Club Junkie, the Tuesday night metamorphosis of Hollywood's Maxx club, looks every inch the backdrop to a Nine Inch Nails video--a banned Nine Inch Nails video.
The atmosphere is mini-"Lollapalooza," complete with impromptu body-piercing on the patio, and tattoo sessions and S&M revues in the main room. This week's scene included some teasing bullwhip spanking at 10 p.m. and a midnight performance by Idol Hands, a punk-cum-grunge band whose lead singer punctuates his howls by periodically dropping his leather drawers--yes, totally.
Club Junkie, whose name is meant to refer to those L.A. scenesters who can't get enough of after-hours fun, successfully aims its music selection toward the alternative-at-heart crowd by playing nearly all post-modern \o7 Angst \f7 tracks.
The deejay, a recent Chicago transplant named Big Dad Dennis, spins the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine and Front 242. Periodically, he loosens up the lineup with a little old-school Eurythmics, but his decision to mainly keep the music as current as possible is in sync with the club's "Blade Runner"-like atmosphere, which often appears so modern you feel as if you've already stepped into the future.
* \o7 Club Junkie, 6423 Yucca at Cahuenga, (213) 368-8820; $5 cover charge, women free before 10 p.m. Parking available on the corner of Yucca and Cahuenga.
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