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VIEGAS at mints

Ahead of his basement debut at Mints this Friday VIEGAS had a little chat with promoters Jon and Emma!

Hi Viegas! We are so excited to have you for your Dalston Superstore debut at the next Mints! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Thank you for having me! Come from the suburbs of Lisbon, just finished a photography course, currently work at the contemporary/modern art museum of Lisbon and at Radio Quântica which is the Portuguese community web radio, and have been djing for the last few years.

You are one of the organisers behind Lisbon queer party institution Mina – can you tell us about the collective and what inspired you to start your own party?

mina is the daughter of two vital Portuguese underground projects. My friend Pedro Marum had long ago started this night that turned into an artistic experimental space called Rabbit Hole. Lisbon was, and still is, a place of prudeness and there was lacking a space where the boundaries for our pleasure were defined by mutual respect instead of being forced by a corporate institution. One of the nights that Rabbit Hole hosted was called Barghain, as a pun for the Berlin club but with a cheap price, and that was a huge success. Violet and Photonz played one of those nights and loved the vibe. I was collaborating with Rabbit Hole back then and Pedro invited the three of us to start this night that would soon become mina. Two years later, the party is now organized by 13 people and supported by hundreds of queers that attend every event, wherever they happen.

You guys recently joined forces with Berlin-based queer party collective Lecken for a rave on NYE at Fully Automated Luxury Oblivion. We can only imagine the madness… How was it?!

Unfortunately I missed that event but from what I’ve heard it was wild.

You are closely involved with Radio Quantica, the radio platform run by Superstore favourites Violet and Photonz. How did you guys come to be working together?

It all started with an invite from Varela, who is also an Icon and dj from Lisboa. He was part of the radio since the beginning and invited me to be a guest at his show. After that Inês and Marco heard me play a couple more times and asked if I wanted to start my own show. Since then they have been really supportive and kind.

Which record isn’t leaving your bag at the moment?

Play009 – D for Doggo, by dokter doggo.

What is the best thing about the Lisbon electronic music scene?

The most interesting things are happening in the fringes, either created by the sons of the African & Brazilian communities (Príncipe Label is the perfect example) or the Queer kids, influence by a global web culture, starting to produce and self-release their music in platforms like soundcloud. There is still a lot of work to be done because most of these people don´t have a regular place to showcase their music.

What is your earliest musical memory?

From a very young age my mother used to take me to this big communist party that happens every year in Portugal. The melody from “carvalhesa” which is the trademark of the event is in my head since I can remember.

Who are some of your DJ inspirations?

BLEID from mina, Aggromance (and the whole Hiedra Club de Baile), Tzusing, Lsdxoxo and Bala Club collective from London are some of my favourites at the moment.

Can you tell us about some of your Portuguese peers who are doing exciting things at the moment?

BLEID inspires me a lot. She produces and djs and her sets range from noisy ambient to gabber, and everything in between. Odete is also a key figure in our scene. She was one of the first to mix pop music with more experimental and forward thinking electronics and has just released her first Ep “Matrafona”. Kerox is also somebody to look up to. He owns the sickest tunes and just released a banger called “Braved the storm”. Fabaítos and Stasya have been uploading really good music on soundcloud (Listen to Paradisis, fabaítos first Ep or Stásya´s Túmulo). Yzhaq and Shade are also starting to mix and to produce (along with Odete and Stásya they’ve created ÇIRCA, also a name to remember) and I´m really excited to hear what they have to say. RS Produções (from príncipe) have just released a mad ep called Bagdad Style and are one of my favourites from the label. finally DJ VENENO666 is my latest obsession. His soft and melancholic take on dembow infused rhythms is sometimes the only thing I can listen to.

If you had a time machine and could go dancing anywhere/when, where would you go?

Grace Jones’ 30th Birthday Party.

Do you have any exciting plans for 2019 that you can tell us about?

Have some ideas for both individual and collective projects that hope will come into form, also have a couple of dates planned outside of Portugal. The Dalston gig will be my first this year so this is a nice start

Find the event on facebook here

VALUE PACK ft BRAT

Hi babies! Value Pack is our brand spanking new weekly monday night shindig. There will be trashy, nostalgic music, cute vibes, CHEAP DRINKS FOR STUDENTS and maybe a little bit of drag action… Before the first installment this monday (05/11) we had a cheeky little chat with our resident discount pop DJ BRAT.

Hi Brat

U K, Hun?

Good thanks babe! You’re a founding member of Bodycon, one of our monthly Thursday parties, tell us a bit about that..

Bodycon is the messy binch you have a fab time in the smoking area with bt would NEVER invite to the afterparty bcs she’d be the one to break the sink. She’s obnoxious and makes absolutely no sense, but the club is where she shines. She’s that girl who posts constantly on Facebook and is only funny 10% of the time IRL.

What exactly is Discount Pop

Discount Pop is a culmination of all the bangers you’d hear pulsating out your older sisters door in 2003. It’s the choreo to Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground. It’s a celebration of the once overplayed, now underplayed that will guarantee a toe tapping and more than one bussy popping.

How many times are you going to play Jennifer Lopez – Waiting for Tonight?

I guess u’ll have to Wait until mon Night to see 😉

How many shots of Tuaca are you going to hammer?

I’m usually a Jägerbomb chik, u know this. But I’m going to see if my expired student card works @ the bar 😉

Does she even go here?

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. If she’s wearing a Peplum, she’s not getting in.

What’s you’re most memorable Poundland moment?

Who hasn’t done a last min High Drag lqqk w/ Poundland accessories?

If you were a multi-pack of crisps, what choice of flavours would you contain?

Jägerbomb, Vegan Cheese, Strappy Cork Wedge and Special Edition Tuaca.

What’s the cheapest thing you’ve ever done?

Nothing I do is cheap, it just looks like it is.

Are all the things she said running through you’re head?

All the things she said will be slut dropping in ur head Tues morn !!;*

Bye BRAT! c u monday night xxx

Lyl xxxx

HOMODROP TURNS 4!!

Our favourite happy-go-lucky homodisco HOMODROP is turning four this weekend and celebrating with an extra special party with headliner SONJA. We had a little chat with promoter Florian about the birth of HOMODROP, his musical inspirations and more..

Hi Florian, for those of us that don’t know you as a promoter, can you tell us a little about what you do?

For HOMODROP I’m taking care of programming, building a line up, contacting DJs , agency, booking them and also taking care of all visuals . It’s is really important for me to have good music and good posters. Both are linked.

How did Homodrop come into the world? Was she an easy birth? A long, painful out labour of love?

Very fast actually, no pain hahaha! The party came out of the closet 4 years ago, in a Stoke Newington basement, on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon. For the first one there were only 2 DJs- STATHIS from DISCOSODOMA and myself.

If you could sum up these last four years of Homodrop in one track what would it be?

