New Year’s Eves are often pretty anti-climactic. They’re generally full of missed meetings, dramas and difficulties getting home, with most people having little more to show for it than a hideous hangover the next morning. But for John Huang and Steve Leung, the eve of 2009 was far more momentous. With a huge New Year’s party in Bangkok, the duo saw the launch of their new brand, Mighty Asia – a concept focused on producing massive parties for Asia’s gay community.

“Mighty Asia is about full-scale production. It’s really over the top and spectacular, combining state of the art audio and visuals,” says Huang, adding that more than 2,000 people turned out to the first event despite Thailand’s political problems at the time.

For Huang, the founding of this ambitious brand was about filling a void that, in his view, has existed in the scene for far too long. “Gay people party harder, but there are
no spectacular events [organized for the gay community]… I thought ‘well, if straight people can do it, why can’t we?’”

Alongside Mighty Asia, Leung and Huang also kicked off a sister brand called We Love Asia with the purpose of hosting smaller, club-based events across the region. Although different in size, We Love Asia shares the same aim as its more extravagant counterpart – to develop Asia’s music scene by bringing out big name DJs from the US and Europe, as well as provide opportunities for up-and-coming DJs working locally.

In just a few months, the pair have stamped their mark on the scene, hosting four parties around Asia, including the successful, full-house We Love Hong Kong (a We Love Asia event held in Hong Kong) featuring Tony Moran in March. And the reaction to the concept has been good. “People are really excited by the next event. People keep asking me when the next event is,” says Huang. “A lot of people haven’t shown up [in the clubbing scene] for a long time, but they showed up for this,” adds Leung.

On Saturday 2, We Love Hong Kong will present DJ Manny Lehman. Since launching his career as a producer, most notably with CeCe Peniston’s 1991 dance hit Finally, the New York-born Lehman has established himself in the dance scene as both a DJ and producer, becoming especially popular in the gay scene with his upbeat vocal house, including remixes of Janet Jackson, Cher, and Madonna. He’s also a regular on the world circuit, playing at renowned parties including South Beach’s White Party, Cherry 8 in Washington D.C. and Fireball in Chicago. “He’s working on some new singles, and he’s going to bring that to us,” says Leung.

With the boys planning to host a We Love Hong Kong event every month or two, be prepared to see a lot more of these parties. With the acclaimed names that they’re bringing out, Hong Kong will, no doubt, come to love them too.
Mark Tjhung

DJ Manny Lehman plays We Love Hong Kong at Sugar on May 2.