Artist Interview with Foxx Bodies - KRS.gay
As part of our 2021 Pride collaboration with queer indie label Kill Rock Stars, we will be chatting weekly with out artists from the KRS roster, as well as friends of the label! Next up in the conversation series are Foxx Bodies, who also have a .gay domain at FoxxBodies.gay!
Read our chat with Bailey and Bella below.
What has your experience of being an out artist in the music industry been like?
Bailey: For the most part, everyone has been really wonderful... but we also play with a lot of queer-centric artists and friends, so I may be a bit biased, haha. We have the occasional creepy 40-year-old dude fan hitting on us, but we’re primarily surrounded by a community of really awesome queer folx. As a guitar player, and more importantly a self-identifying dyke, the most frustrating thing for me is when dudes ask if I’m carrying all of my gear for my “boyfriend.” It’s insulting on so many levels. It hasn’t happened in a while thankfully, but when it does I just want to lose my shit. This is why queer spaces are so important! So you can avoid bullshit like that.
Bella: I think I am more impacted by being a woman in music than I am by being queer. Though I do like answering the queer question more than the woman question. The response I always give for “What is it like to be a woman in music?” came from Carrie Brownstein actually: “It feels like getting asked that question”. I guess the biggest way my queer ass has shaped my experience in the music industry is that men tend to leave me alone once they see that I am not interested in their approval/attention. I think I get the creepy stares and Bails gets more of the belittling conversation. I think it is funny that both of our answers ended up being about men but I guess that says it.
Kill Rock Stars has released political music since ‘91. What inspires you most about this and which KRS artists influence you??
Bailey: It’s so rad to love a label that has been doing the right thing since the beginning. I think at this point most all labels –– at least indie labels –– consider themselves political or queer-inclusive, but that definitely didn’t feel like the case when I was growing up in the ’00s. You have to remember this was PEAK white boy indie/warped tour times. Sleater-Kinney was kind of my gateway drug into Kill Rock Stars and will always be near and dear to my heart. As my palette matured I quickly realized how amazing Gravy Train!!!!, Team Dresch, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, etc. all were.
Bella: Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney made me proud to identify as a woman. Their music shaped my view of myself as a woman and of women in general. Carrie Brownstein showed me that I can be royally pissed off and have a sense of humor at the same time. Her vocabulary is downright sexy and she is the reason I taught myself how to play the guitar. When I decided to report my sexual abuse to the police, I *screamed* “The Last Song” the entire way there and the whole way home. One of my truest loves is Sleater-Kinney’s first album. I had it on repeat for –– this is not an exaggeration –– a full year when I first heard it. I actually wrote a song about how Sleater-Kinney taught me how to scream. “Carrie Brownstein, tell me how to be, teach me how to speak about myself concisely. Janet Weiss, please give me jazzy feet. Corin Tucker finally taught me how to fucking scream!” Then there is Kathleen Hanna. Anyone who has seen me perform can see very clearly that I worship her stage presence and style. Her anger is intelligent and calculated. She continues to inspire social justice and promote women in music. She is a legend for a reason. Also, the gay in these women rocks as hard as they do.
Have you experienced any changes in how out artists are recognized and included over the course of your career?
Bella: When I was a kid I remember going on funnyjunk.com to repeatedly watch a parody video of the Backstreet Boys where the lyrics to “I Want It That Way” were changed to “which one of us is gay”. I didn’t see queer artists when I was growing up and the word ‘gay’ was a joke. Just the word! I am not sure the world felt the same way I did, but I imagine I probably would have felt bummed out if an artist I liked came out because that is just what 6th grade was like for me in 2005. Obviously, queerness is still met with a ridiculous amount of resistance by many, but there seem to be far more artists and fans who are living for it. Angel Olsen and Lil Nas X are great examples of this. Do these artists seem so badass to me because I identify as queer now or because the world has changed? Who is to say? Also, I have to admit that this is a hard question to answer because of my age and the fact that my career as a musician has been fairly short. I came in at a good time, for sure.
Bailey: I second Bella with the funkyjunk.com comment, haha.
What does the concept of Pride mean to you?
Bailey: Pride was a riot. People shouldn’t forget that. For me, Pride is about celebrating the queer folx that came before us and paved the way.
Bella: I struggled pretty significantly with my queer identity until fairly recently. For most of my life, Pride meant being a stereotypical thin white gay boy, which I did not identify with. I also did not identify as a “dyke”. I didn’t really involve myself with any sort of queer Pride celebration or lifestyle for a long time because I couldn’t figure out where I fit in. Present-day, my answer is similar to Bailey’s: the concept of pride began as a riot. It also began with the blood, sweat, and tears of the transgender and sex-working communities, which people seem to forget. Pride is the honor that I feel to be associated with so many badass and brilliant individuals and communities.
