know if that’s a selling point for war, or if it was something that I was just gonna ask about how like,
K Anderson 03:27
Is that good? Is that positive or negative for you?
Rory Boyle 03:31
I think in the long run, it might actually be a bit of a negative because I do think because we went pretty much every Friday. It was sometimes a bit like you were seeing the same faces over and over. And I don’t know how fun that actually is in the long run.
K Anderson 03:50
Especially when you’ve made your way through them. And well, I didn’t quite say that. But yeah, it’s not good. Well, yeah, I mean, this is the thing. So I grew up in Adelaide, but I’ve lived in London for a long time. And I mean, I, I would maybe counter what you’ve said like because I feel like I do run into lots of people a lot in London, but it’s not at the same frequency. And it’s not like the same people every single time. And it might be that I’m looking back with like rose coloured glasses, or you know, just kind of romanticising the past. But there’s something quite nice about the dependability of seeing the same people every week and knowing that they’re going to be there and knowing that you can have a little chat, be non committal overall, but like catch up and see how they are, and then be like, great. Well, I’ll see you in a month’s time. Whereas in London, and in bigger cities, I’m imagining this, it’s just so much more fleeting. And you do run into people that you know, a lot but they’re usually the people you don’t like
Rory Boyle 04:59
you I do agree I agree with you completely. I think that there’s definitely positives to it. I think perhaps it just goes back to what I was saying earlier about, kind of wanting to get out. I think all of that running into the same people over and over kind of reiterated, but to me that Dublin’s a small place. And my options were limited there. And I think as well, because I knew I was moving to London The next year, I wasn’t overly invested in getting to know a lot of those people, because I knew I wasn’t going to be around much longer if, if that sounds like a very negative way to look at things. But like, I was never going to war looking for a boyfriend, I was never going to war looking to make lifelong friends because I kind of knew I was leaving Dublin probably for good. And this was sort of one of the last places I was going to be frequently going out and Dublin.
K Anderson 05:53
That’s really interesting. And so there was an excitement about what was coming up next, that prevented you from wanting to make those buttons or was it something else?
Rory Boyle 06:05
I think it probably was that. I mean, I remember. And I should say two of my, you know, oldest friends at this point, they both met their first boyfriends at war. So my friend Andrea met, well, who is now her ex her ex husband at war. And another friend of mine, he was in a very long relationship with someone he met there. And I remember having a conversation with them one time, where I kind of said, you know, I’m so happy for you guys that you’re meeting people here that you’re forming these connections with. But I felt like that was a bit pointless for me in terms of a romantic connection, because I knew I was jumping ship.
K Anderson 06:43
Yeah. But like, you know, the whole and not necessarily saying that this is absolutely true. But that whole kind of love at first sight. You can’t kind of plan who you meet and stuff like that. Where you just completely closed off to making any kind of connections with people.
Rory Boyle 07:03
Oh, no, definitely not. I mean, there was definitely a lot of lust at first sight on AI. You know, war was definitely the first place where I had my first one night stand. It was a lot of like, first experiences. But I think you know, I’ve gotten a lot of life advice from Miss Wendy Williams. And one thing that she always says on our show not canceled. I feel like she should have been canceled about 10 years ago, some of the stuff that comes out of that woman’s mouth. But I will say during the pandemic, one thing that I did enjoy doing was going back and watching old compilation clips of ask Wendy which is where she gives advice to her audience. And her advice is always terrible. It’s almost like the worst possible advice you could ever give someone ever. But one thing that she does always say that I agree with is that when you’re young, when you’re at that young age, you should be dipping it and doing it. So Believe me, I was dipping and doing it every week in war. And I was not afraid to make that kind of connection. But I don’t know so much about the very romantic kind,
K Anderson 08:08
huh? Yeah, it’s just interesting, isn’t it? Oh, I say interesting. Too much. Sorry. Let’s Let’s circle back then to talk about one night stands. And you’ve just let slip that your very first one night stand was at war. That right, yeah, please elaborate.
