It’s time to say goodbye to 2015. From rock concerts, to dance parties, to comedy shows and everything in between, here is your ultimate guide to Sacramento-area New Year’s Eve parties! Have fun, be safe and please don’t drink and drive.
1) If you’re looking for a funky dance party head to Torch Club and get down with two fantastic local bands: IdeaTeam (featuring Aquifer) and Black Star Safari. Cover charge is $25, 9 p.m., 21-plus. Torchclub.net for more info.
2) Enjoy a soft rock explosion at Harlow’s with Mustache Harbor. Tickets are $30 in advance, doors open at 9 p.m., 21-plus. Hit up Harlows.com for a link to buy tickets.
3) Sing along to your favorite hard rock hits with Radio Heavy at our favorite downtown Roseville watering hole, Bar 101. This party is free and 21-and-over, with a 9:30 p.m. start time. Bar101roseville.com for more info.
4) Groove to late ‘80s and early ‘90s hip-hop, hip-house, and R&B at “New Jack Fling” at Press Club, brought to you by DJs Crook (featured in our current issue), BenJohnson and Satapana. $7 cover, 21-plus, 9 p.m.
5) Ace of Spades wants to party hard with you on NYE when they host legendary heavy metal band Y&T, with opening sets by locals Skin of Saints, ONOFF and Roswell. Tickets are $35 in advance, available at Aceofspadessac.com. 7 p.m. doors. This show is all-ages!
6) The newest dive bar on the grid B-Side invites you to check out their digs and get down to sounds by DJ Whores and friends. No cover, 21-plus. Search for “B-Side” on Facebook for more info.
7) We here at Submerge are teaming up with the Lipstick crew for an epic NYE dance party at Old Ironsides featuring live music from local dreamy/synth-y pop group The Good Fortune, as well as DJ sets by Shaun Slaughter, Roger Carpio and Adam Jay. 9 p.m., 21-plus. $8 advance tickets available at Cuffs.
8) Laugh away the new year at Punchline Sacramento during “2015’s Last Laughs” featuring sets by Ngaio Bealum, Keith Lowell Jensen and many other local faves. Two shows: 7:30 p.m. ($20) and 10 p.m. ($25). 18-and-over. Punchlinesac.com for more info.
9) Blackbird recently re-opened and they’re throwing a party this NYE co-presented by Rue 27, THIS Midtown and 1810 Gallery featuring live tunes by nu-disco act Figgy, and a DJ set from Sacto faves Sister Crayon. 7:30 p.m., $40 per person, $75 for VIP upgrade. Studio53.eventbrite.com for more.
10) Visit historic Grass Valley for Center for the Arts’ “Laughs, Lolo and Legs” party featuring comedy from Katie Rubin, neo vintage jazz pop music of Lolo Gervais, burlesque from the Bow-Tie Beauties, DJ dance party hosted by Jamal Walker and more! 8 p.m. doors, tickets start at $22. Hit up Thecenterforthearts.org for advanced tickets.
11) For a family-friendly daytime celebration that everyone can stay awake for, head to Crocker Art Museum’s “Noon Year’s Eve” event, which is free for all ages and runs from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Performances from Germar the Magician, Ebo Okokan, Ohana Dance Group and many more.
12) Enjoy some amazing homegrown talent at Crest Theatre when Jackie Greene and his band perform a special NYE concert! Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and tickets start at $35 in advance.
13) The kind folks over at Blue Lamp are throwing a free NYE bash featuring great music, plenty of booze, good company and a champagne toast at midnight. 9 p.m. start time, 21-plus, no cover.
14) Groove to some soul, funk, disco, reggae, latin and more from a few of Sacto’s best selectors at Fox & Goose. DJs Larry Rodriguez, MC Ham and Wokstar will be spinning all night! $10 cover, 21-and-up, 9 p.m.
15) Bundle up and head up the hill for three days of SnowGlobe (Dec. 29–31) in South Lake Tahoe featuring headliners like Jack Ü (aka Skrillex and Diplo), Kaskade, Dillon Francis, Run the Jewels, E-40 and many more. All-ages event. Check out Snowglobemusicfestival.com for details.
16) NOW 100.5 FM and MIX 96 are throwing a masquerade party for the ages at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento featuring cover band and headliner Apple Z, plus DJ Rated R, Quinn Hedges and Ryan Hernandez. $75 in advance for general admission, 9 p.m. start time, 21-plus.