That’s a hard one! I think I’d choose a track form MASSIMILIANO PAGLIARA who played last year for us, called I AM DISCO .

If you could pick any guest, dead or alive, to headline one of your parties, who would it be?

The late, great Frankie Knuckles.

Can you tell us a little bit more about SONJA, your headliner for this edition?

We met playing together in Lisbon where she’s been really shaking up the underground electro scene in the last year. She has her own label called Labareda, a resident for LUX and hosts a monthly radio show on the famous Radio Quantica. On top of that impressive CV she is very funny!

What were your earliest musical inspirations?

Electronic wise i started to play minimal, techno minimal, electro minimal and electro clash about 12 years ago.

You’ve got all international of late, Homodropping in Canada, France and Portugal, where you now live, what’s that been like??

I’ve recently moved to Lisbon. It’s a really nice city and I’ve discovered a very underground scene, even more underground than Berlin. It’s proper underground, in all aspect, venues, posters of party, equipment, people ….

If you could be any animal crossed with another animal, what would you be an why?

I can imagine myself a mix between a bee and a stingray.

What track would you use to describe this creature??

HAPPA – DRAG

Have you got any exciting ideas for the future of Homodrop at DSS?

Stay tuned – but we have a mega party coming up for DSS 10TH ANNIVERSARY

Catch Homodrop’s bday shenanagins from 9pm-4am this Saturday 3rd of November!

Dan Govan

As part of our ongoing local queer artist residency at Dalston Superstore Gallery, this Thursday sees the launch our next exhibition ‘Living Vivid’ by Dan Govan!

Dan Govan is an Edinburgh born, camera-carrying, usually-anxious, glamour-adjacent wallflower, for whom photography was a hobby that’s grown wildly out of control. He started with snapshots of nights out
in 2008, but as he moved to east London in 2011 he was naturally was dabbling in club photography by 2012. A couple of years ago he started dabbling in portraiture. Self portraits at first, exploring vulnerability and colour, muting masculinity in vivid disorienting colours. His latest project ‘Queernift’ documents the eccentric faces of the East London LGBTQ+ Nightlife Scene.

We caught up with Dan to chat about where Queernift started, some standout experiences of photographing Drag Queens and whats next for Queernift!

Don

Hello Dan! Can you let your readers know a little bit about your background?
Hi! I’m a sorta-Scottish, nerdy wallflower who’s been floating around gay clubs, pubs and shows in London since 2008. Until last year I always had a camera with me but now I mostly do over-colourful studio portraiture.

The work that you are exhibiting at Dalston Superstore, is the Queernift project which documents the faces of London’s LGBTQ+ nightlife scene. Why did you start this project?
I thought it was an exciting opportunity to collaborate with and signal boost some of the local queer artists promoting their work. It’s been nice to be able to give back to this community that puts so much work into creating queer spaces, putting on so many shows and nights over the years.

How did you come to know the queer performers that you photograph?

It’s usually people I’ve met out and about! I guess it’s a community project at heart because while sometimes it will be a friend of a friend, by the time the shoot is done we’ve normally gotten to know each other a bit. It’s all people who visit, party and work in the same iconic venues and spaces that I do.

What draws you to portraiture?
Whether I’m shooting events, performances or portraiture, I try to capture situations rather than things. Reactions and relationships. People are always at the core of that. The real kick comes when I manage to show people looking better than they think they look. That’s always a thrill.

Through the series there is a consistent strong use of colour. What is the significance to this?

So much contemporary photography pretends to be realistic. It’s not. There’s artful makeup and hair, lights and loadsa photoshopping. Even when I shoot people not in a lewk I still stick with a similar colour formula, because I want my work to be self-evidently fantastical, open about the fact it’s not what you’d see in the mirror, and celebrate it a bit more. Why be humdrum?

What has inspired your work?

Mostly I’m inspired by the queer icons of the scene around me, though I’ve been blown away by some local photographers documenting aspects of a similar subculture, like Luxxer, Corinne Cumming, Kate Bones, Damien Frost and Eivind Hansen.

As this is your first exhibition IRL, and you’ve mainly used Instagram to showcase your work. Has social media been useful to your practice or has it been shaped by social media?

Oh queernift is basically an instagram project really, the format follows the 3-wide grid and it’s been so cool chatting to people all over the world about my work! I have another project barenift that’ll have a few pictures up at the exhibition too, that also the same 3-wide format; I fear the day instagram changes the grid!

East London’s Drag Queens aren’t known for being the most introverted of characters. So we’d imagine photographing would bring about some ‘special’ memories. Any stand out experiences photographing them ?
I think my favourite shoots have been when I do a couple of friends at once, taking turns in front of the camera the energy’s always really great. I recently had a shoot with Delirium though who arrived when she said she would, packed 3 very different looks into just 2 poly bags, changed quickly, posed to the gods, and we were all done in an hour. I was amazed.

Who else in East London’s LGBTQ+ Nightlife would you love to photograph?
Oh there’s tons of people that I’ve wanted to shoot for a while but we’ve never quite got it together and I feel shy about badgering them. And a few more that I never got around to asking! Rhys Pieces, Margo Marshal, Ginger Johnson, Grace Shush, Maxi More… Dozens more probably. I used to have a list that I was working through but it made me super anxious so I had to ditch it.

Whats next for Queernift?

Well I have a half dozen new shoots to post after the exhibition launches, after that I’ve no idea, more of all of it I hope? More shoots more people more followers. I’l have to think of ways to expand the formula but as long as there’s new people it’s always interesting. Of course there’s physical proof that the work exists now, I’ve no idea what effect that will have, exciting times!

Catch ‘Living Vivid’ at Dalston Superstore from Thursday 6th September till Early November!

object blue

After their thunderous debut in April, this Friday sees Ni-Ku and J.Aria return for an extravaganza of boundary pushing experimental club-music at the second instalment of MegaLast! Providing the heat in our lazerhole is none other than the queen of trance-like rhythms, ricocheting percussions and delirious energy, object blue!

The Tokyo-born, Beijing-raised, London-based producer and sound artist has gained widespread recognition and praise for her distinctive take on club music. She was featured as one of Fact Magazine‘s ’10 House + Techno artists to watch in 2018’, and named one of the key influencers in youth culture in the infamous Dazed100 List, alongside the likes of Yaeji and SOPHIE. Fresh from a high profile set at Berlin’s Atonal Festival (one of Europe’s epicentres of electronic music), she is one of the hottest figures in London’s bass and techno sphere right now.

We caught up with object blue to chat about her experience as a queer woman in the music industry, who is inspiring her at the moment and what we can expect from Friday!

<a href="http://lgsrec.com/album/lgs008-object-blue-rex">LGS008 // object blue – REX by object blue</a>

Oh hello object blue! We are so excited to have you at MegaLast this Friday! What can we expect from your premier set at DSS?

