DJ Robot Citizen - Index of Club & Band Nights.

Robot Citizen has (co-)organised and/or DJ'd at over 400 Club & Band Events and hosted 100s of Alternative Music Radio Shows.

This page lists dates and some of the promo images for many of the club and band nights.

Links to sections on this page: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2010-2007 | 2004-2001 | 1990s

Click the links below to view more info and larger images on another page.

2020 Events

2020 March 08 - "Oh My Goth" #9. Venue: Reload bar, Canberra City. DJs Black Temple, Robot Citizen & XyberJunk ...
YouTube playlist of tracks in Robot Citizen's sets.

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2019 Events

2019 August 09 - "Oh My Goth" #7. Venue: Reload bar, Canberra City. DJs Black Temple, Robot Citizen & XyberJunk ...
YouTube playlist of tracks in Robot Citizen's sets.

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2019 June 07 - "Oh My Goth" #6. Venue: Reload bar, Canberra City. DJs Black Temple & Robot Citizen (of 'VAMP') ...
YouTube playlist of tracks in Robot Citizen's sets.

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2019 March 10 - "Oh My Goth" #4. Venue: Reload bar, Canberra City. DJs Black Temple, Robot Citizen & Xyberjunk (formerly known as WolfAngst) ...
YouTube Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

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2018 Events

2018 April 20 - "Faraway Fever" Cabaret Burlesque night, The Abbey, Canberra city ...
YouTube Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

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2018 March 30 - the first "OH MY GOTH" club night. Venue: Reload bar, Canberra City. DJs Black Temple, Robot Citizen & Datacipher ...
Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ R.C. on Youtube.

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2017 Events - link to page: Alternative Music Club & Band Nights

From June 2017 I again took time off from DJing & organising club & band events in order to work on other projects. During mid-late 2017 I received offers to DJ as a regular resident DJ in two Canberra venues and at several gothic-industrial scene events in Melbourne. Due to other commitments I was unable to do those events. During 2018 I received an email invitation to be a judge on the Channel 7 TV show "All Together Now"; a singing competition. However it appeared it would have cost several weeks of my time and several thousand dollars for the hotel accommodation in another city so I had to decline.

2017 June 10 - VAMP Alternative Music Club Night. Winter theme. Venue: Lobrow Art Gallery & Nightclub, Canberra city ...
YouTube Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

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2017 April 15 - Club VAMP's 10th Anniversary held at Lobrow Art Gallery & Nightclub, Canberra city.
YouTube Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

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2017 March 03 - Enlighten Festival at the Royal Australian Mint.

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2017 February 18 - Club VAMP Canberra Alternative Music Nightclub. Venue: Lowbrow Art Gallery & nightclub, Civic.
YouTube Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

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2017 February 10 - "Alice In Wonderland" Burlesque & Cabaret Event

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2017 January 21 - Club VAMP Canberra Alternative Music Club Night. Venue: Lowbrow Art Gallery & nightclub, Civic.
YouTube Playlist of Songs mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

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2017 January 14 - The Raven's Ball - Sydney Gothic Club Night. Venue: The Bridge Hotel, Rozelle ...
YouTube list of Songs that were mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.

A night of Darkwave Post-Punk Dark Alternative Gothic Rock with 4 Live Bands: IKON, Sounds Like Winter, Death Church, The Blue Eyed Ravens; and numerous DJs including: Robot Citizen, S.H.E., Lobotomy, Xerstorkitte, Action Ant, Miss Kate, Cernunnos, Morbid Florist ...

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2016 Events - link to page: Alternative Music Club Nights DJs & Live Bands

2016 November 11 "VAMP" Featuring live shows by 1: Amelia Arsenic (formerly known as 'destroyx', from Angelspit) and 2: SNUFF - plus DJs Robot Citizen and Lady K.

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2016 October 01 "VAMP" with DJs Robot Citizen, Mircalla & Altercate

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2016 September 03 - Sydney: "(End of) The Winter Ball". Venue: The Bridge Hotel, Rozelle ...
YouTube list of Songs that were mixed by DJ Robot Citizen.
Presented by 2 clubs - Asylum and No Rest for the Wicked (which later reverted to the prior club name of Sanctuary) - featuring 14 alternative music DJs (including Robot Citizen) plus 2 bands (Sounds Like Winter and Skull and Dagger) plus burlesque and other performances.

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2016 May 07 "VAMP" 9th Anniversary event @ Transit Bar featuring live band "[SNUFF]" with DJs Robot Citizen, Tormentor, Mircalla & Black Temple.

2016 February 27 "VAMP" @ Transit Bar featuring live band "Sounds Like Winter" with DJ Robot Citizen, Mircalla & Action Ant.

