In the spirit of all things underground, unusual and diverting, we spoke to salacious siren of the sex and fetish scene, Suzie Krueger! We discussed the changing face of fetish, how apps have changed the scene, and the burgeoning success of her monthly party, Hard On.
Hey Suzie! So let’s talk about your night Hard On. It’s really popular! Why do you think that is? Many fetish nights have seen falling numbers recently with the rise of Grindr and other apps.
Well, we’re definitely suffering a bit. Grindr and Scruff and other apps have slowly eroded the fetish scene, and numbers are going down. But I work really hard to make it a fun night, to please customers and try to get it right, so that people will come back! I think there’s still a market for people who want to go and socialize, and go out and have a good time. There’s lots of chatting before they get down to the sex. So that’s nice. And from what I hear from the guys, with apps, there might be issues like people not getting back to you, or showing up and they’re not who they say they are. Stuff like that.
There’s something to be said for getting to know someone before sex. It can make it hotter!
I always say, try before you buy! If you come to Hard On, you can probably have sex with maybe…twenty or thirty guys? In the space of a couple of hours.
Gosh.
Yeah! Whereas if you go to a Grindr sex party, you don’t know what you’re getting. But at Hard On, you know what’s on offer. You can see the guy in front of you. If you don’t want that one, there’s always another one. And another one. And another one. And I’ve got a good young market coming! The guys who come are younger, and they keep the scene going. Because people my age perhaps don’t go out as much.
Why do you think there are more younger guys going?
I do a lot of social networking on Facebook and Twitter, so that could be why. And I think a lot of it is word of mouth. I think it could be the way we advertise and market ourselves, as not such a hardcore full on leather club. That’s not how it is these days. It’s more a harness here, a jockstrap there. It’s completely changed. It’s not full-on leather and full-on rubber anymore. It’s more just bits and pieces you can wear.
Yeah because to get kitted out in full leather, you’ve got to have a lot of money.
Oh yeah, six or seven hundred pounds! And not to be insulting to anyone but, it’s of its time. To my generation, the full on leather look is very sexy. But I think perhaps younger guys can’t relate to it. I might be wrong. There might be some young guys who are into leather, but for the most part it’s kinda old.
Yeah. When you think of leather you kind of think of a hot older guy. Like a daddy.
Yeah. I mean you do see younger guys in leather, maybe in Berlin and stuff. But for a monthly club, we sort of had to widen that net, and welcome everyone. And the younger guys like that open-mindedness.
If someone were exploring the fetish scene for the first time, would Hard On be a good place to start?
Oh totally! We’re very welcoming, we have no attitude. Saying we’re a “hardcore fetish club” perhaps isn’t as accurate as it used to be. People can come in and be themselves and not think “oh god I have to be wearing leather head-to-toe, or rubber head-to-toe” or whatever. We do accept people who are wearing their underwear, stuff like that. We’d rather people made an effort though. I get a lot of guys dipping their toe in to see whether they like it. I think we’re more going down the road of a sex dance party, rather than full on fetish party. We’ve had some criticism about that. People complaining that no-one was in full rubber or whatever. People saying it was a waste of time. But there’s three hundred guys in there having fun! How is that a waste of time?! You come to Hard On, and you make of it what you want. But if everyone’s having a good time, and you can have sex with whoever you want, I don’t know why you’re complaining. I’m trying to keep it going, and the way you keep a club night going, is to roll with the times.
Well that’s obviously working because you’re still going strong.
Yeah we’re busy! We’ve been really happy. I’m lucky, and grateful in the fact that we always get a great crowd who just want to have fun.
• The next Hard On is this Saturday 19th November, at The Hoist, 47B – 47 C, South Lambeth Road. 10pm – 5am. £15 entry for members, £20 non-members.
