Emerging from London’s vibrant LGBT scene, QUEER is a quarterly live music and club night created by and for punks, outsiders, misfits, and outcasts.
Located at Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney, QUEER platforms punk and indie bands with LGBT members. After dark, the gig room transforms into a bustling club night playing a kaleidoscopic collection of DIY punk, queercore, ‘90s alt-rock, Britpop, riot grrrl, indie, ‘60s girl groups, northern soul, ‘80s rock, and synth-pop.
QUEER, organised by DJ and promoter Sam Fenn, first started in 2013 when Fenn moved to London in search of a queer punk club night but couldn’t find anything to suit his tastes. When Fenn bumped into garage rock DJ PJ Crittenden (organiser of the original Dirty Water Club Night, which started in 1996 and held live performances from The White Stripes, The Von Bondies, and The Monks) the pair bonded over Fenn’s handmade Germs t-shirt and their mutual love of punk.
At North London’s Archway Tavern in 2013, punk band Spanking Machine opened up the first QUEER night. They created a space where they believed queer punk and indie bands could thrive and outsiders could find a home. As the years went on, PJ Crittenden stepped back from the night in 2015 and Paul Michael Bowden, organiser of the nights POKE in Newcastle and Set You Free in London, joined Fenn as his DJ partner.
After Archway Tavern, QUEER bounced around a few north London venues operating mainly as a well-loved DJ-based club night and developed a healthy following of music lovers. When one of their nights was cancelled by a venue owner in favour of a country music festival, Fenn and co realised they needed to find a venue that valued the community they served and moved to Paper Dress Vintage in 2019.