Well, we’ve had long enough to recover from what was possibly one of the best AWOL’s ever. The feedback I’ve gotten is awesome and I couldn’t be happier with how the “new look” Hustle went.

Unfortunately, I was not there from Wednesday onwards due to health issues. Thankfully Mark and our amazing crew took over and ripped AWOL a new one. So instead of my usual AWOL wrap, I decided to ask some of the hard working crew what they thought of AWOL 2024.

Cheers, Brett (AWOL 2024 Producer)

JAY – LAIRD LEATHERMAN 2024

“The week has been quite the ride. I have learned so much about what goes on behind the scenes to make weeks like this happen. And all I can say it is not easy, but my god is it worthwhile. Success can never occur without sacrifice or obstacle, and I truly applaud everyone that worked their tits off to make this week happen. The drive and commitment to providing for this community is an incredible thing to be a part of and it’s even better when community rocks up to engage, to come together and share space. Thank you to everyone involved.”

To read Jay’s full AWOL wrap up, CLICK HERE

CRAIG – DOWN AN’ DIRTY

“Sessions were an absolute highlight, were so lucky to have such amazing kink practitioners willing to share their time and experience.

“High Shine was an amazing friendly and social night, met new guys from interstate which was great.”

“Hustle was amazing, full cow, sexy leather vibe. The play area and the piss cam were great to set the mood.”

5 stars 🌟 would recommend 😜”

DR GEORGE FORGAN-SMITH

“I have to say the participants of the Sessions classes were really fun and engaged. Def a crew I’d love to see upskill as players. You’ve got the engagement and advertising mix spot on.”

 

DEE – SERIAL VOLUNTEER

“I was there on Friday night doing the cloak room. Was a smooth night cloaking and fun energy with Kink Wars.

“I came to set up cloak for Hustle and get it started… The energy was high, the set up inside was spectacular 😍. If I was not so tired from work, I would have stayed on 😏.

BRUCE / DADDY SHADENFRUEDE

“It was an intense fantastic week. I loved the workshop with BJ and Dr George, learned so much, then Wednesday was so much fun pegging and zapping Graham on stage with James. Loved the look in the eyes across the floor as the sparks hit his parts. He loved it also. Then to wrap and cage rainman Gregory like he was part of the furniture.

Thursday also had fun turning gimp into a badged wrapped mummy.

…Hustle was the best, spent so much time in the dark rooms, especially loved the pissing grate and Livestream. Was an awesome week. Thanks for making it happen and providing the safe space for it to happen. Let's not wait till next AWOL to do this all again!”

 

MARK / D-KRAM

“My night DJ’ing at the Jock Party was a lot of fun. I was quite nervous for the first 30 mins as one of my playlists I'd put together fkd up and threw me for a bit. Once I got that fixed the rest went smoothly. Ps it was only me that noticed this btw - haha. The vibe was fun with lots of people chatting and quite a few having a little dance here and there. Lots of shenanigans in the dark corners too. I had a number of people tell me they really enjoyed the music I played, and they appreciated that I restrained myself from banging it too hard haha.

All in all, from my perspective it was a successful event and Mark, Myka and the boys did a fantastic job of looking after everyone.”

MARCUS / HYPERPRISM

“DJ Hyperprism here...aka Marcus ;)

Really great stuff for AWOL this year! I had the pleasure of attending Hustle on Saturday as both a DJ and punter. It was a really great night all round! Lots of smiles and happy men doing their thing. Plenty of new faces and new get ups too.

Having the Darkroom next to the DJ booth was a great idea. People were really curious about it, and it gave a good flow to the dancefloor. Also, having to actually get through the darkroom to DJ was fun too 😈

The lights from Craig Fussell were fab. He told me he used this prism light that kept the beams above head height; it left darker areas on the dancefloor for people to dance, mingle, chill or get naughty in.

Nuggets Bar was packed when I arrived and (as I was informed) it stayed that way throughout the night. The blow up chains were great decor and the addition of the water-sports section was very cool too. Big ups to you guys for having a space like that at Laird!! (more please!)

One of my favourite things about AWOL this year was definitely the flyer artwork from Kenny. The sailor-theme was a great nod to kink, and I noticed a few leather sailor hats at Hustle too... so people were certainly getting around the theme.

The Surge / Thorne Harbour boys at the front helping with cloak gave a really friendly vibe from the start and were essential to the smooth in/out cloaking of the night. And as always, the bar staff were tip top!

Overall, it was very smooth sailing all night and I felt people were really happy to be there. The different spaces gave enough variety to get up to mischief or chill and I think that helped people stay with good energy throughout the night.”

TIM BOOTS

“Monday - what a great turnout for Meet Market. I thoroughly enjoyed working on the Trash/Treasure table. We were a little overloaded at one point, but having three people working seems about right. Dylan was busy just taking the payments! I think this has built some momentum as we have priced things low for the last few years with the aim to rehouse items as much as to raise money. A big queue at the door at opening.

Thursday was High Shine, and I had a good time. Left the boot stand about 2300 in order to have a cigar with Sir. Dylan was busy on his knees until midnight. All good from my perspective.

Saturday was Hustle and we did three parties that night. Hustle had the best energy of all of them. Bed by 0700.”