We are ecstatic to announce that Submerge will be partnering up with local DJs and party-throwing experts Shaun Slaughter and Roger Carpio (of Lipstick fame), as well as Adam Jay (of Le Twist Tuesdays and Wunderbar) for an epic New Year’s Eve Party at Old Ironsides (1901 10th Street, Sacramento). Not only will the aforementioned dudes be spinning danceable indie-rock-leaning tunes all night (think Friendly Fires, Talking Heads, The Rapture, Yacht, Phoenix, MGMT, Death from Above 1979, etc.), but there will also be a live performance from one of the region’s best new bands, The Good Fortune. TGF’s debut EP Social Crowns is fantastic, we highly recommend it if you’re into dreamy, synth-y pop-rock. You can listen to the whole thing at Soundcloud.com/thegoodfortune. Tickets for the party are only $8 in advance, available at Cuffs (2523 J Street, Sacramento). If you want to enjoy a super intimate party this NYE and avoid the crowded madness at other big nightclubs, come hang with a couple hundred friends who are into really good music! Cheap drinks all night, ball drop with complimentary champagne at midnight, special giveaways and much more. Check out the event’s Facebook page for more information.
Photo of Shaun Slaughter and Roger Carpio by Takeover Tokyo
With their always impressive eclectic lineup of touring bands and DJs, Le Twist Tuesdays continues to be a driving force in Sacramento’s creative music scene. On any given Tuesday you can head to the corner of K and 20th Streets to LowBrau and, for free, see top-notch national (and sometimes international) electronic/indie live acts alongside local bands and DJs. Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014 will be particularly great as Le Twist hosts the minimal electronic girl/boy duo Xeno and Oaklander, on tour all the way from Brooklyn, N.Y. Their newest album, Par Avion, was released this summer on the wildly popular Ghostly International label. If synthesizer-driven music is something you gravitate toward, you won’t want to miss this show. It gets underway at 9 p.m. and will be hosted by Le Twist residents and local DJs Sam I Jam, Adam J and Roger Carpio. Visit Facebook.com/letwisttuesdays to see the upcoming schedule of performers.
Submerge is mega-excited to announce that we have teamed up with the infamous party throwers behind Lipstick, one of Sacramento’s longest running and most legit dance nights, to throw a New Year’s Eve bash that will be one to remember (unless you get blackout drunk and don’t remember a thing, which is cool too)! NYE is one of those nights that can easily go from super fun to a cluster fuck in no time depending on where you decide to celebrate. Sure, you could fork out a cover charge upward of $20, $30, even $40 to watch a DJ play generic Top-40 songs in an over-capacity, fancy nightclub with expensive drinks, or you could spend just $8 (in advance, door charge will be slightly more) for our party at Old Ironsides featuring indie/dance/nü-disco jams spun by heavy hitters Shaun Slaughter, Roger Carpio and Adam Jay! The fantastic local band Contra will also be performing a special live set of cover tunes, and there will be a free champagne toast at midnight with our very own ball drop. There will be tons of giveaways and party favors, too. So there you have it, your New Years Eve plans have been made for you. You’re welcome. Pick up your $8 advance tickets at Cuffs, a rad boutique in Midtown located at 2523 J Street, No. 101. Not only will buying tickets in advance save you a few bucks, it will get you priority entrance ahead of the line on NYE. Let’s bring in the New Year together with friends, booze, great music and dancing!
