For the last five years, Seattle's Shameless crew has been throwing My Bloody Valentine, and far from its shoegazey moniker, the annual party is a celebration of debauchery, where music, booze, and lowered inhibitions leave more than the lovestruck with a smile on their face at the end of the night.
My Bloody Valentine combines the costumery of Halloween with hints of Mardi Gras's crazed atmosphere, all for an audience that's usually as excited for the abundance of fake blood as for the sex toy–filled piñata. It's a party for all types, with some there for the spectacle, others there for the headliners.
"It's kind of a goth-meets–Valentine's Day adventure," says Shameless's DJ Recess before a recent gig. "When people get dressed up for things like Halloween, it lowers their guard. It just helps people relax a bit. It's something that needs to happen more, especially in Seattle this time of year."
Giving the event sentimental importance is that it acts as an unofficial anniversary for Shameless, which started in earnest just months before the first My Bloody Valentine party at the Alibi Room. Since then, the party's transformed into the centerpiece of the group's annual calendar. "We never really planned for this to be our anniversary or anything; it just sort of turned into our big hootenanny."
This year, Shameless is bringing in Passions and Star Eyes of NYC's Trouble & Bass crew, whom Shameless introduced to Seattle last year with Drop the Lime's headlining slot at Re-bar. The low end–centric crew have become infamous over the last few years for their loud, genre-spanning events—rave-infused parties for post-ravers, an aesthetic not entirely dissimilar from Shameless's own. Novatron, Eva, Naha, and a slew of other locals round out a bill that willfully matches DJs from different segments of Seattle's scene.
It's a lineup indicative of the relationships Shameless has built over the years. In 2007, Shameless scaled back on doing its own events in favor of collaborating with other groups on Broken Disco and a few other one-off events. Far from stepping away from the spotlight, Shameless sees the shift as part of a bigger picture.
"Our MO for the last year has been about getting people connected, building something greater than the sum of our parts," says Recess. "My Bloody Valentine is a chance for us to do our own thing."
My Bloody Valentine is Fri Feb 1 at Hengst Studios, 9 pm–6 am, $12, 21+.
Also inspired by Valentine's Day: The Baltic Room's Sunday biweekly Oi Vay! has dedicated February as "couples' month." Beyond being a cute gimmick, the concept allows for some notable artistic pairings, with techno heavyweights Nordic Soul and Kristina Childs playing Sunday, February 3, and Saigon and Justin Byrnes crossing genres with a rare appearance as Lab-77 on Sunday, February 17. As always, the night is free, so you have no excuse to not show up. 
