A Wild Night Ahead with DJ Jon Pleased Wimmin

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Jon Pleased Wimmin is coming to Connections this month. The drag DJ and clubbing legend is still creating an amazing night out decades after he first broke onto the international scene.

Jon Pleased Wimmin is many things, a dedicated creator of fashion, a music enthusiast, respected producer and international DJ. OUTinPerth’s Editor Graeme Watson caught up with the artist ahead of his trip to Australia.

How has clubbing changed since you first started DJing and clubbing? Are nights out now as good as those legendary clubs of the 80s and 90s?
I think it’s easy for us all to look back with our hazy nostalgia goggles on, but I really have noticed a surge in great new nights that seem to be moving back towards a party atmosphere, with the emphasis on fun and surprises. As well as a swathe of younger people getting into house, the older crowd seem to having a second wind too, which is amazing.​

Where do you find your fashion inspiration?
I studied fashion in London when I left school in the mid 80’s, so I have always been slightly obsessed with clothes. I don’t really follow fashion or labels these days, my favourite designers and those whose clothes I covet are Biba, Anthony Price, Ossie Clark, Vivienne Westwood and dare I say, John Galliano. Although these days I design my own outfits, bumped shoulders, hipped in waists and pencil skirts are my thing at the moment. There’s always a hint of Joan Collins, Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks knocking about.

In 2004, as The Visitor you collaborated with Roxie Wilde to cover ‘Our Lips are Sealed’. I have a lifelong fascination with this tune – what attracted you to it?

Are you familiar with the original versions by Fun Boy Three and The GoGo’s? I’ve always loved the song and it kind of sprang into my head when I was working on the backing track (which was going to be just an instrumental number at the time) so I decided to do the cover. There’s something about the melody and lyrics I just love. I always thought it’d be a great song for the Pet Shop Boys to cover. ​

‘Eclectic’ is a very commonly used phrase for DJs and radio presenters nowadays, how eclectic are you, what is the most unexpected tunes you’ve been known to include?

​ I would like to think I have eclectic taste, originally I came from a new wave / post punk musical background and went through the high energy/italo disco/italo house route, amongst all the great​ UK stuff like KLF, The Beloved and Shamen. I always try and have elements of my musical past running through my sets as it helps how the lineage of the music I like now and where it’s come from. One of my favourite moments was at Space in the mid 1990’s on the terrace, when it was still open air, playing A-ha’s The Sun Always Shines on TV and seeing a sea of people just going crazy to it in the sunshine as planes roared overhead.

As a huge lover of music, do you just keep buying more and more records, what do you do with them all? Do you ever purge your music collection. (I’m currently considering buying a bigger house).. Seriously I need advice, are you purger or a hoarder? I have had to learn to purge every now and again, otherwise I would have been overtaken by vinyl. I’m a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to change and it took me years to move to CD’s from vinyl. I’ve just switched to USB sticks and its crazy how you can get all your music on something that’s smaller than a lipstick.​ I would love to be able to afford to keep buying loads of vinyl, but it is so expensive now and not a lot is released on vinyl anyway these days. I still have a few thousand 12″ and LP’s at home though.

What are your regular nights Automatic and The Church of High Kicks like? Automatic is a house based night where I get to play a good mix of old and new, with the emphasis on bounciness and fun. High Kicks is less clubby, we have performances and our Wheel of Four Tunes​, where the music switches genres every four tunes. It’s a Sunday tea party really and we play everything from Liza Minelli to Bjork, so it doesn’t take itself seriously.

Jon Pleased Wimmin takes over Connections Nightclub on Friday August 8 for what is sure to be one of the best nights out in 2014.

Graeme Watson

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