Lots of harshness and intensity, but still will be making sure you dance all night. I really can’t wait!

You dedicated your EP Do you Plan to End a Siege to ‘all the women on the dancefloor’ and you have been ON POINT in calling out the misogynist bullsh*t of the music industry. What has your experience in the music industry been like as a queer woman?

It’s frustrating a lot of the time! Since I was a teen, male musicians have mistook my enthusiasm for music as an invite for flirting. I’ve had male musicians approach me and say “I love your music, let’s work together,” then disappearing once they learn I have a girlfriend. I still get hit on on the dancefloor after I finish a set and get offstage. Heteronormativity is real! I just want to be taken seriously as a musician, no matter whether I’m f*ckable or not.

There are some amazing femme collectives like Pxssy Palace, SIREN & Rhythm Sister paving the way for and creating safe club spaces for women and femmes on their own terms. How do you think it is best to support these collectives?

Go dance and bring a crowd! And if you’re bringing straight people — tell them to behave or we’ll punish them according to clause 433 of the Gay Agenda!

It’s been well documented about the loss of LGBTQ+ spaces in London, but this change has been more abrupt for queer women. How has this effected what clubs you go to?

Yeah, there seems to be nowhere for lesbians to go. It has been impossible to find a lesbian club to hang out in — once I went to a lesbian bar that’s defunct now, but it was empty with bad music. All the years I’ve been in London, I’ve given up on lesbian-only spaces and chosen good music instead, even if that means I have to be harassed by straight men all night. It’s been traumatic, I’ve gotten badly groped several times. Nowadays I go to Superstore a lot with my girlfriend, and it’s great that there are lots of women-focused events. I really want to go to Opulence, the queer techno party, but I haven’t had the chance!

What LGBTQ+ musicians are inspiring you at the moment?

Ani Klang, Loraine James, Violet , rkss, Minimal Violence, SOPHIE.

If you had unlimited budget and could book anyone, what would your perfect queer clubnight look like?

All of the above + Octo Octa, Yaeji, HAAi, Roza Terenzi, D. Tiffany. and I want all the DJs to play at least three hours each so it won’t be a club night, it’ll be a full weekend. I’ll personally prepare food and serve it. Espresso machines for those of us who don’t do uppers. Several rooms including some darkrooms (though my friends have set up darkrooms at their parties before and it became a Deep Chat Zone!).

Catch object blue at MegaLast this Friday 31st August from 9pm-3am at Dalston Superstore!

Homodrop’s Top Ten Pride Tracks

This Pride our favourite happy-go-lucky rave situation HOMODROP is taking you out of the commercial noise of central London and queering Pride with an underground, sweaty rave situation! They’ve roped in a line-up of LGBTQ+ Nightlife trailblazers including Iranian vibe wizard Kasra V!

To get you in the mood for Pride, we thought we’d ask HOMODROP Promoter Cheriii for their top ten Pride Anthems! Honestly huns, this track list is going to get you ready for a big old messy Pride weekend! Slay!

So what made the cut Cheriii?

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We have to start with the classics! LGBTQ+ History is so intertwined with music and club culture! It’s so important to know where we came came from!

1. Patrick Cowley – Journey Home They were a Pioneer of electronic music in the 70′ in San Francisco! Patrick Cowley was and one of the first artists that died during the AIDS crisis in November 1982 at only 32 years old!

2. Gloria Gaynor – I will survive No words except this is my hymn of happiness!

3. Donna Summer – I feel love Obviously, Donna is here. This track is timeless and the best to end a dj set after a long night dancing.

4. George Michael – Freedom George Michael is the father of our queer generation, the ultimate icon.

The next two are groundbreaking Berlin based Queer Artists. I also have a big crush on them both!

5. Mikey – Paths A queer Artist to know, to follow and to love. So talented and actually was a regular at Superstore before moving to Berlin.

6. Lotic – Hunted One word… TALENT.

Here are some of my favourite contemporary artists that have influenced my experience of LGBTQ+ Culture.

7. The Knife – Pass this on Loooove this track! I can listen to it on repeat for hours! Everyone must have danced to it alone on their room infront of a mirror. Or maybe that is just me?

8. ANOHNI – Marrow Its so hard to choose just one track because the full album, Hopelessness, is just insane. It was the first album that ANOHNI released as a trans women. It is emotive, poignant and very political.

9. Vive la fête – Noir Desir Being French, I had to put this band in. This song is the song I danced to when I first came out. As did many people from my age.

Finally of course…

10. RuPaul – Sissy that walk Whilst I don’t agree with everything RuPaul has said, it’s astounding what he has created in the last few years. To have created a platform to showcase the creativity of Drag and LGBTQ+ people more broadly is important. And more importantly, for young LGBTQ+ people to see themselves on a mainstream TV show is definitely a positive. SO, now Sissy that walk.

Catch Cheriii at HOMODROP this Pride Saturday at Dalston Superstore 9pm-4am

Bottom Heavy

On Saturday, the Laurel and Hardy of Dalston and legendary DJ’s, Dan Beaumont & Wes Baggaley, are joining forces to get you all bumping and thumping to some deep homosexual house with their brand new night: Bottom Heavy! Having both been prominent figures in London’s queer nightlife for over a decade and played some of the most infamous parties around the globe including The NYC Downlow, we are pretty sure that these two bottoms know how to throw a TOP party.

Despite their quite sickening resumés and having been pals for years, its actually the first time they’ve collaborated together! Don’t worry huns, this isn’t the only venture for the duo. Later in the year, Dan and Wes will be playing back-to-back at Farr festival alongside Prosumer, Tama Sumo and Lakuti!

To get you lubed up and prepared for Bottom Heavy, Dan and Wes had a little chinwag amongst themselves! Read on to find out what these two legends think about the state of London’s LGBTQ+ Nightlife, their most played records and whats on the horizon for them both!

Dan: Can you remember the point in your life that house music grabbed you?

Wes: I do actually. I was still at school and too young to go clubbing but I remember when Steve Silk Hurley’ ‘Jack Your Body’ and Raze ‘Break For Love’ were in the UK charts and on Top of the Pops. I remember the video for ‘Jack Your Body’ having a bucking bronco in it. Then there was the whole acid house /rave thing in the tabloids. I became mesmerised by it. I used to buy 7-inch singles every week with my pocket money from being really young and I remember buying ‘Jack Your Body’, ‘Love Can’t Turn Around’ and Inner City ‘Good Life’ on 7inch. The first house music 12 inch I bought was Lil Louis ‘French Kiss’ in 1989/90 which I still have and still play.

Dan: I remember all those weird cartoon videos they threw together for those Chicago house records that became hits. Also remember thinking ‘who is Steve Silk Hurley and why isn’t he in his video?’ Then I got totally obsessed with Betty Boo.

Wes: What inspired you to open Dalston Superstore?

