A NI man has launched a brand-new podcast celebrating LGBTQ+ venues across the UK.
Hosted by Damian Kerlin, a Derry-born journalist and publicist, Memories From The Dancefloor "shines a light on the history of these incredible spaces, taking us under the rope and into the queer chaos, joy and community within them".
The 32-year-old moved to Cardiff when he was 18 and now lives there with his partner and their two children.
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Interviewees of the podcast include Heaven founder Jeremey Norman, High NRG creator and DJ Ian Levine, London Night Czar and BBC 6 broadcaster Amy Lamé, author of Gay Bar Jeremy Atherton and more.
Damian said: "Growing up in Northern Ireland, there were not many LGBTQ+ venues. Derry only had one, which was on the fringes of town. You had to go looking for it. That was my experience of growing up gay - nobody seemed to mind as long as it was out of sight.
"We are more than who we are attracted to. Our culture, art, and existence are built on reliance on each other and our community. I wanted to celebrate that, and where better place to start than our iconic queer spaces.”
Damian says his first experience of queer joy and protest was at Belfast Pride at age 13.
He said: "I remember visiting my aunt in the city and walking onto Castle Street, to be engulfed in gay culture and colour.
"Then there was Pepes, the singular LGBTQ+ venue in Derry, that's now shut.
"So, I'd try my luck there at 16 – slip past the bouncers and see this huge celebration of people, different generations of the LGBTQ+ community like I'd never imagined. It made me – like so many others – who I am."
A spokesperson said: "Through the season, Damian will find the pertinent narrative threads of the scenes – be it the AIDS epidemic, trans inclusion, political undertows, or the music which got people on their feet.
"Through first-hand accounts and on-the-ground reporting, Damian meets the founders, party boys, dykes, and drag queens who lived and loved in these spaces – spaces that, today, remain under threat. In the past decade alone, over 60 percent of London's LGBTQ+ spaces have closed. The stories, secrets, and snippets of gossip that live within their walls are in peril of being lost forever."
Damien told Be: "I am a feature writer predominantly in LGBTQ+ culture and current affairs, mainly focusing on club culture and nightlife.
"That is where the inspiration for the podcast came from. I wanted to do it because I found that when I was researching sort of club culture and the LGBTQ+ scene, I found that it was very, very heavily focused in London, it was almost like nothing else existed outside Zone 1, and having lived in Northern Ireland, southern Ireland as well and I've been in Cardiff, I knew that wasn't true.
"I wanted to shine a light on sort of queer hotspots. There was more to it and there was more happening. The more I dug, I found how it was written was very academic-focused."
The podcast focuses on bigger venues such as Heaven in London, Nightingale in Birmingham and more widely discusses others including Kremlin in Belfast, Derry's Pepes and Loafers which was in Cork.
The 32-year-old added: "What I wanted was to hear the everyday voices and I wanted to give a voice to those patriots, those drag artists, those DJs who kind of lived and breathed in these spaces. I wanted them to tell us the stories that went on behind the closed doors.
"It's something I'm really, really happy I've achieved. I think I've been able to give voices and really give sort of equal representation across the LGBTQ+ acronym within it as well which I'm really proud of. I think sometimes, especially when you talk about gay bars, it can be quite swayed towards gay men.
"[I also wanted to] shine a light on any issues that came up, misogyny, racism was touched on in the podcast as well. Just how as a community we've kind of rallied together and tackled those issues."
Earlier this year, Memories From The Dancefloor was chosen as a winner of Acast Amplifier, an incubator programme to discover, establish and promote new podcast ideas.
Memories From The Dancefloor has been receiving support in the form of equipment from Sure and Focusrite, plus a grant, mentorship, studio time and artwork.
Memories From The Dancefloor is available to listen to now from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
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