Rory Boyle 08:30
Right, let me think about this whole story. So I guess you know, it sounds very much like going back to seeing the intro escapable way but this time it’s he was a boy, he was a boy. Can I make it any more obvious? Yeah, I guess I we just locked eyes on the dance floor. And one thing led to another and I remember, I was with my friend Andrea, she’ll she’ll love If I ever retell her this story because she might have forgotten this. But I think it got to the end of the night. And we were parting ways. And I think she didn’t realise that we were going to go home together. And the next day, we were meant to meet up myself and Andrea and she texted me that morning. I was like, hey, are we still on for today? I was like No, I’m in a complete opposite part of Dublin in this guy’s house. And I suppose like with it being your first one nightstand it’s obviously completely out of character for you. So I think she was a bit shocked by that.
K Anderson 09:27
Because because she thought you were like, innocent. I mean, yeah.
Rory Boyle 09:34
I think she probably knew I had it in me but I think she just thought I’d gone home so just wasn’t huge. She was expecting But yeah, I mean that guy was very, very nice. He had a good time.
K Anderson 09:49
He was nice. There’s a lot more to it than that.
Rory Boyle 09:52
Well let me do this with it. All right. You want the T Well, what why I say he was nice is what I mean is like it was a very good Pleasant first time experiences someone because I’m very aware that some people have their first one nightstand and it can be pretty horrible. You know, it can be quite nonconsensual. Or it could be that the other person isn’t very nice to them. Or it’s just a really awkward, uncomfortable encounter where they snore afterwards. Or they snore afterwards, which, you know, is worse than all of the above. But, you know, mine was nothing like any of those things. It was, you know, a guy who was a student similar to my age, went back to his house, I think there was no one else home that night for whatever reason. So we went back there. And yeah, it was it was it was really pleasant, you know, in the sense. Very comfortable.
K Anderson 10:45
I mean, like, if I ever sleep with someone, and then the feedback they gave me is that was pleasant. I don’t think I’d be very pleased.
Rory Boyle 10:54
You know what to say, if anyone gives me that rating on Yelp, I’m going to be having not that I’m a service on Yelp yet. I haven’t gotten that. I haven’t gotten that desperate just yet. But um, yeah, I mean, you know, let me put it to you this way. What else would you like to know?
K Anderson 11:14
What were you wearing? No, no, actually, I’m more interested in the, the feeling afterwards. Oh, the following days.
Rory Boyle 11:25
I remember, you know, like I said, it was obviously out of character for me with it being my first time doing that. So I do remember, there was like, some awkwardness about telling friends, but there was no shame or anything like that. I didn’t feel embarrassed by it. And war was a very roar was very much a place where you were able to let your freak flag fly. So there was lots of stuff like that going on. And I think people weren’t shocked when, you know, I ended up doing that. And in the the taste that passed, yeah, I felt absolutely fine about it, you know, I was happy it happened, the sex was good. And I just you say pleasant, it was pleasant. The sex was pleasant. Very, very much, very much so. But I suppose it was maybe a taster of what was to come in London, because, you know, as I said, earlier, I was living with my parents and my parents house in Dublin at this point. So, you know, I was never really going to bring someone back there. And I suppose it was like that taste of freedom of what student life maybe was gonna bring in, in a couple of months time.
K Anderson 12:36
Because it’s so it’s so kind of liberating, isn’t it? It’s one of these things that, you know, like you find out when you’re a teenager, that these things happen, and people have sex, and then never see each other again, and I’m making massive assumptions, because you grew up in Ireland, which has a, you know, strong religious culture. That, you know, you’re kind of also taught, like, that’s wrong, and you shouldn’t do that. And you should, you know, only ever have sex with someone who you’re married to, or in a long term relationship with. So there’s something kind of exciting and thrilling about doing that for the first time.
Rory Boyle 13:15
Yeah, well, it’s interesting what you said about Ireland, because I suppose I should say that. One thing that’s quite interesting about my childhood is I went to the first nondenominational primary school in the country. So I’m one of the very few people from my generation that had no religious upbringing, especially not in terms of my school life whatsoever, at least to the primary school level. So I think that probably shaped the lack of religion in my life. And I never had any sort of Catholic guilt or anything like that. My sisters went to. Yeah.
K Anderson 13:54
And I was like, the most fun bit of being Irish, isn’t it?