2016 February 13 "Bowie Ball" @ Ainslie Arts Centre; featuring DJ Robot Citizen plus live music (Tim Hansen, Alice Cottee, No Hausfrau), spoken word (Hannah McCann, Duncan Driver) and drag performance (Venus Mantrap).

2016 January 23 "Bowie Tribute Night" @ Transit Bar with DJ Robot Citizen, Evil Chris & Krusty Toast.

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2015 Events - link to page: Alternative Music Nightclub Events, DJs & Live Bands

2015 December 31 "New Year's Eve RETRO Request" @ The RUC, Canberra.

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2015 October 31 "Halloween RETRO Invasion" with live band "Back to the Eighties" @ The RUC.

2015 July 17 "Asylum". Venue: The Q-Bar, Oxford St, Sydney.
YouTube playlist of tracks in DJ Robot Citizen's set.

2015 June 20 "No Rest for the Wicked" Sydney.

2015 April 18 "VAMP" featuring band "The Dark Shadows" @ Magpies City Club, Canberra.

2015 March 21 "VAMP" featuring 2 bands "Kollaps" and "Sounds Like Winter" @ Magpies City Club, Canberra.

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2015 February 28 "RETRO Request" @ Magpies City Club, Canberra.

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2015 January 21 "RETRO Request" @ Magpies City Club, Canberra.

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2014 Events:

2014 December 20 "Rock the Night Away" a night of classic, heavy & glam rock @ Magpies City Club. DJs Black Temple, Grant Robertson and Robot Citizen.

2014 November 22 "VAMP" - a fundraiser event for the "S.I.N.G.E.D." alternative music radio show on Community Radio 2XX 98.3 FM - featuring live acts "Orbis Tertius" and "Second Sun" plus DJs Robot Citizen, Nat, deaDJoke, Mircalla and Action Ant.

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2014 September 26 "VAMP" with David Bowie special with DJs Robot Citizen, Mircalla, Black Temple, Jay A & Fahrenheit.

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2014 August 23 "VAMP" featuring band "The Dark Shadows" with DJs Robot Citizen, Xerstorkitte (Sydney), DunkleSchatten (Brigitte Handley of Sydney/Germany) & Black Temple.

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2014 July 26 "VAMP" featuring live acts "AR12" & "Marc David Myles Robertson" with DJs Robot Citizen, Black Temple & Requiem.

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2014 June 27 "VAMP" Soviet Winter theme with DJs Robot Citizen, Black Temple & Mircalla.

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2014 May 23 "VAMP" Party Monster theme with DJs Robot Citizen, Black Temple, Lily Dubois & Fahrenheit.

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2014 April 17 "VAMP" (7th Birthday) Easter theme with DJs Robot Citizen, Xerstorkitte (Sydney), Evil Chris & Black Temple.

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2014 March 29 "VAMP" featuring a live performance by Sydney electro-industrial band Shiv-R plus DJs Robot Citizen and Black Temple @ Magpies City Club, Canberra City.

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2014 January 26 "VAMP" @ Magpies City Club.

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2013 Events:

2013 December 21 "VAMP" featuring band "Second Sun" @ Magpies City Club.

2013 November 29 "ALT" featuring live acts "Orbis Tertius" & "Cris Clucas" @ Magpies City Club.

2013 November 15 "RETRO Request" @ Magpies City Club.

2013 November 2 Halloween "Zombie Invasion" @ City Hellenic Club with live bands @ The Phoenix.

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2013 June 21 "Dark Star Fire" also featuring several bands (Orbis Tertius, Reign of Terror, Lazy Harry's) & live performances (by Madame M. Gorillabrant, The Deepest Darkest Secret) at the Ivy Cafe in Old Canberra House.

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Some of the Several Hundred Events in Earlier Years:

2010:

While I had (again temporarily) retired from club-DJing at the end of 2009 I assisted an old friend with these events in 2010:

2010-July-04 Sydney: "Worn Wild: The Alternative Designers Market". I assisted with transporting, setting up and packing down the market props and decorations and also DJ'd for part of the night including during the fashion show. Venue: The Gaff Hotel, Oxford St, Darlinghurst, Sydney.

2010-June-05 Melbourne: "Blut Royale" a fashion show for the Geomythik fashion label. I helped with transporting, setting up and packing down the large stage props and decorations and also DJ'd for part of the night including during the fashion show. Venue: Mercat X Hotel, Queen St Melbourne, adjacent to the Victoria markets.

