Horseplay

05/04/2021

Stream over 30 of our mixes on our Mixclould page, or scroll down to find our 3 Spotify playlists of tracks from our favourite Horseplay sets.

Enjoy,
Bronco, Jim & Pony

Horseplay is on Mixcloud. Join to listen to great radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts

05/04/2021

We couldn't talk about 10 years of Horseplay without mentioning THE ART!

One of our favourite things about Horseplay was presenting performance artists in club contexts. Right from the very first party featuring Harry Clayton-Wright we were working with q***r talent from around the UK to bring that bit of crazy to the night.

Making performance for the club is a tricky thing; it has to be highly visual and understandable through booming music, and you never quite know how people will react when drunk!

Our resident artists David & Matt (Bitch & Party) made a name for themselves with a series of masked performances, and Bryn and Andi always brought conceptual next-level drag. Tom Marshman was a regular, giving us pavlova serving ballerinas and gorgeous projection work.

Sometimes the performers were our friends who had been roped into whatever mad idea Pony has thought up. Neil Stoodley, Bernie Hodges, Ally Kat, Robyn Rooke, Cybil War Jakub Jażdżewski, Seren Fish and many more often got involved, and the pictures still pop up now and again to make us smile.

People also got involved in making us cool things. Richard Bloom and Lucy Forfunn helped with carpentry, making and transporting our ridiculously large lightbox around. Matt Curry once provided us a load of second-hand s*x toys. Ani Stafford-Townsend made our costumes and hats!

Some of the wildest performances were from Mette Sterre and her huge cow tongue, Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill and their drag mother piece with lipsyncing va**na, Freddi XJ and Vix Williams getting covered in UV slime, Alfie Ordinary and Lydia L'Scabies doing Warhol, David Hoyle taking down the authority, Beloved Sara Zaltash running rings around the stage, and Fk Alexander serenading us all at The Storm with Playmodes Studio.

The art at Horseplay was a ride, and we loved you all!

xx

Pics by Tanya Hazell, Tim Jones, Jak Flash Photography, Andre Pattenden, Oliver Rudkin, Simon Camper, Vonalina Cake Photography, Luis Cruz Photography

04/04/2021

Take a listen to Bernie talking on the Lost Spaces podcast about what Horseplay meant to him...and while you are at it, take a listen to Bernie and Tom's excellent What That Old Queen? podcast exploring q***r life quandaries
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2R1KwfxnyFqIdHXIuLDkrM?si=zJinymC1TbGpHWhQzuLGkg&utm_source=copy-link&fbclid=IwAR23AWV7Yn7jcRPKKcJENnB_VnMFQ57-z-SBY3ZxzuIydQ1GGaZ0MXSotwg&nd=1

Lost Spaces: Memories from Gay Bars, Le***an Clubs, and LGBTQ+ Parties · Episode

03/04/2021

Pony here! Saturday night is coming up and maybe you're looking for a couple of bangers in your pyjamas and comfy slippers? Here's my Horseplay 10th Anniversary Spotify Playlist 🎧🎶

I tended to play the very first sets (pop, slower BPM disco and indie-dance) and the last set (more serious housey dance stuff). This playlist loosely represents that narrative; it's frontloaded with pop and remixes and ends with stuff that's a little more housey.

I was a stickler for remix of a classic, but most of these were unreleased edits that aren't on Spotify. I was usually pretty stressed out at these parties because I was keeping an eye on lights and smoke and door staff and artists... the last set was where I relaxed a bit and danced around.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed reminicing

Horseplay 10th Anniversary - Pony · Playlist · 69 songs · 29 likes

03/04/2021

One of my favourite things about Horseplay is that we never had to overplan the music strategy. In fact there wasn't really much of a strategy - each of us pretty much played what we wanted. Apart from the occasional month where there was a 'big' tune and we might all have conferred to see if the others were going to play it (and then ignored it if they were anyway).

