Love her or hate her; you KNOW Jodie Harsh. Her formidable reputation in London, and across the globe, precedes her. It’s fair to say that, next to the likes of RuPaul, she’s one of the most visible and successful drag queens werqing today. And boy, does she WERQ! International DJ, nightlife mogul, model, muse, icon and now actress, La Harsh has fingers in ALL the pies (and probably a few boys’ cakes too). So has it all gone to her head? After witnessing her camp cameo in the new Absolutely Fabulous movie, we decided it was high time to have her drop by the office for a cunty catch-up and play doggy dress-up with our furry friend Coco. Time to spill that tea, bitches.
We’ve just seen the Ab Fab movie and loved your cameo in it. How did that come about?
Now THAT was a dream come true. I grew up watching Patsy and Eddie cause mayhem so to be asked to appear in the film was such a big bucket-list goal ticked off! I went through the usual casting process and had some lines (as in script, obviously) with Saffy. In the movie she comes to a club night while searching for her mother and teenage daughter who have run off to the South of France because Eddie’s killed Kate Moss. There are tons of London faces in the scene – Charlie Hides, La Voix, Daniel Lismore. It was a really fun day, but god it was long! We had an 8am call time, which meant a 5am alarm call for makeup and all that. I think some of the queens came straight to the set from their club gigs and just topped up the slap!
What was it like working with Jennifer Saunders?
She directed the scene and was so lovely. I’m such a fan girl. I told her I knew all the lines to every episode and that her and Patsy were my role models and she didn’t really get it. Then I thought about it…these two characters are supposed to be the most hideous, tragic, self-loathing women. And it’s so funny! We laugh at them, but do we want to be them? I think queens just love a trashy older bird with a drug habit and loud clothes. I should probably go and do a masters degree and write about Absolutely Fabulous and its role in gay culture, it’s interesting…
You throw some attitude in the movie. Do you think people see you as a bit of a bitch in real life?
Yes, probably. But I’m not! I try to keep a balance of welcoming and friendly because I’m playing music to you or throwing a party, with a bit of ‘don’t touch me’ because at the same time my feet are killing me, my wig is REALLY tight and my makeup is itchy. Yeah, poooor me, but if you’ve ever done drag, you’ll know! I think I have a severe case of resting bitch face too – but I’m usually smiling on the inside! I like being thought of as a little bit scary – I’m a big fan of Madonna and Anna Wintour, they’re hardly likely to run up and give you a hug! Being in drag you’re very vulnerable – you’re literally a man in a wig dressed outrageously in what is still quite an unnaccepting world. You’re an easy target, however empowered and liberated you feel or great you look. I guess subconsciously I’ve created some kind of internal armor. I don’t know…I’m a bit like Marmite. People I meet are going to like me or decide they hate me or just not even think about it because they don’t care…But I really do just want to make people happy with a great party or a fierce DJ set or something. If I roll my eyes and walk away from someone they’re probably really drunk and and I’m trying to mix two records together and I’m over it.
So what you’re saying is, you’re not a cunt any more?
I’m not a cunt! I’m a bit of a bitch, and I’m at peace with that. Actually I used to be worse, I had my hardcore party days and I think I was a bit mean back then. I’m definitely nicer now. I like myself a lot more.
You’re making loads of music for people now aren’t you?
Yep, that’s what I think of as my day job. I write songs and make beats for popstars. I absolutely love it. The most recent thing was a track for Charli XCX – she’s one of the best popstars out there right now in my opinion.
Who else do you rate music-wise?
Fergie’s album is going to be amazing, I’ve heard some of it. The M.I.L.F $ track she just dropped is sick and the best music video I’ve seen in the last decade!
Room Service still goes from strength to strength doesn’t it!?
I can’t believe it’s been almost 6 years since that started. Fucking hell. It’s still rammed – not bad for a Thursday night. But it won’t last forever. If it started going downhill I’d sooner close it and start something else, I’m not very sentimental about things. I guess for now people like their midweek naughty night out and their retouched cartoon photo. But club nights don’t last forever. I love Room Service, the team is awesome and we have really loyal punters still. If one of those three things slipped away I’d just shut it and move on and get excited about a whole new thing.