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2009:

In addition to around a dozen VAMP DJ events in Canberra (see notes below) I also did these dates in other cities:

2009-Dec-31 Perth (Western Australia) New Year's Eve: I DJ'd in the 2 rooms at "Club SIN" - a club for goths, industrial "rivetheads", new romantics, (post-)punks and fans of related alternative music genres. Around 200-300 people attended. It was one of my favourite gigs ever - one of the best scenes I've come across with great music knowledge and taste in what is known as being the world's most isolated city! I am eternally grateful to Nathan Sin for inviting me along and for the air fare. Venue: Gilkisons Dance Studio, Murray St, Perth.

2009-Jan-30 Friday: DJ set in Melbourne at "Enzyme 8"; Venue: Blue Velvet, Collingwood, Victoria.

2009-Jan-31 Saturday: DJ set in Melbourne at event titled "Geisha". Venue: Vedette, Footscray, Victoria.

2009-Feb-01 Sunday: DJ set in Melbourne at a fetish night. Venue: Club Vedette, Footscray, Victoria.

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2007-2009:

Between early 2007 and the end of 2009 I organised and DJ'd around 80-90 club nights in Canberra. The most frequent events were VAMP and RETRO Request:

~ "VAMP" for dark alternative music genres like industrial, alt rock, goth, indietronica, emo, post-punk, new wave, nu metal, electro pop, electronic rock, dance punk and related genres. There were around 30 VAMP events in that 3-year "season". It commenced in April 2007 at the BAR 32 venue. It was initially once-a-month on Thursdays, during early-mid 2007. Due to popularity it went to being twice-per-month towards the end of 2007 and continued like that until mid-2008 with, each month, an event on a Saturday night alternated fortnightly with a Thursday. The peak event was Easter Thursday 2008 which attracted a crowd of around 350 people. VAMP left Bar 32 in mid-2008 and ran through 'til the end of 2009 at 3 other venues: Holy Grail in mid-2008; Kremlin Bar from November 2008 to August 2009; The Monkey Bar for October-November 2009.

Along with DJ Robot Citizen the guest DJs at VAMP during 2007-2009 included: Evil Chris, The Modern Rage (Emma), Terrorgore (Bridget), DeadKitty / Lingerie Panic (Patricia), Morgan Mortician, F.O.A.D. (Michael), Stealth Elf (Callan), Salem (Chris), MetaVirus (Shayne), Jay, Nick Simons & Ant Storm.

[ Flyer for the first 'VAMP'. Click to open a larger image in another window ]

2008-07-21: One of the highlights of VAMP during this time was the concert I organised for the renowned Melbourne-based band SNOG (electro-industrial dark electronica) along with support group Sobriquet (darkwave-electronica). I hosted this concert at the Civic Holy Grail venue (where I had run numerous RETRO events during 2003-2004). I also included the DJs from the Chrome club night (who were then Salem, MetaVirus, Stealth Elf) and regular VAMP guest DJ Evil Chris. The night was a great success attendance-wise.

[ Flyer for 'VAMP'. Click to open a larger image in another window ]

I paused VAMP at the end of 2009 and revived it at the end of 2013 - see notes above. VAMP was, for me, a continuation of the clubs I ran &/or DJ'd at under numerous club names and at several venues between 1992 and 2000 - most particularly "NEXUS" at Heaven nightclub - see notes further below.

~ "RETRO Request" was the first event I ran at Bar 32. The music scope was for Top 40 hits and party anthems from the '70s, '80s, '90s and early '00s - pop, rock, disco/dance hits. The event occurred on every Saturday for 7 months from February 2007; around 30 events overall.
For me it was a continuation of the Retro music night clubs I ran during previous years at venues like the Civic Holy Grail & Heaven - see notes further below.
As with those earlier events the 2007 season of events at Bar 32 were a great success; soon attracted a regular following; a diverse group of people ranging from age 18 through their 40s. As the months went on there was increasing demand for alternative genre classics. Although my Retro night was very popular and was often a full house until the morning hours - even during the Winter months when other venues closed early - the event ended when a much larger venue nearby started with an identical theme. Bar 32 decided to pursue some other ideas for Saturday nights. Those included my events "CRUNCH", "VAMP", "HEAVY" and "ALT" - see notes above & below.

[ Flyer for 'RETRO'. Click to open a larger a higher-res image in another window ]

I also ran shorter seasons of these events at Bar 32:

~ "CRUNCH" for some varieties of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) like: Electro, Glitch, PsyTrance, Drum N Bass (DnB), Hard House, Nu-Rave, Nu-Disco, Dance-Punk & Intelligent Dance Music (IDM); 4 Saturday night events during early 2008. Along with DJ Robot Citizen guest DJs at Crunch included: Walski (Chris Wallis), Evil Chris & MetaVirus.