Whatever the name for one of those Venn diagrams with three circles in it is, I always thought the Horseplay music version of it had some pretty big sweet spots in the middle, but we also all brought something different and individual to the dancefloor. Mike was hot on up to date pop bangers and indie-dance remixes, Jeremy (we know each other well enough to use our real names here, right?) covered soulful, vocal house and disco, and I liked a spacier vibe tinged with a bit of minor-key melancholy. But it all worked together really well and the whole became more than the sum of its parts.

We generally did two 40-minute sets each - one early, one late - which allowed us to split the music up for different parts of the night: earlier=friendlier, later=messier!

I always wanted to play music that, if you were out in the bar area or having a cigarette, you might hear, and stop your companion mid-sentence with a "oh, hang on, sorry - I fu***ng love this song - shall we go for a dance"? I really enjoyed compiling this list - it took me right back to the smell of the smoke machine and the panic of having to start a set after whoever was just on had filled the floor.

Hope you enjoy.

Jim / Rob xx

Playlist · Rob Johnstone · 62 items · 16 saves

01/04/2021

It's our Horseplay 10 Year Anniversary! - Like all the best ideas, Horseplay started in the pub. Music-obsessed but technical noobs, we talked about finding an unloved boozer and seeing if we could maybe play some records on a midweek night - and to invite our friends to come and have a drink with us. We somehow ended up on riverboats, on the stage of the O2, naked & covered in blue paint, and leather-clad in a creaky old cinema.

We still talk about those moments when we knew Horseplay had become something bigger than we’d ever envisaged - those times we looked out from the DJ booth and saw people that we didn’t know, and who brought their friends, and who kept coming back month after month and asking us when the next one was going to be.

We didn’t want these anniversary posts to be about us, because the night was never really about us from the beginning - it was about our friends - and if you ever came to one of our nights, then you’re part of that community - so thanks for coming. We’ve loved looking back through the smoke at all your photos. We also tip our (riding) hat to those who came before us, those who ran alongside us and those still to come out of the gates - and that’s the other thing we just want to say: Horseplay is testament to the power of getting up and doing something. Two of us had never touched a mixing desk before we put on our first night ten years ago and we had no real experience putting on parties. We can assure you it’s worth it, for the community you create, for the buzz of filling a dancefloor with a tune you hoped everyone would love as much as you do.

Love and sugar lumps,
Pony, Bronco & Jim

Pics by Tanya Hazell, Tim Jones, Luis Cruz Photography, Jak Flash Photography, Andre Pattenden, Oliver Rudkin, Simon Camper, Vonalina Cake Photography

01/04/2021

🎉🎉🎉 It's our Horseplay 10 Year Anniversary! 🎉🎉🎉

On 1st April 2011 we held our first party in the basement of Cavern Club, under The Crown. Armed with a smoke machine and a playlist of house, disco, indie-electro and underground dance music we were passionate about creating a fun q***r party that offered something different to the mainstream gay scene. Who would have known our night would bring together such a brilliant community of like-minded people over the years?

To celebrate our birthday we’ll be posting over the weekend and reminiscing about the club. Look out for further posts on the amazing artists who shocked and surprised, the music that got you dancing and the people who made Horseplay amazing - you! Here are some of the posters to start!

We miss you

01/04/2021

31/03/2021

On we celebrate and honour our trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming friends and stand with them against hatred and discrimination.

Here's a great article by Dani Singer on how trans allies can champion transgender voices - “We need you to use the privilege that comes with your allyship to break down the barriers that still silence our voices.”

When the outside world sees our friends smashing down every attempt at stigmatisation and alienation, that’s when we’ll be able to thrive in the freedom we deserve

15/12/2020

PLU have just released CUPRO's first dance track, with all the proceeds going to Mermaids in support of trans kids and their families. The cute video made us smile, give it a spin and buy it on bandcamp.

30/09/2020

New banger from Romy of The xx.

The debut single from Romy. Available now: https://romy.ffm.to/lifetime Follow Romy https://www.instagram.com/romyromyromy/ https://twitter.com/romyromyromy ...