The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie and Katya - The Nightmare Rock with Ashley Levy of The Blah Blah Blahs
Episode Date: December 1, 2020Trixie and Katya are joined by Ashley Levy of The Blah Blah Blahs to discuss crystal-induced nightmares, making music for commercials, and the wonderful world of voice flavors. (FYI: Katya's voice is ...apparently a Triscuit) Check out more of The Blah Blah Blah's music: tinyurl.com/ListenToChampion To follow The Blah Blah Blahs: @theblahblahblahsmusic To follow Trixie: @TrixieMattel To follow Katya: @Katya_Zamo To listen to our podcast on YouTube: http://bit.ly/TBATBYT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Another episode of The Bald and the Beautiful.
We have a guest today
who is neither...
She's not bald, I'll tell you that much.
You were going to say she's neither bald nor beautiful.
Or beautiful.
We have a hairy, ugly guest.
We have an icon.
Icon.
Actually, an icon who has been a pivotal guiding force in both of our careers.
Yeah.
Ashley Levy, songwriter.
Go ahead.
I was just going to say songwriter extraordinaire.
And you may have heard her voice
and not even realized yes you definitely have commercial songstress oh that's right that's right
so what okay well hello hey guys thank you for joining us thank you for having me so let's give
a little background on how we know ashley levy i met her probably the same way you did through the
incredible music producer mon Monica. Yeah.
Through the music producer,
Killingsworth.
And you guys are like creative partners sort of.
Yes. I've been working with Tomas and everybody at Killingsworth since I'm like
16 years old.
Are you serious?
See,
that sounds racy.
Let's get into that.
Oh my God.
Did they snatch you off the street in a van or something?
Oh man.
Everybody.
That's like a cool story to tell,
but that's not the story. So his parents were best friends with my grandparents who raised me and when I was 16
my grandpa saw me like you know fiddling on garage band and he's like I think my best friend has a
music studio on Long Island like you should just go intern for him and like see what he does yeah
and that's what happened I started with garage bands did you have this did you have this kind
of voice when you were that young no oh my god I wanted to sound like josie and the pussycats i wanted that feminine
small voice you know i think that i was just listening to letters to cleo their live music
today yes that sound is incredible and iconic it's a beautiful i love the mousy rock and roll voice
the mousy rock and roll voice like madonna has it
like early madonna okay oh yeah it's really like um how would you describe that i think you i mean
i love the gogos i think you sound a little bit like belinda carlisle wow you told me that before
and i like i had to sit down because there's there's power but there's a lot of it's kind of
cutesy and it has a lot of attitude, but there's obviously power to it.
Whereas like, I think a Madonna sound, especially if you think material girl, Madonna, it's
almost like Julie Brown, like cartoony.
I don't think you sound like that because your voice has meat to it.
Well, that took a while to get to it.
At first I was like, no, I want to be a little, little mouse.
Cause I was also a 350 pound girl.
And like, I just wanted so badly to,
to at least sound like that type of girl,
like a, like a 90 pound,
barely alive.
As a six foot tall bald man,
when I'm in drag,
I want to sound that way too.
So I feel it.
I'd want to sound like Kathleen Turner.
Oh yes.
We'd have to get you to train your voice up for that.
But I think I heard you first.
Well, I discovered you through the Blah Blah Blahs, which, you know, is like, it's one of my favorite bands.
That's also like one of the best band names ever.
Blah Blah Blahs.
How did you guys think of that?
Well, it's a read on the Yayayas.
Okay.
Because I can't stand Karen O.
Really?
Not even the haircut?
Look, I've got respect.
I've got respect,
but when that MAPS song came out,
I couldn't escape it
and I felt her singing from like her palate.
So it was like,
MAPS,
and I just couldn't get down with it.
That is what it sounds like,
but I can't,
I mean, there's parts of that song,
to me, maybe it's like the beginning.
Sure.
Do you know that song? I do, yeah.'s like the beginning. Sure. Do you know that song?
I do, yeah, that was really good.
Yeah, the drums in that song are so iconic
and her big round bowl cut.
I think that band has other songs that are better.
I don't think that should have been their mega hit.
Sure.
Because like Zero is great
and they have a lot of great songs, but.
Off With Head was great.
I loved when they got into that.
Oh yeah.