Downtown Sacramento does not lack fun things to do on New Year’s Eve, that’s for sure. Allow this breakdown of NYE options to be a bit of a road map to your having an epic night. This surely isn’t everything happening in town, but here are a some great options nonetheless: District 30 (1022 K Street) has DJ Serafin (who is huge in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas club scenes) spinning his seamless integration of house, hip-hop, pop, Bmore and rock. Ace of Spades (1417 R Street) has Hollywood-based rapper Mickey Avalon with openers Big Chocolate and Richard the Rockstar. The Hyatt Regency Sacramento (1209 L Street) has an “Acoustic Lounge” with Quinn Hedges and Ryan Hernandez as well as a bigger/louder party inside their new L on 12 Nightclub with DJ Rated R and the super-fun cover band Cheeseballs. Speaking of cover bands, Shenanigans (705 J Street) has a huge party lined up featuring live music from Departure, a Journey tribute band, as well as 8 Track Massacre, an ‘80s cover band. Old Ironsides (1901 10th Street) has DJs Shaun Slaughter and Roger Carpio for a special NYE Lipstick party. The Blue Lamp (1400 Alhambra Boulevard.) has The Pine Box Boys, an Americana/bluegrass/experimental band from San Francisco along with three opening bands and Marilyn’s on K (908 K Street) has The Mother Hips. This list could easily go on and on, but we’ll spare you. For more NYE party options, click here for our calendar
New Year’s Eve is the most hyped-up-yet-somehow-always-disappointing night of the year, but it doesn’t have to be. If you head to Townhouse this year for some serious ass shaking thanks to the fine folks behind Fuck Fridays and Lipstick, there’s no chance it will be. Their NYE bash will take full advantage of the two stories inside Townhouse, with upstairs being the “Booty Bass Exxxplosion” room with Shaun Slaughter, Adam J and Taylor and special guest Richie Panic; downstairs will be the “Lipstick Year in Review” room with Roger Carpio. Sponsors include Filter Magazine, Hot Italian, Phono Select, Vitamin Water and Bows and Arrows (where pre-sale tickets are available for just $5). And with companies that legit come rad giveaways and freebies. The Facebook invite page for this party even says that “guests are encouraged to bring air horns, noise makers and other loud NYE celebratory stuff,” and that there will be a “booty ball drop at midnight.” Sign us up! Kicks off at 9 p.m., $8 at the door.
DJ Shaun Slaughter Talks his Trade as Lipstick Turns 10
Words by Adam Saake – Photo by Matthew Burks
A jazz album plays in the background of Shaun Slaughter’s Midtown apartment as I sit down to discuss the 10-year anniversary of Lipstick, his indie dance club at Old Ironsides here in Sacramento. I guess maybe I expected a Phoenix song to be playing, or something along those lines, but then it all makes sense.
“I don’t want to have to play ‘1901’ ever again,” says Slaughter, half-joking. “I love that song, but I love it so much that I don’t want to play it so I don’t ruin it for myself.”
It’s like making burritos all day: you don’t hate burritos you just don’t want to have one right when you get off work. Alright, bad comparison. Indie rock isn’t really like burritos. But imagine for a second that Slaughter and Lipstick-partner-in-crime, Roger Carpio, are the tortillas. Wrapped up inside of these two musical encyclopedias is a plethora of songs that each have dug up from the depths of record bins and music blogs to play for a finicky crowd, week after week, year after year. Maybe you can’t eat Mexican food every day, but many faithful Lipstick-goers show up damn-near every Tuesday to see what the boys have drummed up now.
It wasn’t always as packed as it is these days; it was a bit of slow climb. And in the beginning it wasn’t always just Slaughter and Carpio. The original Lipstick lineup consisted of four DJs who all had very different ideas about how the night should sound. But what unified them was one simple idea–make them dance.
Slaughter was friends with a fellow house-head named Chad Nardine. Both he and Slaughter were new to downtown. Slaughter himself was a kid from the suburbs and barely 21, and they were given a slot at the Press Club to DJ. They cut their teeth there for a while but frustrations with the manager and too many randoms walking in requesting Madonna had them looking elsewhere. They were then approached separately and asked to DJ at Old Ironsides on one fateful Tuesday. Realizing they had both been solicited for the same gig, they of course decided to do the night together.
“Our first Tuesday ever was just Chad and I, and it was all electronica and it bombed,” says Slaughter. “No one was there!”
The two needed to revamp, so they went back to the drawing board to figure out how they were going to put together a better club night that would hit. The two of them were growing tired of DJing dance music and Slaughter had a taste for older alternative rock like the Rentals, Weezer and Sonic Youth. Nardine picked up on this and told Slaughter about Carpio.
“Chad said, ‘I have this friend named Roger who’s really into Britpop,” recalls Slaughter. “And I had no idea what that even meant.”
Carpio added his own ideas to the sound of the night and each peppered in their unique styles. To round out their indie rock dance night, Roger brought one more DJ into the mix.
“Then Roger said, ‘I know this guy Sean Meyers who DJs really good ‘60s rock.’ We heard him play this set one night, and it was just amazing. We added him on and then it was the four of us,” says Slaughter.
During that first year of Lipstick at the Press Club, the four played to lackluster response and were perfectly OK with that. The few that showed up showed support the best way a DJ could hope for.
“It was good, and we were happy with 30 or 40 people,” says Slaughter. “We couldn’t believe that people would dance to it.”
Nardine eventually ended up moving away and Meyers excused himself to pursue other endeavors. That left the two DJs, Slaughter and Carpio, who couldn’t have been more different from each other. But what at first may have seemed like a duo doomed to butt heads, disagree over music choice or altogether fail as partners ended up being the exact right pairing that would keep Lipstick running after all these years.