 

DEXSTAR - BARMAN

“So, during the week I worked the Meet Market, High Shine, Hustle, and Happy Ending, and overall, it was/is one of my most highly anticipated weeks of the year because it arguably caters to what the Laird represents - community & fetish. This was my second AWOL since working at The Laird so there’s not a crazy amount I can compare it to but this year, especially the Saturday, felt vastly different.

My most enjoyed and surprising night was the aforementioned Hustle on Saturday as it felt sooo different to anything to which we have held before considering the party setting and the amount of dark rooms we facilitated outside of a Monday Underwear Party. I honestly did not even realise the live stream was a thing until halfway through the night when a patron brought it up and was confronted with a range of emotions, all positive. While I personally do not partake in a whole lot of piss play, the conversations I was having with patrons about it and the energy throughout the entire event was palpable. People were going out of their way to utilise the Yellow Zone. This was a standout as I have never, in my short duration of living in Melbourne and partaking in the gay scene, have never seen a venue facilitate such a kink-oriented event and thought it was great.”

ZHIPENG / SIR Z

“AWOL 2024 was a hit, everyone I spoke with enjoyed all the events, congratulations for the fantastic promotion and planning work! 🙂

My favourite moment was to piss through the front bar floor on the piss pig in the basement, and my friends watched it live on screen in the beer garden.

Hustle is my favourite event, busy and friendly vibe, with multiple dark rooms that we can roaming around.

Branding of AWOL 2024 was a surprise to me, very current and young-ish vibe, worked very well to engage the next generation of leather men, very important 😉

Tuesday’s Eagle Sessions workshop was very good, could do with more time to discuss topics with the workshop host, maybe running 1 workshop per night but longer session?

Suggestion: More variety of workshops, like cigar smoking, leather man history, how to find your own leather style, accessories 1 on 1 etc, so we’re really digging into the rich history of leather.”

BJ – EAGLE LEATHER

“It was another epic week during A.W.O.L and it was my privilege to be invited back to do Eagle Sessions again alongside Von Riga Kinbaku 緊縛, Dr. George Forgan-Smith, John Cheshire and Dan as part of Eagle Leather's contribution during the week.

Presenting alongside Dr George is always an opportunity to grow and learn more and I really appreciate some of the excellent questions we received.

Von Riga's bondage class was beautiful to witness. I can remember leaving the session and coming back 10 minutes later to a room full of bound bodies, colourful rope and this calm, flowing energy sweeping through the room.

Thank you to everyone who attended You all picked up the techniques so quickly and to top it off, 100% of ticket sales raised have gone to Rainbow Community Angels

Great Job!”

 

FUNDRAISING

We’re always proud to fundraise during AWOL, and in 2024 over $3,500 was raised for three worthy causes…

$260 for Switchboard from the Hand Jobs Art Exhibition

$470 for Rainbow Community Angels from Eagle Sessions

$2063.45 also for Rainbow Community Angels from donated gear sales at Meet Market

$700 for David Williams Fund courtesy Patrick Brookes and Wayne Nicol, for donating one of Patrick Brookes’ denim jackets worn as part of his winning IML 1979 performances

Total Raised: $3,543.45

HAND JOBS – THE WINNERS

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Hand Jobs ‘Cruise Card’ competition: Jackson; Mimobase; Andrew Li and Jordan Carnay. You’ll find the cards scattered around the pub. Thanks to Ian and Jean Luc, Gay Life Drawing Melbourne, DEANation and Down an’ Dirty for making the hand Jobs exhibition happen.

THE SPONSORS

We can’t thank these sponsors enough for supporting AWOL 2024. It really is appreciated.

Eagle Leather, DEANation, Lucrezia & de Sade, DRIP, Hanky, Dirty Pawz, Down an’ Dirty. Also pretty stoked to get sponsorship from mainstream companies, so big shout out to our drinks partners Smirnoff and Captain Morgan.

The AWOL website is generously hosted each year by Matrix Arts.

THE CREW

Put simply, it just doesn’t happen without them.

Production: Dean Arcuri. Venue Design and Set Up: Anthony Tawfik. The Laird Crew: Mark, Anthony, Andy (Disco), Ben (Scooter), Brendan, Damien, Dan, Dylan, Dexstar, Gavin, GJ, Greg (security) and Myka (Bar Manager). The DJ’s, Performers, Presenters, Volunteers and more: Adam Walton, Andrew Spencer, Axle (Surge), Ben (Surge), (BJ Eagle), Brent (Lucrezia & de Sade), Bruce (Daddy Schadenfreude), Cal Hawk, Craig Bascand, Craig Fussell, Dee Chhrysomolos, Dr George Forgan Smith, Grant Cook, Hayden, Hugh Crothers (DRIP), Ian James Scott, James Armer (Hanky), Jay Fox (LLM 2019) Jay Robinson (LLM 2024), Jean- Luc Syndikas, Joel, John  Pants, Kenny  Sampaio, Marcus Maisano, Mark Davis, Michael Whelan, Mick Caliafore, Papa Tom, Pepper Pop, Ren Patterson, Ricky (Biru), Rusty (Surge), Team Leather, Team Rubber, Tim Hughes, Von Riga, Zhipeng Gou.

If we’ve missed anyone we sincerely apologise and truly appreciate your time and effort.

Cheers, Brett and Mark