Prologue: The Roxy Paramatta

Police shut it down for an unknown reason. Patrons were pissed off, and I was a little upset as well as I had literally just got there when everyone started getting kicked out. It’s 11:30PM, in the middle of bloody Parramatta.. nowhere close to any club (The Albion has been done so many times now).

Hopped back into the car. Considered going home, but I verbally assaulted myself into driving out towards the bright lights of the CBD, in the search for any decent place that was open…

Sunday Night Nightclub Search: (over the course of 1 hour):
Star Bar: No DJ nor people. Dead.
3 Wise Monkeys: Wildcatz Rock band night – no dance music. Dead.
Cheers: Dead with a population of 20. Dead.
Scubar – closed. Dead.
Side Bar: Non-Dance night. Dead.
World Bar:  Two rooms but only about 15 people per room. 2 of those people were women. aka Dead.
Trademark Hotel: Closed. Dead.

The only places left that looked decent were Hugos, The Piano Room (from the outside), and Goldfish, which happened to have Groove Terminator as their guest DJ. Oh hell yeah, GT, a personal favourite of mine! Let’s do it.

Martini Club Sundays @ Goldfish Lounge, Kings Cross
Assessment Time: 1:00AM – 4:00AM
Opening Hours: 6PM – Late (Definitely past 5AM)
Lockout: Unknown, possibly none.
Address: 111 Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross (at the corner traffic light where the Coke sign is). Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/jjb8b
Venue Website: http://www.thegoldfish.com.au/kingscross
Promoter Website: Self promoted
Occurrence: Every Sunday night.
Outside Line: There was a group of 3 drunk guys trying to get in, and they were rejected. Other times that I checked, there was virtually little to no line.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Tonight is pretty easy going with the Dress Code. Hats are okay, casual attire is okay, and later in the night two ladies in heavy make up and costume were allowed in as well (angel wings, chainsaws, or something). More than half the guys tonight are wearing just t-shirts rather than collared shirts. Some singlets are spotted here as well. The girls are generally well dressed, but not all are glamarous, there are some just casually dressed women here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: N/A
Inside: Walk inside to open up the back area of the bar. To the left are lounges for 3-4 small groups of people. to the right are tables, stools. Further up left is the outdoor smoking area which remains behind the mesh-like wall facing the pathway. Right in the middle of this back room area is the bar, which is manned by 4 or 5 staff members at a time. On the far right are 2 areas for lounges. In the front room area is the dancefloor area. This is almost a circular like area where there are lounges lining the walls and disco balls dotting the ceiling. Actual dancefloor room could hold 25 comfortably upto about 40 people. A small elevated podium exists for the band to play later is cleared out to make room for a dancing podium for the patrons (it could hold about 8 people). Behind the podium sits the DJ set in the corner of the room.

Cloak Room: None
Bar Prices / Line: $9 for a GT (Gin and Tonic, get it?… GT?… Pah.)
Bathroom Facilities: Still the same as before. It’s a unisex bathroom! But before you get ANY ideas – the unisex bathroom is manned by a staff member to make sure you don’t get upto any hanky panky, as well as ensuring that you women don’t get raped or something. The hand washing thing with a foot pedal is still awesome, and easy to use. There is even a waiting lounge chair in the corner while you wait for your friend to finish doing his number 1, 2 or 3.
Eviction Count: None. Most people were quite well behaved.
DJs: Groove Terminator, aka one half of Tonite Only was the main act tonight (1:40AM – 3:40AM). Martini Club, There was also another DJ after (3:40AM onwards) Groove Terminator finished, but no idea what his name was.
Music Style: Martini Club set: (early in the night – 1:30AM) The resident band were playing live versions of popular Top 40 music – with the lead singer most of the lyrics, backed up with a drummer, guitarists, and DJ’s behind. The crowd always love this live version of music. Groove Terminator (1:40AM – 3:40AM): GT played an Old School set – which pretty much gave him the excuse to play all of Tonite Only’s hits (which I bloody love), as well as their remixes and anything else with their name stamped on it. Also some other classic commerical House music songs were thrown in as well.
Crowd: A mix of backpackers and local people. Keep in mind as well that tonight is Sunday, so there would easily be a higher ratio of backpackers who don’t work to locals who do have to work. The backpackers are less rowdy than that of classical bars such as World Bar, but there was some douche who thought it would be nice to smoke inside. Piss that smoke off away from my clothes and hair. Ages varied wildly here from young 20 year olds to 40++ year olds. Around 30% I’d say of the people here were over 30.
Ratio: Upon entering, the ratio was about 2:1 and it got worse at around 3AM to 3:1 Guys to girls.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment. The main act tonight was GT
Atmosphere: The floor was always busy but not packed where you were squished – everyone had a little room to dance. It’s quite dark as well in here and often due to the small area and overhead, it could get warm quite quickly if you were dancing heaps.
Video: I got the timestamps wrong in the music sample video

Timeline
Too romantic
It’s only midnight and the vibe is pretty good… for couples. FML At one point I was surrounded on all four sides by a couple dancing away, making out… you know, doing coupley things. Just gross out. Well, I was a little jealous but seriously, yuck.

The Indian Mac
Well, I’m not sure if he was Indian or Sri Lankan, but there was a guy who just stood there and macked on all the girls. He had the cojones, but not quite the charm. Especially when he was sweating profusely. However the important bit was he had cojones. Respect. I don’t think he understood what the word “no” meant.

Arrivederci

Left soon after GT finished the set.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation
Not a place for real clubbing, but a pretty nice place to bring your partner or a small group of friends, if you aren’t really into the doof doof and want more of a lounge setting with a side dancefloor to go with it.

Martini Club (Sunday Nights) @ Goldfish Lounge, Kings Cross Sydney: (For the chilled out type) – 7/10