Missy
Suicide co-founded SuicideGirls (SG) in 2001. Since then, she, along with the
many SuicideGirls, has created a unique niche that showcases an alternative
culture featuring the likes of tattooed, punk rock and Goth girls. Although SG
began as a website, it’s now evolved into an entertainment empire. The newest project
is “SuicideGirls: Blackheart Burlesque,” a burlesque tour that has taken a six
year break.
Q
– “SuicideGirls: Blackheart Burlesque” is returning after a six year hiatus.
What made you decide to bring it back?
A
- We did a mini book tour last spring for a book we put out called “Hard Girls,
Soft Light” and even with just listing the book signings as Facebook events the
word got around so quickly and the turnout was so incredible, we were just
blown away by the enthusiasm for seeing and meeting the girls live in person.
With 500-750 people showing up to have a few of the girls sign a book in a
comic shop, we knew we had an opportunity to create a better experience than
just a signing for our fans and so we decided to re-imagine and re-create our
Burlesque show from the ground up and put it back on tour.
Q
– How does this tour differ from previous ones?
A
- When we first put out our SuicideGirls Burlesque tour in 2003, we were the
only people who were doing non-traditional, non-old fashioned burlesque on a
large scale. We were excited to put on a sexy performance that didn't involve
feather boas and songs like “Hey Big Spender.” We wanted to use modern music
and references to modern pop-culture but still put on a show in the spirit of
old time burlesque. Now, ten years later, there are a lot more non-traditional
burlesque acts around, and some of them are doing really fun and different
kinds of shows. Courtney Cruz and her Star Wars Burlesque is a great example of
just how diverse and non-traditional the Burlesque scene has become.
Also
look at the spectacle performers like Lady Gaga put on at live shows. People
have seen a lot and it's much harder to show them something that really feels
new and original.
So,
clever Quentin Tarantino Burlesque numbers and a leather pants AC/DC striptease
is just not enough to wow people these days. We really had to take the spirit
of pop-culture modern burlesque that we pioneered ten years ago and up the
production values, sexiness and performances by a factor of ten. It's the same
kind of Burlesque show we used to do, but this time I think we have executed at
a much higher level in almost every respect: dancer abilities, costumes,
choreography, everything.
Q
– How do you think the tour has evolved from when it was first launched?
A
- I think the evolution has been in the quality of the dancers and our
choreographer. We have never had the chance to work with such professional,
talented people before. The SuicideGirls on this tour have been dancing
professionally for 50+ years between them. We really think their performances
will blow you away.
Q
– Having said that, how do you think SuicideGirls has evolved in the last 12 or
so years?
A
- In 2001, we started SuicideGirls; we built SuicideGirls as a community for
alternative culture people to discover each other, have discussions and post
and look at photos of alternative pin-up girls. And in the 12 years since we
launched, we have had hundreds of thousands of people post tens of millions of
comments and millions of photos on our website. Over the years we have made 6
movies for Showtime, 3 books, a magazine, a series of comics and countless
other creative endeavors. It's been an amazing adventure. I hope as we have
gotten older and more mature as a company our main evolution has been in upping
our game every year. I think we learn how to do what we do better; we listen
carefully to our large audience and take what they say into consideration and
improve the quality and artistry of what we produce. If you look at pictures
that were a big hit on our site in 2005 or 2006 you'd see immediately they just
wouldn't make it on to the site today. If you watch our first movie we put out
in 2004 and compare it to the one airing on Showtime right now, I hope the difference
in quality would be immediately apparent to you. I think we have the same
spirit as we had in 2001; I just think we have gotten much, much better at
expressing it.
Q
– SuicideGirls was founded in 2001 and is named off a Chuck Palahniuk (author
of “Fight Club”) novel line. Palahniuk is one of the more accessible
celebrities. Have you considered working with Palahniuk to contribute material
for the tour?
A
- Fuck yes; we'd love to work with Chuck Palahniuk. Do you have his phone
number?
Q
– SuicideGirls has created a nice cult following. Have there been any high
profile celebrities, or models that may not fit the SuicideGirls mold, sending
in photos?
A
- Yes, this is something that comes up quite a bit. A drop dead gorgeous model,
who has done big fashion campaigns will come to us and say she wants to be a
SuicideGirl, and she's certainly welcome to try, but in the past those kind of
models have not done so well with our audience. I think our audience prefers
the tattooed girl next door look.
Q
– The site also serves as a media outlet with columns, interviews and so forth.
Aside from that, SuicideGirls has done movies, books, and now a game. What’s
next for SuicideGirls?
A
- We are launching a whole new SuicideGirls optimized for tablets and
smartphones. You can actually take a sneak peak at it as we finish up the
details here: http://suicidegirls-staging.herokuapp.com.
We hope to launch it before the tour.
BYLINE:
Jason
Tanamor is the Editor of Zoiks! Online. He also is the author of the
novels, The Extraordinary Life of Shady Gray, Hello Lesbian! and Anonymous. Visit him at www.tanamor.com. Email him at jason@zoiksonline.com.
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