Horse Meat Disco

Here's some footage from Horse Meat Disco, the hippest most credible queer, quality dance music night in London. I've known James Hillard, one of the promoters for years, but have never qualified or confident enough to write about a gay club night. I don't know why, having chatted to James, it's just another club night but in actual fact is far more interesting and happening than 99% of straight clubs.
I will be checking it out. It's worth bearing in mind that without gay clubs there would be no house music - that came out of the black gay club scene in Chicago (Frankie Knuckles) and New York (Larry Levan), and often the scenes and clubs on the margins is where trends, scenes, sounds and looks, ie creative inspiration, emerge. It's no surprise then that Horse Meat Disco is a fave in the fashion world.
And to be honest this footage of a vogue ball at Horse Meat Disco, looks entertaning to say the least. It's ironic as mainstream clubbing has come back to dressing up, flamboyance and fun, and that's been Horse Meat Disco's thing since day dot four years ago. Is the tyranny of the superstar DJ over? I hope so, watching a middle aged bloke play for himself, just to get paid in a.n.other superclub surrounded by randoms off their heads, is B.O.R.I.N.G.

Here's an interview with James Hillard that appeared in London Metro yesterday.

HORSE MEAT DISCO

Following this summer’s festival season the tent on everyone’s lips is Horse Meat Disco’s ‘NYC Downlow’, the world’s first travelling gay disco. NYC Downlow wowed both Glastonbury and Lovebox, with its elaborate bombed-out, seedy alley way meets New York disco set and camp, carefree vibe.

‘Gideon Berger a set designer and former art director for Lost Vagueness, came up with the idea of a travelling gay nightclub to go round the festivals’, explains James Hillard who founded cult gay club Horse Meat Disco (HMD) with DJ Jim Stanton in 2003. ‘So we recreated a 1970s New York disco but with a Horse Meat Disco take on it with drag shows, performances and a vogue ball.’

‘Glastonbury’s never had a queer space before so to represent gays was an honour,’ continues Hillard. ‘But the best thing about NYC Downlow was it attracted everyone - anyone who walked past wanted to get in, and at Lovebox there were 100m queues.’

There will be queues round the block this Saturday as HMD teams up with alternative queer night Rebel Rebel for Uptown Downtown, a New York-themed night celebrating 1970s New York, a fertile period for music that gave birth to disco, punk and nu wave. Think Patti Smith, Blondie, and Studio 54, with look-a-likes, drag queens and performance art.

It seems visual attractions are integral to HMD: ‘It’s ok to have great DJs but you need visual elements for talking points,’ explains Hillard. ‘That’s why clubs and dance music have been usurped by indie and rock'n'roll, it's visual, a performance, a show and more than anything it’s fun - that got lost in dance music.’

HMD draws a hip, mixed crowd enticed by its unique mixture of discerning dance music, performance art, flamboyance and open-mindedness. ‘We are gay promoters, we promote in a gay venue but the crossover is amazing you get straight guys down for the music, atmosphere and a proper party,’ explains Hillard. ‘The ability to bring a real mix of people has always been the hallmark of great club, and we want and get as wide and diverse a group of people as possible.’

HMD is regularly name-checked in fashion circles (Roland Mouret’s a fan), A-list DJs such as Derrick Carter and Dmitri From Paris ask to play there, while attending the night is seen as a badge of honour from New York’s East Village to Japanese club kids.

Yet these are bonuses that HMD has never actively pursued: ‘I think people realise we’re a genuine club run, by genuine people who want to put on a good party and make everyone there happy,’ says Hillard modestly.

Sat, Uptown, Downtown, Area, 67-68 Albert Embankment SE1, 10pm to 5am, £8 adv. Tel: 0870 060 0100. Tube: Vauxhall