We spoke to Birmingham scenester Dan Brown about fights with Tiffany Pollard and Birmingham’s totes major queer scene

Birmingham

Now, it’s probably fairly safe to say that we’re quite London-centric here at QX. We once ventured to Bishops Stortford to review a cabaret gig, but when we got to the station we discovered they didn’t have Uber. We couldn’t figure out how to get to the theatre, so we just went back to London and got wasted at The Glory.

WE’RE KIDDING. Of course we travel around to places. Oxford’s lovely, with its atmospheric cobbled streets. Brighton is wonderful too, witchy and queer with a good dose of faded seaside glamour. And Manchester is great for pulling pints and pulling hot indie boys.

Then there’s BIRMINGHAM! The second biggest city in the UK, with a population of over one million. That’s higher than the population of Amsterdam! Bet ya didn’t know that, did ya.

Like any large urban area, they’ve got a substantial and varied LGBTQ population. And their nightlife scene has really kicked off over the last few years, with everything from high-octane, shirts-off gay clubs, to fab, inclusive queer nights.

Dan Brown (not the one who wrote The Da Vinci Code, a different one) is a well-known figure on the Birmingham gay scene, and has been out and about curating nights and starting parties for the last few years.

We spoke to him about his night Glittershit, fights with Tiffany Pollard, and more!

Hey Dan! So you’re a Birmingham scenester – tell our London readers a bit about the Birmingham gay scene!

Hello bab, It’s bloody great and don’t cost £20 for a drink!

What do you think of the gay scene at the moment, in a more general sense? Like, are gay people happy? How do you think apps have affected stuff?

Urgh, well…apps have ruined the gay scene in my opinion. I mean, it’s nice to be able to be sat on your arse with a cup of tea and receiving butt pics, but if you’ve seen one dick pic you’ve seen them all, you know what I mean? I just feel like in my experience they isolate people. The gay scene here though has that old school gay scene family feel, but obviously more up to date. I hope people feel like there is something for everybody!

You’ve worked with some fab people – what’s been your favourite “celeb encounter”?

ME AND TIFFANY POLLARD HAD AN ARGUMENT IT WAS ICONIC, IT WAS DRAMATIC, IT WAS GREAT. SHE THOUGHT I SPAT IN HER BURGER? BYE.

How did you get into doing what you do?

I just loved a good party to be honest. I worked on events since I was like sixteen – whether that was just like ticket selling or DJing or working on the door. From there I just learnt so much about music, trends and parties! I then went on to do my own around eighteen years old and been doing it ever since!

It’s GLITTERSHIT’S SECOND BIRTHDAY tomorrow! Tell us about the night. What’s the vibe, man?

IT’S THE BEST NIGHT EVER. IT’S FAB.  Lacey Lou who is a quaineeeeeeeeee and Antony Collins who is my work colleague, came up with Glittershit as a new community queer party! With most gay scenes, I sort of think it’s become more of a genre of nightlife instead of a space for queer people. So the idea was to have a night that was truly queer, camp and fab was just what Birmingham needed! We play 90’s/00’s house and pop, you know like the shit that was on clubland CDs? Everyone dresses up, everyone gets into the theme, everyone is great. It’s nice to see that we can have nights like Glittershit that work so well and it’s not in the capital!

What have you got planned for it?

WE ARE THROWING A HUGE LGBTQ PROM AND CROWNING MX GLITTERSHIT! AND IT’S GONNA BE CARNAGE I CAN’T WAIT.

Birmingham has become a new queer hotspot! Why?

I personally think it’s because of all the nights and events combined are just bringing the queer people out of the woodwork! Shout festival, fierce festival, the nightingale, Birmingham Pride… they are all factors in Birmingham really popping off!

FINALLY – what advice would you give to young queer people who wanna be an amazing nightlife person like you?

I know this is cliche but don’t let one bad party you do overshadow all the successful ones. And follow me on Instagram.

For more info on Glittershit, head to their Facebook page.

 

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