Dan: I met Matt and other Dan (DSS co-owners) when they were running Trailer Trash, and I was doing a party called Disco Bloodbath. As promoters, we often had problems with venues, and talked a lot about starting our own. Eventually we began looking in earnest and around 2008 we found the site that became Superstore. It had been empty for a couple of years before we found it. We just wanted to create a space where the people who came to our parties would feel at home, where the music, drinks and food were all good and our friends could be themselves.

Dan: What sounds are you looking for when you go shopping for records to play out? What are you trying to communicate through DJing?

Wes: That’s a tough one. I like a really wide range of different music and play various styles but when I’m looking for sort of functional dancefloor records I tend to be drawn to quite energetic stuff with lots of percussion. I’m a massive fan of the old Cajual, Relief and Dance Mania Records and always tend to gravitate towards that type of jacking type sound. I also like disco and I’m a sucker for a disco sample but I don’t like playing the same sound all night. I just tend to play what feels right at the time, could be soulful, disco, acid, techno, hypnotic deep stuff, jazzy stuff, ravey breaks type stuff, broken beat, African percussion.

Wes: You’re partly responsible for some of the best LGBTQ+ parties around at the moment including my favourite, Chapter 10. What are your thoughts on LGBTQ+ clubbing in London at the moment, especially with a lot of venue closures in the last 5 years?

Dan: I personally think that LGBTQ+ clubbing is very inspiring right now. Adonis, Discosodoma, Homodrop, PDA, Femmetopia, Gay Garage and loads of others are all pushing underground queer music and culture to new places. Unfortunately the gay scene is still affected by misogyny, internalised homophobia, body shaming, transphobia and masculine bullshit, but it seems like more interesting voices are starting to come through, which means more creativity and more talent steering queer clubbing. Also it’s exciting to see groups like Friends of the Joiners Arms, Resis’Dance, and London LGBTQ+ Community Centre (all rooted in queer dancefloors) disrupting the status quo.

Chapter 10 Dan

Dan: What do you think are the positives and negatives of LGBTQ+ clubs right now?

Wes: I also think it’s a very good time for LGBTQ+ clubbing at the moment. In spite of a lot of the recent venue closures there are great nights popping up in non LGBTQ+ clubs. Seems to be a sort of creative DIY culture happening which is great. There same is happening in other cities like Manchester with great nights like Meat Free at the White Hotel and Kiss Me Again at the Soup Kitchen. There’s some great music events and brilliant cabaret stuff going on at the likes of The Glory and The RVT. As you mentioned, the internalised homophobia, transphobia and misogyny needs to be addressed. A lot of the fetish venues have closed down and some of the bigger LGBTQ+ fetish nights in London are struggling to get venues. I do think this is a vital part of the culture that is dwindling. I reckon we need a LGBTQ+ fetish rave with good music.

Dan: Good point about all the amazing queer parties outside of London!

Wes: Can you tell me some of your favourite producers and record labels at the moment?

Dan: Labels: Lionoil, Let’s Go Swimming, Lobster Theramin, E-Beamz/Hothaus/UTTU, Not An Animal, Ransom Note, Sound Signature, Stillove4music, Dolly, The Corner, Work Them, Mistress. Producers: Telfort, Powder, Mr Tophat & Art Alfie, Jay Duncan, Midland, Jonny Rock, LB Dub Corp, Stephen Brown, Garrett David, Steffi, rRoxymore, Pariah, and everything Luke Solomon touches. Loads more that I’ve forgotten!

Dan: I love it when you find a record that you know intimately from the first bar to the outro, and it does a really long stint in your bag. What are your most played records over the past couple of years?

Wes: I’ve got a few of them. I’d say my absolutely most played record is Braxton Holmes and Mark Grant –The Revival on Cajual, which has never left my bag in 20 years. I actually need to replace it because I’ve almost worn it out. Also the Maurice Fulton Syclops ones, Where’s Jason’s K, Jump Bugs and Sarah’s E With Extra P are go to tracks but luckily he’s just released another album of gems. The man’s a genius. There’s Kinshasa Anthem by Philou Lozolo on Lumberjacks in Hell that came out a couple of years ago that I’ve played a lot, and then there’s that Danny Tenaglia remix of Janet Jackson – The Pleasure Principle that I’ve owned for many years but didn’t know what it was until I heard you play it at Phonox haha

Dan: I’ve totally stolen The Revival off you. It’s pure magic.

Russia Wes

Wes: Tell us a bit about the idea behind Bottom Heavy. What can we expect?

Dan: The main idea is so we can play together all night and I can steel your tunes! Whenever I’ve heard you play, I can hear a sound in between all your records, a sort of energy that I’m always searching for myself. It’s hard to describe, but it exists in the space between that jacking Chicago sound, leftfield Detroit stuff and tribal New York tracks. Plus also jazz, afro, techno, electro and disco elements. As we mentioned earlier, here are loads of great gay nights popping off, but I think what’s missing is a really great HOUSE all-nighter that joins the dots between all those sounds.

Wes: Haha! Well there’ll be a lot of tune stealing going on because I’ve been known to have a sneaky peek through your bag as well.

Dan: Back to your earlier point about Fetish nights. Why are they important to the gay scene? Are there any you remember particularly fondly? If you were to throw a fetish party, what would the vibe be?

Wes: With the fetish thing I thing it’s important to have those spaces where you can dress up and sort of act out your fantasies and do whatever you want within reason. I’m actually not massive into the sexual side of it myself believe it or not, but I do like the spectacle of the whole thing and the dressing up and the fact people are free to express themselves sexually at those nights without judgement. Sadly a lot of the fetish nights are also men only parties that go hand in hand with the whole gay misogyny thing.

A few years ago me and my friend Lucious Flajore put on a fetish night at The Hoist which is now closed. The night was open to everybody, gay, bi, trans, heterosexual men and women. The soundtrack was dark disco, slow brooding techno and weird electronics in one room where we also had alternative cabaret and showed art house horror movies and in the other lighter room we played disco and showed John Waters films.

The atmosphere was great but we had problems with the sound and there was no dancefloor to speak of then the venue closed. We also had a problem with heterosexual men complaining about gays (I know right? At the Hoist!). I am actually thinking about re-launching the party at a new venue and putting in a good sound system but making it more LGBTQ+ focused and making sure people know that women and trans people are more than welcome

Dan: That sounds amazing. You need to make it happen!

Dan: OK last one from me. Who is your biggest DJ influence?

Wes: That’s really tough but I have to say Derrick Carter. I first heard him play in about 1995 and became obsessed. I loved the way he seemed to mix different styles with ease and mix the records for ages.

Dan: I used to go to his Classic residency at The End religiously, and would always try and describe tunes that Derrick played to people in record shops the following week. I never had any luck. I was probably trying to describe about three records being played at the same time.

Wes: And for my last one I’m going to fire that question back at you and also ask if you have any music coming out soon?