[ Flyer for 'CRUNCH'. Click to open a larger image in another window ]

~ "POPCORN" for cheesey top 40 pop hits, past and present; several events were held during early 2008.

~ "HEAVY" for hard (punk) rock and metal; 8 or so events during mid-2008; mostly on Thursdays with one on a Saturday night. As well as DJ Robot Citizen regular guest DJs included F.O.A.D. (Michael) and Evil Chris.

[ Flyer for 'HEAVY'. Click to open a larger image in another window ]

~ "ALT" for general alternative indie & electro pop, punk & rock; around 6 Saturday events during May, June, July and August 2008. The ALT nights at Bar 32 were very successful. In particular I really enjoyed DJing the entire 6 hour nights. However, because of the events great success it was undermined by someone else who sought to claim all the profits off of my hard work. They made things unpleasant, split the scene and so I moved my efforts to other projects.

[ Flyer for 'ALT'. Click to open a larger image in another window ]

I relocated VAMP & ALT to the Holy Grail Civic (friendly management) but it felt too large for a smaller Winter crowd. I moved VAMP to the cosier Kremlin Bar. It lasted there for around 10 (once-a-month) dates from late 2008 through to late 2009. I then moved VAMP to The Monkey Bar for 2 dates in late 2009. The management there were great to deal with. However, I had to mourn several deaths, I lost interest in running events and so I retired ... explored living in other cities and nations for several years... until recommencing with Canberra events in 2013.

[ Flyer for the last 'VAMP' in 2009, recommenced 2013. Image links to a larger version. ]

During 2007-2008 I Guest-DJ'd at several other events. These include:

2008-June-13 Friday 13th "International Zombie Awareness Day" (IZAD) - a multi-band and DJ event at the ANU Bar & Refectory (Canberra, Australia); organised by Bryn Cummins; featuring 3 bands (Mz Ann Thropik, Mo Van Wah, FrankenPop) & 4 DJs (MetaVirus, The Modern Rage, Dead DJ Joke & Robot Citizen).

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2008-June-07 "Chrome" at the Holy Grail Civic venue.

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2007-July-27 at "Chrome" at the Toast venue.

For almost 18 months during 2007-2008 I organised and/or DJ'd at 3-to-6 club nights per month. Around half of the events were on Saturday nights and the others were on Thursday nights.

2001-2004:

Although I felt I had "retired" in 2000 from running regular clubs and also from DJing I was involved with (co-)organising and performing music (either on instruments or DJing) at several dozen club and live music dates during those years. These included:

A) 2003-2004: Organising and DJ'ing/VJ'ing around 15 once-a-month weekend dates for the club "RETRO Request" held at the Holy Grail Civic venue. It was a continuation of the "RETRO" club that I hosted and DJ'd at for several years at the Heaven venue circa '97-'00. The HGC venue had a large video screen (around 5mX5m) and a computer system with thousands of song videos on it. Hence most songs were accompanied with a video - hence "VJing" meaning video jockeying. ;-) There are more notes on this event further below.

B) A major focus during this time was doing live electronica gigs for the "ELF" or "E.L.F." project; a name for the dancier instrumental electronic music made by EYE. Details for many events are lost-in-time however we have details for these:

• 2001-December-01 in Canberra at "XXL - Community Radio 2XX's 25th Birthday" featuring ELF live among 9 other bands/live-music-acts and numerous DJs. Venue: several rooms in the old (now demolished) Griffin Centre building, Canberra City.

• 2002-March-08 in Canberra at "Fuzzbox". Presented by "I am Media" and featuring live electronic music by E.L.F. and Ninja Project with DJs Evil Chris, Mr Biscuit, Gourmand & Recalcitrant Sound. Venue: The Green Room, Altree Crt, Phillip ACT.

• 2002-August-02 in Canberra at "I am Science". Presented by "I am Media" and featuring live electronic music by ELF and Spinaron plus DJs Evil Chris, Gourmand, Mr Biscuit and the Space Bass Sound System. Venue: The Aree Bar, Akuna St, Civic, ACT.

• 2002-August-09 in Canberra at "The 2XX-FM Birthday Bash & Benefit". Featuring live electronic dance music by E.L.F. plus live music by Nick Maher, Jedi's Flow on Crack, Dark Violence of Beauty plus DJs Mexi, Wepon, Dial, C-Star, Fatt Freddy along with live poetry and spoken word. Venue: The Aree Bar, Akuna St, Civic, ACT.

• 2002-October-07 in Newcastle: as part of the "Mutant Electronica Closing Party" of the "This Is Not Art" & "Electrofringe" Festivals.

