23 Sep 2011
Monkey in the Crowd. Photo by Jessica Dennis.
After a successful year of ‘Eeky’ Beat events (Cheeky, Tweaky, Freaky + Sneaky Beats), we decided to level up to a bigger venue with a new concept. We were told we should capitalise on the success of the series, but decided we didn’t want Culture Jam defined by one thing.
After weeks of brainstorming, the main organiser was chatting to his girlfriend and she said she was playing ‘Barrel of Monkeys’. It was the perfect name.
We ordered 3 monkey costumes online, and made a totally ridiculous promo video in the middle of the CBD, inspired by the punk spirit of Jackass. We also went out and did all our flier promo dressed as monkeys, hitting up street festivals and night clubs as these cheeky as fuck primates.
This night saw a diverse lineup and our first interactive visuals, which were manipulated live by people’s movements. It was another success apart from Sun In Aquarius missing his flight, Mr Bill smoking inside and ashing on the organisers synth (god bless him), and Ryan from Electracado slipping over and dislocating his shoulder before leaving, with paramedics arriving at dawn.
We had 2 more monkey themed events, and at the last one gave away the costumes in a gifting treasure box at Monkey Island.
They are out there somewhere.