Dan: I’ve got a bunch of music nearly finished that I need to sort out. I’m going to lock myself away and do that. Arranging tracks does my nut in.

Catch Dan & Wes at Bottom Heavy Saturday 23rd June 9pm-3am at Dalston Superstore!

SofterTouch

Can you believe its been a whole year since SofterTouch made their cosmic crash-landing at the mothership? This Thursday sees an intergalactic celebration of the rowdy, abrasive, noise intensive experiencé that has become a cult-hit! With three successful club nights AfterTouch, SofterTouch and MEGALAST as well as playing at festivals such as Secret Garden Party, LeeFest and Glastonbury, J.Aria (Jacob Aria) and Ni-ku (Nik Rawlings) are renowned across East London for their eclectic and bratty DJ stylings. We caught up with Jacob and Nik to chat about how their friendship blossomed, why we’ve heard Barry Manilow play at SofterTouch, and what we can expect from Thursday!

Hiya Jacob and Nik! For our readers who aren’t that well acquainted with you two, can you tell us a bit about yourselves ?

J: I’ve been working as a musician in some form or another since I was about 15. Loads of different bands and gigs, festivals and all that. My main focus is a vocalist and experimental producer. I started to find my feet as a DJ about eighteen months ago.

N: I come from a choral background, had a noise band when I was a teenager and ended up studying Sound Art in Brighton, and DJing and promoting went hand in hand with that. For a long time I was obsessed with voguing and that informed a lot of my earlier DJ sets, and I organised a series of voguing events in Nottingham. I’ve always been drawn to more textural, intense, manic music. I think some highlights for me so far have been playing for Boo Hoo at Südblock in Berlin, at Tropical Waste with a hero of mine, KABLAM, and at Intruder Alert in Warsaw. Travelling and making new connections is one of the best things about DJing.

jacob aria

You’ve been collaborating with one another for quite some time now. Let’s rewind… How did you two meet?

J: We met at a Lotic gig in Brighton and hit it off. We’re both quite unbearable so we compliment each other pretty well.

N: Jacob and I hit it off pretty much immediately (ie. we both ranted a lot). Our interests and taste clicked so when I moved up to London it was an obvious move to work together. We’re a good balance as a duo and Jacob’s happy to tell me to shut up which is important when you work with me.

Your first club night, Aftertouch, seemed to have a real underground and experimental vibe to it. Tell us a little bit about the premise behind it?.

J: We wanted to bring together experimental queer performance art with experimental queer club DJing in a way that we hadn’t experienced before in London – it was usually one or the other.

N: We had spoken a lot about how at the time (2015/16) there was a lack of queer nights that focussed on the more experimental club music we were both into whilst also making a good space for performance art and radical drag. We wanted to present a night that was darker, more confrontational, disco-free, without being too overtly serious or prescriptive.

Aftertouch provided an amazing platform for queer artists. There seems to be an abundance of amazing LGBTQ+ performance talent but a lack of spaces for them. How can London become a better city for performers?

J: There are loads of amazing things happening now. But it’s always a nightmare trying to get a venue to support you with your stuff. There’s usually always a catch, and doing something that isn’t super conventional is always a gamble. I think London would benefit from having more interesting and accessible spaces to party in. The licensing laws here are too tight, it stifles a lot of freedom when you’re regulated in that way. It needs to loosen up, and we need more funding to be put into creative outlets. It’s kind of a rich kids playground, and rich kids are boring c**ts.

N: There’s some fundamental issues being in London that need to improve that would positively impact all creative scenes and especially queer performers. Space tends to be in short supply, but so is time; without lower rent and better wages it’s impossible to take time to make work! We all need more time and space than we often have in London if we want to be able to make ambitious, honest and original work. I’m sick of seeing new build flats sold on the credibility of the ‘creative quarter’ that they knocked down. Dedicated spaces are in short supply, so hats off to the LGBTQ+ Community Centre project. Projects like that are going to be wildly important in supporting performers.

nik 2

Why did you decide to move away from performance to a music-centred night with SofterTouch?

J: I just wanted to bring something really different to the Dalston Superstore programming, and to have a regular night to work on my DJ skills I guess. It had always been that I was the one that sorted the performance aspect of afterTouch and I wanted to cross over into DJing. Plus Superstore have always been so supportive of us as both friends and mentors that we wanted to do something there, something ‘at home’.

N: We’d both worked at Superstore – and for me it was a formative club when I first started coming to queer clubs, so obviously we wanted to ‘come home’. But we were also really excited to disrupt what people might expect from Dalston Superstore, and bring something a bit more confrontational and manic. It’s been a really great learning experience for both of us; we play B2B all night, and play a really frenetic and sometimes jarring combination of tracks, so the music can be a real journey. It’s kind of like an argument on the decks, but somehow it works. Oh, and generally I’ll close out with a basic bitch trance or donk remix of something so there’s that.

In terms of your DJ styles, who or what have been your inspirations?

J: My influences are all over the place. Sometimes I’m pretending I’m Black Madonna or Honey Dijon, other times it’s Aphex Twin or JLin. I dunno, I’m super messy. I get most of my inspiration from my DJ friends or by being on the other side of the desk on the dance floor and kinda peeking over to see how the DJ is working. I’m always trying to study whoever I see.

N: Big question. I think the whole of our particular scene looks to TOTAL FREEDOM as an originator. KABLAM, originally of Janus in Berlin is still my current favourites, we have a lot of choral influences in common too. Then also I always look back to the Bubblebyte party, maybe seven years ago in Peckham where AIDS-3D & TCF (then known as Craxxxmurf) played loads of insane bubbling and hardstyle – it still stands out years later, and I’ll weave in some tracks from that period throughout most sets. When I’m playing a solo mix I’ll plan a trajectory and think about the textural and emotional story I want to tell, and when I play SofterTouch with Jacob it’s much more about wild trax that’ll just about fit with whatever they’ve been playing and keep bodies moving without being too stuck to genre or tempo.

Its safe to say that you both are quite contrasting in what you play, but we’ve never experienced a dull moment when you’re both going b2b at SofterTouch! Why do you think you both work so well together?

J: It just keeps the night evolving, because the mood is constantly shifting. We have totally different tastes but there’s a middle ground, we are both trying to experiment in similar ways – just with different tracks. If I think Nik is being too bratty I’ll play Barry Manilow just to piss him off.

N: We kind of battle each other a bit and sometimes there’ll be 30 minutes of us playing tracks that mix smoothly and then you’ll have a whole load of material that shouldn’t work together but somehow does. There’s a huge range of genres we’ll play from…. and every now and again I’ll drop a lipsync track in and get on the bar. We play a lot of quite intense music but it’s all with a sense of humour.

More recently, you both brought your experimental flare to our Friday night line-up with MEGALAST! Whats in store for the next one?

