You’ve heard of Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but have you heard of the hedonistic elves bringing Project X direct to your doorstep? Self-described house party professionals, Lab 54 is the gaggle of young Londoners hopping from kitchen to kitchen, on a quest to deliver you the best night — and worst hangover — of your life.
‘Everyone has the right to blow off some steam, we just help to facilitate it,’ says 23-year-old Joe Gordon, who founded Lab 54 just over a year ago. In the space of 12 months, Gordon has gone from being one man and his decks, to a full sound system, lighting, bouncers, a team of eight, and 6.7 million views on TikTok. Not only that, world-renowned DJs are lining up to get involved and of late they’ve hosted Jax Jones, Sigala and Rudimental, to name a few.
@lab54events So we hosted @Jax Jones and @D.O.D in someones kitchen the other week and here’s a glimpse of what went down. #lab54 #houseparty #projectxparty
♬ original sound - Lab54
It began as many great stories do, with birthday celebrations that spiralled out of control. When Gordon decided to throw a party for his brother’s big day, he didn’t expect to start a festival accidentally inside student accommodation. ‘Three hundred people turned up so we filmed it and put it online. Then everyone was like, “It’s Project X but in the UK!” Then artists started getting in touch wanting to do them with us,’ he remembers.
Growing up in south-west London, Gordon was his school’s house party hero — a powerful title in the classroom, since most British parents are far too strict to allow 50 teenagers into their home (especially those discovering peach schnapps for the first time). Though his parents were lenient towards hosting, they were less accepting of a career in DJing, and at 18, Gordon headed to Bristol University to study biochemistry.
The name Lab 54 combines a nod to his degree with an ode to legendary Manhattan nightclub, Studio 54 — ‘What I loved about Studio 54 is that it didn’t matter who you are, if you came with the right energy you could get through the door and have the best night of your life.’
A world away from Bianca Jagger riding in on a white horse, Lab 54 travels the UK transforming flats, bungalows, student digs, semi-detached, you name it, into smoothly run raves, one night at a time. What’s more, they do it all for free. The host curates the guest list and Lab 54 shows up to install hi-tech lighting and sound systems.
‘We have a form that people can fill out online. People send over a video of their house, what dates they can do and what music they’re into,’ says Gordon, ‘We want to find the biggest and best houses to throw these parties in. All the house parties you’d usually go to would have a small set of DJ decks, a Bluetooth speaker and a disco ball they’ve got from Amazon. One of my favourite things is seeing the reaction on people’s faces when they first walk in.’
If you’re reading this and feel tempted to make a submission for your house, a kitchen island might help your chances: ‘We’ve done loads of different houses over the past 12 months but what we’ve found works really well is ones with a kitchen island in the middle. So we can set the decks up there, then everyone is 360 around the DJ, so you’re shoulder to shoulder with your favourite artists in a sweaty kitchen until four in the morning.’
Of the hundreds of parties they’ve hosted, miraculously, the police are yet to shut one down. As well-seasoned party goers/throwers, extensive pre-planning is put in place to avoid this. ‘We’ve never really had the police have to get involved. We give the hosts a pre-written letter, then they knock on the doors of around 20-30 houses the week before and let all the neighbours know. We give all the neighbours two names and numbers to call or text if there’s any issues, and a lot of them are just really grateful for it. Rather than having to come round and slam on the door they just shoot us a text and ask us to turn it down.’
Even if not alerted by neighbourhood curtain twitchers, the police do occasionally stop by, but often leave sending their best regards. ‘They see the flashing lights outside and come to check it out, but then they see the security and the guest list and they wish us all the best.’
They’ve got every element of the nightclub, just without the venue. They’re a travelling circus, which, in today’s financial climate, might just be the antidote to the UK’s collapsing nightlife scene. In London alone, since the pandemic more than 1,100 bars and clubs have closed their doors for good. We’ve lost beloved venues such as Printworks, G-A-Y Late and Werkhaus, meanwhile house parties have surged in popularity in comparison to figures from 2022 — nearly a quarter of Brits claim to have been to more house parties in 2023 than they did the previous year.
Lab 54’s motto, ‘Anywhere but a club’, feels particularly relevant now. ‘The scene is dying at the moment, the clubs are all closing, no one can afford to go out,’ explains Gordon. ‘We’re in a cost-of-living-crisis. This is a nice solution that doesn’t cost anyone anything other than their time.’
“The police see the flashing lights outside and come to check it out, but then they see the security and the guest list and they wish us all the best”
At one recent house party in Manchester, the Lab 54 elves even did the catering. ‘We bought about £500 worth of chicken nuggets, burgers and fries for everyone at the party. It’s like, they’re running out of their student loan and then we turn up and give them free food and a sick party.’
This summer, they’re thinking much bigger than chicken nuggets and confetti cannons. In fact, they’ve already started their summer. Lab 54 has taken the party to Australia, where they’re currently on tour, taking over mansions, taco shops and everything in between. They’re also making very serious plans to break the Guinness World Record for the largest house party ever thrown — coming to a not-yet-disclosed UK location later this year.
‘We just come up with stupid ideas and write them down. Usually when we say we’re gonna do something we do end up going and doing it,’ warns Gordon. One of the more impactful ideas (due to launch very soon) is a Lab 54 record label. ‘In culture, and especially with the music scene at the moment, there’s all these venues closing, people are finding it harder to stand out online. So it’s nice that we can give a little bit back to the music industry when we do these parties.’
Ultimately, their goal is to make every house party better than the last. But what happens when the night’s over? When you hear the painful chime of birdsong and the sky turns from black to violet? Does Lab 54 stick around to see what mess has been made, to help with the clean-up? ‘We need to get off to the next house — wherever that is across the country!’
