Queer creative collective Möth Agency is here to revolutionise the city’s underground scene (Photo: Instagram / @ifathenb_athereforeb)
Cover Queer creative collective Möth Agency is here to revolutionise the city’s underground scene (Photo: Instagram / @ifathenb_athereforeb)
Queer creative collective Möth Agency is here to revolutionise the city’s underground scene (Photo: Instagram / @ifathenb_athereforeb)

Hong Kong queer collective Möth Agency, which consists of DJs and collectives, has launched a community radio online. They tell Tatler about pursuing social activism from behind the deck, why they wanted to create spaces for safe partying in the city—and their new endeavour

Growing up as queer is already a challenging experience in today’s world, let alone in Hong Kong.

Despite having slowly grown more supportive of LGBTQ+ rights, the city’s sometimes conservative culture still makes it challenging for queer individuals to come out safely. For DJ Loveless, Hong Kong’s society has made it “difficult, if not impossible, to outwardly express [myself] without criticism or judgment growing up.” 

“As queer people who are mostly rejected by their families, we have only but our ‘chosen family’ to rely on,” adds Iranian-born DJ, classical pianist, writer and photographer Ahura Mazda. “But the concept of chosen family is rare in Hong Kong because of the inherent lack of trust within the society.”

Indeed, studies by the Chinese University of Hong Kong have consistently shown over the years that members of the LGBTQ+ community were at greater risk of poor mental health compared to cisgender heterosexual individuals. Discrimination and isolation are among the numerous reasons explaining this situation.

“Being queer in Hong Kong feels bittersweet,” multidisciplinary artist CoketQueen says. “We are a small family of mostly introverts, which makes it hard to meet new queers in the city. The music scene helps queer and alt individuals to find other like-minded people to connect with.”

Read more: How Asian trans artists BB Sway, SuperKnova and Jake Zyrus are reclaiming narratives and tackling transphobia through music

People in Hong Kong are often confused by ambiguity and experimentation; and when something is not immediately marketable.

- Loveless -

But in Hong Kong, even finding this kind of safe space in both mainstream and underground settings proved to be difficult. 

“After exploring the Hong Kong underground scene, I noticed that the nightlife was lacking a visible queer space,” explains DJ, model and multi-disciplinary creative Baby Diwata. “It was common to see full male line-ups and quite a masculine crowd at the raves or clubs.”

That’s why around 15 Hong Kong-based multi-disciplinary queer creatives gathered to create the Möth Agency: a queer collective of DJs and creatives. Launched in March 2024, the collective aims to create safe spaces for the queer and alt community in Hong Kong through events and now a community radio. 

Tatler sits down with six of them—Loveless, Ahura Mazda, CoketQueen, Baby Diwata, Katagyal and Angelfromabove—to discuss the city’s queer music scene, how to pursue social activism from behind the deck and their newly launched community radio.

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Photo 1 of 6 Möth Agency member Ahura Mazda (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)
Photo 2 of 6 Möth Agency member Angelfromabove (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)
Photo 3 of 6 Möth Agency member Loveless (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)
Photo 4 of 6 Möth Agency member Baby Diwata (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)
Photo 5 of 6 Möth Agency member Katagyal (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)
Photo 6 of 6 Möth Agency member CoketQueen (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)

How would you describe the Möth Agency parties? 
Ahura Mazda:
Our parties are awesome, fun, fresh, liberating, open, diverse, loud and hardcore. We always start out with an event pitch presentation and a mood board, and then everyone jumps in on the idea creatively and does what they love with it. The challenge is really communicating with the world around us and people who might not innately understand our vision and mission.

Loveless: As a collective, we are attracted to sounds that are diverse and provoking and very often abrasive. We try to curate the lineups at our parties to be divergent from one certain sound. The styles and BPMs (beats per minute) don’t need to be cohesive; rather, we focus on how it feels and if it allows us to challenge form and tradition. The challenges for us come naturally in trying to provide the best experience for our audience while under a limited budget and hands available. 

Baby Diwata: For a lot of us, Möth is our first dip into events and we have learned along the way. We all value putting on a good event for the community so we put our hearts into everything. We want to have the best sound for our artists and audience, coupled with a sick lighting set-up. We adapt according to each event to create the best atmosphere depending on the venue and concept we have for the party.

At Möth, we have good vibes, serious staff training and a hard no-tolerance policy that we are happy to exercise on anyone not giving the right respect to fellow ravers. 

