Party team launch new queer event

QUEER Sydney party team L’Oasis will launch “About Life: The Party” – an exciting new Thursday bar night for socialising and dancing – taking place every week at Tatler.

L’Oasis are Rohan Willard and Luke O’Connor, a duo of queer DJs and party organisers hailing from Sydney’s inner west. They draw inspiration from their time spent in Europe (in particular Berlin’s) underground club scene.

The pair have been steadily growing their profile in Sydney and Melbourne since emerging in 2015. With a vibe balancing debauchery and refined taste, L’Oasis’ usual parties are harder, deeper, all-night club/warehouse affairs with a stronger techno element. These parties are known equally for their free-to-be-who-you-are sensibility, nuanced multi-sensory aesthetics and spirited dancefloors that endure, smoky & dark, through to sunrise. All in all a recipe drawing a loved-up & musically knowledgable crowd whose heart is in the LGBTI community but is also distinctly diverse in tribe, age and orientation.

“About Life: The Party” is a new concept taking place weekly in a more relaxed bar environment. Musically more house/disco than techno, About Life is a tasteful space for a special crowd to find connection and take mid-week refuge, whether in the lounge & cocktail bar or on the dancefloor. As well as teaming up with local and foreign DJ talent, L’Oasis will use the new space to continue their experiments in aroma, lighting, installation, performance and artist collaborations. The new party is also intended to blur the boundaries between the Oxford Street and the Inner West gay party scenes.

The weekly parties will be hosted at Tatler – a stunning basement cocktail bar and discotheque with an opulent history.

In the local collective consciousness Tatler has been known as an exclusive private dungeon occupied by touring bands and celebrities, where one needs to know what to whisper in the bouncer’s ear in order to gain entrance. The sandstone-walled basement recently opened up its secretive door, however it still often dips under the radar without loud signage or marketing, so only those “in the know” tend to be seen there.

Inside, two bars and several small adjoining spaces are tastefully furnished with lounges, while a top quality sound system energises the central dancefloor. The lighting is appropriately low, and an outdoor terrace is open until 12pm.

Music-wise, the L’Oasis boys focus on underground house and techno, both contemporary and historical, while also delving into other genre areas like disco, italo and balearic for some explorational, hands in the air moments. They are regular guests for Loose Ends, Stereogamous, Heaps Gay, Melbourne’s Trough X and Barba parties and plenty more.

Most recently L’Oasis supported Moodymann (Detroit) and Tim Sweeney (NYC) at their Sydney shows. Guest DJs for L’Oasis include Matt Vaughan (Loose Ends), D&D (HAHA Industries), Magda Bytnerowicz (4our), Phil Smart (ColourSound), Stereogamous (Voguey Bear, Cocktail d’Amore), Ben Drayton (Bad Dog), Adi Toohey (FBi), Kali (Picnic), Annabelle Gaspar (Bad Dog), Kate Doherty (4our) and Brooke Powers.

To find out more about the launch party, visit its Facebook page here and event page here.

Tatler is located at 169 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst. Doors open at 8pm and About Life goes late.