Welcome to the Save Our Scene Scene Spotlight, a series to highlight the artists, people, promoters, collectives, venues and more who make the UK’s music scene the individual and vibrant place it is. Together, we can nurture this crucial ecosystem.

Queer House Party has quickly become known as one of London’s most revolutionary parties. Cutting their teeth on community organising, this collective came into being during lockdown, offering isolated and vulnerable individuals the chance to feel part of a community and share a dance. They rose to further acclaim by using their platform to take part in demonstrations, holding those in the music industry and beyond to account, and using their voices to shout about the issues that matter the most. Five years on and the collective have never stopped serving the community that made them. We find out below about how this legacy lives on, why social media won’t save nightlife, and what’s giving them hope in the UK’s music industry right now.

SOS: So, you have an incredible legacy after forming through lockdown and holding protests on Zoom. How has this affected the way you operate today?

QHP: Even before the Zooms, we started putting on events as fundraisers as part of the activist groups that we were in. So, there was already this baseline of: ‘we want to do nightlife in a way that’s more meaningful than we just want to throw a club night and make loads of money.’ It also means that we have always tried to make our events as accessible as possible. We have BSL and audio description on request, we have multiple ticketing options for different communities - we still make sure we do it in a way that’s ‘everyone in’.

There’s a lot of people who are stuck in one way of doing things. Starting on Zoom made us think differently about all the various ways people can experience club nights. That outlook showed us that there’s so much unused potential. It basically means we’ve never said no.

SOS: What’s a milestone in the collective's history that you feel doesn’t get spoken about enough?

QHP: We still have the online element of the party, and that’s something we’re incredibly proud of. We now work with the company Castrooms, who do the live streams for us, and it's sensational to watch. Sometimes you have people joining from their bed with a cup of tea, having a little dance, and then you also have people secretly watching QHP while they’re in an office outside the UK somewhere.

Another main one is that our crowd is just sensational. People can tell the energy that we put in and they really trust us. They’re just so fucking nice and supportive. It’s really hard to achieve that, and you can put all the messaging out into the world that you want to, but people can really tell if it's coming from a place of authenticity. We’ve got a niche crowd of people that are kind and caring, but absolutely mental and up for a good time. It’s the perfect balance.

SOS: What can a punter expect when walking through the doors of QHP?

QHP: Chaos, there’s always so much going on. We have live music and collectives doing performances, whether that’s sex worker and stripper collectives or drag. We also have vendors, so you can get a tattoo, piercing, or snack, or even make a badge - all in the same room. And the other room is just rave all night!

SOS: What have you noticed about the way London’s night-life has changed since your inception five or six years ago?

QHP: There are fewer venues, so people are coalescing around the same places. In some ways this is nice as you build up a little community, but it also makes it hard for new club nights as a lot of these venues are high capacity, and it's hard to promise that you’ll bring in the crowd when you’re just starting out.

We didn’t have the trajectory of a normal club night, and we’re so lucky that we did things on Zoom first. If we pitched our business model to a 1,000+ capacity venue, they definitely would have said no. It's made harder by nightlife’s move towards super clubs with 10K capacity, which are backed by entertainment groups that have big dollar. They’ve got whole teams dedicated to doing what just one of us does - and if the public have less money available for tickets, they’re going to go for the ones that are being pushed in their face.

The risk of losing money is also what makes promoters scared of trying something new. And it's a concern, because those smaller club nights are where the next generation of DJs are going to be coming through. There are so many DJs that we’re missing out on because of that.

We sell tickets because we have a community. A lot of people who are just marketing themselves on the names they have on the line-up, but you need to be giving something else. If you try to just sell tickets because of your DJs, you turn them into commodities, and encourage the culture of exclusivity clauses in DJs contracts.

We’re community organisers, so it's things like this in the music industry that were hard for us to get our heads around. You realise that there are so many barriers which don’t really make sense unless you’re coming at it from a capitalist mindset.

SOS: So, we’ve discussed how important serving your community is to create a successful event. What other tips would you give those just starting out?

QHP: Meta is a neo-Nazi cesspit and therefore, when it comes to promoting new nights, especially within the queer or trans scene, it doesn’t matter how big a name you book, the reach on your post is going to be bad because you’ll be shadowbanned. Therefore, you need to book your friends or people you admire that are going to bring their own communities rather than focusing just on the social media sphere.

Also, make sure you’re checking on everyone at your event. From go-go dancers to DJs to the people on the door, make sure everyone is looked after. There’s nothing worse than going to an event and the headliner is getting gorgeous treatment, and you're stuck in a closet getting your thong on!

And don’t be afraid to reach out to people for advice if you like what they’re doing. We’re always happy to pass on knowledge, that’s an open invite!

SOS: What’s giving you hope for the industry?

QHP: Despite the landscape being hard for new promoters there are some incredible new nights launching in London at the moment like Thempress with Bumpah and Karlie Marx with Plastyk. The queer scene gives us hope in general. We also love how activated a lot of it is, there's a big movement for the Boycott, Divest and Sanction of Israel right now, from small groups like Ravers for Palestine and bigger movements like the PACBI: The Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

And finally, what are you looking forward most to doing this year?

QHP: We’re approaching things more mindfully now. In general, we’re very anti-growth. We’ve got to a point where we do four parties a year, and it feels good. We don’t want to grow until we do Drumsheds ,we’re not set on world domination. But next up is Queer House Parties first ever day and night party with a 16hr stacked line up over two rooms. With DJ sets from ABSOLUTE. Bianca Oblivion and Lagoon, as well as vendors, dancers, performers, drag and even a boat party. Get your nails done, whilst watching Pink Suits queer, punk country crossover. Or get your Tarot read whilst sunning and listening to Jungle Kitty's boat takeover.

Tickets available HERE on Outsavvy. 07.06.25 1pm-5am No.90 Hackney Wick.