13:58
Well,
Rory Boyle 13:59
I don’t know about that. But it’s interesting, because when I had a friend come and visit me, one of the friends that I will go to war with, when I was living in London and a student, he was hanging out with a bunch of my uni friends. And one thing he said to me, that was really interesting was he said, why everyone is so much more open about sex. And obviously, I didn’t really know much different because they were my, they’re my only uni friends. So the only uni friends I’m ever gonna have, and his were in Dublin. But I do actually feel like that. Now, in hindsight, when I think about conversations I have with my British friends or my friends that live in the UK, about sex, they would be a lot more blunt and Frank than with my Irish ones. And I think Catholicism has to play into that.
K Anderson 14:49
Yeah, I find I find it really fascinating. The two countries are so similar in so many ways. But so very different. At the same time, oh god, that was such an empty thing to say. Sorry. The The other thing. The other thing that I wanted to ask about one night stands and not not specifically linked to this pleasant fellow, but just in any is what is your etiquette? If you run into them again,
Rory Boyle 15:21
I never gonna live down that pleasant thing I might strike my advocate if I run into them again, I mean, it’s probably very different now than it was then. But having said that I haven’t had a one night stand in a while on Oh, yeah, of course. So I’m trying to think I mean, did we run into each other again? Yeah, we did. Because like I said, you’d see all the same faces at war. And actually think we were reading normal with each other. Like it was very nonchalant, the whole thing. It was just a Hello. And that wasn’t too much more to be said. I mean, I’m sure we kissed on the dance floor again, at some other point, we’re both fucked. But I think but now, when approaching that kind of situation, I don’t know, maybe in some ways, I’d be a bit more awkward. I mean, I was in a long term relationship for a lot of my 20s. You know, I’m coming towards the end of my 20s. Now, so I haven’t done the whole one nightstand thing in a while. And I think I’m now kind of readjusting how to do all that, again, obviously, in COVID times that is highly encouraged, or discouraged, rather. So I don’t really know what my approach will be. I’ll get back to you on that one.
K Anderson 16:40
Okay, but you’re not the kind who’s like, Oh, I didn’t see you. I’m just going to ignore that you exist.
Rory Boyle 16:46
Only if the person was an absolute dick. But going back to miss Wendy Williams, one other thing that she’s taught me is that like, if, and I actually believe this, I think once you’re grown, once you’ve made it past, like, the awkward teen years, and maybe once you’ve got to your mid 20s. If somebody was addict to you on a one night stand, or on a date, or whatever, I think you should be able to kind of articulate that and say that to them in the moment. And that’s kind of what I would practice now is if I ran into somebody who really didn’t treat me right, in one of those scenarios, I’d let them know.
K Anderson 17:25
Yeah, yeah. I mean, and that quite like quite an absolute, like if someone has a deck and they’re a dick. But if someone is just bad.
Rory Boyle 17:36
Do you mean bad in bed? Yeah. Oh, God, that’s a difficult one. Because I feel like if someone’s bad in bed,
K Anderson 17:44
like you don’t just you wouldn’t be like, oh, by the way that was shared. I’m not that cruel. So then when you run into them, what do you do? It’s like, Oh, hi. Hi.
Rory Boyle 17:57
Yeah, I think I’d say hi, because you don’t owe them anything. You know, it’s not like from saying, Hi, you’re gonna have to then get undressed and go back to theirs.
K Anderson 18:05
Oh, tell you. There’s no one ever told you. Oh, man. That’s where I’ve been going wrong. Let’s talk off my glaber. I mean, I think that is when it’s the most awkward when they had a really good time, but you didn’t.
Rory Boyle 18:21
Yeah, I agree. And I think emotional intelligence is such an attractive quality to me. And I think that it’s so strange, I think when somebody can’t tell that you didn’t enjoy whatever sort of encounter that you had with them. I know, we were all guilty of mixing signals. Sometimes we’re not quite reading the room. But it is majorly awkward when you had bad sex or went on a bad date with someone, and they just can’t gauge that.
K Anderson 18:48
I mean, it’s kind of flattering at the same time, but yeah, like, Oh, God, how do I extricate myself from this situation? Well, we’re just so lovable. That’s the thing you Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, you can’t blame them for wanting a bit of this. And so I don’t know if we actually got to the end of you describing what a night out at war entails. So I know we got there. What happens during the night?