- Ahura Mazda -

Creating safe spaces to party has become crucial to both the queer and the raving community. Do you recall feeling unsafe partying in Hong Kong, and how is Möth Agency preventing insecurity?
Ahura Mazda:
I never felt safe ... partying in commercial partying environments filled with rich, predatory finance men. Whether that sense of safety is psychological or physical, we all feel that way. Thankfully the underground rave scene is much safer than commercial partying places in Hong Kong, because they’re not as financially motivated, but driven by love. At Möth, we have good vibes, serious staff training and a hard no-tolerance policy that we are happy to exercise on anyone not giving the right respect to fellow ravers. 

Baby Diwata: Myself and so many of my friends have experienced some form of harassment at parties, especially in clubs around the city. Möth’s main goal is to provide a safe environment for women and queers. We establish rules and regulations for each party, to respect each other’s space and to know consent. Posters with these rules are around the venue and also posted online prior to the event. We have the door team and staff present during the party to keep an eye out for anyone who needs help.

What are the challenges of simultaneously organising parties, building a community and educating an audience?
CoketQueen: The main challenge is while we are slowly [becoming] mainstream, we want to ensure safe spaces. The bigger and faster you grow, the harder it is to dictate how people will perceive you. We want to make sure that our ideologies translate into what we put out. 

Ahura Mazda: I think establishing democratic systems of operation where everyone feels welcome, free and supported in their creative self-expression is the biggest challenge. [The operations have been] so far, so good, but scalability is always something we think about and we want to really make sure everyone is happy. 

Seeing our queer, femme and alternative DJs infiltrating the scene is the most beautiful sight.

- Baby Diwata -

The queer community and the electronic scene have a very close history. Why is it important for the Hong Kong crowd to know more about it?
Loveless:
The early electronic music scene started as a form of rebellion against authorities and as a celebration of freedom in self-expression, which has a strong affinity to what defines queerness. I don’t think it’s within anyone’s rights to educate people about a culture and history that doesn’t belong to us; we want to look at history as a template to try our best to create an experience that is true to us. The main mission is to bring people together, where new ideas flourish, instead of adhering to the past.

Ahura Mazda: History and education are so important—across the board and in all topics. I think it’s especially important to study history to know that it repeats itself. The cycles of oppression of marginalised groups are really one and the same, and I think to liberate ourselves from these cycles—especially [as the ones that are] deeply psychological in Hong Kong—we need to learn from not only the past but different cultures at the moment.

CoketQueen: It is everyone’s job to educate themselves in what they adhere to.

Tatler Asia
Above Guest DJs at the Möth community radio (Photo: courtesy of Möth Agency)

Why did you decide to launch a community radio online, and what do you want to achieve with it?
Aisha: The radio opens up so many opportunities for the community. We can nurture so much talent there, do lessons and sessions for our friends, invite international and local artists to play and showcase music and talent on a wider scale.

Angelfr0mab0ve: Having a safe space with good equipment and accessibility is hard to come by in Hong Kong, especially since FM Belowground [the events venue at Landmark] is under renovation right now. Shout out to Arthur Bray [the founder of Belowground, which also has a community radio online] for inspiring [us] to start the radio station.

Katagyal: Our radio is here to showcase Hong Kong’s talent and make space for growth and learning. We specifically want to amplify the artistry of those from marginalised groups and hope to make new connections and friendships happen through our platform. I’m proud to say that this initiative is purely by the community for the community—and always will be.

Ahura Mazda: When we started Möth, we just wanted to invest in and contribute to the development of local talent. We started off with our events as an agency because that seemed intuitive, but the radio is the ultimate project that satisfies our desire to give back to the city. The platform celebrates and develops local talent all for free and at the hands of our incredible volunteers. We try to be curious and have an open heart with no expectations, so we’re really just excited to see where the radio takes us and its contributors.

What are your biggest achievements so far, and what is next for Möth agency?
Ahura Mazda: Having six of our favourite DJs from East and Southeast Asia at our Doll Factory Fundraiser [a gender-affirming care fundraiser that took place in 2024], [where we raised] HK$26,000, had to have been a top moment. It’s really a dream come true to see queer faces that we love here with us in the city—something that would really be impossible without Möth.

Baby Diwata: Another proud moment is seeing our DJs on lineups that would usually be male-dominated. Seeing our queer, femme and alternative DJs infiltrating the scene is the most beautiful sight. There is so much talent in the community that is yet to be tapped into. I hope we can keep growing our pool of artists and continue branching out into the scene in Hong Kong and around Asia. 

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