This is OVERKILL: “it’s still in its raw form”

Bars+Clubs•

This is OVERKILL: “it’s still in its raw form”

More : DJ Ph, Guy Bérubé, HUMP Wednesdays, La Petite Mort Gallery, Ottawa Gay Bars, Overkill, Raw Meat Live, Sara Ainslie

by Jordan Arseneault on September 9, 2011

Billing itself as a “dissolute lounge for the mildly curious,” the newest addition to Ottawa’s alternative nightlife scene is a powerhouse collaboration between La Petite Mort’s Guy Bérubé and party hostess Sara Ainslie. In advance of their Sept 24 Grand opening, 2B got an exclusive look at their programming and raison d’être.

When we heard that La Petite Mort gallery’s Guy Bérubé was teaming up with HUMP Wednesdays’ Sara Ainslie to make an underground bar with live performance and music programming, we knew there was a trick. With the grand opening not until Sept 24, the pair are doing two pre-opening events on Sat Sept 10th and 17th, to drum up the already unstoppable amount of buzz.

Naturally, Bérubé is more than a gallerist: he likes to get drunk and see live music too! Likewise for Ms. Ainslie, programmer of the Mercury Lounge’s famous HUMP Wednesdays, who is more than a just party planner. Slated to open officially on Sept 24^th with the inauguration of Bérubé’s own Raw Meat Live weekly mixed/queer night, the hide-out will combine the centrality of its Byward Market location with the sketchiness of a dark basement bar with decidedly sexy entertainment and classic drinks on the menu.

“We wanted a place where we could go to be incognito and be loud!” says Ainslie of her inspiration to collaborate with Bérubé on the new underground bar venture. As anyone in the capital knows, the two are larger-than-life characters. They needed a place to be themselves, and hatched the idea of Overkill so they would feel more at home in an intimate locale “where Jackie O meets Hugh Hefner,” the style references for the design and vibe of the queer-friendly haven. “We’re selfish and a lot of our friends suffer from the same illness as us: boredom,” she adds. As a cure to one of Ottawa’s seemingly chronic self-diagnoses, Madame Ainslie will be launching her own Guide to Spirits this fall, with a menu of classic cocktails and readable stories of the distillers and vintners that make the booze behind the bar. Never one to tolerate boredom, Bérubé sourced the louche luxury materials for the interior, as well as curating the artwork for the walls and promo, which include Ainslie’s favourite Juan Carlos Noria and Spanish-American provocateur Axel Void. The opening month will feature a photo exhibit by Sarah-Jane Schorlemer entitled “Sex Toys”, and that’s without even touching on the music.

With live jazz on Mondays, and wild live performance on Saturday, Overkill will have the feeling of a “hole in the wall” with a capacity of just over 50 revellers and different acts each week. For the drinking buddies-turned promoters, this is the perfect opportunity to show off local and imported talent that doesn’t get space in larger, more mainstream venues. The special invite-only pre-opening night Sept 10^th featured Piknic Electronik alumnus PH (S. Campbell) who makes electronic music using analogue instruments like Theremins and children’s toys, with raucous DJ acts like DICK PARTY thrown in the mix to defy the categories of performance and mere spinning.

“It hasn’t been packaged; it’s still in its raw form,” says Sara Ainslie of her new pet project. “We needed to build a venue for us freaks and for those who want to perform,” she added, like the voluptuous ladies of Rockalilly Burlesque who vamped and giggled atop the lacquered black bar while the intimate, urbane crowd screamed and danced. Guest-listers, like yours truly, were treated to the house martini, an absinthe and Godiva mixture that looked surprisingly sexual. From the glorious round booths to the seductively dim lighting and thumping sound-system, the venue looks like it will already have its regulars. Jazz vocalist Renée (Monday night’s feature) was in attendance, as was Tuesday’s karaoke drag king Frank ‘n Beans, who delivered hilariously phallocratic spoken word over deep beats.

The stars of the evening were clearing a beaming Bérubé, whose décor makes you feel luxurious and sexy, and the rambunctious Sara Ainslie, decked out in a body-hugging purple leopard-print dress and new goth-raver bangs. Small, dark, and with that je-ne-sais-quoi of a private members’ club, Overkill will be coming alive Sept 24^th at 10pm with the grand opening of Guy Bérubé’s RAW MEAT LIVE.

OVERKILL

56 Byward Market Square

Ottawa – Canada

lower level

www.overkillbar.com