I looooove Jason Isbell.
— Trixie Mattel
I always say you can be great at drag and not great at 'Drag Race,' and you can be great at 'Drag Race' and not great at drag.
I want to look otherworldly, like I was made in a factory.
My favorite drag queens are Tammie Brown and Katya, so I like my drag queens a little left of sanity.
I don't think gay guys are in touch with how many fabulous divas we have that actually play their own instruments and write their own music, too.
Drag is great way to get people to pay attention to me, but it's a difficult way to get people to take me seriously as a musician. So it's a weird Catch-22. It's like a gimmick that gets them to pay attention, but when they see my image, they're like, 'There's no way this is going to have any legitimacy to it.'
I lived deep in the country in northern Wisconsin. I didn't have any neighbors or anything, so in the summers, I played guitar for hours and hours every day until I was about 18. I never thought about combining it with drag, 'cause to me, well, drag queens don't play guitar. Now I'm like, 'You idiot, that's an opportunity.'
The best way to create emotional or spiritual distance between me and another person is for them to come up to me and go, 'yaassssss.'
People are slowly realizing that they're looking at drag all the time. 'Mrs. Doubtfire.' 'Real Housewives.' Peewee Herman. Don't let calling it drag make you uncomfortable.
Dark comedy helped me survive.
One of my trophies of 'Drag Race' is getting to meet Katya.
Trixie Mattel is a product of bad things that happened to me, and it's how I deal with things. It's wonderful.
Drag will always find a way to be weird.
Mental health and sobriety is not a straight line, and 'Drag Race' is a family, and we support our family members through anything.
When I walked in on 'Drag Race' and saw Katya, I had no idea she was gonna be funny, because she was stunning. She had this perfect red lip, I remember looking into her eyes and being like, 'This is a woman!' Then she was really funny. She kind of presents normal, and it's a one-two punch with the comedy.
For years, 'Drag Race' was gay people's best kept secret. When I started doing drag, people didn't know anything about it. Look at it now: it's like it's gone from black and white to IMAX.
I didn't start drag because I thought it would be a ticket to anything. I did it for my own narcissistic fulfilment. When I started selling records, going on tour, doing TV... I never expected any of it.
I'm very proud of my career. A lot of people get their career from the judges of 'Drag Race' saying they're great. I had to go and build that reputation from the ground up.
Some people say that 'Drag Race' is about glory and immortalizing yourself in the Hall of Fame. For me, it's about shaking RuPaul down for her money.
Me myself, Brian, I'm a Midwesterner at heart, and I have this deep, bone-dry sense of humor, and I've found it worked to combine this Barbie with a dry, sarcastic man.
People on a daily basis walk up to me, panic, and tell me something extremely graphic and violent about their life.
I want to literally quit drag and go live in the woods somewhere and write music for my favorite female singers, like Miley Cyrus or Kacey Musgraves. I would love to be able to write music for them and hear these women I admire sing my songs. That would be like doing drag without having to get into drag myself.
To me, drag is about doing whatever you want, and nobody says anything. And 'Drag Race' is about doing what you're told and having it evaluated. I hate being judged.
As a kid, I wasn't allowed to have girl toys, but I would take my cousin's My Little Pony and smell it. That weird, synthetic, fruity-sweet smell - that's how I wanted to look. I wanted to look like this fabricated toy. I wanted to look like you could pull a string on my back, and I would say, like, six catchphrases.
When someone says 'Yasss queen!' to me, I turn around and, X-Men style, run through a wall. You'll never hear from me again.
I think people are slowly realizing that don't have to be looking in a mirror to enjoy something. And they're realizing that watching a show with drag queens in it doesn't make you gay any more then listening to rap makes you black.
My look and my character come from my experiences as a child. I wasn't allowed to have girl toys, and I grew up poor. I also had a rough relationship with my stepdad.
I love my life so much. I wouldn't change anything.
I'm always myself. Always. The only difference is that I come off as mean out of drag.
If I have a show at night, I like to spend the whole day alone in silence. I know that might be crazy.
I plan to publicize my breakups and profit from them like other celebrities.
I guess drag queens, by nature, have to do everything. When you start being a drag queen, you're grabbing the microphone, hosting the shows. Then, you're setting the microphone down and doing the number. You're spending the day before doing your wigs and sewing your costumes. You're doing everything.
I don't really like club music or hip hop or electronic music at all. I'm like an old person.
I'm not good at anything! I can do, like, two voices.
I'm strange! I have a weird sense of humor! I look crazy!
With Trixie specifically, on the one hand, it's a celebration of femininity. It's that moment when you're playing Pretty Pretty Princess, and there's also, this is what society says a girl looks like, the amount of makeup I wear and the humongous blond wigs.
I always tell my mom that if she would have just bought me a Barbie when I was little, I would have gone into real estate.
Any time there is an economic downturn or political strife, lipstick sales skyrocket. If you have a hard day, it's this $14 thing that lifts your day. I think drag has that same lipstick effect.
I remember being obsessed with Christina Aguilera's 'Stripped.' That was her peak, and she is such an amazing singer. Plus, I was a little gay boy, and the music video for 'Beautiful' existed, so obviously I was affected.
I've always said drag queens are like Swiss Army knives. Most come from having to take $50-a-show pay and doing their own costume, wig, music and jokes.
'Drag Race' is sort of like trying to lift weights - like, 50 pounds when you should've been lifting 20.
As drag queens and as comic people, we listen to our own artistic compass all the time.
Trixie is like a hyper-feminine child's toy who has it all. I love looking like I'm from Toys 'R Us but serving off-color comedy.
Katya is literally my flesh and blood. Best friend status.
Bad things can happen to you, but it doesn't mean you have to have regrets. It's all about what you do with it.
I love that drag is a way for people to vacation in the gay nightlife, but... it's quite a different experience to perform for a gay audience than a straight audience.
Katya and I, as a yin and a yang, we pretty much represent the entire, full gambit of talent, you know? Together, there's not really much we can't do.
I remember seeing RuPaul in 'The Brady Bunch Movie,' when she says to Jan, 'Girl, you better work.' And I froze it in my mind forever.
When I was on 'Drag Race,' it felt like a serious competition going on between drag queens... and then Katya and I were also there.
Out of drag, I'm a white guy with a guitar, which isn't special. There are a million white guys with guitars. But being a drag queen with a guitar is a lot more commanding.
