The premiere episode of Drag Race Down Under is truly one for the herstory books. The looks, the queens, and the shade. These queens are giving early Drag Race season energy and we are already completely hooked. With a cast this solid, even the first out queen made an immediate mark.
Amyl was the first to sashay away, but from her hilarious entrance to her moving main stage look to the important messages about inclusion and Black excellence in the Aussie Drag scene, she already delivered in just one episode and we have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of her.
PRIDE sat down with the drag artist to discuss her iconic moment, how going out first isn’t the worst thing that could happen, why her connection with Hollywould Star was so profound, and which queen blew her mind with their “ridiculous” behavior.
PRIDE: I know that going out first is the thing everybody fears, but I actually feel like it’s pretty iconic. Now that you’ve had a little distance from it, how are you feeling?
AMYL: It still sucks. It’s always gonna suck. It’s horrible. But yeah, it’s definitely better than going second or third. And so I’m hoping, praying, dreaming that I get to live my Kelly Mantle life. She is the one. I’m hoping I get to be the Kelly mantle of Down Under.
Let’s just start with your entrance. That moment was instantly iconic! Can you tell me a little bit about it?
Terrifying. It is so crazy, just to have to process so many things at the same time, like looking at everyone, remembering what I’m going to say and try not to trip over my dress, and doing all sorts of things at once. And sweating to death in my PVC. It was all happening at that moment in time. But it felt so electric, really. I was just so thrilled to be there. I was really thrilled to sort of see everyone in there as well ... the Australian team is relatively small, so I knew of everyone there. It was lovely.
Speaking of knowing everyone in the room. I was very moved by the moment that you shared with Hollywould Star. You were so excited to see each other in the werk room. Can you talk a little bit about that?
I have been doing drag for longer than Holly. So, in Sydney, it was for a while kind of just me, in terms of Black queens. So, when Holly did start doing drag, initially I was kind of like, “There can only be one of us, grrr.” That very quickly turned to admiration, because she is so talented and so brilliant. And appreciation because it is really special to have someone who gets it. Because for a while a couple of years ago, there was this period of time where everyone was constantly doing something racist. And I was calling it out, or like having arguments with people or whatever. I would try to chat about it with people, and no one would get it. When Holly came along, there’s someone now who gets it. That was so fabulous. Very special to have that.
Courtesy of World of Wonder
The mainstage runway was rainbow themed and your dress had an additional special meaning. Tell me about your dress and why you chose that look.
That is a work by an artist called David McDavid, who did a lot of his work during the AIDS epidemic. And a lot of his work is based around that. And when I found out that it was a rainbow runway that was one that I had the biggest trouble with because I was like, “I hate wearing rainbows.” So, I tried to think of a different way to do it. But then I thought you know what, I think if I’m going to do rainbow, I’m going to do rainbow. I felt like it was important to share a message. And I think it’s an important message, a special message. I read something the other day actually that said Sydney has almost eradicated HIV transmission, which is very exciting. And I think the dress speaks to that in the sense that at the time that it was created ‘lifetimes aren’t what they used to be,’ was obviously was rather a pessimistic message. But I think now we can view that through a slightly more optimistic light, and I think that’s really exciting. I’m really glad that I got to bring that to the runway. That was a very special moment.
Courtesy of World of Wonder
Everybody, of course, loves Snatch Game, and I’m curious if you had a character picked out.
I did. I had former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. [Begins speaking nasally] Julia Gillard has a voice that sort of seems like this and she was Australia’s first female prime minister, she was known for her misogyny speech where she said “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man” and so she was my Snatch Game plan, which I was very excited about
Obviously what we see is edited down quite a bit. Were there any moments that we didn’t get to see that stood out for you?
Flor’s “Meet the Queens” video. Watching her film that was the most — I felt like I was on acid or something. It was ridiculous. She’s screaming and yelling and being like, “When I’m getting ready in drag I’m getting f**ked. And I can’t do my makeup because I’m getting f**cked.” And then the producer is like, “like, getting f**ked?” [gestures suggestively] And she was like, “No, like getting drunk.” Yeah, Flor, everything that Flor did. It should be the Flor show, honestly.
If you have the opportunity to come back and do an All Stars or a Vs season, would you?
Not yet, but eventually. I feel like my bank account needs to recover first. And once that’s done then I would love to, honestly, I feel like there was so much more than I wanted to show that I didn’t quite get to and I would love the chance to do that someday
Courtesy of World of Wonder
My last question: If not an All Stars season, what’s next for you? Where are we going to see you next?
Well, I’ll be around, I’m not going anywhere. I’m really excited to do a lot more work in Sydney, that’s exciting because I think performing is a lot of fun and I’m excited to do a lot more. I also think that it would be fabulous to do a bit more work in the fashion [world]. I’ve dabbled in it a bit before and I’d like to dabble a bit more.
[This interview was edited lightly for grammar and consiseness]
