The Bovine Sex Club is a bar on Toronto's Queen Street West strip. In operation since January 1991. In its history, The Bovine Sex Club has at various times found itself at the forefront of Toronto's rock, punk, alternative, and rockabilly music scenes.

History

The club opened in January 1991 with a trio of Toronto nightlife enthusiasts behind it in an ownership capacity. Wesley Thuro a.k.a. Happy Dog who had already had some organizational experience with Toronto nightlife establishments having launched the all-ages rave club 23 Hop just a few months earlier in 1990, colorful CFNY radio personality Chris Sheppard who in addition to achieving a measure of local fame as the voice of CFNY's weekend live-to-air broadcasts from various Toronto clubs also performed under the 'DJ Dogwhistle' moniker,^[1] and Darryl Fine. The Artist and Bands who have visited the club include members of U2, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Rage Against the Machine, Mötley Crüe, The Strokes, Lenny Kravitz, Perry Farrell, Kings of Leon and Pink. As well, the Bovine is the home away from home^{[citation needed]} for desert rockers Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal and has hosted countless actors, including Mickey Rourke and Nick Nolte, filmmakers, TIFF parties (including annual parties for the Wild Bunch film production and distribution company), festival after-parties, tattoo artists (favorite of both Kurt Wiscombe and Bob Tyrrell) and festivals. In 2013 the club opened a rooftop patio bar known as the Tiki Bar.

Art

The Bovine's facade was built by a small group of local artists including Dave Grieveson and Great Bob Scott (also the drummer for The Look People).^[3] They worked under the creator of the Bovine, Happy Dog (real name - Wesley Thuro). The exterior and interior were an art installation made solely from discarded items. Long rumored ^{[citation needed]} to have been modeled after New York City's "The Scrap Bar" in fact owes more of its heritage to a 70s Toronto club called "Brandy's" whose reputation for as a 'meeting place' inspired both Thuro and the Bovine's eventual sole owner, Darryl Fine.

References

External links

• Bovine Sex Club
• Bovine Sex Club live photo archive on Formertransformer