The YUMM party is easily one of Rover’s most energetic so far. The LGBTQIA+ night attracts a diverse range of people with a loud and bubbly atmosphere, keeping the dancefloor alive with everything from vogue and Jersey club, to electro and bass music, to anything “sexy and slithering.” The focus is on Bangkok’s queer community and the youth of Thailand, but everyone is welcome as long as they come with an open mind—and people from all walks of life definitely come through.
YUMM’s next party is at Rover on Saturday, Jan 18th with Saigon’s VAPCUCDA as special guests.
YUMM launched their party last July at Rover during the Pride celebration as a way to bring underground club culture to a wider crowd. “Club and music knowledge is a luxury, so how can we address that?” asks says Sriracha Czaddy, who founded the party alongside DJ duo Soup snakeS. “In Bangkok, there’s a distinct line drawn between mainstream gay clubs and everything else. I question that pipeline and hope to broaden the horizon.”
Czaddy emphasizes the need to create a sustainable community for Bangkok, and to do this, they aim to attract seasoned club rats and homebodies alike, with everyone letting loose to the music together. The wider the spectrum of people interested, the more solid their community’s roots are, after all. One way they approach building this scene is by supporting local and regional artists. They often book artists from Vietnam and Soup snakeS drops sets entirely comprised of East and Southeast Asian artists.
“The club scene is still very small, so we’re always trying to introduce our audience to new music,” Czaddy says. “The music from Asia tends to be more interesting and uninhibited—it’s much more exciting for us to draw from the people, artists, and DJs surrounding around us rather than looking elsewhere for trends to follow.” They also think that bringing in people who can put on a whole performance is more interesting than someone who simply DJs, and that’s certainly been the case so far, with many of their guests getting down in the middle of the dancefloor rather than staying safely behind the decks.
Having a safer space policy is also important to them. Czaddy says that Bangkok is generally quite safe for gender expression, but that some venues and parties can make things confusing for partygoers. They tell of an experience going to another party where they weren’t allowed in because they didn’t fit the “gender dress code.” “As a cis-gay-male, this was beyond puzzling, so imagine what my trans and femme friends experience on a daily basis.”
YUMM is still developing their formula, as are many other like-minded parties popping up around them. There’s no fixed approach, other than making sure everyone feels comfortable. “Every city has its own unique way of expressing themselves. We hope to create a space that nurtures the expressions of different identities; anything beyond what’s considered the norm.” And by space, they mean a real-life, physical space. “My favorite thing about this is that everyone is enjoying themselves together and fully living in the moment. It’s so hard to come by in our current hyper-digital age.”