Yes. That was a good one. But in the beginning i was like the yeah yeah yeahs the
blah blah blahs the yada yada yadas i'm a seinfeld fan too the way you write i just love the way you
write music i i'm such a stubborn asshole and when anybody presents me with something i'm like
we'll see what this sounds like and when
you ashley wrote we got the look by yourself in your house right yeah and she sent it to me i was
on tour i remember where i was it was in a hotel room and i was like we'll see about that 41 seconds
and i was like i don't care what she asked for i have to have this song it's so so if you ever
listen to barbara she wrote we got the look and i'm glad you saw past like the demo quality because it was just like acoustic guitar like shitty drums me like clapping and
you still heard the potential in it so i love all your music oh my god all the right moves i listen
to it all the time really yes i saw twiggy i listened to it all the time oh man um all right
what's the other um i listened to both those albums they're so good i had so much fun writing those albums and it was like you know you guys talked about
i do commercial music like it became commercial music but this it was just music that i loved
you know 50s 60s sunshine pop was the best pop yes what is sunshine pop it's like early beach
boys like it just makes you feel like warm and fuzzy inside yeah good times
good i think i think one of the through lines a lot of the time is it's sometimes melodramatic
content but it sounds happy right yes i killed my dog today that kind of thing yeah exactly
i just i've always loved you and you wear wigs oh yeah oh yeah the first couple times we're in
the studio together you you sure did have a wig on you had wigs on in the studio I know I know I
stopped doing it because the expectation became crazy takes me fucking three hours to get ready
and it's like I just need to like write songs and focus on that you know oh did you like get
dressed up so you can feel it I used to do the whole thing the first three years of my like
writing career I would just show up to the studio and like full drag that's fantastic i am
with you i've done it and it helps you go in there you've done what i've recorded music and drag and
you go in there and you're like oh you feel you feel like that one yes yeah and like when i did
super drags the voiceover the cartoon I played a drag queen I we're gonna
be vulnerable did you talk I wore a head wrap and magnetic lashes and nothing else and I stood in
that sound booth and read my lines I needed to feel it I wore fabric wrapped around my head with
little magnetic lashes on like that's very like four years old drag you know what I mean oh I had
a towel on the head with my mom's
heels that's your personal style you do like a i feel like we're so ahead of the horse here but
you're you do like the 60s things so well yeah well we have a lot in common that way musically
with the style if you got a foot taller you could shop in my closet but i got about two feet on you
unfortunately you can shop off the rack for blahah Blah Blah's costumes and stuff?
Not always, because I have big hips.
It's hard.
So it's like, I always have to size up and then tailor down.
If you have big titties, you have to buy everything big and then have too much in the waist.
Yes, right.
It's the struggle.
When you buy women's clothing, does it fit?
No, shoulders.
Yeah.
Shoulders.
For me, it's always the shoulders and the arm length.
You know what I mean?
And sometimes you get really fit and your shoulders get big.
Yeah, they just like, it's never like, I don't understand like the sizing, how it works because
models will be six feet tall.
Right.
But then like, I don't, I don't get it.
Like, how does it, I don't, I don't get it.
But they're not broad.
They're not broad at all.
Right.
And then also their, their arms aren't long also recently everyone knows models
have little t-rex arms yeah and legs that started their ribs yeah um i had to um i i'm ordering from
aliexpress like the chinese um ebay or whatever or the chinese um amazon i'm like i'm a 3xl
I'm a 3XL what?
a 2XL
if I'm trying to be safe
3XL if I really want the arms to fit
you know like
I don't know what the word is but they warn you
they say like this is like China standard sizing
so I'm like a 4X
a 5
10
I don't even want to know
it's just wild well I got those Five, five, ten. Yeah. I don't even want to know. That's why I don't shop.
It's just wild.
It's wild.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, I got those.
Do you know about these brackets that go into your face mask?
What?
No.
They're scented?
They can if you want.
I mean, you have to wash them. But yeah, they're brackets that go into your face mask.
I exercise in them.
And it just helps like, you know, you have some room to breathe.
And I got them from China.
And I ordered like a
size large because i'm like whatever i have a wide set face and it didn't even cover like my nose
it didn't even but these are faces like they're they're not different people don't have difference
like you know that's crazy they do have a different everything like no i've seen chinese
people don't have tiny little faces. I've seen it.
Well, they don't have schnozzes.
I have like a schnoz.
So I didn't like, you know.
Interesting.
You got a healthy nose.
Yeah, I do.
Healthy nose.
No, it's happening.
And it's crooked.
Ever since you pointed that out to me, I can't.
It's extremely crooked.
What?
To the left.
Look at it.
