In 2009, Jaimie Hodgson, an ageing music correspondent for Vice, travelled to “the desolate factory town” of Bolton and saw young people dancing to Donk – a brain-pummelling sub-genre of Hard House littered with mid-beat boings and methamphetamine vocals – and labelled it “the lowest common denominator of dance music.” Around the same time, The Guardian published this screed on the sound, describing its adherents as being “starved of oxygen at birth” while imploring readers to boycott the Blackoutcrew’s “Put A Donk On It”. That kind of snobbery would become a source of pride for true Donkers, who realise that being stupid and ridiculous and a little ‘low-brow’ are some of life’s most overlooked virtues.
“Donk provides us with some of the most eclectic, fun, and camp music, which I find incredibly easy to smile at and that’s something I wanted to share,” says the organiser of London’s emergent Mums Against Donk club night. “At a time when everything is a bit doom and gloom, it’s a distraction through silly dance.” The breakneck, pitch-shifted tracks hawked by producers like Lobsta B, Peggy Viennetta, 3DMA, Donnay Soldier, DJ Gurl Power, and DJ Fingerblast are mirrored in the adrenaline-raising looks worn by MAD’s attendees: alt-enbies in baby costumes, circus strippers, shirts customised with Crazy Frog plushies, Pringle's merch, and tin foil gnome hats. “The fashion of MAD was natural and unforced and we’ll continue to build on this safe space so that people can dress as queer and comfortably as they feel.”
A descendent of Spectrum – a neurodiverse-led event committed to providing shelter from unfriendly nightlife venues – MAD is unlikely to attract the whitebread circuit queens that have otherwise infiltrated east London. “The fashion of MAD seems to be born from the idea that we can be free and silly,” the founder says. “The clothes that come with our crowd represent the energy that arrives with them – fun, bright colours, silly combinations of varying fashion styles – we’ve got clowns, furries, punks and even goths coming together in one space to freely dress however you wish.” Click through the gallery above to see some of the best looks from the most recent Mums Against Donk and head over here to get tickets for the next one.