A very tired but happy ending to 2024, as Melbourne’s FLESH RITUALS & SIREN SONGS draws to a close. We’re so deeply grateful for all the wild magics, Witnessing, support, intimacy and connection that has been the hallmark of these events. Below is just a snapshot of the depths that we descended to…
FLESH RITUALS & SIREN SONGS:
20 December, Stay Gold, Brunswick
Photography: Nicholas Bexter Photography
THE SAFETY WORD / VON RIGA / MISTRESS SIN





The Safety Word led us gently into the darkness with their brand of chill synth-wave, joined in the ocean of sound by pirate rigger Von Riga and Mistress Sin in mermaid form. A perfect descent into dreaming for the beginning of the journey.
THE OMEGA POINT / INFERNAL DESIRE MACHINE






Opening up the circle in earnest, The Omega Point & Infernal Desire Machine emerged from the darkness of the room and onto the stage. As Alex sang of the goddess, ecological collapse and the rage of all who witness, they were bound in plants and ropes by Sai Lillith & Eve X to the sound track of a disquieting array of found objects and enveloping uneasy electronica. The ritual reached its peak in a crescendo of sound and the violent deforestation of Alex’s ropes and foliage.
BABY VOODOO





The hottest sacrilege ever performed at The Soft Machine, Baby Voodoo and their partner created an erotic summoning that was as cheeky, connective and intimate as it was deliciously carnal. In their own words, “Pope Francis opens the Fifth Portal and this is what he finds in Lucifer’s Tomb on Christmas Eve”. We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
ZCLUSTER / HIMBOY






Diving deep into the void, Sai Jaiden Lillith screamed, crooned and whispered uninhibited invocations within the bindings of Himboy’s ropes and INfest8’s wall of Industrial Electronic sound and fury as they were Witnessed by the enraptured crowd. Pushing their mind and body to the limit, Himboy and Sai danced in the ropes between flirtation, agony and tenderness, from the floor to convolutions in suspension bondage, the perfect visual counterpoint to ZCluster’s evocations. Sai’s vulnerability and fierceness in the ropes comes through in every word from their lips, unmasked on stage and dancing on the bed of flames that INfest8 creates.


DANE BLACKLOCK & THE PREACHER’S DAUGHTER







The perfect culmination of hedonistic frenzy, rebellion against the gates of an intolerant heaven and orgiastic abandon, Dane Blacklock & The Preacher’s Daughter took to the stage in a storm of fire, brimstone and gleeful wickedness.
Whipping the crowd into a frenzy of dance, chorus and cheering, harvesting souls left right and centre and annointing the foreheads of the damned with filth and exhorting all to sin at all times, Dane Blacklock and the band always give from the very depths of their black, black hearts and tortured souls.




In amongst all the rock’n’roll and theatrics there is a very real and intimate grief about the world and how we live, and there’s no place that this comes through more than in the moment of Dane Blacklock alone, playing an acoustic guitar and singing with a gleam in their eyes from something other than mischief.
A beautiful and powerful show for the from Dane Blacklock & The Preacher’s Daughter as they recoup and regenerate from their unrelenting run of intense live shows.
RED RAKIA DANCE





Closing off the bands and performance part of the night and opening the dance floor up to the sounds of Koil Statik, Red Rakia put on a mesmerising display of fire and light on the floor, entwined in a dance of flesh and flames. This photonic, pyrokinetic witch is truly wonderous to witness, with onlookers held hypnotised by their flow.
DJ’s Koil Statik and Syme Tollens rolled out the rest of the night with grinding sexy beats and style, leading all who felt called to dance down into the ending of the ritual.
It’s been an honour and a delight to have brought together such talent, intimacy and connection for this pair of shows in Sydney and Melbourne. A massive thanks to EVERYONE who turned up and made our first show at Stay Gold the amazing experience that it was, all our soul siblings in bands and performers, and the staff for just being genuinely lovely humans creating a great, safe atmosphere. Special thanks to Sai’s dedicated submissive Carina Rosenoire, without whom Sai would have drowned completely under the seas of social media content and scheduling, and Eve X for taking the online aesthetics to the next level and absolutely cranking the promotion in the last three weeks before the show to get the numbers through the door. Huge, huge love to Nicholas Bexter Photography for all the amazing captures, and Photoyunist for filming the night! We’re so looking forward to seeing the moving, breathing, copulating life that was Flesh Rituals & Siren Songs! Big love to Demasque Magazine for always promoting us, and all of our media friends. Thanks to all the friends, family and supporters who did what they could from postering to baby sitting to make this all happen. We couldn’t have done it without you!
And now it is time to rest, and dream of what the next revolution of this sacred dirt around the burning orb will bring…
With love