• 2002-October-19 in Canberra at "The Art School Ball" theme "Pornstars and prudes" featuring ELF live along with bands (Mamma Funka, Officer Down, Bloody Mary, Agency Dub Collective, Penguin, DKM) and other electronic acts (Stalker, Meem, Know1) plus DJs Nathan, Tone Def, Ken Worthy... Venue: Canberra School of Art, Acton, ACT.

• 2003-September-11: in Sydney at "Club Kooky" held at the Imperial Hotel... ELF live along with several DJs including Gemma and Seymour Butz.

• 2003-May-31 in Canberra at "eXXentricity - a celebration of electronic music by current and ex-residents of the Nation's Capital..." E.L.F. live along with several other projects plus numerous DJs. See further notes below. Venue: Babylon Night Club, Alinga St Civic.

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• 2004-March-27 Saturday: "E.L.F." performed live music as part of "Indyfest" among numerous other live bands. Venue: Club Mombasa, Bunda St. Canberra City.

• 2004-April-11 Sunday: "ELF" performed live music as support act to the UK music project "The Orb" at the venue Toast, Canberra City. Alas The Orb did not make it to the venue and so ELF were the highlight.

Unfortunately just as ELF were achieving significant national radio airplay (eg. on radio station Triple J aka. JJJ) and being sent offers for more interstate gigs I suffered a serious injury which caused great financial stress and so I had to put the ELF project on "ice"; and never really picked it up again.

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C) While working as the Promotions Manager and later as the Station Manager at Community Radio 2XX 98.3fm I was involved in (co-)organising numerous benefit fundraising events which included:

• 2001-December-01 Saturday: I co-organised the multi-stage live music event called "XXL" which featured around 20 live acts (including ELF) and DJs. It was held at the (old) Griffin Centre (Canberra City) in December 2001. The main logistics person was a fellow called Richard who had helped with similar events for radio 4ZZZ in Brisbane.

• 2002: I co-organised the "24 Hour Party People" club night held at the venue called Toast. This was to launch the screening of the movie of that name; both of which were 2XX fundraiser events.

• 2002-August-09 Saturday: I co-organised the "2XX Birthday Benefit" music night held at the Aree Bar (on Akuna St Canberra City). My "E.L.F." (or "ELF") music project performed live electronic dance music at this. (* In other years this venue was known as Church Bar and Transit Bar)

• 2002-May-11 Saturday: I organised the Canberra launch event for the "A.S.I.N.G.E.D." compilation CD that I had produced; and used as an exercise to help raise awareness about radio 2XX. The event was held at The Rockape venue in Dickson and featured 3 live acts - TDM (aka. Tedium) from Melbourne, SysX and my E.L.F. project - plus several DJs. The CD title stands for Australian Synthpop Industrial Noise Goth Electronica Darkwave. I also co-ordinated for the CD to be launched at club and live band events in 7 other Australian cities. That was a lot of work!

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• 2003: I co-organised "Splash Out 2003" - a celebration of International Women's Day - which was held at Civic swimming pool and featured a variety of female singers, bands and spoken word performers. This daytime event was followed by an evening after-party of female songwriter's doing original live-acoustic music; at the Toast venue.

• 2003-July-19 Saturday: I organised and DJ'd the whole night for a '70s retro club titled "Funky Disco Yeah" (a precursor of the "Cheese on Toast" retro night) at the Toast venue. The popularity of this FDY night inspired me to resurrect the "RETRO" night (from Heaven) at the City Holy Grail venue (see notes above). I chose the HG venue as it had a large video screen and a computer system with 1000s of video-songs on it. And no-one was using it.

• 2003-May-31 Saturday: I co-organised the multi-room event "eXXentricity" which had 10+ DJs and half-a-dozen live electronic dance music acts. This was held at the Babylon* nightclub (Canberra city centre). The purpose of the event was to launch the "Electricity" 2CD compilation album I had produced of Canberra electronic music artists. (*The venue was known in other years as Sultan's, Krave and Mr Wolf).

