Bear Guide: Soaked, New York City
New York City is home to many great gay club nights, but one of our favorites is Soaked, held monthly at Rockbar. Soaked is a night full of body positivity, great music, drag, bears and go-go dancers. Plus, they have a wet underwear contest!
To find out more, we spoke to the organisers Matty B and J.Rios:
Hi guys! Why don’t we start by having you tell us about yourselves and your backgrounds
My name is Matty B. I’m of Italian and Irish decent. I’m a native New Yorker and a licensed hair stylist. I am also a special organizer for the NYC Veterans Day parade, an active member of The American Legion Post 1291 and an activist for current active duty military and veterans needs and causes.
I started in the club scene about 8 years ago while working with the Furball Party at various places such as XL lounge, Space Ibiza, Santos House, Stage 48, Cielo and The Copacabana. While working with these places I realized that I wanted to be more involved with nightlife scene and to bring something that was different to a scene that had a lot of the same parties. So when my best friend J.Rios and myself talked about what we wanted to do to change things up, Soaked was born!
My name is J.Rios, I’m of Puerto Rican decent, a native New Yorker and a professional artist/make-up artist. I have been working in the club industry for over 20 years. It all started back in the days of Limelight, Webster Hall, and Club USA.
Being a club kid opened my eyes to many opportunities in the circuit world. So, I took my chances and moved to Miami Florida where I worked at such places as Salvation, Crowbar, Liquid and Level just to name a few. I was able to gain a lot of experience and knowledge from all different walks of life in the scene.
As the scene declined, I realized that there would never be anything like it again so I made a promise to myself when moving back to New York I would create a party and bring to it what I learned in the past and create something new. The outcome of these experiences brought us Soaked!
How long has Soaked been going for?
Two and a half years strong, thanks to Rockbar NYC and the Soaked staff.
What made you start it?
We thought it was time to bring back something old with a new twist in order to reinvent a declining scene.
What does a typical Soaked party involve?
When you walk into Soaked you can expect to dance to some amazing music by DJ Ted Bishop Nieves and see some drag numbers performed by Viva Vidalia and Misty Mountains Davenport. You can also get in the mood with our resident go-go Dan Jimenez and the rest of our soaked go-go boys to make your night special.
Did I forgot to mention that we have a wet underwear contest at the end of the night, and everyone is allowed to participate?! Whoever wins the wet underwear contest that night gets a chance to become a go-go dancer for the next party the following month. They also automatically get entered into the Mr. Soaked competition as an extra added bonus.
Who can come to Soaked?
We are a body positivity party and we are open to people from all different walks of life. This party is to give the everyday person a chance to be involved in the NYC nightlife when maybe they never thought they can be that dancer or performer up on stage in the community. We feel that everyone and anyone should get the chance to shine.
Where and when is Soaked held?
Soaked takes place every month on the third Saturday of the month at our home bar Rockbar NYC located at 185 Christopher St., New York, NY 10014 in the West Village.
Do you run any other parties?
We have had other parties in the past. Currently we just have Soaked but we are relaunching an old party we threw and developing some new parties in the very near future so definitely keep your eyes open for them.
What’s new or coming up for Soaked in 2019?
We are happy to announce that we just sashed Mr. Soaked 2019 – Maxx Carlisle-King, and Miss. Soaked 2019 – Justin William Brown.
We also have our sponsor Kip Silva with the Kstraps fashion show this year and looking ahead is our Mr. Soaked 2020 competition, happening in January.
Where can readers find out more about Soaked?
If anybody wants to know more about Soaked or any upcoming events, they could go to our Facebook page at Locura Productions NYC