J: MegaLast is our new Friday night party. It’s kind of a natural progression from softerTouch. We are bringing in challenging and experimental DJs from across the country and the continent. I guess we are really trying to shake up the kind of programming you would expect on Kingsland Road on a Friday night. We are back on August 31st for round two, it’s gonna be even bigger and rowdier than our first. I’m super excited about who we are looking to get down to the lazerpit this time around.

N: MegaLast brings both SofterTouch and AfterTouch’s music policies together; there’s artists downstairs playing more abrasive, experimental and intense music downstairs in the basement and diverse party tracks upstairs. The next one will be headlined by Object Blue whose recent release on Tobago Tracks is one of the standout records of the year for us; they’re also a regular Superstore-goer and so we’re really excited to have her at DSS for the first time

Who would be your dream booking?

J: Flying Lotus or J Lin would be nuts.

N: TCF, Holly Herndon, Ase Manual, Lotic, W3C.

In five words, can you describe what we can expect Thursday?

J: Bratty, erratic, explorations, heaviness and audacity.

N: Cute bounce, much booty, kick.

Catch J.Aria and Ni-Ku at SofterTouch: One Year this Thursday 7th June 9pm-2:30am at Dalston Superstore!

Nathan Gregory Wilkins

By James Baillie

Ahead of the upcoming Tusk party at Dalston Superstore, promoter James Baillie sits down with History Clock founder, cohort of Ivan Smagghe and all round leftfield DJ, Nathan Gregory Wilkins. Nathan’s current project sees him teaming up with Richard X to create their own strain of music for dancing as the recent Phantasy signing, Cowboy Rhythmbox. They chat past parties, favourite new tracks and plans for the party!

What track do you like to wake up to in the morning?

Problems by New Age Steppers

Cowboy Rhythmbox is yourself and Richard X. Is there a sound that sums up your relationship?

The sound of Richard’s kettle boiling, we’re not very rock n’ roll.

If you had the chance to remix a track of your choice, what would that be?

I guess something by Yello, so much to choose from though!!!

Marc Jacobs calls you up to ask if there are any new bands he should be checking out. Who would you suggest?

I rather like Telegram. And Goat.

You were a regular punter at my club Venus back in the early 90’s. What track reminds you of Venus?

Alarm Clock by Westbam

History Clock was your label. What was your favorite stand out track from the label?

Woman by It’s A Fine Line (Ivan Smagghe & Tim Paris). It always gets such an incredible response.

You used to do the club night E.S.P. What record never left your box?

What was the last piece of vinyl you bought?

I bought this last week:

You are playing at our next TUSK night, what do we expect to hear from Nathan Gregory Wilkins?

A mixture a new and old sleazey electronic music with a few camp disco records thrown in.

News has just come over the airwaves that the end of the world is upon us. What track are you listening to?

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. I love that song.

Catch Nathan Gregory Wilkins at Tusk on Saturday 26 September from 9pm-3am at Dalston Superstore.

Nail

Underground house producer and admired cult DJ Nail (aka Neil Tolliday) is the latest electronic legend to headline Tusk at Dalston Superstore. From the huge commercial success of Bent (his project with friend and producer Simon Mills) to the establishment of his own label 89:GHOST, Nail’s career has spanned decades and seen a seriously impressive range of projects and releases. We sat down to talk Nottingham parties, collaborations and favourite gigs.

Your love of house music came about in a really roundabout way – it sounds like it certainly wasn’t your first love. Can you tell us how you came from pirate radio and hip-hop to electronic music?

I’ve been intrigued by electronic music since I was small, from when my Dad used to shit me up with the Clockwork Orange soundtrack or watching Watoo Watoo cartoons. I first heard Can U Dance by Kevin Jammin Jason & Fast Eddie Smith on the radio when I was about 12 or 13 and shortly after that Jack Your Body was at number one, so I guess it was the charts and the radio got me there to start with. I didn’t start going to clubs until I was 16, but I’d been buying the records for a few years before that.

How much did your role in DiY collective influence your sound in years to come?

Well I used to go to a lot of their nights here in Nottingham, but in all honesty I don’t really remember much! But obviously I’d hear what they were playing and making for the label, so it must’ve rubbed off on me. They were always armed with such quality tunes.

Your side project with Simon Mills, Bent, has seen great success over the years. How did that project develop? Where did all those bizarre finds come from?

We met in 1998 as he was living next door to my girlfriend and we made each other laugh (well, he makes me laugh anyway) and seemed to be both going in the same direction at that time – as in we wanted to do something different, so we got on fairly quickly. Long story short, we started pissing about and sampling shit records he had bought from charity shops. We thought it was hilarious and kept egging each other on to find the most ridiculous sample, but somehow it worked – I played it to my manager, he played it to some other people and all of a sudden it started taking off.

What led you to start your own label, 89: Ghost?

Basically I saw some people selling my old records from the 90’s (that I could f**king give away at the time) for silly money on Discogs. So I spoke to my friend James at Juno and decided to press up a few old tunes. It’s not done too bad, considering the amount of new labels there are at the moment. But I’ve started putting out new material on there now, so hopefully it’ll keep going for a bit.

You must have played at a huge variety of parties over the years – are there any clear standouts for you?

I think variety is the best word, different places of different sizes.. no real stand outs though, apart from really shit ones, but there’s no point talking about them. In recent time, playing Globus at Tresor a coupla times was pretty special, and I always loved playing at Crucifix Lane for Cartuli’s Day. I like dark, sweaty places, preferably where I’m not on a f**king stage. DJs should be heard and not seen.

If you had access to a time machine and could visit any dance floor anywhere/anywhen, where would want to go dancing?

Probably something really obvious like the early days of Studio 54 or Ku, see what all the fuss was about

Do you have a guilty pleasure record that you can’t help but sneak in every now and then? Perhaps a few weirdo tracks from your days with Bent?

Having dropped a few guilty pleasures into sets in the past, thinking, ‘This will BLOW their minds!!’, only for it to clear the floor, I try to steer clear of gambling too much with that kind of thing.. I don’t play out that much.

What can we expect from your set at Tusk?

House music!

Join Nail on Saturday 25 July for TUSK at Dalston Superstore from 9pm – 3am.

Marro

The mysterious Marro joins us this Friday for another road-block edition of Dirty Diana. No stranger to Dalston Superstore, the enigmatic DJ has recently made the move from Berlin to our very own London and is celebrating his new home in style by treating us to a set packed full of tech bumpers and pumpers. Ahead of Dirty Diana he sat down to answer a few of our burning questions and treat us to a Spring-time warm-up mix….!

You recently made the move from Berlin to London at a time when many Londoners are moving to Berlin. What brought you across the continent?