“We were both really particular about how the night went,” explains Slaughter. That’s why…it’s been around so long. Both of us were really stuck on the fact that it had to be a certain way.”
And that certain way was “some indie, Britpop and some old stuff” as well as no guest DJs. Whatever they were playing, they were doing something right and that mindset of sticking to a format was the foundation that drew in crowds night after night. Over time, though, the box they DJed inside of eventually proved to be too small and it was time for more legroom.
“I think that if we would have stuck with that, it would have just died out, because ultimately people don’t want to listen to the same stuff,” says Slaughter.
So again, what the two shared in common was what kept Lipstick new and interesting over the years. Their shared passion for discovering new music coupled with Lipstick happening every week made for the right motivation to keep introducing the dance floor to new bands.
“Roger and I are super avid. All we do is dig for music and listen to new stuff,” says Slaughter.
At times it can be “a double-edged sword” Slaughter says, hand on his chin and thoughts on his mind. Keeping the night always new and always changing is fun when you’re a DJ because you’re never playing anything out. You’re able to keep a song like “1901” for your own enjoyment. Yet, certain songs are guaranteed to pack the dance floor and in the end, isn’t that your job as a DJ?
“You’re doing people a disservice if you don’t play some of that stuff,” says Slaughter. “You do it every Tuesday and you’re thinking, ‘Fuck! I’ve heard this song so many times.’ But then I think about the people who haven’t been coming every week and how excited they are to dance to a song they’ve never heard before.”
It’s rare for anything in the music and art scenes to last 10 years, let alone a club night. People change, bars close, relationships go south. It’s just the way it is. For Lipstick to have endured 10 years on an ever-changing music scene and all the while under what seems like constant scrutiny from naysayers calling Lipstick a club night for “hipsters,” is pretty amazing. This common misconception is immediately squashed when you walk through the doors on any given Tuesday. It’s a shot in the dark as to whom you’re actually going to find inside at the bar. Most likely you’ll find those same naysayers who are socializing with the “hipsters” while buying shots for your introverted co-worker from the office.
“We’ve gone through so many waves,” explains Slaughter. “Roger is like, ‘Dude. How many times have we gone through this?’”
Maybe that’s why Slaughter and Carpio have stuck it out all these years. Keeping the crowd showing up is one thing, but keeping themselves interested is another. But when each year brings a new crowd, with new friends and more good times to add to the memories, it makes it easier to stick around. Plus, Slaughter and Carpio switch it up around town and have been behind the wheel of many other successful, and most importantly, just really fun club nights around Sacramento. One of their most popular nights, FUCK Fridays at the Townhouse Lounge, is their sort of alter egos where they can completely let loose. Here they promote a “let’s lose our shit and go completely crazy” attitude while Slaughter is dressed up as say, an M&M or a rat costume [pictured].
What people don’t always realize is that many DJs and promoters in Sacramento, including Slaughter and Carpio, have their finger on the pulse of what’s good in the music and club scenes around the country. Slaughter frequently travels to other cities to DJ, and when he returns he brings back with him the best ideas he’s encountered to apply to his own club nights. In the words of Slaughter, “We stole everything from somebody.” Although, I prefer borrowed, for what are ideas without inspiration?
“Everyone always thinks there is something better,” says Slaughter. “Compared to a lot of other cities, we’re actually doing pretty well. The nights we’re throwing are really current.”
Recently, Slaughter has been focusing his energy on the production side with a new project called D.A.M.B. that just got picked up by DJs Are Not Rock Stars Records. “Daylight,” his first track released, plays with samples of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O” backed by a tropical house beat. His second track, “Waiting,” has already been remixed by the LOL Boys, Mom & Dad and Wolfie and has found its way around a number of high-traffic blogs. Not too bad for his first two tracks. We’ll see where it goes in the coming months, seeing as how Slaughter has his hands pretty full booking up-and-comers for FUCK, scouring the Internet for Lipstick and doing the graphic design for all his flyers. It’s a lot of work, but he’s managing to make a living doing what he loves.
“I’m definitely super, super happy. I could be playing Top 40 every night,” says Slaughter. “I get the privilege of DJing with Roger too, and I get to hang out and get paid to do something amazing. I think it’s insane that after 10 years people are still there.”
Here’s to another 10.
Check out Lipstick Tuesday nights at Old Ironsides. For more info, go to www.blasefaire.com.
