Drag Terrorist Christeene talks to Polari Magazine about how we should all stop trying to be pretty for other people and really learn to express ourselves.

I first encountered self-confessed drag-terrorist Christeene, like most folks did, through her low-budget but brilliantly executed music videos, which have been going viral across our seedier friend networks over the last couple of years. The bouncing hairy buttocks and sideways mouth vagina in the ‘Fix My Dick’ video; the guerrilla performance attacks on a Scientology bookshop in ‘African Mayonnaise’; and who can forget her writhing around in a meticulously crafted butthole-interior set in ‘Bustin’ Brown’? … Sigh.

Intrigued, when my friend bought me a ticket to her London shows, I started to fantasize about the possibility of recreating the ‘Fix My Dick’ video UK-style with a couple of friends strapping on their thongs to provide the hairy dancer roles. Sadly, that particular fantasy never came off, but this video documents my interview with her at one of the Vogue Fabrics shows, as well as some of the shenanigans that came to pass that night.

When I was arranging the interview, I was asked if I wanted to talk to Paul (the performer) or Christeene (his drag terrorist persona). I have to say, readers of Polari, that I was torn. Paul could elucidate how the character of Christeene came about and analyse her audience’s response. But then Christeene … how could I turn down the chance to have an audience with such a beautiful primal creature!

As well as her persuasive Dionysian charms (I found myself snogging the face off all my friends before the beer had even started flowing properly) she turned out to be a great interviewee: quick-witted, charming and surprisingly well-mannered. Christeene certainly didn’t answer all of my questions directly though – she claims not to even know where she comes from, despite the thick Texan accent. I’ve discovered that many of her early videos come off as too trashy and foul-mouthed for many people’s tastes. But dismiss her as a simple trash queen at your peril.

I hope I’ve managed to capture some of the sharp intelligence and genuinely good heart that lies behind all of her work. She just wants to wake you up, loosen you up, and help you to have a reeeeall good time y’all. Who are you to say no?