Look at it straight on.
I can't tell.
Your nose in drag is always crooked. I'm like, do you Look at it. Look at it straight on. I can't tell. Your nose in drag is always crooked.
I'm like, do you understand?
I have to draw my nose on literally over here.
Wow.
Let me see it again.
That is wild.
It's so crooked.
That is wild.
I don't want to get a nose job, but if I did, it would just be to straighten it.
Yeah.
I said in a video that she should.
Oh, you need a nose job.
And then people really popped off. She planted the seed. I planted. video that she should oh you need a nose job and then people
really popped off she planted the seed i planted they were like do not get a nose job i love your
nose it's like i used to get insecure about it because i was you know when you're young and
you're yeah you're like i'm a petite woman but then as i got older i was like well people often
are guys will be like i love your big nose i'm like sure great yeah take it i love i love huge noses i also love bags under
the eyes oh totally yes big chapped lips and then yeah yeah absolutely no seriously like that i was
yeah big chat big ones though not thin villainous chapped lips like i want big chapped lips yeah
sometimes like this is so gross i went out on a date but i thought it was a date i kind
of like made it a date the guy who didn't think it was a date and um i actually peeled a little
thing off his um lips like skin off it with my hands you enjoy that i did and picking scabs and
things is that part of it that's the reveal of the lip skin i was like oh i'm just gonna get that for
you and i literally just peeled off a whole like a piece of dry skin
off his top lip.
Did you know that your lips
are see-through?
So your lip color
is the color of what's under your skin.
Really?
Yes.
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Must be legal drinking
age.
You better get into it.
Are there anything, what are the most attractive uh qualities
on a man that if you had made like name i don't know three or four of them what do you look for
good hands good hands hard working hands okay not totally like you know calloused up or anything
like that and not sausage fingers but just nice you like nice big hands nice big and and like firm you know like i look at it yeah because
as a musician like you pay attention to hands sure you know do you play guitar i do yeah you
play keyboards no not at all strings are great so guitar bass ukulele a little banjo a little bit
wow can i ask i mean obviously you've written music for both of us oh yeah yeah yeah
but like who's your real claim to fame and what because i know you were in a revlon commercial
right when you heard all the right moves in revlon commercial were you like i've made it
i was screaming because models are singing my lyrics while they're like having a pillow fight
it's like crazy that was damn it that was wild yeah that's like a huge payday huh those like
that's like the dream right i mean it? That's like the dream, right?
It's for sure.
Look at the material.
You got this.
It helps sustain.
So that part of my life helps me be able to do everything else.
Have you placed this in that yet?
Yes, it was in an NBC promo.
Was it NBC or ABC? Oh my God god i could get in trouble for not knowing can we tell the listeners i don't think they you you have a musician career
that's unique and that you guys often put out music with the intention of it being in commercials
so it's like it's like instant earwormy and not generic, but let's say feel good and
could be put into a lot of things.
Right.
Yeah.
And very, uh, not generic lyrics, but certainly like universal, universal, universal.
Like when I heard this and that I was like, I back to school, sure.
Shopping target.
How do you, I was thinking about that.
Like, so, you know, if you're like something that is commercial is designed to appeal into please the eyes and ears of, of, of like as many viewers as possible.
So how do you like, how do you come up with the, a sound that is pleasing?
Like to as many, is that, that's the goal, right?
To, to, do you have like specific goals in mind or like, how do you come up with a sound or how would you describe a sound that is
like universally pleasing? Can you tell us all how to do your job? No, no, no, no, no, no. That's
like so ridiculous. Can you tell us all how to steal your gig? How do you look beautiful?
No, it's, it's, it makes sense what you're saying saying but i think when you're writing for an ad
there's a certain way of writing okay when you're writing for a promo there's a certain way of
writing so there are formulas for everything gotcha but in terms of like the lyrics that you
use like you have to be really mindful of like okay we can't sing about love okay we can't gender
anything interesting yeah it's like it goes it goes deep, you know, because people could not choose a song just based on one word.
Right.
So you want to have the best shot possible.
Yeah.
Cunt is a is usually one of them.
And you guys the vibe you guys choose to it's almost I want to say it's almost Smash Mouth.
I hope that is a compliment.
I love Smash Mouth.
Because it's retro, but it sounds like it was recorded yesterday.
Right.
So it could be placed in a lot of different, like it doesn't sound like music of today.
It sounds like music of any time.
Right.
Oh, okay.
I'm trying to wrap my head around that.
