Creative Dis Charge

Dis Charge is one of Bristol’s foremost drag performers. Most preconceived notions of drag could be tossed to the wayside before meeting her (Dis, Miss Charge – the options are too confusing).

She’s known on the scene for her brand of queerlesque – a notable burlesque performer, she combines this with her aesthetic, DJ-ing, and her music.

“My reference points are really broad,” Dis Charge explains, “and I have referenced everything from Edith Piaf to When Harry Met Sally in my performances”. Her taste comprises music from goth and punk to blues and jazz.

“For me, androdgny was the captivating element of drag. Early on I was inspired by famed LA-queen Squeaky Blonde. She was the founder of the tranimal movement which aimed to be inaccessible and bizarre. This was all back in my day… Finding out about international drag on dial-up,” Dis Charge says, with a grin.

The tranimal movement started in the early-noughties and finds animalistic and post-modern interpretations of the ‘drag queen’, so the aesthetic it follows is very different from the Dolly and Cher impersonators that many people associate with drag.

Dis Charge is inspired by the tranimal movement which finds animalistic and post-modern interpretations of the ‘drag queen.’

She’s one of Bristol’s most in-demand queens. This month, she hosts her own PopHorror Anti-Valentines party at the Old Market Assembly (February 10), and will headline Coochiecrunch (February 16), a burlesque group she co-produces with an eclectic set of reference points. In this, their first show of 2018, the group pay homage to The Simpsons in luminous tones.

“I started drag about nine years ago in the PRPDRD – that’s the pre-Ru Paul’s Drag Race Days.”

Her opinion on the hit international drag talent show is split: “On one hand it has increased the profile of drag but it has made experts of everyone. Suddenly people have an ‘opinion’ of what I do. They’ll impose divisions on what I can do on stage. I’m funny and startling – and manage to be both at the same time.”

Dis Charge is one of Bristol’s busiest performers

Dis Charge recently returned to the UK after a month-long tour of the United States, taking in cities like Austin, Dallas, San Francisco and New York City. Now, back in Bristol, Dis Charge is working on music. “I’m working with a band called Nasty Little Lonely. It’s a blend of Marilyn Manson, Siouxsie Sioux, Bowie, Nina Hagen and Nick Cave – glam goth rock. It’s very exciting.”

“Drag is political,” Dis Charge explains with conviction, “defiance motivates a lot of what I do. Lydia Lunch said, ‘pleasure is the first thing to reclaim’, so I think as long as I enjoy what I do, I’m part of taking something back. People that have a problem with PC culture are so wrong. Why do you want to have a space for intolerance? Performers should respect all of their audience. People have paid money to see me and they greet me with warmth and generosity. Why would I not want to reciprocate that? My audience are drag enablers.”

PopHorrors Anti-Valentines Party on February 10, 10pm, at Old Market Assembly

Coochiecrunch on February 16, 8pm at Smoke & Mirrors

Read more: “It’s hot, painful, itchy, expensive and the most liberating thing you can do”