Five years of HE.SHE.THEY. — The moments that defined the inclusive label and party collective
HE.SHE.THEY. (HST), the London queer party collective and record label, was founded by Steven Braines and Sophia Kearney, after witnessing a distinct lack of events that reflected the diversity historically at the heart of the likes of techno, house and disco. And now with HST reaching its 5th anniversary, the founders have managed to address that imbalance of representation, offering up spaces that promote freedom, expression and safety for those in the queer community whilst working towards body positivity and racial and gender equality. Meanwhile, their ever growing label has seen releases from the likes of Maya Jane Coles, Anja Schneider, Rebekah, Cakes Da Killa, and Eris Drew.
For their 5th anniversary, HST is currently celebrating with a world tour, which spans everywhere from Austria to Italy, as well as releases from their label, including Sister Bliss’ most recent single, ‘Life Is A Melody.’ And now, founders Braines and Kearney are taking a nostalgic stroll down memory lane to run us through five key moments from their time at HST, including wild parties, insider stories and how the label all came together…
Braines: It was amazing going from working at Secret Party Garden as an artist liaison for the festival back in its early years to having thousands of people at our own HE.SHE.THEY. stage for four whole days. For the first one, we had acts like LCY and Kilimanjaro through to Ewan McVicar and Eats Everything, plus of course, loads of our club kids and dancers, which are such a big part of what we do representation-wise, but also they just make a vibe. This year we’re back bigger and bolder again with a wide range of artists from house and disco-like Faithless, Horse Meat Disco, Cinthie, CC: Disco, Dana Montana and SYREETA through to more bass-music orientated acts like Sherelle, Fabio & Grooverider, Chloe Robinson, TYGAPAW I. Jordan, Mella Dee and so many in-between. Also, I’ll be going back to back as my drag alias Sandra Spitz, with bonafide legendary DJ Heidi, an act that I’ve decided to call HILDA because I’m weird/an idiot. HST will also be hosting their own stage at this year’s Secret Garden Party from the 20th-23rd July.
Kearney: The label was born in 2019 before the pandemic when we put out an EP of LOUISAHHH’s, which was a precursor to our first full-length LP with her, The Practice of Freedom. One of the tracks from that record, ‘Love is a Punk,’ is such an anthem for me and a track I always blast when I’m feeling particularly activist and angsty. In terms of being a regularly releasing underground indie electronic label, this all kicked off during the pandemic and with a record we’d loved for a good while before it came out; Wax Wings ft NIMMO, ‘Reclaim Me.’ I think this record is still one of my very favourites we’ve ever put out, and we had the honour of it being remixed by Maya Jane Coles. In fact, remixes on our label have led to some awesome music, and artists we are honoured to have on the imprint. Eris Drew, who I’m a huge fan of, remixed an Alanis Morisette track for the label, LSDXOXO did a remix of Catz ’N Dogz that was raw and sexy, Radio Slave did a massive club remix of new artist at the time Charly Schaller and our very own resident Wax Wings absolutely nailed his remix of Cakes da Killa x Proper Villains ‘What’s the Word.’ This one utterly slapped in the clubs, and we had some amazing moments raving on dance floors hearing it. We were so excited to welcome Cakes to the label, such a talent and showed another facet to our label’s A&R taste which is super eclectic. As long as we love it, it goes out. From house, techno, hip-hop or dance/pop crossover tracks like Sister Bliss’s new one, ‘Life is a Melody’, which we love. I’m so excited to see where the label grows in the coming years.
HE.SHE.THEY. 5th Birthday London Edition
Braines: Our London 5th Birthday at Ministry Of Sound was a full circle moment. Visiting the place it all started some 40 cities later, from Mumbai to NYC, with everyone from VTSS to Honey Dijon taking control of the decks. It felt amazing just to have somehow managed to survive the pandemic, let alone have Peaches performing live at our birthday. She is an incredible human, so kind, funny, smart and nurturing, and her performance was equally incredible; the whole club with so many familiar faces there all screaming “fuck the pain away” at the top of their lungs in some big punky, alternative soup was a real moment. That song was a huge part of my coming of age, so it was an even bigger full-circle moment in some respects. We decided to just go full on yolo and celebrate the whole year as our 5th birthday, so we’re having about 30 birthday parties in 30 cities. Our next London Show is Pride @Koko on 1st July 2023.
Braines: It’s a slightly forgotten fact that we were originally actually going to be a fashion house that threw the odd party, but because of the pandemic, there were so many stops and starts to the fashion side of things we’re only really in full swing now and have some exciting things coming up. One of the best things we ever did, though, was throwing a party on London fashion week’s official schedule with Harpies – Europe’s first LGBTQIA+ inclusive strip club that centres trans + queer bodies. The year before, Lucia Blayke, who co-founded Harpies, protested about the lack of trans/non-binary bodies in fashion even though they were on so many mood boards. We were determined to make a statement, so we buddied up, and trans inclusion was front and centre. Lucia actually gave this breathtakingly poignant speech, naked as the day she was born, about the importance of trans inclusion to a giant ovation. DJs like Dorian Electra and Wax Wings took pay cuts to perform because they wanted to help the cause. We ended up having four floors open, and there was a little queue to get in that snaked down the street and over a road even. It was bonkers.
Ibiza
Kearney: Ibiza has held a very special place in both of our hearts for many years. I’ve spent time living there, and we’ve been to all the clubs many times as punters and with the artists that we manage. It was so exciting and important to us to bring our ethos to the island. We were so proud of the 2022 Amnesia lineup, which was so jam-packed full of incredible talent that also celebrated intersectionality. HST to us isn’t just about being LGBTQIA+, I identify as straight, although Steven is queer, so it’s always just as much about using our privilege to make sure we are platforming racial diversity, class and celebrating body positivity. We are an inclusive brand, not just a queer one, and we don’t believe in excluding any group; it’s just about everyone having space and freedom to experiment whilst all being together. The Ibiza parties got naughtier and sweatier as the season went on, and we were overjoyed to hear the dancers and audience saying they were their favourite events of the season. I certainly noticed a real difference in the diversity and grittiness on our dance floors that I felt had been missing from Ibiza for a very long time. Will we be back in 2023? Well, we strongly suggest you follow us for some announcements…
‘HE.SHE.THEY. will be hosting their own stage at this year’s Secret Garden Party from the 20th-23rd July’.
