Their ‘queer party for all’ brought fun back to the London club scene – then went global. Now, with their first album, they’re on a mission to keep the dancefloor spirit alive in lockdown
Every club night has its defining “were you there?” moment and, for Horse Meat Disco (HMD), it was Kate Bush and a lot of dry ice on New Year’s Day 2004. The gay bar Dukes, in Vauxhall, south London, was packed, with HMD already making a name for themselves with their flamboyant reclamation of disco – but a guest DJ had overdone it the night before and didn’t turn up. “So I had to play every bit of music I had – CDs, vinyl, the lot,” says Luke Howard, now one of the resident DJs. “I ended up playing Running Up That Hill, which somehow worked: all these queens had a massive acid house moment to it, which just set the tone for how eclectic we can play here. They’d lost the control for the smoke machine, too.” Co-founder Jim Stanton cackles: “Someone was sitting on it!”
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