• 2004-July-30 Saturday: I co-organised another radio 2XX fundraiser club night at the Toast venue. It was named "S.I.N.G.E.D." being the name of my dark alternative music radio show - standing for "Synthpop Industrial Noise Gothic Electro Darkwave". The night featured those genres. The core DJs were my co-hosts on the radioshow. The profits were donated to Community Radio 2XX 98.3fm. This was the first club night for these genres in Canberra for several years; also being the first at Toast. The success of it led to the venue's wish to have a similar monthly night. However, I was too busy with other projects and recovering from an injury. Hence other people took up that opportunity with an event titled "Eclipse" which changed name to "Chrome" after several months. That event occurred once a month on a Thursday night during 2005-2006. For several years it was quite a small gathering of 30-60 people although it was my favourite time there because the people were genuinely in to the subcultures/genres; was a good crowd. I preferred Thursday events because it meant only the most interested people - those really in to the music and scene - would attend. Then in 2007 - with VAMP & RETRO occurring also - the multiple clubs at separate venues, 6+ dates per month, including numerous weekend dates, that built a very big scene. Eventually all clubs were often attracting 150 to 300+ people on weekend nights. It was both wonderful and bizarre to me - with the goth-industrial club scene having been dead, for lengthy periods, numerous times before - to revive in such a grand manner. Although, to be honest, many of those people weren't really in to the music; it was more like they were spectating, having heard it seems that there were clubs with weird freaky people to look at. ;) Chrome lost their venue in November 2007 (when Toast closed) and re-opened at another in April 2008. During the 4-5 month gap I allocated numerous extra guest DJ slots to those Chrome DJs at my events titled VAMP & CRUNCH; also at the mid-2008 SNOG & Sobriquet band concert that I hosted at the City Holy Grail venue (see notes above). Chrome continued on very successfully (at several venues over the years) until retiring in December 2016.

2001-November-24: I guest-DJ'd as DJ Citizen at a club called "Corrosion" at the Rockape venue in Dickson, ACT. It was part of a night that featured a live performance by the Melbourne Band Tankt. Corrosion was a monthly club that lasted for 1-2 years. It was organised by DJ Noven who, with DJ Citizen, co-founded the "S.I.N.G.E.D." alternative music radio show on 2XX 98.3 fm. Click that link for more details. The radio program aired weekly for 15 years with around 8 DJs/co-hosts participating over that time.

Some time in 2001 I DJ'd at a one-off event for heavy electronic dance music (re: "electro industrial dance" or "power noise", later called things like "aggrotech", "hellectro" or "cybergoth") at a venue in Belconnen that was later known as "The Basement". I can't recall who organised it.

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EVENTS in the 1990s ...

There's a record below of the tons of events I organised &/or DJ'd at during the 1990s. From 1993 through 2000 I was involved with around 95% of the club nights for the Canberra gothic industrial electronica indie rock music club scene(s). The main block of these events occurred at Canberra's 'Heaven' nightclub from 1994 through to 2000. During that time I DJ'd at Heaven 2 to 4 times per month. Nearly all of that was on Thursday nights as that was the night for the "alternative music scene". The weekends at Heaven nightclub were allocated to electronic dance music genres like house and trance. Other venues I DJ'd at in Canberra during the 90s include the Asylum, The Base and the Gypsy Bar.

There's only a patchy record of flyers/posters/images below. Reasons include: a) old computer storage formats died thus the flyers and posters were lost; b) I didn't retain printed copies or they were lost over the years; c) up until 1997-98 other people made nearly all of the flyers/posters and I didn't think to obtain copies of them; d) regards photos they were expensive to make (especially for poverty-stricken university students, being a large % of the scenes) - like $20+ for a processed roll of film that might yield zero good photos - hence people rarely took photos and hardly ever (if ever) made multiple copies to share them with others ...
It's sad that there is very little to document the gothic-industrial club scene during the time it was at a peak and also when it was all much closer to the roots. For the aesthetics, fashions, attitudes and music favoured by following waves of club-scenes changed during the mid-late 90s, the 00s and the 10s. As a lot of older people (from the scenes of the 80s and early-mid 90s) remark, when they came out to a club in the 2000s and 2010s: "It's not gothic! It's not even industrial! Don't these young people realise it?!?" ... In reference to most of the music, the clothes and the dancing.

1998-1999:

DJ'd around a dozen times for the first year of the monthly gothic industrial music club "Narcissus" which was initially held at The Gypsy Bar in Canberra city. I retired from it as I was too busy working and running other events. That club went on and off for a few more years at several venues; was handed from one person to another to co-ordinate. I recall it was founded by Shelle (Delerium Tremens) who passed it on to Caroline who passed it on to DJ DeadKitty (aka. Lingerie Panic). In it's final year it was held at The Akuna Club.

1994-2000:

I (co-)organised and DJ'd around 150 nights (usually twice per month) at the Heaven Nightclub (Garema Place Civic). The longest-running events I ran there that kept the same club name were:

• "RETRO" 1997-2000 - once a month, around 30 events - which was geared for the alternative subculture scenes; covering 80s & 70s (mostly "cheesy" Top 40) electro, disco, funk, pop & rock. On peak nights this event could attract 100-200 people.

