Théque Support Keeps Disco Beats Alive at Queers’ Cherry

On a Saturday night in April in the Denny Triangle neighborhood, vintage glamour was present at the doors of Seattle’s Kremwerk complex. DJ duo Théque Support (composed of Hot N’ Spicy Disco and Moonlighter) were bringing their monthly evening of Disco Dust to Seattle, with a set from special guest Heidy P visiting from New York.

Moonlighter and Hot N’ Spicy Disco are both from Detroit, the official birthplace of techno and a continuing hub of electronic music innovation. At the duo’s monthly disco parties, hosted in Kremwerk’s newest dance room, Cherry, they go old-school, dusting off vinyl records and using turntables. 

Chandeliers at Cherry

The Evergreen Echo

Beyond the entrance to the club complex, party-goers went past the descending entrance into Kremwerk, followed by the Timbre Room entrance, where DJs Mirin Doja and Juno the Beloved were playing high BPM jungle and bass. Around the corner, the path continued to the left, down a narrow hallway into Cherry, where the energy shifted once again into a more laid-back but no less dancey sound with Théque Support behind the DJ table. Past the twinkling chandeliers hanging above the bar, the dance floor glinted with whimsically patterned shirts, heels, glittery onesies, and bell-bottoms. Among the standout outfits in the crowd were a duo wearing full-length dresses and pearls, an homage to even pre-disco times. 

Close to the beginning of the set at 10pm, the dance floor had plenty of space for each person to twirl in their own corner or cross the room with ease, but as the night went on, we all had to tighten our individual bubbles of personal space as the floor got more packed. As usual, Disco Dust featured euphoric live percussion from Andy Ammo. Ammo, who refers to himself as “your favorite DJ’s least hated bongo player,” effortlessly dropped into songs with pounding solos that left the crowd in cheers every time. 

Heidy P kept the vibes going and honored New York’s long-standing connection to disco with her set. It was an upbeat, joyous few hours. Among the songs featured during the collective 4-hour B2B set were OG disco tracks like 1978’s “Body Heat” from Rufus and Chaka Khan, which starts with a funky drum beat and then gradually builds, adding slapping bass, sensual whispers, and dramatic strings, then culminates in soaring, overlapping vocals with a quintessential instrumental solo.

Other needle drops included a reference to the nineties disco revival with Gayle Adams’ 1992 song “Plain Out of Luck,” full of horns and twinkling piano riffs, as well as recent songs such as “Hello? (Maurice Fulton Remix)” from Brooklyn duo musclecars featuring aden. The musclecars track wears its retro influences on its sleeve, but also uses contemporary production to create an ethereal, pulsing blend of genres. Also in the mix was a disco/house reimagining of the 2021 dembow song “Tukuntazo” by Tokischa, El Cherry Scom, and Haraka Kiko.

Heidy P at the turntables

The Evergreen Echo

While Théque Support and Heidy P were digging into sounds from disco’s past and present, it was fascinating to walk down the hall and into Juno the Beloved’s set in the Timbre Room, where the sounds of jungle, drum and bass, and dubstep were colliding. All of these genres have roots in the U.K. nineties rave scene and of the Jamaican sound system culture. This proliferation of electronic music genres in the U.K. was a direct result of the origins of house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit in the late seventies and early eighties.

These genres in turn drew from disco, which was pioneered by Black, Latino, and primarily LGBTQ+ DJs in New York and Philadelphia. In summary, electronic music has a wildly complex cross-continental timeline, and Kremwerk is one of the spots in Seattle where you can get glimpses into the massive genre’s past, present, and future.

The last few months have been hard—there is no denying it. It feels like things are crumbling everywhere we look right now. But if we seek it out, there are still beautiful spaces of joy, love, and good vibes, and they’re not going anywhere. In fact, these spaces are needed more than ever right now to fight back against hatred and harm. Nearly a decade into its existence, Kremwerk has established itself as a beacon of Seattle LGBTQ+ nightlife and community.

The full set list of the April 12 Disco Dust show can be found on YouTube. The next Disco Dust event will be Saturday, May 10 at Cherry, featuring Atlanta DJ Wahine.