Who are some of your queer or trans heroes or musical influences?
Bailey: Sleater-Kinney is a huge one for me because 1) they were one of the first openly queer bands I really got into, and 2) Corin and Carrie dated and are still friends! Which was really inspiring to me because, spoiler alert, Bella and I used to date. It was really cool to have an example of how queer relationships don’t have to turn to hate like all of the hetero examples I had seen around me. Cut to us blasting “One More Hour” on repeat haha. Other heroes: the late great Jackie Shane, Team Dresch (who taught me to be PROUD of being a dyke), Lavender Country, my friends, and too many to name!
Bella: Ur mom. I’m not sure any musician has made me feel the range of emotions that St. Vincent has. I have screamed “Cruel” in my car, thrown up listening to “Pills,” and masturbated to Masseduction. Miranda July is somehow both an enigma and a goddess. She is totally one of a kind and completely original. Also, she is the gayest married-to-a-man woman I can possibly think of. Her Instagram stories are often softcore porn. Did you see her love affair with Margaret Qualley?! Also, I fucking adore Lil Nas X right down to his split open pants on SNL. He seems to be the embodiment of goodness. Do I need to bring up Carrie Brownstein again?
How do you feel about having your music labeled as “gay music”, “queer music”, or “trans music”?
Bella: Honored. Like I am the quarterback on the high school football team while also being the head cheerleader.
Bailey: Like I am the principal of the school Bella is cheering and quarterbacking at.
Would you consider your music political?
Bella: I think a lot of things are considered political right now. I also have a lot of bullshit trauma that I drag around with me in the lyrics that are inherently controversial/intense. Being the person who writes and performs the actual message of the music can be dicey because it is all through my own lens and it’s big stuff that, for a long time, I didn’t want to hear anyone else’s perspective about. For example, I turned in my rapist and he was convicted which really worked out for me so I used to promote it. Now I see that police involvement is oftentimes not even an option for victims, and the police can really make things worse. I have had similar issues with hospitalization. If I didn’t go to the psychiatric hospital, I would be dead as hell right now. So I used to promote using inpatient services when needed (which I still do believe in) but I realized that I was doing it without the caution that it deserves. Everyone handles their abuse and mental illnesses differently and I talk about my personal method like it is my job. So, in a pretty unorganized way, yes I do believe Foxx Bodies makes political music. Even though we really only started this band so I could scream about all of the reasons I wanted to kill myself.
Bailey: What Bella said.
Do you have any advice for LGBTQ artists just coming up now?
Bailey: You are just as good if not better than your cis/hetero counterparts! Don’t let dumb people tell you otherwise. And you never have to play a show or put yourself in a situation where you feel unsafe or uncomfortable.
Bella: Find other queers, and do not let go. Also, therapy is a great way to emotionally age yourself up and address issues in your life that you think will last forever.
Why is support for art, music, and venues so important for the well-being of LGBTQ people?
Bailey: LGBTQ venues and spaces, ESPECIALLY all ages/DIY venues, are so crucial for the well-being of LGBTQ folks. As a young budding gay, I was in a lot of venues with older straight men hitting on me and didn’t quite know how to handle it. Especially when they would do so through the guise of being a fan of my band or guitar playing. Every time we would play a queer space it would feel like a breath of fresh air. Like I could just be a musician instead of this “female musician” to be gawked at.
Bella: Safe spaces and safe people are a necessity in the LGBTQ community because of the range of intersectionality that exists within the community. I saw Sleater-Kinney and realized that I could identify as female and feminine and gay as hell all at the same time. No one in my family was going to show me that. Queer music and media teaches people that there is not one kind of sexuality, gender, kink, etc. It allows gay women to somehow identify with and sing along to, “shoot a child in your mouth while I’m ridin’” without hating themselves for loving it.
What messages do you hope your LGBTQ fans or listeners receive from your music?
Bella: Do what you want to do without hurting anyone else. Take care of yourself so you can take care of the people you love. Get angry when you need to. YOU CAN SAY NO to anyone about anything. Be patient with yourself. Pay attention to your reactions and the reactions of others. Stay sexy and don’t get murdered. Keep fighting the good fight. Everyone has a little bit of gay in them. You are not alone. You are not crazy. If you are ‘crazy’, we both are, so you are not alone.
Bailey: What Bella said + we love you and our DMs are always open. <3
For more on Foxx Bodies, click HERE.
For more on KillRockStars.gay, click HERE.
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