‍Revolver Upstairs is arguably the most iconic nightclub in Australia. This is largely attributed to their unique offerings of music, space, community and culture. Most people have heard of the venue as a weekly 3 day bender along with a handful of rumours and stories. However people think about Revs, one thing is certain, there is nothing else like it anywhere else in Australia, let alone the world. Whether you love it, hate it or haven't been, Revolver Upstairs is special. ‍ ## The History of Revolver Upstairs For those who don't know, Revs is in a massive european style building, with large columns running over 4 or 5 levels. The facade is grand and weathered. As you look through the far left window you see sun bleached red drapes and feels hauntingly. ‍ "The Colosseum" as you see it today was built in 1914, after a fire ruined the old building (Est. 1897). After decades of mostly retail stores and a brief stint as a parachute factory, Tan Punturaumporn, a Thai pop star, bought the building in 1996 for $770,000. ‍ Tan Punturaumporn opened Revolver Music Gallery on the ground level, selling art and music. Then in 11 September 1997, Revolver Upstairs opened with the help of a prominent Melbourne nightclub owner Camillo Ippoliti. ‍ Revolver Upstairs originally centred around live music and art, with rehearsal rooms out the back and the stage area which is still in use. The centrepiece of Revolver Upstairs is music. Most of resident DJs playing there today have playing at Revs for over 20 years, week in week out. Each in their own right worldclass. This remarkable consistency has earnt the respect and trust of the city over a number of generations. Of course, they also give a lot of promoters and new DJs that play every week to keep it fresh, but the main attractions are the resident legends. ‍ On a Friday, bands play in the stage area from 8pm often till around 11pm. Then at midnight a different promoter/event brand plays until 5am. In the Cage, starting from 7pm is a mix of residents and fresh DJs until 7am. At which point, 'Sunshine' plays her 7am, 5 hour closing set called "Rise & Shine". ‍ Revs reopens at 5pm for Dinner service till 10pm, DJs start at 7pm. On the stage and in the cage from midnight, is a new mix of residents and non-resident DJs until 7am. ‍ Sunday 7am is what Revs is known for most. The prime time slot is usually left to long time residents Boogs, T-Rek or Spacey Space. With often all three playing one after another until 2pm or 3pm. It is at this point that the music reaches another gear and the best of the crowd is left. This 7am slot is what you talk about in the following days and years to come. You don't want to leave. While people think it's only the time for sesh gremlins (and there is a bit of that) it is actually people being unable to leave because of the music. ‍ From 8pm, revolver teams up with huge melbourne event organiser, artist management and touring agent giants, 'Thick As Thieves', to showcase some of the best electronic DJs on tour in Australia, along with morer resident DJs. This ends around 7-9am Monday morning. At which point, people still going go to Breakfast Club at OneSixOne till Tuesday 3am. ‍ Categorising electronic music is always a losing battle, but we will do our best to describe it for people that aren't experts. It is somewhere in the range of house and techno. People have used terms like deep house, acid, progressive house & dark techno. From the untrained ear, the music at times feels murky and dark, it chugs along with a lot of bass without being too fast or too intense. The styles of music also depends on the DJs and what time of the night it is. With 3am-4am, often being darker and murkier and 7-10am being lighter, bit more uplifting and housey-er. Of course, sprinkled in throughout the night is a wide range of different types of electronic music. ‍ When walking down Chapel St on any given night you can get caught up in all the random, often loud, stimulus that's happening at eye level, that it's easy sometimes to miss revs. But if you can manage to ignore all the chap laps, drunk strangers carrying on and homeless people, look up at the huge colosseum before going in. There's not much signage or anything very distinguishable about the entrance. ‍ Once you aren't a dickhead to the seccys and you get let in, you'll wander up the revs stairs. These stairs are probably the most pictured and memed nightclub stairs in Australia. Walking up those stairs is like entering another world. It's super grungey, with all the graffiti, stickers and show posters, and it's steep. The best is: the interaction you have with people going down the stairs when you are coming up. In that, you get a glimpse of what you are in for. ‍ An ingenious ticketing system, where you buy a ticket from the nice grungey lady inside of a cage then immediately hand it to a person just next to the cage and then you can walk in. ‍ All we can say is there's two rooms, one with a cage and one with a stage. The one with the cage has some couches. That's all you need to know, go check it out for yourself, we won't do it justice. ‍ One of the other beloved areas of Revolver Upstairs is the smoker's area. There's not much to it other than it's an outside rectangle with some cool art around the place. It is a must go. ‍ Look, it does and it doesn't depend when you go. On the one hand, if you Saturday 12am-3am you'll see what feels like most other clubs on Chapel St, Thursday 11-3am is very young and not that interesting and Sunday Nights if there's a big headliner can feel like anywhere else. On the other hand, even at those times and, especially, prime times Saturday and Sunday 7am, you'll find all walks of life. Revs is home to everyone that respects it. An inforced 'no dickhead' policy has served the venue well, despite some slipping through the cracks. ‍ One of the most astonishing things about Revolver Upstairs is most people know what they are in for and they respect it. If you go at night, not many people are on their phones and any flash photography is a sin. With the only exceptions being Dom Dolla's surprise set, Fat Boy Slim and a few other anomalies, but even then people use it sparing and it's almost just part of the show. ‍ At night, it's very dark, you can't even really see people. But that's the best part, you can get lost in the music while worrying about anyone else. In the mornings, when vision returns you'll see a wide range of people. For instance, Revs is the go to nightclub for hospo workers that have worked all night till the early hours and still want a night out, so at 5am it's not uncommon to have an injection of fresh faces keen to boogie. While there are others who have been there for a bewildering amount of time. ‍ Because everyone knows what they are in for and they respect what revs is, there is a sense of community. People look out for each other, make sure people are okay, have extended D&Ms with strangers and bond over the absurdity of it all. There are countless stories of revs being the backdrop to lifelong friendships, marriages and unforgettable interactions. ‍ One of the often overlooked aspects of Revs is the art. The confirmed rumour of an original Banksy artwork is on the wall. Not to mention, all the weird and wonderful objects scattered around the venue, that you will just have to find. The art installments are changed regularly and are prioritised as highly as the music. The aesthetic plays one of the factors that also keeps you in the venue during daylight hours. ‍ The culture includes the famous busboys with torch in mouth and bucket in hand brave the rooms scavenging for empties. We say famous because the annual busboy calendar flies off the shelves. The staff play an important role of curating the experience; they are the line line between it becoming a dump and it being cool and grungey and the line between it being a dangerous drug infested free-for-all and a place where people will look after you. ‍ One of the best things to tell people about, that aren't from Melbourne but know the stories, is that Revs is also a Thai Restaurant. Colonel Tan's named after the venue owner Tan Punturaumporn are pays homage to the big man's Thai culture. Some foodies call it "Thai Fusion", locals say get the popcorn chicken and we say get the Pad Kee Mow with Duck. The restaurant is actually good; families go their for dinner during the week or people your parents age go to mix it up. The best part of the Colonel Tan's is: the overlap between the people that are there to enjoy a nice meal and the people getting there early to engage in hedonism. More often than not that happens on a Thursday, when young chaps are going out for the first time, don't know how to go out, get places super early and are too pissed. ‍ Something some people don't know about Revs, is the shared working space downstairs, 'Revolver Laneway'. For those people that don't want to leave at 9am Monday they can roll downstairs, get back into the real world and do some work. ‍ It's worthwhile checking out the reddit threads that exacerbated, if not caused, the stories about Revs: [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/2xqxeq/fellow_revolver_veterans_kindly_share_your/) & [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/2xn6ma/i_used_to_work_at_revolver_ama/) Most Notably: - The Turkey in the Revs Smoking Area - The rumour of a dead body behind the couch/under the pool table that wasn't found for 3 days‍