London-born queer performer Scottee is known for his coolly contumacious takes on everything from urban gay life, to social politics, to the class system.
To describe his new venture at The Roundhouse as merely a “show” would not be doing it justice. It’s more an art piece, and exploration not only of the world LGBTQI people live in, but of the world we think we live in.
Dylan Jones chatted to him about today’s quashing of creativity and what he wants to achieve with this latest project, as well as London’s (not entirely accurate) perception of its separation from the rest of the UK.
So for your new show, Putting Words In Your Mouth, you interviewed over 400 LGBT people. There must have been some differing social and political views to yours?
Yeah. So over the last eighteen months, I’ve interviewed 427 people. Sometimes I chatted to people on Grindr, finding out what it was like to be queer in Wales, for example. So it was in lots of different capacities. And some of them had very similar views to my own. But what I was looking at with this show, is where the working class voice was. The voices of other working class people like myself. I was trying to find out what their political voice was, what they were thinking…and the result is this show.
It’s coming at a very timely period isn’t it. We can get caught up in a liberal London bubble and forget about the right wing problems that are sweeping the rest of the world and the rest of the UK at the moment…
I think it’s really easy with our neoliberal heads and fairtrade coffees, to say it exists outside of London. That it’s just a problem of the ‘burbs, or of the North. But actually, I think it’s a problem that’s way closer to home than many people know. There are drag performers on the London gay scene who have questionable political links. I think it’s far too simplistic to say it only exists outside the M25. What is timely at the moment, is the fact that these conversations are coming to the forefront. What I’m wanting to do with Putting Words In Your Mouth, is not only discuss political issues in the community, but also listen to them. It’s really easy to curate our online lives to suit our political values, and social media is full of confirmation bias. And so it gives us the sense that London’s this liberal state. Because we all wake up in the morning and we all read Owen Jones’ latest really profound piece about modern socialism. But actually, I think we need to understand where the origins of opinions other than our own come from, and listen to each other, and get around the table. I think then we’ll be able to have a progressive, proactive conversation, which isn’t about shutting conversations down.
So you’re now living in a little seaside town, Westcliffe-On-Sea. What prompted you to make that move from London?
Lots of things. I think when you’re born into a council estate and live there up until the age of thirty, with people dictating how you live, and the quality and standard that you can live in, it gets quite difficult. This romanticized idea that we have with NHS, it’s the same with social housing. That it’s offering something great and good, when really it’s offering property which was, in my case, full of damp and rot. That’s not good for mental health. Add the climate of that, to the climate in London – this capitalist monster that doesn’t want art or culture to succeed, doesn’t want to have controversial or difficult conversations – and then you come out elsewhere, and you get to see the appreciation that people have for the work you want to make. And people are eager to have a conversation with you. In London, I’ll be on the tube, and people will want to take pictures of me and take the piss out of me. But in my community now, I’m accepted for being the outsider rather than penalized for it. I think that kind of tension in London comes from the fact that everyone’s working at a thousand miles per hour, to survive, to pay the bills. I noticed when I came back to London, there wasn’t a welcoming party, there were no balloons. No-one really cared that I’d left. So I thought, well, in that case, if you’re happy to divorce me, I’m fine to come in and do my shows, then go back to the seaside. And I’m not the only one! Hundreds of artists have left.
I think people do forget about you if you’re not London. It’s just out of sight, out of mind isn’t it.
Yeah! Also I stopped drinking in January. And when you stop drinking, and you don’t live in London, in terms of the gay scene you might as well be dead. As much as I love gay culture on the scene, I think there isn’t enough time anymore to be rolling around a nightclub in jam. I did it for a very long time, and actually I think there are far more urgent things that I’ve got a messiah complex about, that I think I might be able to contribute to. A lot of them definitely aren’t gonna happen, but you can die trying! But it is what it is. I’m quite happy to look out at the sea every day, because it’s good for my mental health.
So “Putting Words In Your Mouth”…what’s the significance of that title?
Well I’m using lip-syncing. The reason I’m doing that is because it’s a common language for queer people, so matter where you sit politically or socially, lip-syncing is kind of like our awakening. And I think many a queer person has had their queer awakening in front of the mirror, with a hairbrush, mouthing the words to the gay gods. So it’s about using that as a common language. But also taking over that. So it’s an hour of recorded interviews, which three quite prolific queer artists, who I’ve been wanting to work with for a long time, will be performing.
Lasana Shabazz is one of them right?
Yes! So dreamy. But this is the thing, what I’m learning from this process – they consider me an old queen, which is quite difficult being thirty and people calling you an old queen – is that you realize how much they’ve got to teach you. Their awareness of themselves – their sexuality, their gender identity, their sexual identity – is so advanced, and I’ve been learning so much. And I think that’s been a really great side effect of this project. I’ve been surrounded by all these young queers every day, who teach me things!
That’s a great way of looking at it. Because a lot of older queens have no time for new stuff.
Yeah. What’s upsetting is how the elders of the scene are so against updating their language. Like acknowledging the fact that actually, it’s not cool to call people trannies anymore, unless they self-identify as that. Wearing a wig for one night as a cis gay white man, and then taking it off, does not give you the ownership of a slur which is directed towards our trans family. Seeing their anger towards that has been really interesting. It’s not what I’d call a community spirit. So I guess Putting Words In Your Mouth is also exploring where we’re at with the community. Because you would think we all get along, and we’re all quite friendly. But actually, most people’s experiences of coming into gay culture are quite the opposite.
• Putting Words In Your Mouth is at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH. 22nd November – 3rd December. 8pm. Tickets £15, available at roundhouse.org.uk.