Would you ever bring Circus back?
No! I’d never bring anything back. When it’s done it’s done. I’m not very retrospective and modern culture is all about the now and new, not bringing back something from the dead. I turned 31 in February and that marked a decade since I started Circus (the first one was on my 21st birthday). My friends were like ‘do a big one-off party for old times’ sake, you’re ten’ and I just thought ‘Why? Who fucking cares? Not me, that’s for sure’. Most of the kids who used to come to that party have mortgages and husbands or they live abroad now or they’re dead. I love to celebrate what’s happening right now, not look back at 2006 with teary eyes.
What are your thoughts on London’s club scene in 2016?
I think it’s great – we have a really wide variety of stuff to do. If you want pop and RuPaul’s Drag Race stars you go to G-A-Y, if you want disco and craziness there’s Savage, there are huge circuit parties and smaller cool things – there’s really a lot of choice. I travel over the whole world to DJ and there’s usually one or two gay clubs in each city – we’re spoilt for choice here. One thing that’s changed is that gay nights have spread over the whole of London so it doesn’t feel like there’s a hub any more. Soho doesn’t feel like the gay village it did when I first came around, and that’s gentrification for you. Old Compton Street has far too many chain places on it now – it feels a bit like any British high street but with a few gay bars and shops tucked in. I really hope those businesses stay strong and stay put – I remember walking down there at 15 years old and feeling myself and feeling alive finally. It would be a shame if Soho turned into one big fucking Pret A Manger. Nowadays you have to travel out for the really good nights – thank god for Uber! There are also very few exclusively gay club venues here any more. I found the first copy of QX I ever picked up in the back of a drawer recently, it was from 2001 I think! It was packed full of gay clubs that had different things on every night. Maybe we had to lose that as we fight for equality – we have marriage now, do we still want to hide away in ghettos?
So gay places aren’t as important any more?
No, that’s not what I’m saying. Far from it. Recent events – especially the tragedy that happened in Orlando – really put things into perspective. We’re very lucky to live in a city that massively embraces LGBTQ culture and nightlife. There’s homophobia everywhere, even in the most liberal places. We’ve all experienced it and we know we have so far to go. Clubs, queer history and memories are bulldozed over the entire planet to make way for rail links and luxury flats – that’s just part of city living. But we continue to have safe spaces dotted all around this huge city where we can go and express ourselves, dance the night away, be entertained, make new friends and hook up. Gay parties played a big role in my formative years and continue to pay my bills – may they live long and strong.
What are your thoughts on drugs in 2016?
I don’t take drugs – literally nothing. I think people take crap drugs these days. That mephedrone stuff, GHB, crystal…it rots your brain and ruins your looks, it wipes away your feelings. I wish people didn’t get so into them – I’ve seen chemicals destroy people on the inside and out. Back in the day, before my time, the party drugs seemed a bit more pleasant. I work in nightlife so this might sound a bit rich or ironic, but I don’t want to glamourise hard drug use at all because I’m really genuinely against it. I mean, why would someone want to stay up for three days with no sleep or have a fit on a dance floor? Get a grip. Get a fucking hobby. Get some help – or go and do some charity work! That will make you feel so much better about yourself than getting high in some chillout in a council flat will. Really go out and help people, don’t just help yourself to another bump in your pants in someone’s living room at noon. We really do have to look at why there’s this epidemic of gays self-destructing. At the root of it all, I think gay mental health really is the pressing issue here. My friend Matthew Todd has just written a book about how to be gay and happy which I’m looking forward to reading, it’s called Straight Jacket. There’s still so much gay shame, and I hope things change. I might not use drugs but at the same time I don’t judge…I just like to see people being happy and healthy.
Where are your favorite places to go out?
