Hogies Night club - 127 charlotte st, Brisbane.

I'm not sure exactly why I went here in the 90's but I had a tag, got free drinks, messed around in the DJ booth (once to the point I was banned for making people think I worked there) and a friendship with a really cool guy (I thought at the time).

It was a awesome place. I think the first time I went was with a group of friends that wanted to go out for the night, so we ended up here for the night rather than hopping to The Gig, Mary Street, Char Char Grill, Grand orbit and Fridays. I remember that the drinks where $1 for anything, including Cointreau, so I started my love with that drink. Another one I loved was the Vodka and ginger ale. The most interesting time was starting a friendship with the DJ that worked there, Michael B. He had the best mixing technique that I thought that only the likes of Pete Tong or another awesome DJ that escapes my mind (lol). I knew what sets he'd be playing and kept up with playing mostly conservative dance tracks but then slip in some alternatives when people didn't realise. I think in his mind he was trying to better develop the music tastes of Brisbane. It actually became a regular place to go, to the point I started going on Thursday nights as well as Friday and Saturdays.

The scene. There was a scene and regulars that went, I always felt outside of this inner circle until this cool guy, Mick said what I was doing later this morning and invited with a few friends to his place. It was good to see familiar faces in a house hold scene, it seemed odd to be able to talk and hear what was said.

I went to Michaels place and he made dinner, it was some bloated pasta. I think sometimes I come overly critical of things, and it pissed him off, maybe he respected me, I wasn't ever sure. He had some dramas with a really nice girl she was seeing, but for some reason he gave me her phone number but I rang it, and hung up because I really was wondering why I was ringing it in the first place. I somehow got involved in some long running phone pranks that she was experiencing and accused me as being that person, it was really odd. I still wondered why he did it, he even denied doing that. It somehow got sorted in the end.

He had a production studio at home, it was really cool watching him mix stuff up on the fly, his mate mixed up a song when we where drunk and loved it at the time, but in the morning it was a different story. He asked me if I'd like a copy of it because he was clearing out the system, I somehow would of loved to of kept it in hindsight, but alas, I didn't want it.

The Australian Music Awards where announcing their artist line ups and his song that he did was played in the background. I remember having a copy and playing it and showing a guy I knew from Melbourne, Tony I think his name was. He was as really cool guy too. I think they choose it because of me playing it to Tony, I still am not sure about it to be honest. Justa strange coincidence.

The club itself when it first started had a very simple entrance (which got converted int o a foyer when it became more established and popular). It was all black inside and used coffin sized JBL speakers that pushed out so much power. I remember the light tracking as well as that infamous strobe light.

They even had dancers that worked there, I thought that was cool. One time, I was dancing with some girl on the dance floor, she actually danced like I did, that was pretty cool but I left the dance floor and Michael when to me and said, why did you leave and looked at me like something was wrong, well it was really years after I knew what he meant. There was one girl I really liked tho, she worked behind the bar at one stage, but in my usual style never knew about it.

There was one dancer that really loved it, I still remember having conversations with her about anything, it was really strange, having a job where people go to relax.

I would find money plastered all over the floor almost weekly, I was thinking was it because people were so drunk that they didn't realise it? There was two sets of stairs that went down stairs to the bathrooms, actually the most seedy part of Hogies as the bare concrete walls and fluro lighting. At that time a temporary dance radio station started up, it was really cool and was based in Fortitude Valley. So during the week I'd hear tracks that where playing on the weekend.

After a while, moving towards 1996-7 I started to go to The Empire Hotel and Chi Chi Deluxe which got taken over by the Empire as the Starlight Room, I think recently it's been turned into a pokies room. During this time Hogies was converted into a franchise called Adrenalin Bar, a totally different crowd so I stopped going there and started to go to the Empire as replacement.

I look back at those times and think, it was never a waste of time, its just that the time there was at night, awesome times that can't be taken back from my memories. In hindsight, it was pre PLUR, Peace, Love Unity and Respect.

I think a lot of people in Brisbane didn't really understand.