I watched the TKO music video and loved it of course. It’s kind of glam sophistication versus gritty rock. If you two fought it out, who’d win? 

Gottmik: You’ll have to come to the show on October 9th and find out!

Violet Chachki: The premise is that we’re chosen family and family fights. I mean that’s sort of the whole deal. We fight, we make up, and that’s the inspiration for the entire show. It’s sort of this juxtaposition between punk rock’n’roll and classic glam and I think it’s really going to be up to the audience to decide who really comes out on top.

The video has a boxing theme, so is there a subtext in it about 2025 America and Queens fighting back? 

G: Yeah, I mean of course I pride myself on being an activist and everything I do. We’re performing live music for the first time that we’ve been working on for a very long time, and some of my music that’s coming out is centered around that. It’s just really about my songs. I’m talking about how no matter what happens, we’re not going anywhere. It’s a riot: we’re here, we’re queer, and that’s what this whole show is about. It’s celebrating individuality and showing everyone that we are at the peak of our artistry. It’s just a really special thing to be able to take what’s happening and not let it put us down and actually be inspired by it. We flip it around and make some amazing art that we get to share with the world.

What should people expect? Is it like a big rock concert? Is it more of a dancing show?

V: It’s pretty much like a variety show. 

G: We’re working on the creative and it’s really turning into quite the variety show. We have, of course, high caliber drag, fantastical production, drag dancers, aerial numbers, and live vocals. We’re also doing some stand up and some audience participation numbers. It’s going to be a big spectacle.

V: We really pride ourselves on aesthetics and really being over the top. Being perfectionists, we really want to create something that people can go to for an hour and a half and just escape the chaos of reality. I mean, live vocals is kind of new for me. I did a live vocal tour last year with Allie X, and it was really fun. It’s a totally different element to showbiz that I don’t think a lot of queens get to experience, so we’re really branching out and covering all the bases. 

How did the two of you come together for this?

G: We’ve been friends for a really long time now. We got really close maybe four years ago, and I think it sort of happened naturally. We both are perfectionists and really want to elevate the art of drag and see it as an extremely valid art form. We want to push the needle forward and constantly raise the bar for what drag can be and where it can take us. That’s what I really love about working with Violet: it’s like I finally have found someone who is like, “No, we’re going to go above and beyond, we’re going to go the extra mile, we’re going to take it there and just really make it as major as possible.” 

V: I think that’s why we get along so well. But that being said, it’s a double-edged sword because we are both perfectionists. There’s some fighting that happens  over how things should be done or executed. I really appreciate that about Gottmik.

G: It’s really fun to work with someone. I feel people try to put drag in a kind of subcategory. When I found Violet, it was just like just twin flames. We are just as valid and deserve everything that any mainstream artists have. So we’re not going to take anything less. 

V: I think the business side got us together, and then we’ve never left each other’s side since.

You’re doing 50 cities on this tour. Madison has a great liberal queer community—you’re going to get a wonderful reception here. Some other cities on your tour are not like Madison. Do you think there’ll be any differences in the show based on how you you’re received in a more conservative city?

V: I never really think about this. I really perform for myself and whoever shows up usually is there because they need a space to go be themselves. I’ve noticed when I go to more rural or smaller cities or less liberal towns, there’s almost more support and more love because they need it. These people that are coming to our shows, they are lacking representation locally and they’re lacking these spaces and so when a big queer artist comes through, I think people really come out and support. Maybe even more so than people in larger cities because they’re a bit more desensitized to it.

G: I think we subconsciously put together what’s going on in the world right now and we want to showcase that: Strong and resilient people who are not going anywhere. My mentality wherever I go is that there is going to be room for me. I will make sure there is a space for me and for representation.

Violet, what was it like to work with Jennifer Juniper Stratford, specifically the Fade to Grey cover song and video. How did that come about?

 V: I found JJ’s work through my friend Seth Bogart. She was doing some of his videos, and I started following her. We started messaging, and she did a video for me (Mistress Violet). It just worked out so well. The song (Fade to Grey) was for a makeup company called Makeup For Ever, and they commissioned me to cover Fade to Grey. I don’t know how I got the rights to Fade to Grey, and even in the remix you can hear there’s a symphony in the background. You can hear the violins! We got all the original masters of Fade to Grey and really got to remix it. It was really special. JJ, she just gets it. She gets the vibes. It’s all authentic, and she really prides herself on having really authentic ’70s and ’80s effects. Her studio has huge computers and huge rooms. It’s really cool to be able to work with somebody who’s using the real deal authentic analog stuff. It took the video to a literal place because we did an effect called solarization where it literally turns gray and it was just fun. 

GottMik, you’ve got the catch phrase “It’s time to crash the Cis-tem.” Can you talk about that?