The very reason that Londoners are moving to Berlin leaves London even more in need of a shake of the night life. I find it curious that instead of trying to create some noise in London, we head for Berlin. London historically has been a place where new sounds were born but for the past few years it seems that this has stopped. I felt it is a good time that we create something in London and keep Londoners here for the weekends. Also, I have been playing in Berlin for over 15 years now and it was a good time for a little change for me. Meeting all these Londoners in the clubs I have been playing, telling me that they have to fly over there to hear my music made me think that it’s a good time for me to head to London.

What has been your dirtiest Berlin clubbing experience and who was there to witness it? Behind the decks and on the floor?

One of the things that makes Berlin exciting is the ability to experience many of life’s pleasures on a night out without feeling that your are doing something dirty. Hedonism in all its different forms is a normalised reality on the Berlin club scene and you do not even need to hide behind the decks or in some dark corner. Everyone is a witness to everyone and everything flows freely and disinhibited. So I do not need to be graphic or drop any names… Whatever happens behind the decks and on the floor stays there…

Berlin is known for its hedonism and ridiculously fit men. How does London measure up in terms of either?

This is not necessarily true. Maybe this image has been created out of the gym conscious visitors who come to enjoy themselves in Berlin. Berliners are not hung up on looks or clothes (unless we are talking about fetish type of clothes) and the gym look is not really a Berlin thing, which is a breath of fresh air. It may also be that they look more naturally fit because they dance a lot (sometimes for days non stop) as opposed to spending too much time at the gym.

You have a residency at the legendary Chantal’s House Of Shame. Describe her in three words.

Crazy, rebellious and fun.

Berghain… Tresor… KitKat… Where is your preferred Berlin techno situation and why?

These big names were a lot more fun 10 years ago. For the past few years, I enjoyed myself in a lot more in smaller underground venues like Golden Gate, where I had a residency for over 6 years. In these smaller venues you can be a lot more intimate with the crowd and be part of the fun.

If you had a time machine and could visit any dance floor anywhere / any time, where would you want to go dancing and why?

I would definitely go back to the old Panorama bar at OstGut at the beginning of the new millennium. This was Berlin at its peak and the best parties you could have found yourself in. The music was unique and non-commercial, which you could only listen to at Panorama. I remember how the guests kept asking during this time at Panorama “what kind of music is this?” It was also a venue where you completely felt at ease with yourself and everyone around you.

What advice would you give to your younger self as a dj?

It’s not so much an advice. It’s more of a reminder that you have to be genuinely passionate about music as opposed to be doing it with the hope of becoming a famous DJ.

What is your favourite track to end the night on?

After an amazing party you need to end the night on a nice, mellow, happy and peaceful way. One of my all time favourite tracks that I would play would be Mummy Wants Some Eggs by Robert Calvin.

Join Marro this Friday 29th May for Dirty Diana at Dalston Superstore from 9pm – 4.30am.

Meet Honey Dijon

By Whitney Weiss

Whether spinning euphoric disco sets at Le Bain or stripped-down techno in Berlin, Honey Dijon is always on top of her game. A DJ’s DJ with an encyclopedic knowledge of dance music, she currently divides her time between New York, Berlin, and a packed touring schedule. Ahead of Honey’s set at Fhloston Paradise, we chatted about the current state of New York nightlife, testing tracks on actual dance floors, and why it’s impossible to choose a single historical club to visit with a time machine…

So to be clear for those who might not know, you’re from Chicago but currently based in New York and Berlin, or just New York?

I spent the last three summers in Berlin, and I love the city. I’m just trying to figure out how to move there full-time, since everybody and their mother lives there. And I still work quite a bit in North America. I’m going for three weeks, actually, because I’m going to Tel Aviv to play The Block, then I come to London to play Dalston Superstore, then I play Homopatik, then I go to Ibiza. It’s just easier [to tour in Europe] if I’m there.

Since you’ve been involved in New York nightlife for such a long time, what would you say is the biggest difference between what it was when you first arrived and where it’s at now?

The biggest difference now is that I don’t see very many people of color at the clubs anymore. It’s not as culturally diverse as it used to be. Musically, New York doesn’t have a sound anymore. It was once one of the most influential dance capitals of the world, it had so many influential artists back in the day. There are party promoters who are very successful, like ReSolute, Blk|Market, and Verboten, but I wouldn’t say that there’s a definite New York sound. The only DJs who are really making an impression in Europe right now are Levon Vincent, Joey Anderson, and a/just/ed but I’d have to say they’re much more embraced in Europe than in the States. I mean, EDM is still quite popular here.

And is that one of the reasons you’re interested in Europe at the moment, aside from the fact that it sounds like you’re booked so often?

Yeah, I think musically. Also, New York is such an expensive place. The best line that I ever heard about New York, as it is today, is ‘New York is a great place to sell art, but it’s not a place to make art.’ I think that’s one of the main reasons why I’m looking more to Europe. And it’s so funny, there’s such a resurgence in house music at the moment, and that’s something I’m very well versed in. They’re talking about how deep house is this next big trend, which is so funny because it never went away. It never went away, it’s just a difference face has been put upon it, if you know what I mean.

I definitely know what you mean.

Yeah. So I really feel more artistically free in Europe as an artist, so that’s one of the reasons that I would consider living there. But fees are not as high; it’s a trade-off. It’s a great place to live, but there’s a DJ every two minutes. And great ones.

And how do you feel about London?

I absolutely love London, I think it’s such a musically rich city. I mean, the music I find in London I tend to not find anywhere else. The record stores Phonica and Kristina are curated so well, I find such amazing things there. And they just really love music. Not just dance music; you hear all kinds of music in London. From jazz to pop to dub, you can hear anything. It’s very inspiring for me. But it’s mad expensive. And so vast. It’s not like the city of New York, where it’s expensive but you can sort of walk anywhere. it’s really spread out, the east is far from the west. But I absolutely love London.

And what sorts of records have you been playing out a lot lately? What can the crowd at Dalston Superstore expect on the 12th?

I’ve been playing more raw these days, more stripped-back, more techno-influenced, mixed in with classic things. But techno has been really inspiring, I don’t know if that’s coming from spending a lot of time in Berlin. I just listen for things that reflect my personality and reflect how I want to express music. I’ve been accused of being eclectic, and I’ve embraced that. Because when I was on Traktor for so many years, I found that I was more concerned with what I could do with the music instead of letting the music breathe. I realized I was a much better artist just going back to vinyl and using USB sticks and playing records. So I guess what they can expect is a more stripped-down version of house music. I don’t know what to call it anymore! The best word I can come up with is “soultek.”

So the fashion weeks are about to be upon us. You have a long-time collaboration with Kim Jones from Louis Vuitton and have DJed a ton of fashion week parties in the past. Are you playing this year or doing any shows?

Um, I’ve transitioned more into a personality.

Even better!

