Orange Whip Review

Review By Morgen Newton

When intending to go to any suburban nightclub, you can generally expect the same thing. Sure, the postcode may be different, the club may claim to have better DJs, the interior may be a slightly different shade of silver, and the barman may be referred to as "Damo" instead of "Johno", but beneath their claims of being unique, most suburban clubs are exactly the same. Orange Whip on the Ringwood club strip is no exception.

I must admit that when I was invited to go to Orange Whip's Thursday Event known as "Noizy Neighbours" (presumably because the patrons love to get 'noizy'), I was sceptical. Most of my ideas about Orange Whip were based on complaints about the club's disgusting smell of dirty socks - a reputation it seemingly hasn't managed to shake - and the never ending tales of pointless fights between macho hooligans seeking badass reputations. In that sense, Noizy Neighbours was pleasantly surprising.

My initial impressions of Orange Whip were quite good. There was no smell of dirty socks to be found, and the people (aged anywhere between 16 and 25) didn't seem to be quite as Bogan or macho as I was expecting. However, that is where the good impressions ended; to be replaced with an overwhelming sense of mediocrity.

At the end of the day, Noizy Neighbours is exactly that; a place where people from Ringwood and its surrounds go to 'get noizy'. The main aim of the venue seems to be to provide its patrons with average priced drinks and entry ($3 beers, $7 spirits and $12 entry) and average music (frankly it lacked any substance and consisted wholly of remixes one couldn't help feel were poached directly off of the latest Ministry of Sound). It is therefore astounding that the venue was entirely packed out by 10pm.

Orange Whip has huge amounts of potential; with its recent renovations it now has 3 brand spanking new rooms including an upstairs smoking deck and a supersized main room, and it has a huge following of patrons who are basically willing to go to Noizy Neighbours regardless of how mediocre its offerings actually are. It is therefore disappointing that they haven't opted to do anything with this potential. Instead of trying to branch away from the suburban club norm, they've basically spent a whole lot of money renewing the club, all to settle straight back into the its usual Thursday night - which isn't short of competition with countless other clubs in the area having their biggest nights on a Thursday.

At the end of the day, Noizy Neighbours at Orange Whip - located at 115 - 119 Maroondah Hwy - Ringwood isn't overwhelmingly bad, nor does it offer anything refreshingly new or different. If you're looking for a busy suburban club with reasonable prices and endless remixes, Noizy Neighbours isn't a bad place to start. However, if you're looking for a club that is remarkable in any sense, I wouldn't recommend it.