Speaking to La Voix is something I find myself looking forward to. La Voix is a performer; a cabaret star. She has the shining starlet aesthetic down to a T. She is talented and witty with a capital W.
She is a man, real name Chris Dennis.
As part of my new LGBT series, I got the chance to speak to her about drag, Liza Minnelli and very sexy guys in pants.
Q: First, let’s start with the double single you have coming
out on the 10th of April; the Red Hot Sessions - am I correct?
LA VOIX: Yeah, that's right!
Q: There are two songs and a bonus track - 'Don't Rain On My
Parade' and 'New York New York' - with 'Kinda Groovy' as the bonus?
LA VOIX: The bonus track is actually coming out later - it's going
to be a completely separate release on the 1st of May! The Red Hot Sessions on
the 10th of April are recordings of me with the London Big Gay Band, which is
the 20 piece big band I appeared on Britain's Got Talent With – that’s the
first release. ‘Kinda Groovy’ is not with the London Big Gay Band, that is a song that was
written for me by Darren Hodson and John Purser and it’s much more of a pop/dance
release – it’s got a very different feel to the others.
Q: So the two songs on The Red Hot Sessions - which is your favourite of the two and why?
Q: You’re performing at Stratford Circus Theatre the day Red
Hot Sessions comes out with the London Big Gay Band – what can people expect to
see at a live show from La Voix?
LA VOIX: I think what’s amazing is the impact of the band – it’s something
you don’t see nowadays because a lot of producers can’t afford to pay that many
musicians so you’re being instantly hit by a wall of music from the whole of
the stage –filled with over 20 musicians; the grand piano, the drum kit, the
saxophones, the trumpets, everything! You will have very sexy guys in pants
dancing, there’s a couple of singers as well coming along. It will be a mixture
of comedy with high jazz standard to contemporary songs to amazing ballads;
from Shirley Bassey to Judy Garland to Tina Turner. Just a very iconic evening.
Q: That sounds extraordinary! Oh my gosh!
LA VOIX: Oh, the band is incredible, they really are. We’re there
for two nights – we’re very lucky.
Q: What is a typical show day like for you?
LA VOIX: It will consist of sleeping in so I’m vocally nice and
rested, it’ll be a case of making sure I have everything I need to wear, so it
will be selecting outfits, making sure the wigs are cleaned and packing bags.
Could be travelling or flying to wherever I’m going to and then obviously
shaving! About an hour and a half of make up and another hour of wigs and
dressing; some sound checks to finding music arrangements to organizing the boy
dancers with what they’re wearing – it’s non stop!
Q: You've been doing drag for around 10 years now, have you
noticed a shift in the drag community from then to now? Was there a large one
back then?
LA VOIX: Yeah! Drag was much bigger in the 80’s – in the 90’s and
00’s it dipped a bit but i think since RuPaul’s Drag Race has come from telly
in the states there’s been a massive resurgence. I think then it was much more
your sequinned frock and the big hair, it was much more parody drag. Now, I
think we’re moving much more in to people trying to look more like real women –
like there’s a real blur of that line in between transgender and drag which is
quite interesting. I think people are pushing it a lot further, the whole drag
illusion, as opposed to just being a guy in a sequinned frock and a feather
boa.
Q: Do you feel as if drag will ever be mainstream to the
point where it is normal to do drag?
LA VOIX: Yeah, I think it’s lost it’s shock ability nowadays – on the telly people are used to seeing it. They aren't shocked to
see a drag queen in a club or a cabaret venue. The mystique has gone a little
bit, I think, and it’s become a little bit more accepted – which is why I think
people like Dame Edna and Paul 'O Grady – though they work in a theater environment, if you see them on telly it becomes a bit too high camp and a bit
too… I don’t think people relate to it as shockingly as they used to if that
makes sense. Even things like big brother and that when they try to put someone
in, it doesn't really have a shock factor. People just tend to be a bit snobby
about it. It’d be interesting to know if it did come back into mainstream how
people would be.
Q: If you could go back in time and tell yourself 10 years
ago anything, what would it be?
LA VOIX: That it gets better. Keep going, and it gets better. I
think even the bad things end up being positive things, and I think that’s the
biggest advice you can give yourself. When I started 10 years ago, I never would've thought I’d be doing it full time like I am now and that’s incredible, it’s
something you don’t take for granted at all, that would be the main thing, that
it gets better really.
Q: That was quite a strong message – was there a turning
point for you where it did get better?
LA VOIX: It has to be Britain’s Got Talent – that’s the biggest
thing commercially. On the Gay scene there is a competition called Drag Idol
which is a national competition where people compete for weeks, and in 2012 I
was lucky enough to win that, and that in terms of my profile on the cabaret circuit
was the biggest launching pad I’ve had. That’s when I started to get some weekly
work in as opposed to the one a month I had. That really catapulted me into the
gay scene and a territory I was really unheard of, completely, but I’m still
quite new to it because that was only a couple of years ago so I very much ran
before I could walk in that sense. The Britain’s Got Talent thing was great
because it validated it for people. You say to people that you’re a drag artist
and they tend to have a preconception of what it is. If you say I’m a drag
artist and I’m a semi finalist on Britain’s got talent they look at you in a
very different way and take you a bit more seriously, I think.
Q: Last Question! What is the coolest venue you’ve ever
played?
LA VOIX: It has to be the O2, when I was a special guest for Spandau
Ballet and Tony Hadley and i thought I was just gonna do one song before they
came on – like i was going to be treated as a warm up act – and they asked me
to do a 45 minute show. The sound check at the O2 when you’re stood looking at
all those empty seats is incredible, and that was an amazing experience. My
show was awful when I think back now – If i was doing it now it'd be great but
then I didn't know anything and I was very new to it. He’d seen me at the
Stephen Gately memorial and booked me after that and I didn't even have 45
minutes worth of repertoire! I was very new, but that was the most memorable
gig and I’m thinking “wow – you can’t get too much bigger than that!”
Thank you to Chris Dennis and Len Evans
BUY TICKETS FOR STRATFORD CIRCUS THEATRE GIG ON 10TH APRIL HERE
BUY TICKETS FOR DRAG IDOL (HOSTED BY LA VOIX) HERE
connect with la voix online
Thank you to Chris Dennis and Len Evans