Fringe Factory: Party out of time

Highland Inn Ballroom scores with throwback shindig

Since December 2007, Fringe Factory has grown from a fledgling, conceptual party idea into one of the most highly attended monthly hipster happenings in Atlanta. The premise is simple: It’s an all-out aural extravaganza that mashes up live music, DJs and film projections to create a kaleidoscopic atmosphere of psychedelic lights and sounds. If it sounds like a scene that could have been lifted from one of the Velvet Underground’s early Exploding Plastic Inevitable performances, then you’re on the right page.

The name itself is a nod to Andy Warhol’s Factory scene of downtown New York in the 1960s. “It’s like Timothy Leary’s wet dream,” says Fringe Factory co-founder Suzy Moran. “It’s just a psychedelic happening with lots of garage rock, rock ‘n’ roll and soul music.”

Fellow factory hand Vikki Vaden and Moran spearheaded Fringe Factory, which normally takes place on the last Saturday of every month at the Highland Inn Ballroom. But because their scheduled party conflicted with Corndogorama last month, Moran and Vaden pushed Fringe Factory to the following Saturday, July 5.

With the change of date comes a slight change of plans as well. The upcoming party is dubbed “Fringe Factory Presents: Hot Damn! It’s The Fringe Factory vs. Mod Dance Party New Orleans.” The one-off change of pace finds Fringe Factory steering away from its typical psychedelic hue into more of a Southern soul motif.

DJs from Mod Dance Party New Orleans will be on hand, spinning a mix of ’50s-’60s New Orleans R&B, Stax/Motown and ’60s soul. Local soul DJ Tim Lawrence will also spin a set, and Oxford, Miss., swamp punk/blues duo John Barrett’s Bass Drum of Death will bring the night to a close. “We’re giving the club a juke joint decor,” Moran adds. “We’re still doing what we do, just with more of an old Southern soul and R&B kind of slant.”

Fringe Factory happens at the Highland Inn Ballroom. $7. Sat., July 5. 9 p.m. 404-874-5756. www.thehighlandinn.com.