A couple of weeks ago, I minced over to the bijou and bustling Her Upstairs for the grand final of Not Another Drag Competition. For ten weeks, a gaggle of enthused new artists took on the various challenges set by Meth and her judges. The last queen standing was Tracy Barlow (I know, I howled at the name too). I caught up with Tracy this week for a chat…
Congratulations on your win. It was a very strong field. SO, who is Tracy Barlow?
Tracy Barlow is first and foremost very angry. She’s angry at a lot of things and a lot of people for a lot of reasons: she is angry in a personal sense, i.e. she has been hard done by, by every man in her life, and she is angry in a universal sense, i.e. Donald Trump is president. Tracy is sick of ‘normal’ people, and always has been. She lives to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.
Is Tracy based on anyone?
Tracy is enigmatic, I believe, because there is a level of insanity that is attached to her, and I think this comes from the fact that she is an expression of political and social frustration from a very sensitive and quirky soul, aka me. When I was 14 I was listening to Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Glenn Miller, Shirley Bassey; my tastes in almost everything are outdated beyond belief, but somehow when they are channeled through this medium it works and creates an insane monster, which I love. I love to undermine reality.
She comes across as quite comical and wry. Is that how you see her and how you want her to be received?
Definitely. Through my entire life I have had to go through situations so horrible and I’ve learnt that all you can do is laugh. If you truly believe in yourself and are confident in who you are, then you must never take anything seriously. All comedy is cruelty; my goal is to always push the boundaries with Tracy and if people get offended I think they need to develop a better sense of tumor.
Who are your comedy and drag heroes?
My biggest gay icons are people like Quentin Crisp, who was always so outrageous. I don’t think there’s ever been anyone like him. He was the first gay man to take the world by storm and I fear that not many people my age know that. In many ways RuPaul is very similar, and he is such a hero to me for creating RPDR, which is what got me into drag; I think, in Britain especially, there is a sense that Drag Race is too plebeian or americanised and to that I pay very little attention indeed. I also love Divine, again for how outrageous she was and how she gloried in being so totally INCORRECT!
What did you learn from the competition?
A hell of a lot. I am eternally indebted to Meth, George and Virgin who are the general triumvirate of NADC. I learnt that I can’t dance for toffee and can barely walk in heels (I wore the same pair every week), I learnt that my eyebrows are more hooded than Emperor Palpatine, and that I don’t know much about clothes but my hair looks fierce.
Finally, the unavoidable question: are you a huge Coronation Street fan? Hence the name.
Not in the slightest but I love the concept and drama of Coronation Street. I chose the name Tracy Barlow because I thought ‘who is the most offensive female character in UK history?’ and let’s be honest I don’t really suit the name Margaret.
All I Want For Christmas….
DAVID HOYLE
Our total liberation! In body and mind. Aren’t we getting tired of being incased in meat? We must form a nebula together. I want Santa to accelerate my particles! I want to be atomic this Christmas. I want to be like the aurora borealis! Love and seasons greetings to all QX readers.
• David Hoyle’s Xmas Chillout is on Sunday 18th December at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club
SHEILA SIMMONDS
World peace. Failing that, I’ll settle for a bottle of my homemade wine, chateau de shite, a prawn ring, and a bumper bag of Werther’s Original. #Classy.
• Christmas Corker is on Thursday 22nd December at Phoenix Artist Club