G: I think as a trans person, I mean any human being on the planet, it’s just you are born and society tries to put you in a box, and there’s just a systematic system that exists. There’s the binary and that is “normal” to people. For a long time, I didn’t transition because I just didn’t think that was possible. And then when I discovered transitioning was possible, I was like, “Well, I’m not allowed to do drag” because these are the rules. It just took a lot of soul searching and rebellious energy to realize that some person made-up every rule that we all follow, and that might have been right for that person, but that does not mean it’s right for everyone else. We should be allowed to be ourselves because no one knows us better than ourselves, and we should trust that feeling. We should absolutely crash the system and crash whatever box society is trying to shove us in. You can rewrite history. It’s your life. There are generations waiting to tell their stories, and it’s up to us to break down the barriers. And just me deciding that I can do drag and do my art broke down so many barriers. It blows my mind sometimes. It was mind blowing for so many, and it’s just who I am. It just goes to show if you trust yourself and show the world who you are, if you get to a place where you’re not afraid to tell your story, you change so many people’s lives. That’s what I love to tell everyone to do.

Would either of you return to RuPaul’s Drag Race again?

V: (to Gottmik) You already did return to Drag Race! I didn’t even know this. On my first season, there wasn’t really All Stars 2 yet. They filmed it right after my season. When I was filming season 7, I didn’t even have that in my brain. 

G: I love World of Wonder, and I’m always talking to them. There’s a new All Stars bracket situation; I’ve talked to them about that. It’s just like it never ends and it’s always shifting and different. I think right now, doing live music and doing the artistry that we’re doing feels like such a shift in my life. If I personally think about it again, I definitely want to be in a different place in my artistry where it’s a whole new career that I have behind me. I loved going on Drag Race and I would love to be able to go show again, but it would definitely have to be from a different place. Not just “gotta go compete for the crown.” It wouldn’t be that vibe for me. It would be like listen to my gorgeous music and just look at my gorge outfits. 

V: I don’t think I will ever go back. I love the idea of it in theory, but there’s just so many stipulations that I would have in my contract that I know it’s just unrealistic for them. Drag Race has just changed so much since I was a part of it. I just don’t think that they would agree to my terms. Did you see the Bob (the Drag Queen) interview where she was like, “All Stars is for losers?” There’s only one drag queen that has never lost. It’s Jinkx (Monsoon). Things could change. I’m a Gemini so I really flip-flop in my mind a lot. The idea of like having amazing outfits filmed gorgeously… I love that of course, but I could also just do that on my own.

There’s a lot of queens that know designers, but they really don’t have taste themselves. What advice for up-and-coming queens do you have? 

V: I get asked this a lot, and I always say the same thing: nobody really gave me any advice when I started. My body told me to put on makeup and a dress in my bedroom. It was a very natural thing for me. I really believe that a true drag queen in spirit, in their nature, in their heart of hearts, has an innate desire to perform, to be outlandish, to be extravagant, to express themselves in this way creatively. 

G: Oh my God, I think how I feel is to just do it. You’ll know if you want to do it, then you should do it. I mean I think that’s more of the vibe. It’s just like you have this charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.  You have to have the nerve to do it, and I think my advice with what’s going on currently is to find what makes you unique and literally run with that. It’s so easy with wigs. If you have bad drag, it’s like what is the excuse at this point. The wigs are on TikTok shop with gorgeous ventilated hairlines… the outfits are fully stoned. It is literally just cut and paste with makeup tutorials. Drag is supposed to be this thing that you have to get out of your body. Express yourself. Whether that’s wearing a paper bag or whatever, it’s about expression. It’s not about like having the right wig. You can start with a towel around your head. That’s how I when I was a child, I would put a T-shirt as a wig and it’s something that should be innate in my opinion.

Since this whole tour is a showdown knockout between the two of you, which one really is the cuntiest diva on the planet?

V: That’s perspective! I would say it just depends, I mean how you define cuntiest diva. It really depends; you’re more of a diva than me.

G: What!

V: I’m more precious. 

G: What? (laughing) 

V: I’m like I’m very particular. I’m like I need to go home and you’re more like, “I need the bottle now, bitch.” 

G: I think that answer really means that she’s the cuntiest one.  

V: In certain scenarios, I would pick myself and then other scenarios I would pick Mik. It’s really circumstantial, like what is happening in the moment, is really what dictates who’s doing what. We both have our moments! I try to lead with light and love and fierceness and that’s sort of how I was brought up in my drag family.

G: Whatever! I think that on October 9th, the audience should decide!  

V: That’s really what we’re trying to figure out on this tour. Who is the fiercest of them all.

For tickets: https://www.thesylvee.com/event/gottmik-vs-violet-chachki/