Deep Fried is a monthly dance party, the most recent held on Sept. 4. It is the brainchild of Irish-reared Sean Nash, Martin Murphy, and Jimmy O’Brien, who all met working as DJ’s in New York City.
The moniker came about with some help from the setting for their parties on the Frying Pan, a historic lightship docked in Chelsea’s waterfront. The name stuck and they decided to use it as the name for the monthly dance party that the three have been running for the past eight months.
Deep Fried’s inception came when another DJ had been hosting parties on the Frying Pan with little success. When Nash and his two friends took the helm, things started to change.
“We all liked house music,” Nash said. “We were just trying to do it a bit different.”
Nash’s frustration with the New York nightlife came when he noticed many of the bigger clubs using the same DJ’s week after week.
“House music originated in New York, but it was dead here,” he said. “We wanted to put our own spin on it.”
“The vibe is really friendly,” Nash said. “It’s a lot different from most of the nightclubs in the city.”
The $20 cover charge is on par with any other large nightclub in New York, and Nash said they never raise it for any special guests they host, such as Ireland’s 2FM DJ Connor G.
“We try to keep the prices as low as we can,” Nash said.
Some consider it a small price to pay to party on a piece of history. The Frying Pan’s previous job was to act as a floating lighthouse to keep ships from coming too close to the shore. It guarded Cape Fear in North Carolina from 1930-65. Now it is a privately owned party space rented out for occasions and parties such as Deep Fried.
Patrons are ushered into the hull of the ship, where the main room features a large dance floor with a smaller room of the side with another set of DJs.
The Deep Fried group will celebrate the party’s first anniversary in November, which Nash expects will also draw a large crowd.
For now, the crowd is predominantly Irish, according to Nash. He estimates that more Americans seem to be coming down every week.
“It’s something different,” he said. “Its gets them out of the boroughs and into Manhattan once a month.”