Author | Lariscious
I had been hearing about moon baby for a while from my Pittsburgh drag art resources, so I was thrilled to be at Sugarland the night she took the stage in Brooklyn to check her out for myself. Truly unique, moon baby was unlike any artist I had seen. Her video for Dentata, directed by Mario Ashkar, was filmed at her alma mater, Grove City College, which Princeton review rated number one least LGBT friendly campus in the nation.
What is your background in performing arts?
I graduated from Grove City College with a degree in Communication Studies. I did a One-Act play there once. My first time performing was at a venue called the Waffle Shop. It was a late night waffle shop with a talk show set and cameras that broadcast live to the internet. Anyone could host or be a guest. I had a residency and did four hour long mini-instillations and talk shows. My first time doing gender performance was there. I had on my Blackmilk muscle leggings and lip synced the album Watch the Throne in its entirety. People didn’t know if they were allowed to leave.
How did you transition from lip sync to live performances?
For me it was the opposite. When I started out I was as an a capella singer. A theme for my work is doing what I am afraid of and after a certain time I realized I was afraid of lip syncing and it was stunting my performances, so I started doing it. Now that I’ve recorded music with my band, I’ve started singing more. I’m glad to have both.
Where do you draw inspiration for your art?
Personal experience, Clueless and Beyonce. But my look is not that of a rich, successful female. I’m not interested in that. I think it’s class warfare to want to look this bad. In terms of my music, I still live for the great musicians that my mother and sister would play while I was growing up: Carole King, The B-52s, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, No Doubt, Aqua – but I remember saying to my bandmate, Light the Knight, “think…Solange with a dick/James Blake if you walked in on me and James Blake having sex.” I think we’ve hit a strange, perfect in-between of what is current and what my 90s childhood loved. My writing and persona is forever influenced by Internet culture. I think the internet has become very intelligent. The day we all realize that speaking in abbreviations is the most fun word game ever is the day we can stop pretending we’re good at crosswords.
How did Massage Parlour come to fruition?
In 2012 I penned my mythology, entitled Twin Fawns, for the annual national novel writing month in November. That December I was holding my first ever drag opera which would include readings from the book and live pop covers and originals. My friends Zach and Griffin volunteered to play guitar and drums and after the show we decided to make it an official thing and recorded our first EP.
Homme directed by Mario Ashkar
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you a few times in Brooklyn. Any plans to share your art in other cities?
Absolutely. I’ll take a booking from anywhere except a prison – although Airheads and Jailhouse Rock are staples in my Netflix queue/spank bank. In March I am screening my horror film music video, Astral Shit Show, in San Francisco and performing with burlesque starlet, Batty Royale, and doing some film things with Sister Indica in Los Angeles. Philadelphia is in the future and whatever city Annecy Thorton Kenny is from.
What do you and Massage Parlour have in store for 2014 and beyond?
I’m sort of in my ARTPOP era which means I’m producing a lot of work that no one cares about but might find as artistic in ten years when I’m less famous for shock value and more lauded for my commitment to what moon baby and Massage Parlour is. I mean, it’s not Erotica, my sex book is only in its dulcet tones, but we are working on a new album called Lady Blossom and just dropped a track called Bond Girl. There are some DJs working on remixes of DRAG QUEEN MUSIC which is perfect because it will sound more like Ke$ha and she needs all the solidarity she can get right now. We really want to create an entire tourable brand like Beyonce or QVC without actually having to create anything that requires maintenance. I’m not auditioning for any reality television programs although I do keep up with Tila Tequila’s Illuminati theories.
Posture is proud to present the premiere of Massage Parlour’s newest video, Rue, directed by Mario Ashkar:
For additional information:
Massage Palour music available at soundcloud.com/themassageparlour
Follow moon baby on Twitter and Instagram at @themoonbaby
Follow Massage Parlour on Twitter at @kneaddeep
moon baby’s website www.iamthemoonbaby.com
