Erotic Vancouver Interview

Interview link here.

This interview was scheduled to go up on Monday, March 14th, and by then you’ll have a few more pictures, and a proper introduction to go with it. But Erotic Vancouver decided to take advantage of the fact this copy hit the editor’s in-box early to get it up ahead of the Rubbout 25 Kick Off Party happening Friday, March 11 at The PumpJack Pub.

Rubbout itself happens from March 31 to April 3, and it promises to be an event to remember, and if at all possible one not to be missed. At 25 years of age it’s not only Vancouver’s longest running kink event, it’s also North America’s oldest Rubber Weekend.

It also holds a special place in the heart of this interviewer, as without the influence of Rubbout creator Bill Houghton, aka Northwind, I might never have begun throwing events myself, and I certainly never would have learned of the joys of putting on rubber wear just to go walk in the rain!

This year’s Rubbout is being put together by a fantastic team of dedicated volunteers, and I was lucky enough to get one of them, Reid, to answer my questions about the weekend.

In the fetish and kink scene here in Vancouver, longevity is often measured in just a few years, but Rubbout is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. Can you explain Rubbout’s history in brief, without taking up the entire word count I’ve allocated for this interview?

Rubbout began in the early 90s as Bill Houghton’s annual rubber house party, intent on getting local guys into rubber fetish together for play and socializing. Before the internet, Bill Houghton did all his advertising through snail mail mailers – posting flyers in conjunction with trips, mailing flyers to contacts overseas, mailing flyers to anyone who was interested in maybe coming to the weekend. A lot of mailings every new year, just after Christmas. It certainly did start from very modest roots.

So we are a quarter century removed from the very first Rubbout organized by Bill Houghton, who was perhaps better known back then as Northwind. Can you tell me a little bit about that, and about how much bigger Rubbout has become then he must have originally imagined?

Bill hosted the annual rubber party on Saturday and decided to add a Meet and Greet as an additional Friday event, and Rubbout was born. For the first few years this was the format, I believe as the internet expanded its reach, there was a desire for different types of events, guests and features and this is how the schedule of events has grown. Mitch took the event and ran with it for eight years or so, really growing it and always making it fresh and interesting. Over the past few years we have been doing 7-10 events on the weekend, and this year we’re bloating out at 13. Sometimes it is compacted into a single weekend, sometimes spread over two weekends, depending on venues, sponsor requirements and whether it has fallen on an Easter weekend or not. We try to keep it as close to the beginning of April as possible. As it is with most annual events with a large audience, once you eke out your consistent weekend dates, it can be quite troublesome to move it as you are always going to end up conflicting with some other organizer’s event.

So 25 years, that’s a hell of an accomplishment. What special things have you got planned for this year’s weekend?

We’ve found that with a fetish such as rubber that touches on so many other fetishes and kinks, we want to try to create events that include our brothers from other tribes. In addition to the traditional Meet & Greet and Brunch, over the past five years we’ve found such events as the Gear Swap and Pup Mosh to be extremely successful so they have become permanent fixtures of the weekend. If we see an opportunity to get a booking in a unique venue it inspires us to put on something different from year to year. We’ve got the big Elemental party going on at Gorg-O-Mish on Friday night which is new for us and will definitely be a highlight of the weekend. Because it’s a big anniversary this year, we wanted to show our appreciation for the local fetish and kink communities which is why we’re putting on a circus-themed event at Pumpjack on Thursday night. Throw in a few VIP receptions, and of course our epic play party on Saturday night and you’ve got a full schedule. We tried a one-off wrap up play party on Sunday last year which was really well-received so we are going to expand that this year as well.

The theme of this year’s Rubbout is Elemental. How was that idea arrived at, and how is that going to be invoked at the weekend’s various events?

Rob thought up Elemental before Rubbout 24. It was different…not really a definable term therefore it could be interpreted in a myriad of ways; a mental state, the foundations of chemistry, the four traditional elements….so many routes the theme could take. I think you’ll see the biggest invocations of the theme on Thursday March 31 at the Circus Community Party and Friday April 1 at the Dance Party, but I don’t want to give away any surprises!

No event this big can’t happen without a lot of pieces coming together, and a lot of support. So let me begin by asking who are the Rubbout 25 sponsors, and what are they contributing or making possible over the weekend?

Every year we do marketing campaigns with DailyXtra.com, Squirt and Gayvan Travel Marketing. NoSafeWord.com is a funny gay kink podcast out of Seattle that I do a show or two with every year. This year they are doing a live podcast from Pumpjack on Saturday afternoon April 2. We do a lot of cross promotion with other websites and groups. This year it’s Leatherati.com, Sin City, Seattle, Toronto and San Francisco Rubbermen, among many others.

Our retail sponsors always are the ones that provide us with our awesome rubbergear, toys, prize baskets and other giveaways for our raffle draws, and some years also provide rubber for our models, dancers and Rubbershine boys to wear throughout the weekend. This year I feel really honored to have some rubber industry heavy-hitters such as Latexcatfish, Invincible Rubber and Latexskin on board. We have several new up-and-coming companies actually providing a vendor presence at the SaturdayMarket – Kinx Toy Emporium, House of Basciano, Fierce Fetish Gear. Doghouse Leathers in Seattle is providing some prizes, as is Little Sister’s here in Vancouver, Rubberzone.com is providing membership discounts for all weekend attendees and some DVDs of their creations made in their Portland-based rubber fetish porn studio, Deadly Couture is providing in-store discounts for Rubbout attendees, and Top Drawers is gracious enough to sell tickets for our Elemental Party. Hopefully some of the guys will buy stuff from the local merchants for the parties on the weekend!