Rory Boyle 19:19
What happens during the night? Well, I used to do this really disgusting thing and feel for I normally, you know, think that this world should be a judgment free zone, but I’m actually giving you permission to judge this. I used to order three Jaeger bombs and put them all in one vise and down that drink in one go. Now, if you gave me money to do that, now I don’t think I would I think I probably vom halfway through the night with the start with us hitting the bar on me or during the rori special which was three Jager bombs one glass
K Anderson 19:54
and that’s your like that. As soon as you get in, that’s what you’re doing.
Rory Boyle 19:57
I was like, all right. You will. I mean, I definitely did that every night that you went there. And they had gender neutral toilets. Sorry, I’m still on this
K Anderson 20:09
year you’re bumping. Give me permission. So you actually named it the rori. Special? I gave it a title. Yes. And so all your friends would have used this title. I feel like it’s so cringe. They mentally blocked it. Remind them? Okay, I mean, those are all the follow up questions I had about that. So let’s go now to the gender neutral bathrooms.
Rory Boyle 20:38
Yeah, so the gender neutral bathrooms, I think they are probably the first ones I ever went to in the in a club or any sort of like, space. And we’d go there, everyone would go to the bathroom. We’d all been pre drinking, as I said, so you know, that was necessary. you’d normally dying for the day when we got in, do a big touch up in the mirror. I should say war always had a theme to their night every week. And I mean, they release themes that might have been, you know, Brittany night, and they play a lot of Brittany songs or Beyonce night or whatever. But I remember I can’t remember her name. But there was a bathroom attendant in the gender neutral toilets who everybody loved. Let’s call her Nancy. I really can’t remember her name. And at one point, they did a themed night about Nancy’s. Yeah, that was really nice, actually. Oh, you know what I think her name was Helen. I’m 99% sure her name was Helen. And yeah, they did like a Helen night one time. So you’d always say hi to Helen in the bathroom, which was really cool. And then I guess one thing I loved about the venue, Andrews lane theatre, because when Andrew’s Lane was no more war didn’t move to another venue, but it didn’t really work in this other venue. And World War II is no more united for whatever reason. But when it was Andrews lane theatre, there was this giant podium on the dance floor, which everyone used to get on. I mean, the gays love a podium. Yes, yeah. So that was always a staple, I had to get on the podium. And also there was like, if you can imagine because it was a theatre during the day, there was the main space and dance floor. And there was a stage there as well, for obvious reasons. And then where the bar was, was more kind of a seating area, which I presume was the holding area for patrons of the theatre. But to get from the holding area to the main space, there was this big curtain, and you used to pull back the big curtain, which was really dangerous. I don’t know how they got away with bots. I don’t know how more people didn’t like fall into the curtain and fall over. But it was so cool. Because when you pull the back of the curtain, you just pull it open to this huge dance floor and like lights and music. So that was a really fun part of the night every time.
K Anderson 22:56
And so you could be like I’ve arrived. City and then head straight for the podium. But were there ever any times when you couldn’t find where the curtain
Rory Boyle 23:06
split? I’m sure there are many times where that happened. And yeah, I probably repressed those embarrassing memories to be honest.
K Anderson 23:15
Well, you know, you were on a mission. So that’s something that you wouldn’t let get in your way. Exactly. Exactly. Can we talk about I want to wet the podium, but can we talk about toilet attendance? I so yeah, so I grew up in Australia. I never had there was never toilet attendance in any club. But I went to Australia and I remember coming to London and just being like, what? This person has to stand in the toilet all night long.
Rory Boyle 23:47
Yeah, it’s a very strange thing. I did not realise they didn’t have them in Australia. I’ve never I’ve never been to Australia before but I would love to go but yeah, I mean I guess it’s to combat drug use in some ways and and anti social behaviour in the bathrooms but i mean i don’t know if you I don’t know if he lives in the UK at this point. I mean, there’s been a lot of shenanigans in these toilets that I don’t think are prevented by the attendant being there I know Cheryl the singer got in a lot of hot water to for her escapades in the bathroom but I was
K Anderson 24:21
because of the toilet attendant. Exactly. So I don’t know if this whole this works. I it’s just such a weird I just find it really weird and they’re just like artist like i mean you know when I first moved to London I was really poor I had no money and I just be like what like you want me to pay you money because like I’ve used the toilet What? And then just would like avoid going to the toilet so I wouldn’t have to like feel guilty about not taping this person who was standing there with perfumes I didn’t want to use anyway that’s my issue, not yours.
