From summer festivals and Pride events to a weekly queer night at local cocktail bar, Dogwood at the Pine Shed, local DJ duo Cliché is gearing up for a busy summer.
The two DJs, Sean Lawrence (Father Sean) and Jonathon Lynch (Daddy Doubtfire), played their first gig together in 2023. According to Lawrence, the group was born out of Winter Pride a few years ago. Lawrence and Lynch, both queer DJs, decided to join forces.
“We wanted to do something together and something that felt a little bit more like us than your run-of-the-mill queer events that were happening during that time,” Lawrence told the Source. “Our name was actually kind of a pun – we were pointing at all these ‘cliché’ gay events that were happening.”
From there, the group continued to grow and spiraled into something bigger, doing events on a more regular basis.
“Within the 2SLGBTQIA community, there was just not a lot going on in the form of, like, a nightlife aspect. So, I think that really appealed to people, and it was something new and fresh,” Lawrence said.
The duo hosts the “Let’s Have a Kiki” event at Dogwood, where Lawrence serves as the general manager, to offer a weekly space for the queer community. According to Lawrence, the 2SLGBTQIA+ night, every Thursday from 7 to 10pm, serves as a location for people to meet, mingle and be with the community.
“We don’t have a gay bar in Bend or anything like that, so this is the next best solution until someone really wants to go after that and create a full-time space,” he said.
For this year’s summer Pride festival, the group will perform at several events, including its big Pride Kickoff Party at Volcanic Theatre Pub and a pool party at Campfire hotel. Among other PNW venues, Cliché will also play at the local Cascade Equinox Festival in September.
This article appears in Source Weekly May 22, 2025.
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