• "NEXUS" 1997-2000 - once a month, around 30 events - covering general alternative music genres like indie rock, electronica, britpop, goth, industrial, punk, new wave, darkwave, ska, grunge, post punk, electronic body music and so on. DJs included: (Robot) J. Citizen & Jo Cramer (who moved city in '98); then J Citizen and Lisa Kewley (who moved city in '99); then J Citizen with Annette 'Nettie' Grey. On peak nights NEXUS attracted 100-200 people. NEXUS arose to fill the space left by the cessation of our earlier club names - described below - as colleagues retired from DJing or emigrated to other cities or nations. NEXUS evolved out of the goth-industrial-focused clubs Millenium and Oblivion though I sought it to be more like the general alternative music clubs (of '94-'97) that are listed further below.

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Posters from the first year of Nexus; displaying Jo's darker aesthetics. For some reason "industrial" & "gothic" were left of the poster although the list of bands shows that that's what was mostly played; the electro/techno sides of the industrial genre.

I also DJ'd at these regular club nights which were admin'd by DJ Jo:

• During 1995-97: "Oblivion" which morphed in to being known as "Millenium". These each lasted about a year, once a month, around 12 clubs each. They covered darkwave, goth, gothic, electro industrial, elektro goth, synth pop, cyberpunk, electronic body music (EBM), euro pop, future pop and similar genres. DJs included: Robot (J Citizen), Jo Cramer, Valentina Maxwell and Emma Lea. (The club changed names when Valentina & Emma emigrated; eventually it became known as 'NEXUS'.)

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• During these years there were several bands who played live at our (Heaven venue) events that catered to industrial gothic music genres (ie. at the clubs named Millenium, Oblivion or Nexus). These artists include: Discordia, Dogmachine, Ragewar, Sterile, Dying Embers and The Dark Violence of Beauty.

Also during 1994-1997 ...

• I DJ'd at a series of large and popular general alternative music clubs at HEAVEN with titles like "Parklife", "Petrol", "Planet Pumpkin", "Petrol" & "Cloud 9"... Most of those nights were on once-a-month and lasted from a few months to a year; until a name change.
  
  At their peak these events attracted crowds of 150-250 people on a Thursday night and could go to 4-5am. We'd often get home after dawn on Fridays...
  
  In contrast to the other clubs I was involved with (at the Heaven venue during these years) these events had more of an emphasis on poppier genres like '80s-'90s indie pop-punk-rock, britpop, electronica and '80s new wave. My main role as a DJ at these events though was to play for the goths and "rivetheads" (industral music fans) ie. the people who were there to hear some electro industrial, darkwave, goth, EBM (electronic body music), shoegazer, grunge, post punk and similar.
  
  As to why we kept changing club names I recall it was due to a mixture of: i) a different line-up of DJs; ii) a different person co-ordinating; or iii) we got bored of a name and wanted to try a new one.
  DJs at the events included: Robot (as 'J Citizen', among other names), Blake 7, Red Sonja, Nic Toupee, Alex and Bluehawken Mel...
  
  With these nights and the more goth-industrial-focused nights (Oblivion and Millenium) it meant the alternative music scene usually had at least 2 alternative-scene club nights per month at the Heaven venue. And also 1-2 similar clubs per month at The Asylum venue (which I recall closed in early-mid '96). The period of 1994-96 was a particularly peak time for the alternative music clubbing scene. I DJ'd at nearly all of these events. For several years I was DJing once a week.
  
  By 1997 other DJs had moved away or lost interest and so Jo (my partner in the goth-industrial nights for many years) and I named the continuing event "NEXUS". After she permanently moved to Melbourne I angled the music away from the goth-darkwave-electro-industrial focus (of Oblivion and Millenium) to the more general alternative genres, like the events named at the start of this section. That was in order to attract a larger scene of people and keep it all going. I kept NEXUS going for several years until I "retired" in 2000 from DJing & running regular club events; for a while at least ;-) ...
  I recall it took several years, in the early '00s, before some other people started up similar club events (with names like 'Lithium' at Toast and then later on there was 'Rev' at Bar 32, in the mid-late '00s); that were in the same vein as NEXUS and these aforementioned predecessor '90s alternative scene club events.

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• During the mid '90s I also assisted with several events for the "Clan Analogue" collective at Heaven nightclub..

• I was also occasionally called in to fill spaces on nights when other DJs were ill or had otherwise not shown up.

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I recall I "retired" from the regular club DJing in mid-late 2000. It was due to having a more demanding job that meant I could no longer afford the time and lack of sleep. That's why my 6-years of DJing at Heaven nightclub ended. I recall that the Heaven venue closed during 2001.