So I’m going to more fashion events than actually doing after-parties now. The thing about fashion is it always has to be the next, the next, the next, you know, I’ve had my turn. The fashion crowd went to Ibiza this year for some reason, so I think you’ll be hearing a lot more house music and stuff like that. Now I just work with friends and do soundtracks for events or do soundtracks for shows more than I do parties. Which is much more exciting and fun, because you’re actually collaborating with artists and designers instead of being the after-party soundtrack.

Can you tell us anything about what you’re collaborating on this year or is it a secret?

I think the longest-standing relationship I have is doing the music for Louis Vuitton. There’s always research that goes into that show, that goes into that music, and every season I’ve worked with Kim, I’ve always done special edits of particular music. Last season, I did a special edit of Hounds Of Love. Kim likes really obscure things, so it’s really a matter of doing a lot of research and doing special edits tailor-made for the show. That’s always exciting and challenging and fun.

And do you have any new remixes coming out?

I just did a remix for My Offence for Hercules & Love Affair, I actually have two projects about to come out on Classic. I’m about to do a remix for DJ W!ld, I just did a bunch of original material that I’m shopping at the moment. So I have lots of little musical things on the go.

Do you think you’ll be playing your original stuff out while you’re DJing?

It’s so funny, I don’t even want to hear half the stuff after living with it. But yes, I slip things in. I have to, just to hear what they sound like. Sometimes you make a track, then you take it out, then you realize that the kick could be a lot louder, or the highs could have a lot more movement. You know, it’s one thing to make a track in the studio, but it’s another thing to play it out and get a reaction from the crowd. And sometimes, you don’t even think the stuff you’re gonna have a good reaction for gets a great reaction. So the trick about making music is just to make it.

And then test it.

And then test it. But that’s the thing, back in the day you used to have residencies where you were able to test your stuff. But now, you just test it on the road. And you don’t get a chance to really hear, you know, have a place where you can go. I don’t know how to express it, like if you had a residency, you could test things and live with them and see the crowd’s reaction change before you release it to the world. But now, now you don’t have that. Unless maybe you’re a Berghain or Panorama Bar resident. Or a Robert Johnson resident. A club where you can have a residency to play that kind of music. I think that’s the biggest challenge.

Now for the classic Dalston Superstore question, which is: if we had a time machine ready to take you to any dance floor, past present or future, where would you like to go and why?

God, that’s such a loaded question because there are so many dance floors. Oh my god! I mean, you’re talking to a person who loves music. Okay, I’m just going to give you a list. I would have loved to have gone to The Loft to hear Nicky Siano, I would have loved to have gone to The Music Institute in Detroit, I would have loved to have gone to The Warehouse in Chicago. I would have loved to have gone to Berghain in 2004. The Mudd Club, 1978. Danceteria, 1979. The World with David Morales and Frankie Knuckles. Disco 2000. Um, of course Paradise Garage. Of course Ministry of Sound in the early ’90s. The Saint.

But also, there are so many clubs that people don’t talk about that were heavily influential in my development as a person and as an artist. There’s one called Club LaRay in Chicago, Rialto’s, Cheeks. These are all clubs that were in Chicago that weren’t talked about. They’ve sort of been erased from the dance music vocabulary because they were predominantly black gay clubs that were very underground. And back in the day, the most two famous ones were The Warehouse and the Power Plant, but back then they were really… you know, it was black and gay. Straight people went, it wasn’t like straight people didn’t go, but they weren’t the popular clubs. Like I said, there are so many dance floors around the world… God. It’s like, there was Fabric when it first opened, or Home when that first opened in London. Jesus Christ, I mean it’s hard for me to say which and when and what because yeah, there are just so many. DTPM, Trade. For me, it wasn’t about black white gay straight, it was about a movement of music. And I didn’t think there was one school, the list could go on and on and on. So if I had a time machine, I would probably go back to each and every one of them.

I appreciate the history. I had never heard of Cheeks before you just said it.

Yeah, Cheeks was actually a trans bar where Ralphi Rosario used to play. I’ve been going to clubs since I was 12, I don’t even remember what year that was, but it was definitely late ’80s early ’90s. But I was able to get a fake ID and go to these places, and I was friends with a lot of other DJs and I got snuck into clubs, too. It was a different time, you know. It’s so funny now how…you know, it’s funny to me, I don’t want to use this word to offend anybody because at the end of the day anybody who loves this kind of music and promotes this culture I’m all for, but I don’t see a lot of um, it’s still a very heavily male dominated industry. I don’t see a lot of people of color that are tastemakers. There are hardly any women of color. I don’t see any queer women of color. I just have a different reference point about it, I suppose. But I don’t want to insult anybody or sound like a victim or sound like I’m jaded or bitter or upset. I think you have to be very careful in how you word these things, because it should be about the music at the end of the day.

And do you feel, because like, as a female DJ I don’t usually like asking other people the identity question, but do you feel responsible as a public figure or as someone in the scene, for being…

Trans?

For being representative, for doing a good job representing your viewpoint?

Well, I think you can probably answer this. You don’t want to be considered a female DJ, you’re a DJ.

Exactly.

You don’t want your talent to be pigeonholed by your gender. But having said that, I don’t think I would have had the experiences I’ve had if I wasn’t who I was. So I think it’s important for me to tell those stories and those experiences, because those stories won’t be told otherwise. So it’s not so much that I feel a responsibility to anyone, it’s more that I feel like I’m giving a voice to experiences that otherwise would not have seen the light of day. Being a trans person now has become en vogue, as we so care to say. It’s one of those things I don’t want to be put in a box because of, but at the same time, it’s a thing that also gives me the advantage of having had such a rich musical cultural experience. And being able to move between different worlds and being able to have different dialogues with different audiences with music. You couldn’t put a Chicago house DJ on the main floor at The Black Party, but yet they did, because I’m from Chicago, and I’m trans.

I think my quote unquote ‘gender experience’ has allowed me to navigate different worlds, which has given me the opportunity to have a rich musical cultural experience that I get to share with other people. I can’t control what other people say about me, but I can control what I say about myself. I don’t define myself by my gender, I don’t define myself by the music that I play, I don’t define myself. I just define myself as Honey. I’m Honey. And all of these experiences have made me who I am as a person. So if I have to communicate that to other people, that’s the best answer that I can give, that I’m fortunate in a way that I’ve been able to navigate different worlds, because I’ve been many different things. I’ve been able to go from straight to gay, gay to straight, whatever you want to call it, black white straight gay bi purple trans, and each has its own language and vocabulary, and I’ve been able to incorporate all of that into my expression of music. Not a lot of people get to do that. Most people you know have only been to one, they’re comfortable. Not comfortable, but if you’ve never had to question your identity and you’ve been able to be successful in one lane, well, there’s a whole freeway out there.

Join Honey Dijon for Fhloston Paradise in the laser basement and Whitney Weiss in the top bar for Nancy’s this Friday 12th September at Dalston Superstore from 9pm – 3am.