Hostess, Yvette, is synonymous with the Love Muscle XX story as one of its most fabulous faces. Having hosted The Fridge’s other legendary gay night, Ciao Baby!, and Brighton’s Wild Fruit, Yvette has welcomed a roll call of stars to her events including Take That, Sister Sledge and Rupaul.
Yvette has performed internationally in Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Vienna, as well as a monthly residency at the Tunnel Club in Glasgow. She has also hosted 2 Summer Rites Festivals in Brockwell Park, and 5 London Pride In The Park events, starting with Michelle Collins in Kennington Park, and growing in size each year with the largest being to 250,000 people on Clapham Common.
Ahead of the Love Muscle XX Birthday on Saturday September 21st we catch up with Yvette as she talks about her dinner party guest list, her 80s influences and flying across the club!
As Love Muscle XX host how will you be celebrating the Birthday celebrations on September 21st and how excited are you for LM to be returning to its spiritual home, Electric Brixton, formerly The Fridge?
I’m terribly excited as we’re going back to the Electric Brixton, which used to be The Fridge and where it all started. It’s going to be so amazing for everyone to get together, meet and greet some you might not have seen for a while as well as introduce new clubbers to the Love Muscle XX energy. Connecting and having fun is so important in our current times. I’ll be on top form and can’t wait to see Angie Brown rip the roof off and of course the go gos and DJs Paul Heron and Dorian. Of course there will be a few Birthday surprises on the night…can’t wait.
Part of the original Love Muscle XX team, how did you become the host? Can you tell us about some of your favourite moments over the years or guests?
It all started at the Blitz Restaurant & Bar in Great Queen St in Covent Garden, where I was working. There was a fancy dress party and my friend Roy got me a French maid’s outfit to wear and named me Yvette. We sang a song together and everyone loved it so much we decided to perform as Sugar & Yvette, singing spoof cover versions of classic songs. We performed at Steve Strange and Rusy Egan’s Blitz night, Club For Heroes, Maunkberry’s, Taboo…we performed everywhere and were one of the first cross dressing cabaret acts. Sugar & Yvette were featured in the Evening Standard and lots of other magazines.
Fridge founder, Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington saw me perform at different nights and we’d became friends and when they launched their Tuesday Ciao Baby! event they asked me to be the host. Ciao Baby was so successful from the day it started with queues round the block and a wonderful buzz about it. After a few years Love Muscle was created as a new Saturday night lgbt party and it was a runaway success from its opening night when there were queues down the street and round the corner up to Tesco’s on Acre Lane! I chose the flyer photo and I think it really captured our tongue-in-cheek attitude which brought new energy and fun to the weekend clubbing scene.
My dressing room was something of a VIP Room and you only knew about it if you had been invited. There were always fabulous people coming to see me backstage including fashion designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen as well as former Vogue editor, Edward Enninful.
Elton John’s husband David Furnish was a regular visitor as was Erasure’s Andy Bell and the extremely charming and funny actress, Michelle Collins. Fat Tony often popped in too.
Of course, some of the biggest names from the drag scene also came to see me at Love Muscle including the sensational Rupaul, Australian firecracker Pam Ann, New York’s retro fabulous Lady Bunny and many more.
One of my favourite events was our ‘In Bed With Lily Savage & Yvette” Christmas Eve specials where we would be in a bed on stage while Lily delivered her hilarious observations and she was so funny I often nearly fell out the bed. Such a trailblazer and sorely missed.
Is it true you also flew on a wire across the club above the Love Muscle crowd and have enjoyed a boa constrictor around your neck?
Yes I used to fly across the club and above the crowd in this tiny flying harness, which was attached to a little jockstrap with 2 hooks on it that you had to wear. I think I was the first person to ever fly using the harness and flew up to the balcony the first time which wasn’t so bad. Flying there to the stage was a different thing and once I nearly overshot and hit the back of the stage. I used to calm my nerves with vodka before I flew but the audience loved it although they parted like the Red Sea when I was flying over their heads – lol 🙂
What haven’t I done for Love Muscle? I’ve hung upside down on a trapeze when we had a circus themed event. There was even a show which involved me having a boa constrictor round my neck and I was so scared because if she got bored her trainer said she could go on squeezing and squeezing! When I came out with the boa constrictor around my neck half the audience screamed and ran.
Why do you think Love Muscle has stood the test of time and what makes clubbers keep coming back for more?
It has a great energy on the dance floor and such a friendly vibe. People have met their life partners or lifelong friends at Love Muscle and I think a bit of light-hearted fun, some killer music with lasers, lights and my own sprinkle of magic makes
When and what inspired you to first start dressing as a drag queen? Where there any particular influences?
Everyone influenced everyone else in the 80s..everyone was experimenting with different looks. Influences….well of course we’d seen Grace Jones, the queen of androgeny live at Heaven as well as International drag singer Amanda Lear and of course the actor & singer, Divine, who I knew quite well. Divine used to leave lipstick messages on the mirrors in the dressing room saying “Sock it to ‘em baby, love Divine”. There was a melting pot of looks, sexuality, and scenes and you felt liberated to create new looks.
5 Artists (DOA) that you’d invite to a dream drag dinner party?
Lady Bunny
Lady Bunny, the fabulous New York stand up comedy & drag queen superstar, is a good friend of mine that I met at The Limelight club. She’s good friends with Rupaul and so down to earth and also her retro looks are to die for.
Leigh Bowery
I met Leigh when he first came to London and we got on really well and I introduced him to nightlife in London. I even hosted a dinner party for him in my flat in Fulham, cooking (not really my thing then) 14 omelettes before collapsing on a sofa.
Andy Warhol
He only ever visited London twice and my friend Mandy Miami was hosting a meet n’ greet with him at Heaven so I went along with Andrew and Susan. He was sitting along on a sofa in the Starbar with about 400 cameras shooting and flashing around him. We managed to say hello and he just said “Hi” and went back into himself – a truly enigmatic man but living so much in the public eye, and way ahead of his time.
Keith Haring
I adore his artwork and I met him in New York at a club..the Limelight I think in the early days. He was very sweet and the centre of the revitalised NYC art scene.
Gilbert & George
Gilbert & George, used to come to the Blitz where I used to work and I used to go drinking with them after I’d finished work. The next day I’d wake up and find my pockets full of apples, oranges and bananas which they’d put there – they were so much fun.
Away from the stage what makes you happy?
A great oozing cream cake – the more gateau the better.
Yvette hosts the Love Muscle XX Birthday featuring Angie Brown Live, DJs Paul Heron and Dorian plus go gos and more on Saturday September 21st at the Electric Brixton. Running from 11pm-6am, expect lots of last minute surprises, great production and grab your tickets at https://skiddle.com/e/
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