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Inside the neo-hardcore rave shaking up Lisbon’s queer scene -- DAZED
Maythey is the city’s first club night combining heady hardstyle and gabber with unapologetic queerness
Maythey is the city’s first club night combining heady hardstyle and gabber with unapologetic queerness
In the outskirts of Lisbon, a death-rattling blitzkrieg of crazed BPMs and flashing lights instantly pulverise any tourist notion of the city as a sun-lit paradise. Bodies glimmer in the dark, with chains and tattoos moving to thunderous pulses, accelerated anthems, and crazed pop belters exploding from speakers.
Maythey is Lisbon’s first queer neo-hardcore rave, emerging in early 2022 and carving out a realm of harsh noises for a nocturnal community hidden beneath the city’s slow-paced surface. Dark build-ups and dramatic sounds intermingle with expressions of joy amongst a new unapologetic generation in the city, warping the world around them on their own high-velocity terms. Rumours of the party have spread quickly over the last few years, and the list of legendary artists taking part both locally and from abroad has grown, as have the numbers of ravers who come and relish its space. Moving at its own crazed tempo, it reclaims the city’s nightlife, which has been increasingly monetised over the years for economic purposes, with urban transformation and harsh licenses leaving locals excluded from their own neighbourhoods.
Its founder and resident DJ Ecstasya (Stasya or Sta in the scene) defines its particular sonic flavour as a pummelling blend of emotion, dark rhythms and pop-effervescence. “I always felt like I did not belong anywhere in the city’s queer scene because of my hard and fast sounds, so I decided to create my own space,” Ecstasya explains. “Our party is the first of its kind in the country, and the challenge was to create a public for something that has never been done before. Especially with this type of music, the only options available so far weren’t necessarily safe or comfortable enough for us, so we’re creating that space in hope that other ravers and artists feel like they could freely explore these expressions.”
Maythey’s progressive character may be propelled by the eclecticism of surrounding nightlife as it introduces a carefree mix of influences into its pop hardcore fusions: echoes of Lil Texas, Dorian Electra or Namasenda conjoin with baile funk and psytrance, tribal house with denbow and crossbreed. It’s a stark contrast to the image of the city portrayed to rave tourists and businessmen: sunny streets and the overly masc techno scene. Below, we spotlight some of the key players.
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