Of course we have to appreciate our venue and hotel partners: Pumpjack Pub, Steamworks Baths, 8×6, Gorg-O-Mish, Sandman Suites on Davie, and the Holiday Inn Downtown on Howe. The organizations we work with on the weekend make the whole thing possible: Vancouver Men in Leather, Vancouver Rubbermen (who will be unveiling their inaugural logo on Rubbout weekend), Rainy City Rubbermen, Vancouver Pups and Handlers(Van-PAH), LuvPack YVR, Rough Trade Vancouver and the Health Initiative for Men (HIM).

Wow! That’s a lot of different groups and business making this happen, and it’s great to see how much everyone appreciates what an amazing weekend, what an amazing experience Rubbout is.

So, following on form that, tell me about the different events that make up Rubbout 25, and the venues each is happening in?

Rubbout is hosting a big ELEMENTAL CIRCUS-themed kink community celebration event on the evening of Thursday March 31, 2016 at Pumpjack Pub. Rubbout is inviting all the men and women, queers and straights, individuals and groups of the Vancouver kink and fetish community to celebrate the silver anniversary with Rubbout 25 attendees “Under The Big Top”. Expect a circus!
On Friday April 1, we continue with a Bill Houghton-hosted VIP Happy Hour Friday afternoon in the Sandman Suites on Davie, then Vancouver Men in Leather host a Meet and Greet and Registration package pickup Friday evening at Pumpjack, and then the “Elemental.” dance party goes on at Gorg-O-Mish starting at 9:30. This is the main dance party of the Rubbout 25: Elemental weekend. The official after-party carries on at Steamworks Vancouver…you can shake your ass in two venues on Friday!

Saturday April 2 morning, the Seattle men’s rubber group, Rainy City Rubbermen are having a brunch at Moxies in the Sandman Suites in the morning hosted by current Mr. International Rubber, Jeffrey Gummibarchen from Chicago. In the afternoon is the merge of all the men’s kink groups in Vancouver at Pumpjack Pub. The annual Rubbout gear swap starts at 1pm, the Van-PAH Puppybowl III pup mosh starts at 2pm, and the Vancouver Rubbermen rubber bondage gear demos start at 3. This year will have a few extra treats. There will be several retailers booths in the shopping zone, OutTV will be filming on location, and the No Safe Word crew will be live streaming their podcast from Pumpjack starting at 3:30pm!

Saturday night is when things get black, slick and sticky at 8×6. If you’ve been to a Rubbout weekend play party before, you know how fun, intense, and sexy they are. This will be a sexual event with a large play area, a demo area and full-service bar, change area, and coat check. Dress code will be in effect.

The thirsty and famished will be satiated as we all join together at the Holiday Inn on Howe for the largest traditional SundayRubbout brunch in history! We will take a trip down memory lane of the great memories and accomplishments over the past 25 years celebrating all things Rubbout.
For those individuals whose weekend play goals aren’t completed, Steamworks is hosting a Black Yellow Red party. Honoring the rubber pride flag, this recent addition to the Rubbout schedule celebrates everything masculine, wet and hot.

....and the exclusive extended interview...

What are you hoping that the attendees experience this weekend, and what feelings or ideas you hope they will leave with? If I’m not trying to make this too deep, answering “An amazingly great and sexy time,” is of course a perfectly acceptable answer.

I'm hoping everyone will be blown away by the shiny sights and tight spectacles of the weekend. A 25th anniversary doesn't come every day and it certainly is cause for a big loud, extended celebration! I want everyone who came to leave in awe of what a community-based group can accomplish and I want everyone who decided to skip this year to really regret their decision.

What do you anticipate being your own favorite part of the weekend, and why? Don’t cheat by answering “When it’s all over,” given the amount of work this will all be.

I am always looking forward to the one-time one-off events each year. This year that will be the Elemental Circus on Thursday and the Elemental Dance party on Friday. They are being produced by Reive Doig, Mitch Kenyon, Andy Cook and the LuvPack, so I'm really looking forward to experiencing what these extremely competent producers have up their sleeves! The Gear Swap, Demos, Pup Mosh and Market always have, in my opinion, the most playful energy of the weekend and I really respond to that. Of course, sex is a wonderful component of the weekend; the sex parties are always good and this year's party at 8x6 is destined to be our biggest and baddest yet.

Finally, can you tell me what this all means to you? And by “all” you choose, whether it’s kink, or rubber, or Rubbout specifically, what does it all mean to you?

Wow, what a loaded question. I'm a very extroverted and community-focused individual. If I don't see something I want, I have this constant issue of wanting to try to create it. A god complex perhaps? Haha

When Mitch approached me about taking the reins of control with Rubbout six years ago, I knew it was somewhat of a destiny fulfillment; a merging of all my perversions, interests and strengths all in one event. I wanted to meet other people into fetish and kink and I like to party so what better way to express that than throw a big perverted party?

Five years later, due to its community-based planning and execution, I still believe Rubbout provides a unique opportunity to allow rubbermen and kinksters of all stripes to meet other like-minded people, allows people to feel comfortable in their freaky skin for a few days no matter their background and where they have to be on Monday morning, and lets us all really feel a sense of community belonging. When I hear the stories of what went on after the event is over, particularly from the newbies emoting excitedly with huge smiles on their faces...these are the stories that really resonate with me and remind me why I continue to kill myself getting this event executed year after year :-)