Rory Boyle 24:57
No, it’s a it’s an awkward issue. I never have cash on me. either because you know, I feel like especially in recent times, we’ve become a very cashless society. And so I genuinely never had anything for the toilet attendant. So it’s very rare they get a tip from me
K Anderson 25:11
that I’m definitely not their favourite customer. It’s that it is definitely a dying profession. So yeah, enough about that, and my obsession with people who spend all night in a dank, damp place, podium. podium. So this podium, like how big was this podium?
Rory Boyle 25:34
not that big. I mean, I don’t know what you’re picturing, but it was surf, it was this circular podium that had a rail on it. That went all the way around,
K Anderson 25:45
like a regular rounder, or you mean a pole.
Rory Boyle 25:49
I mean, so there was a, so if you can imagine it was like a circular platform, and there was a rail along the edge of all of it, so you couldn’t fall off it necessarily. Well, you had to kind of crawl into it. And people used to, like, sit on the rail and hang off the rail. Again, I do not know where health and safety were in the running. It’s very new, but I wasn’t complaining at the time. And, and it was definitely a place to get your slot on. So that was just it was just a huge selling point in itself. And, you know, again, not trying to shout and realise, but I am kind of gay, as are many that loves attention. And if you want to the tension podium was stopped number one. Okay. And so with a podium, so my thing like,
K Anderson 26:37
yeah, I mean, obviously, the podium is a great place to be. Because you’ve got that defined space, people aren’t pushing up on you, unless some drunk guy who comes along and decides that they want to get up there with you. She’s like, the most annoying thing ever. The sad part is, though, I was probably no that drunk and you’re
Rory Boyle 27:02
like, Oh, this far? Yeah, that’s I think that’s a very Ozzie phrase. I’m just gonna put that out there. But I think if I had the very special, I probably would have been one to avoid on the podium.
K Anderson 27:17
Well, yeah. So how many like, would you get to have it by yourself? Or would they just be like people all crammed up on there? Oh, I
Rory Boyle 27:25
mean, having it by yourself was on her dream. Yeah. Oh, the dream, the opposite dream, the end goal, the destination, the cultural reset, but it was never going to happen. Because I feel like it was just this coveted spot. As far as I remember, security would intervene if it was like over crammed. I rarely often because they just didn’t really, yeah, they didn’t really care.
K Anderson 27:52
So you didn’t have like moves that would make people that were on the podium with you feel uncomfortable, and then get off? I can, I’m sure I probably would have been intentional. So you can Yeah, you can see how I manage competition. When I’m on a podium just to hit them with my butt. Flick my arms around. Make them feel like they’re in the way. Okay, it’s been so long since I’ve been on a podium. Well, when this all comes to pass up on the podium again, I should probably just build a podium in the house. That’s what it’s gonna do. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you know, people who have stripper poles. I mean, I shouldn’t call it stripper pole. But you know, that sport helps to differentiate it from other types of poles in their house, like, you know, those ones that you can get that are like, retractable, I just do not know how people have that much faith.
Rory Boyle 29:02
I know that’s always freaked me out a bit. And I think you could actually like on a more serious note, couldn’t you really hurt yourself? Yeah.
K Anderson 29:11
But even like, you just like, how could you ever relax enough to use it properly?
Rory Boyle 29:18
Yeah, I don’t know. That takes some certain disposition that I don’t really have. Or like some super life and light body who isn’t used to breaking things through a trailer.
K Anderson 29:32
Okay, so so you get onto the podium. Do you dance all night long?
Rory Boyle 29:37
Yeah, I mean, I will say so. I think I mentioned earlier there was three different people that Ron wore on I think they all DJ every night. I’m pretty sure one of them was called Sarah. I think the other one he’s actually I think his name is James O’Neill, and I’m pretty sure that he is a musician and is very much a queer art. I think he’s done a lot since war in terms of music. And I cannot remember the guy’s name for the life of me. But they used to be a DJ. And we did spend a lot of time on the dance floor. We really liked the music they played there. I mean, I remember one thing I remember really distinctly is war is the first place I ever heard goodies by Sierra in a club. And I love that song so much. I mean, you know, let’s talk about an underrated banger. I don’t think that song gets enough love these days. And so I remember hearing Bob and singing every word. I remember they used to play the circuit remix of blow by kesha, which if you haven’t heard that, after listening to this, get on your Spotify account and look that up because it takes that song to a whole other level. And we had a dance to that song. That’s how much we loved it. And they used to play there every week. So I loved that. And they also remember one night they ended with sale be there which is my favorite Spice Girls up tempo. Just saying.