1996-January: Sydney BIG DAY OUT - I performed synthesizers and percussion as part of a one-off electronica group called "STOAT" aka "CLANBERRA" which was the headlining sunset act on the outdoor Clan Analogue stage.

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1996 or 1997: I performed live dark electronica post-industrial music at the Canberra Art School Ball. It was a mix of tracks that were otherwise released by the AYA & EYE music projects.

Sometime during 1996 I also DJ'd several times at a club event for alternative music that was held at The Terminus Bar, in Civic, Canberra. The club only ran a few times and I can't recall the name of it; only that it was co-ordinated by the initial editor of BMA magazine, Lisa H.

1995 March: I composed part of the score and performed (with a mix of synthesizers and pre-recorded soundscapes) the soundtrack for the Pure Theatre production of "The Second Scream" at the Street Theatre; directed by Patrick Troy; starring David Branson among others. Pure Theatre was a side-project of the larger Splinters Theatre of Spectacle (link to an archive). Splinters put on numerous large and spectacular experimental interactive theatre events from the mid-1980s through to the late '90s.

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1994-August-06: Performed original live electronic industrial rock music at the "Indyfest" event which was held at the ANU Refectory. My project was billed as "Aphazia"; as part of the Clan Analogue section. The after party was held at The Asylum Civic venue as part of the "Smile" club event where I performed live percussion for "Dark Network" (a "stoner acid" analogue-synths electronica project).

1994 around November: I performed live electro industrial music at the "Yakfest" event held at the ANU refectory; as part of the Clan Analogue section.

1994 mid-year: I composed and performed the live soundtrack for the D.I.G.I.T. Theatre experimental production of "3DTV" at Gorman House Arts Centre. It was produced by Luhsun Tan (portfolio) and included a cast of actors, performers and artists involved with the Splinters Theatre of Spectacle; see the link elsewhere on this page.

1995 mid-year: I played live synthesizers as part of a one-off band to back the performance of a touring Croatian poet at the Deakin Croatian Club. I also DJ'd the after party at Gorman House Arts Centre.

1993-1995:

DJ'd dozens of times at several monthly (ongoing) alternative music night clubs that were held at The Asylum venue (in Civic). The event names included "Cactoblastis", "Fudge" & "Boiinngg!!" ... These covered styles of alternative music such as: indie rock, gothic, electro pop, industrial (rock & metal), electronica, EBM, shoegazer, post punk, new wave, cyberpunk, techno and house. DJs included Robot (J Citizen), Kali, Bluehawken Mel, Nic Toupee, Ben & Alex.

1993:

DJ'd a dozen or so times at The Base nightclub (Manuka) - our weekly event name was "Cactoblastis". It covered a wide range of alternative music genres with a focus on electro, industrial, electronica, goth, techno, EBM, shoegazer, indie, acid house, post punk, new wave and cyberpunk. DJs: Robot (J Citizen), Bluehawken Mel and Carly Roberts; aka DJ Kali who is still DJing (in Sydney) as of 2019; managing Picnic touring & events. Cactoblastis evolved out of "Mudclub" (see notes below). Thank-you to Ken Jensen of The Base for giving us the opportunity to continue DJing after Mudclub ceased. Sadly The Base club closed in later 1993. Sadly I've lost the few flyers I kept.

Mid year (Winter) I DJ'd at the "Mentasm" big 2-room Rave dance party event held at the (old) Griffin centre building (which was demolished around 2005). The event was organised by a fellow called Chris Fraser otherwise known as DJ Fresh who later opened the popular Academy nightclub in the 00s.

I also DJ'd at the ANU Bar & Refectory as part of "Indyfest" or "Yakfest" (can't recall the name) which was a large multi-band rock concert event.

1992-1993:

DJ'd around 6 times at "Mudclub" - a great and eclectic club featuring live bands, (controversial) performance art, spoken word, art displays and DJs - which occurred initially at The Zone nightclub (Braddon, A.C.T.) and then at The Base (Manuka, A.C.T.). Music I DJ'd included post punk, new wave, industrial, electronica, goth, cyberpunk, techno, EBM, acid house... DJs: Robot, Bluehawken Mel and the organiser Clint Hurrell (link to his portfolio site). If I had to choose, of all the events I've been involved with, I think I might rate these as the most interesting and enjoyable.

I extend a BIG "Thank-You" to Mel and Clint who talked me in to DJing at events when I previously had not had any thought of ever doing it. And likewise to all the friends over the years who invited me to participate with the projects that they initiated and to those who motivated me to organise (hundreds of) events.

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To return to the DJ Robot Citizen Portfolio

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