Some people will do anything to get in a club, but applying an angle grinder to your person is not advisable.

Even if your person is armour plated, and even if that club is spanking new. That hasn't stopped Lucifire though.

She's turned her party trick of apparently mutilating herself in front of bars full of boozed-up people into a living. Sick, yes.

Lucifire is the opening attraction of Bar Central - Lucy Road's latest and self-proclaimed most shocking addition to the vibrant Southend clubscene.

Acts planned over future weeks will make her's look like a knitting demonstration. If the hype is anything to go by, Bar Central is not a place for the faint hearted.

"Our aim is to shock, and we've got the acts to do it," exclaimed Neil Heather of Storm Media, who have been charged with hyping the Bar Central launch.

They are marketing the bar as "weird, wacky, and way out," and claims it is "the only venue doing anything remotely like this in Essex."

They're not wrong, although with all the other weird and wacky promoters and club owners out there, there has to be a reason.

"It has crossed our minds that perhaps people wouldn't want this sort of thing," admitted Neil. "But we thought Southend needed something exciting - there are plenty of crazy people prepared to travel to London for it, and we think it will work well."

They're so sure of its success that they are thinking of extending the freak nights to more than just the Wednesdays originally planned.

Bar Central is sticking to local talent when it comes to providing the music, with Jonny Kango, John Lee, and Chris Powell playing the opening weekend and other local names including Adam Carter and Norman H planned for the future.

The bar will also host live indie bands during the week, and it will even feature in the new film Essex Boys (when Sean Bean gets thrown from the balcony or something.)

He could have done with Lucifire's armoured pants.

Under fire - 'Weird' act Lucifire, opening attraction at the new club Bar Central in Southend

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.