K Anderson 31:08
Oh, you said Spice Girls up tempo. Does that mean there’s not your favourite Spice Girls song? Yeah, well, I
Rory Boyle 31:14
think the Spice Girls best song is probably Viva forever. I think it’s such a great song or goodbye I think is also really, really good. But I think if we’re going for a dance floor song,
K Anderson 31:26
say you’ll be near does the job or you’re that kind of mushy kind of guy, right?
Rory Boyle 31:31
I love a good ballad. I’m so I’m also very, very, very hardcore Spice Girls fan. So that has something to do with it as well.
K Anderson 31:39
Okay. All right. All right. We’re just it’s just like helping me to understand you a bit more. So you dance you would you dance all night or just dance for a wee while before going elsewhere in the club.
Rory Boyle 31:52
We spent quite a bit of time in the smoking area because the smoking area was war was really hot. It was really hot and sweaty. It I mean, Andrews lane theatre wasn’t that big. And they did manage to really fill it to capacity every week. So we would go to the smoking area for air a lot. I think also, I mean, I do not smoke now at all. I think I was smoking then as well, because I was just you know, I like an immature 19 year old who still thought that was quote unquote, cool, which makes me cringe now beyond belief. But yeah, I was I think I was probably going here to spoke a bit too. And so if there is something
K Anderson 32:29
there is something though about the smoking area, isn’t there? Like? It’s where lots of interesting conversations happen.
Rory Boyle 32:38
Yeah, definitely. And, you know, going back to the whole, seeing the same faces over and over. And that is where you would see people that you would talk to and have interesting conversations and meet new people. And that was fun. Everyone there was quite friendly. I think I think Dubliners in general are very friendly. And I think war had no pretension to it whatsoever. I mean, there were definitely bitchy gays sometimes or people who weren’t particularly friendly. But they were few and far between. I think I’d find that a lot more on the London scene now. Not that I’m saying there’s not a lot of love on the London scene too. I think there there definitely is. But war was the type of place where you could kind of have a conversation with anyone. And I think that’s very true of Dublin. And that’s something that maybe I miss, not so much specifically just about a war but about Dublin in general is people make a lot more conversation like going a bit off topic. One thing I always say is, I think restaurants in London, no one’s ever really friendly in them. Whereas you always have like a bit of a chat with the waiter in Dublin. And that’s something that I kind of miss. Yeah, I wonder like, Well, yeah,
K Anderson 33:51
cuz people say that about like, anywhere that’s not London, within England, serving staff and shop assistants are very friendly. So it’s just London Really? Just Yeah. What a miserable city.
Rory Boyle 34:06
I agree. I mean, anywhere I’ve been in the north of England has been like the complete opposite on here. It’s a shame really.
K Anderson 34:14
It’s funny though, like, I mean, I feel completely naturalised to that now. So whenever I go anywhere where someone’s nice to me, I’m like, what do you what do you want? What’s the budget? What? Why, why are you talking? Why are you asking me these questions about my day? What’s going on? And so what happens when you’re in the smoking area, and blow by kesha comes on.
Rory Boyle 34:40
That is what you call a gay emergency. Where if you were wearing heels, you will be so desperate that you will kick them off to run inside, bearing in mind that we’re steps up to the entrance. But no money do you say that? Because I do remember if we did hear a song we loved. I’ve got lots of memories of we’d run back into get on that dance floor. I have one particularly enthusiastic friend who would have made sure that we all did box.
K Anderson 35:06
And, and and is it like get off that podium? It’s my turn? Or do you just make do with with the space you find?
Rory Boyle 35:13
Look in one of those situations where you know it is literally life or death you make do with that space podium is the ideal end goal, but it’s not the be all and end all you just want to be on the D floor throwing out those shapes to just say D floor.
