Five questions with... Ginny Lemon

1.    You received a National Lottery Project Grant to help support your project “Tonic”, which explores gender, class, disability and queerness through video and audio- can you tell us more about this project and the creative process behind it? 

Originally, we’d envisioned this as a stage show which was meant to be an autobiographical tale of my life, but then corona happened… so obviously we had to change that. It became more of a sign of the times, commenting on what was going on, what was happening around us, and, I suppose, what it’s like as a queer person to experience the pandemic. For a lot of queer people, returning home and having been cut off from friends, it’s been very difficult. So, I wanted to explore themes of queer isolation and change the project so it could be relatable to the new world, within these ‘unprecedented times’. 

I started with a few songs that I’d had in my ‘song vault’ for a few years and didn’t seem relevant before, but during the pandemic and working on this project, the songs came to life and they started to make sense because of the time and space we were in. Those original demos were re-worked with my beautiful boyfriend Jack (of ‘SomeLittleCakes’), we worked together on producing and creating the tracks, and then we worked together with Adam Carver (of Fatt Butcher fame) who was able to translate me and help bring the project to life. And as the music came to life, the stories and the visuals and the dialogue came together too. I collaborated with ‘Meating People Is Easy’ (we’ve been working together for years) and Ryan Bayliss on the visuals to bring together a series of physical visual collages to reflect all of our work and perspectives.

2.    “Tonic” is now available to stream on Spotify! How has the grant helped your project get to this stage? 

It’s helped massively because it’s paid for everything… so that’s bloody great! It’s enabled us to go into the recording studio, to work with professionals in the music industry, and to be able to pay them properly, which is very important to me as a performer to help support and create a family of artists. That’s been the most amazing thing - being able to pay local artists in the Midlands to create work, and do things, and to take a step up together. I hold getting Arts Council funding higher than I do getting on Drag Race because, for me, this has cemented me as a legitimate artist in the UK, and that’s something as a working class person I’ve been striving to do for years. So, now I finally have that badge of honour and I’m very proud to have it. 

3.    Do you have any hopes for what people will take away from your work?

Sandwiches! I hope they take away a better understanding of me. I’ve often been quite elusive, so I’m hoping to be able to let people into the Ginny world a little bit more. I’m hoping that they start to think about queer music in a very different way: I’m hoping to prove that you can go on Drag Race and actually release good music - it is possible! So I’m challenging the ideas of what drag and queer music looks like. 

4.    On RuPaul’s Drag Race you spoke about your struggles with self-identity and your journey to acceptance. What part has music and performing played in this?  

Oh god, that’s a hard one. Music and performance have been everything to me, it’s been my way of exploring my gender, exploring myself, it’s like my holy grail of everything, it’s my release. Without music and without performance I wouldn’t be the person I am today, and I wouldn’t have been able to meet so many fantastic people within the industry to form the words and explore my gender identity and my sexuality. 

5.    Are there any performances you’re looking forward to seeing now that restrictions are beginning to lift?

Oh, well I absolutely cannot wait to see my sister Fatt Butcher performing their one-woman musical Fister Act (at the Turbine Theatre on 11 June). What’s been particularly inspiring about that is that through my discussions with Fatt, I’ve pushed them and challenged them to channel all of that artistic energy, which can often stagnate, into something. It’s been amazing to see how much they feel about the project, and I cannot wait to actually see it so I can be really judgemental. 

But there’s loads of artists I really cannot wait to see live again. Jackie Hagan in Manchester is an absolute favourite, she’s incredible and full of rage and comedy and pure talent. Also, Sharon LeGrand is currently working on some amazing projects - Sharon is one to watch for sure! And my good friend Tammy Reynolds, AKA Midgitte Bardot, is unbelievably talented - so I cannot wait to watch anything she’s performing in.