Carpet Burn celebrates five years of sheer fabulousness this Saturday with its mega-mental birthday bash starring the legendary presence of Melonie Peel and the magical wonder of the new breed in Queenicorn! Cliff Joannou chats to Miss Peel and Eagle London’s press and promo manager Luke Till ahead of the big night…
Melonie Peel
In one sassy sentence, who is Melonie Peel?
I’m the original Lycra lady, the sex-change stripper with a zipper.
We likey. You made your name in the 90s at legendary clubs like Kinky Gerlinky and Torture Garden. Why return to the stage now?
Lee Benjamin, who was costumier and assistant to the late great Leigh Bowery at the time, originally created me as a dare. Bowery dared Lee to perform onstage rather than always be behind the curtain pulling the strings, so I was only ever meant to be a one-off spectacle. But in no time I was being stuffed in a suitcase and paraded around seedy nightclubs throughout Europe.
Lucky bitch. And you are back now!
Lee’s resisted several attempts to revive me over the years, although my face was transplanted onto Leigh Bowery for a few of his later looks, and also onto my big sister Booby Tuesday (she’s in a home for crazy ladies now). But Lee will be commemorating 20 years without Leigh Bowery this coming December so he thought it appropriate to let me have one more shimmy-shake for old time’s sake and to mark this unbelievable anniversary. I’m gonna really let my hair down cos I know I’ll never be let out of the fabric cupboard again.
And you are at Alternative Miss World before Carpet Burn?
I will be appearing as a contestant in Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, which is gonna be fun! And after that I will either be celebrating or drowning my sorrows at Carpet Burn’s 5th Birthday Party. Just being me is a performance in itself, so the whole evening is gonna be a freak show.
“I’m the original Lycra lady, the sex-change stripper with a zipper.”
What artists and events do you see as pushing the boundaries of creativity on the club scene today?
Well, I don’t get out very much, Lee says I’m a nightmare and won’t take me dancing. But Lee gets out quite a bit and can always be found at his favourite club, Horse Meat Disco. We’re also both big fans of Scottee, whose work
continues to excite us, and last year Lee would not stop going on about this Christeene bird from America. I’m not at all jealous though; he always comes home to me.
Luke Till
Eagle London’s press and promo manager
Describe a typical night at Carpet Burn to the uninitiated.
A dizzy adventure of 80s hits and 90s throwbacks across a vast ocean of booze and poppers with a mad mix of party boys, hot homos and dancefloor dudes.
Carpet Burn is already five years young! It’s such a wonderful blur of Mel & Kim hits, Crystal Waters classics and All Saints guilty pleasures. What have been the most memorable moments of Carpet Burn over the past five years?
The first live performance from Pete Burns in forever was great fun, but our number one Carpet Burn highlight of all time has to go to Christeene, who made her debut show in London here and was in fact the start of her UK tour. That performance will stay with us forever. And it would be a delight to have her back. Christeene is the future of artistic entertainment.
What wonders are in store for the birthday? Melonie is interviewed here, but who the hell is Queenicorn to the unknowing?
Queenicorn is a totally off-the-wall surreal creation from performance artist John-Paul Gibbs, the same guy, actually, who performed as The Egg Lady at Carpet Burn’s We Are Divine party. Queenicorn, we’re told, lives in Big Ben and had her first outing on the day of Will and Kate’s royal wedding, so to say we’re excited about having Her Royal Horseness on stage is an understatement. Aside from the absurdities of Queeni, and as a special thanks to our customers for their amazing support, entry this Saturday is free all night with an invite flyer – just ask for one behind the bar before the night. And permanent drinks deals now include four Jagerbombs for a tenner and four cans of Red Stripe also for a tenner! Those offers alone are worth celebrating, right?
• Carpet Burn: The 5th Birthday & Melonie Peel’s Alternative Miss World Afterparty is at Eagle London (349 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11 5QY) on Saturday 18th October, 9pm – 4am.