K Anderson 35:29
I did you can see that people aren’t I haven’t copyrighted it yet. Okay, all right. I mean, cuz you know, dance will take so long to say, exactly. I think it gives you a bit of the edge as well. I mean, it makes me think of a flow of other decks. Yeah,
Rory Boyle 35:49
God, I didn’t I didn’t think of that. But to be fair, was usually very true of that statement, our property floor? No, you know, there was to be fair, there were people of all genders and identities there. And like I said, it was a really accepting place. And I think that was definitely reflected in the type of people that were there. I can’t think of any circumstance ever rise to a fight breakout. Or I saw anyone get particularly rough with someone else. It didn’t have that vibe to it at all.
K Anderson 36:24
So you left. You left Dublin about seven years ago? Yeah. Dude, was there a big like blowout, like, let’s have the final night of war? Or was it just a kind of quiet? I’m trapped going? Well,
Rory Boyle 36:39
we did go to war. For my last night in Dublin. Before I left, we definitely did. But I suppose everybody else was staying in Dublin. So it was kind of my last hurrah. But I also knew that obviously, I’d be back and I’m sure I must have gone back to war. Once I moved to London, it’s been so long. I don’t really remember a lot of this. But what happened in the meantime, was that we’re switched venues. So lounges lane theory is now a luxury hotel. And for a while, wore moved to another venue in Dublin called the button factory. And the button factory is actually a really nice venue. There’s lots of gigs held there, and lots of other club nights. But it’s much more modern. It’s a lot newer. And I think wars aesthetic didn’t really suit the button factory. You know, there was no podium. There was no I know, I know. I know. I’m glad I got a gay gasp there. When I walked in,
K Anderson 37:37
I mean, what is the point in even leaving the house, no curtain to pull
Rory Boyle 37:41
by floor. They still didn’t serve the brewery special. So that got them a few points? Well, I, I definitely feel like war suffered in moving venue. I just think it didn’t have the same feel. And I also think in recent times, there’s been the closure of a few other queer venues in Dublin. And Dublin doesn’t have a big queer scene in general, but it’s smaller than what it was when I lived there, which in some ways is strange, because Dublin’s a lot more liberated now. And in the time that I left Ireland, there was a referendum on marriage equality similar to the vote in Australia. Thankfully, that passed with you know, quite an overwhelming majority of yes vote there’s so while Dublin’s become more accepting, it seems like the gay scene has gotten smaller. And maybe war got a bit lost in that as well. I don’t really know what happened to it in the end, other than like you said, it’s finished in it finished in 2015. But I think the venue change definitely made it suffer. And I remember going to the new venue and I don’t really have any particularly amazing memories of nights spent in that venue.
K Anderson 39:00
Oh, yeah. So the last time the last night before you left London, do you remember that it is that they have already memories attached to that night?
Rory Boyle 39:10
I think you know, even though I was moving to London and I haven’t really moved but I haven’t really looked back since. I think that because I have parents in Dublin and other family and friends. I always knew I would be back in some way shape or form. So it wasn’t maybe as as big of a move as let’s say you moving from Australia to hear you know, which I imagine obviously I don’t know how emotional that was for you. But geographically it’s obviously a lot bigger of a move. So I felt comfortable and confident in it being you know the right move for me um, but my last night in war wasn’t going to be my last night in war ever.
K Anderson 39:48
Okay. So no two years you’ve got no to story for me.
Rory Boyle 39:52
No tears just like Ariana no tears left to cry I you know, I didn’t feel total emotion if you want me to be reading Guess
K Anderson 40:01
what a letdown I’m here to like, explore your suffering. Maybe if they played Goodbye Bye spice. That didn’t happen. Did you ever go to war at Andrews lane theatre? Well, if you did, I would love to hear from you. Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter with the user name K Anderson music and tell me what you’ve got up to make sure that you also give their query a podcast a listen and follow on Instagram user name queer ear podcast. Last spaces is not only a podcast, but a concept record as well. I’ve been writing songs about queer venues and the people who used to live their lives there. And we’ll be releasing songs over the coming year. You can hear the first single well grim boys, which is also playing underneath my talking right now on all good streaming platforms. If you liked this episode, I would really appreciate if you subscribe, leave a review on Apple podcasts or just tell people who you think might be interested in giving it a little listen to I am K Anderson and you have been listening to lost spaces.