A FORMER TROUBLED KID SAVED BY DJING BEFORE TRANSFORMING HIMSELF INTO A DAYGLO SUPERSTAR, MARK MOORE’S MUSIC WITH S’EXPRESS WAS EQUALLY COLOURFUL – UNTIL HE HAD TO MAKE AN ALBUM. NOW HAPPIER BACK ON THE UNDERGROUND SCENE, MARK EXPLAINS THE BIZARRE RISE AND SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE OF THE ULTIMATE CARTOON BAND…

JOHN EARLS

Mark Moore is a fantastic storyteller, and his creation S’Express were the perfect pop band of rave. Their image was inspired by The Jackson 5’s cartoon series and Jem And The Holograms, and Mark persuaded clubbing friends Michelle Ndrika and Linda Love to front his “hip hop gone wrong” futurist disco anthems. But, after casually spotting future chart-topper Sonique along the way, Mark soon realised he was cosmically bored with proceedings – and S’Express were permanently mothballed.

“I found it totally easy to walk away,” shrugs Mark, happier now spending his time DJing in relatively obscure clubs in London. “I only like DJing in places where I’ve felt part of the underground. The superclubs – like Cream and Gatecrasher – felt part of the underground when they started, as their mentality was still in that world. But there came a point where I thought it might as well be a chicken-in-abasket circuit. So I dropped out, playing tiny places in East London.”

Worried the gay scene was becoming homogenised – “It was wall-to-wall muscle Marys with their tops off” – Mark briefly considered leaving London. But then the 2000s electroclash movement revived Mark’s love of the capital and, since RuPaul’s Drag Race began, he feels queer culture has been more accepted again.

Mark has lived near East London’s hip Dalston for seven years, playing at local spots like Dalston Superstore and New Romantic veteran Princess Julia’s bar The Glory. Surrounded by records, including the 12” he remixed of Malcolm McLaren’s Deep In Vogue, Mark appears at ease with life as he shares a Zoom call with Classic Pop. He’s happy to talk about his strange interlude as a pop star: “Looking back to look forwards is healthy,” reasons Mark, who names Warmduscher, Mykki Blanco and Rina Sawayama as current favourites. The tale of S’Express is full of bizarre “Say that again?” moments, which Mark is hilarious at explaining. But there’s sadness there too, as Mark – more than most – was indebted to the role ecstasy played in club culture. Mark was taken into care when his businesswoman mother became ill after her marriage dissolved; “I ended up in a bedsit, living on cereal and listening to Joy Division, just depressed,” he recalls.