The Future Is Now

Fashion Forward - The look of Click + Drag from shows past (right), and future (above).
 
Think back to what you were doing on a typical Saturday night in 1996. Whatever it was, you probably weren’t having as much fun as Rob Roth, whose weekly “cyber/fetish/gender-hacking” party, Click + Drag, reigned at legendary New York nightclub Mother until 2000. After a brief stint as a monthly at the now-defunct Chinatown club Fun, Click closed up shop, seeming to pass into nightlife history.
 
But in 2008, all signs pointed to revival, and Roth and co-founder Chi Chi Valenti resurrected Click + Drag as an annual event at Santos Party House. Now in its third year, Click has become one of downtown’s most anticipated parties, attracting old-school club kids, faeries, scenesters and anyone who ever considered spirit gum and glitter to be essential to their existence. We got a chance to chat with Roth about Click + Drag’s latest incarnation and its place in today’s digital culture.


Back in ’96 when you started Click + Drag, cyber culture was a new thing. How has your concept of “the interface between club culture and computers” evolved since then?
Everything that we referenced or were talking about then has become a reality. Now, we’re in the future. Everyone understands the interface between people and computers, social networks—it’s just all part of their daily lives. Now Click + Drag is more like a…we call it a gathering of the tribes. We don’t have to reference any kind of technological future anymore. It’s really more about the idea of what’s after that? What’s past all of this exciting new technology? Even on a spiritual level. How can we use these tools and these networks of people? This idea of all of those different tribes that you have access to online, now we can come together on the physical plane and just gather.
 
How does Click fit into the New York nightlife landscape now?
When Click stopped at Fun, we didn’t do it for something like six or seven years. My idea of nightlife had changed a lot. My influences were coming from all of these much bigger or semi-bigger gatherings from around the globe. Like, everything from Burning Man to the Radical Faerie gatherings to smaller ones called Manifesto Gatherings in Costa Rica.


So, you’re bringing that kind of spirit to New York?
I think so. What always astounds me is when many different kinds of people can come together. That has always been, in my book, what has made an interesting party: the mix. That to me is where energy at a gathering is lifted. It doesn’t matter what your gender is, it doesn’t matter what your sexual preference is. It’s really about a like-mindedness. The future isn’t about technology anymore. It’s about how we evolve. And nightlife, to me, has always been a celebration of that. It’s like a church really, in a way. A place to celebrate and gather and understand how we can continue forward with this like-minded hope for the future.
 
How does this incarnation compare to the original?
It’s different. I’m not interested in something that stays the same. I’m so not interested in looking backwards. I think the energy is similar. Whereas before it was always a darker idea of the future, I think now it’s a slightly more positive.
 
That’s surprising, given everything that’s going on in the world right now.
That’s the other thing: the world is so totally fucked up. Also, there’s this need to make New York what it was. New York has suffered from this unbelievably privileged idea of what glamour is. This post-Sex and the City, post-Giuliani idea of what Manhattan is has destroyed everything that used to be truly cool. So I feel like it’s important to do this kind of work.
 
So, what is Click’s version of glamour?
People get so freaked out about the dress code! It has nothing to do with a label or fashion. It has everything to do with creativity, self-expression, being for even one night who you want to be. We don’t discriminate if you’re not wearing something that isn’t the latest Vogue. It’s really about putting your freak flag on, and coming and participating.


What are you wearing?
Oh my God, I have no idea! I imagine it’s gonna have a lot of feathers and glitter.    N


Click + Drag hacks into Santos Party House (96 Lafayette St) on October 9 at 10pm. Visit MotherNYC.com/Click for more info.