“We humans need to dance,” says Luke Howard. “Every culture has dance and music. No matter where you go in the world, there is some kind of music that accompanies dance.
“And DJing is just the modern version of that, because back in the day, people would play fiddles and guitars and drums, and they would get together and sing songs and dance around in every culture. So basically, all we’re doing is continuing that human desire to move to music that has a beat.”
Howard is one of four world-famous DJs behind Horse Meat Disco, a Sunday night dance party held at the Eagle in London’s Vauxhall district that has grown into a global phenomenon. On Saturday, April 18th, Horse Meat Disco will take over DC’s AI Warehouse for an energetic spring party hosted by queer collective Masc Diva.
“Magical things happen when we dance, when we listen to music, when we connect with music. Music is magic in a way,” Howard said on a recent Zoom call from the UK.
He cited his children as evidence. “Look at a child. You play music and they start dancing. Why do they do that? It’s something fundamental in our minds, in our brains, where we respond by moving our bodies.”
He added that dancing is “really good for you. It’s really good for your health and your mental health. And it allows you to come together with other people and let yourself go and not feel self-conscious.”
A lean, bearded, handsome 56-year-old, Howard credits the decades he has spent touching the hearts of people, gay and straight alike.
“The only reason I became a DJ is because I love dancing and I love music,” he says. “The club world was where I found a safe place. I found my people there. I went to my first nightclub when I was 14 and that was it. I just thought, ‘This is my world.'”
“So I feel really blessed to have this job. It’s actually nice to be in a room and have music on and people dancing to the music and me dancing to the music, because I’m just standing there. Not just because I’m listening to the music. I’m going to dance to it because I’m experiencing the music. So we’re all going to dance to that music. And it’s really, really beautiful and it’s so much fun. ”
He’s amazed at the rise of DJing over the years. “When I first started DJing, people weren’t paying attention to DJing,” he says. “I didn’t even know where the DJs were. I was just dancing in the club. And now people want to know where the DJs are, and they want to see the DJs. But I like the old days better, when no one would look at me and I’d just play records in the corner and watch the dance floor and see people connecting.”
When it was suggested that he might wear one of the oversized “heads” adopted by his famous contemporaries, he grinned broadly.
“When I see people doing that, I think it’s great that no one knows who they are,” he says. “I mean, Daft Punk, that’s what they did. But I think it’s a little slow for me right now.”
Horse Meat Disco will land at AI Warehouse, 530 Penn St. NE, on Saturday, April 18th. Doors open at 10 p.m. Tickets are $52.50. visit Shotgun.live/en/events/horse-meat-disco-spring-edition.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