Anything the East Creative Agency crew puts on – the Sink Think Pink balls are just EPIC now. As a brand it’s just grown and grown – it’s big, brash, camp and inclusive. It celebrates the other and the ridiculous. I love their weekly disco, Savage, and their mixed night Gloria’s at XOYO. They’re smashing it!
Anywhere you wouldn’t set foot in?
Hmmm… Not really…there are a few promoters that apparently put a lot of energy into slagging me off or bringing me down in the past but I guess they don’t do parties any more. I think everyone stopped caring. Better don’t fuck with the Harsh!
What do you make of British drag in 2016?
What a fucking awesome time to be a drag queen or a fan of the art form?! We’ve got Drag Race on Netflix, incredible acts up and down the country performing to packed audiences, and an entire spectrum of looks and talent. I’m so glad it’s being recognised as it’s own craft and not just bunched in with ‘cabaret’ or ‘gay stuff’. It’s such a diverse world and it continues to cross from the underground to the mainstream and back again. It’s a punk rock, political statement and I’m so glad it’s so huge and so visible at the moment. And the girls! The bio queens! Now it’s not just boys who are doing drag – so cool! As long as no one else becomes an international DJ, makes pop songs or wears their blonde hair to one side with a fringe then I’m all for it.
Do you think RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will ever happen?
I’m not sure. I think it would be great, and popular, but these things all come down to a TV channel saying yes – i.e. a load of execs in suits in a board room holding a cheque book. It’s a show made with a lot of love and they say that love conquers all, so let’s wait and see. These things take years anyway. It’s a shame that story leaked to the press about Ru, Jonathan Ross and I working on the British concept – I think that held it back and upset some people. It gave the viewers expectations too – but there’s nothing concrete at all. I hope it happens. I’d love to be involved somehow if it does.
You’re holding a dog on the cover of QX today. How did that go?
Coco, she’s very sweet. She’s a bit excitable though and she won’t shut up. I love dogs, I used to have one but he moved to New York. Long story. I travel too much to look after one these days, he’d forget who his mummy was.
What silly things really get your goat?
People that take selfies in the first class cabin of a plane. You know, on the flat bed holding a glass of champagne before take-off. I think you look like cunts. It’s so fucking naff. Great, your mate works for Virgin and you’re on a standby ticket, well done. Oh my god – and when people take photos of their plane ticket and it’s on a Louis Vuitton passport holder!! I can’t with that. Fuck off. Of course there are WAY more things happening in the world that infuriate, concern or sadden me, but when I see a first class cabin selfie my blood boils.
“I get Instagram comments on a daily basis from 13 year old American girls telling me I need to save up and buy a new wig.”
Do you have a boyfriend?
NO! I date a bit but it never works out. I don’t want to come across as a bitter single queen though. I’m a good catch! Especially if you’re bisexual, then you can have me both ways.
Do you think you’ll do drag forever?
That’s such a big question. I don’t know. Part of me hopes so, part of me hopes not. I was going to end Jodie at 30, but I forgot. Maybe I’ll stop at 40. Or 50. Or maybe I’ll be like Cher and live forever.
Do you think you’d ever change your look? Your wig is kind of famous now…
Are you mad? I’ll look like this when I’m 100! i get Instagram comments on a daily basis from 13 year old American girls telling me I need to save up and buy a new wig or asking when I’m going to look different. I think it’s important that I always look the same. It means I just pick an outfit and then don’t have to think about the rest because it’s always the same, like I come out of a tin. I look up to Andy Warhol and Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld and Yoko Ono and all these people never changed their look – that’s how you become iconic in the visual sense. Now, I’m not saying I’m iconic at all – my ego isn’t that big (really!) – but I love to apply that method to myself. Amy Winehouse once told me someone should be able to draw a sketch of you in 5 seconds. So for me, it’s that hairstyle and the lips. The less I have to think about my appearance, the more time I can spend on writing a song or coming up with new ideas. Sorry, not sorry.
Our time here is up, any last words?
Absolutely none, I haven’t really held back so people probably think I’m a bitch after reading this interview!