Because it sounds kind of retro, but it also has tricks in it that make it sound fresh and cool.
And I feel like Smash Mouth is like the master of that.
Like Walking on the Sun.
Oh, yeah, totally.
It could have been recorded yesterday.
Oh, I got you.
It's like 20 years old.
I got you, I got you.
It's 20 years old now.
And it was kind of a retro sound of something from like 30 years before that.
And it still sounds fresh.
Right.
And if you like music like that, it's really easy to write music like that.
Like my main, like who I always look to is the B-52s. Icons god do you know they don't have a grammy what they don't have a grammy they
were nominated for best ensemble vocal arrangement for love shack didn't win they don't have a grammy
i always thought the grammys were shit are they aren't they just are is it just a it's just a
political like who care i mean is it it depends who you talk to we won't say the
people the people who have Grammys will say like this is a big deal okay and like you know I could
say it's not a big deal but then get a Grammy tomorrow and be like oh no this is a big deal
her tune's totally gonna change yeah yeah I think you could get one in your lifetime 100%
absolutely we all can absolutely everyone in this room can I'm getting I'm gonna get a Grammy I'm
putting it on my vision board Iggy told me like she was nominated and she lost and she felt like she was
happy.
She lost because then,
especially in that world when you win and she was,
there was her first year with fancy and everything.
So she's overnight number one.
Yeah.
Right.
And she's like,
then everyone's going to hate me if I win.
Oh,
that's true.
The Goggles were only nominated once and they lost for beauty and the beat,
even though they had the first female rock album to be at number one for like two months and they were
like we're they were like we're happy we didn't win because then people didn't hate us but i also
think it's a people hate women thing oh well yeah that's always yeah and women in rock especially
it's really tough it's really really tough isn't it like they would be like isn't it cool that
you're a woman who got a grammy like it would be that like how people say you're my favorite female comedian yeah what
is that i was like comedy and music is like it's just brutal it's just brutal for like women maybe
it's because we're big fags and we don't listen to like i don't listen i like male comedians but
i wouldn't say they're my my top 10 is not mostly men all the music i listen to is female vocals
pretty much 90 percent of it. Really?
Absolutely. I can't stomach male vocals.
Really? This one?
No, I
really can't. I really don't. 90%.
95%. She doesn't like a lot of live
music, period. She doesn't like singing.
I didn't know that. No, I do like
live music, but I don't like
English vocals and I don't like
male. So it's a guy singing in English.
Get it out of here.
Bring a book.
Yeah, bring a book.
Exactly.
But that's where we connect because I also have an appreciation for music that is not in English.
Let me tell you.
Let me tell you.
Let me tell you this one.
So we got to the studio.
So I'm going to back it up a little bit.
So you helped me write all the songs on vampire fitness and she was so good at
like,
um,
which is the number one electronic album,
by the way.
Number one.
Give it up.
Wow.
There's so many people.
I really got to label these.
Yeah,
you do.
There's so many people to thank.
Um,
but so I
have no idea how to write a song obviously
and like so but you
were so helpful in the you made like
the arrange you arranged all the lyrics we just had a bunch
of lyrics for ravioli and then
you came up with that lovely like demonic
children's choir kind of thing
weird you guys I love
you both that song creeps
me out ravioli does but you know what i feel like
a song like that you're allowed to feel what you feel from it i don't think that's not meant to
creep me out it's not no it's not terrifying yeah yeah yeah it's not supposed to make you feel like
you're going to look at the material me in this pink house being like oh my this so some demon shit on that track um but then she had to sing she had to do you
had to do um backup vocals for a song in russian a song in italian and then a song in portuguese
you slayed yeah multilingual and she's so difficult under you right like on ding dong
like you're the woman voice with her on every on the verse yeah in every verse or the whole thing
yeah yeah yeah well i think there's one part that doesn't but yeah of course yeah i don't think on you're the woman voice on the verse. Yeah. And every verse or the whole thing. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well,
I think there's one part that doesn't,
but yeah,
of course.
Yeah.
I don't think on the course,
but just tucked in there just to help a little bit.
She really does help.
Um,
she's like the,
um,
the stuffing in my bra feminizes the voice a little bit.
Do you know what I mean?
Like you're the,
the gaff in bra for my,
like,
yeah,
my,
yeah.
With a male voice,
nothing's more feminizing than a real female voice right next to it.
You guys should be really proud of it.
It's fucking cool.
Thank you.
Yeah.
It was a lot of fun.
I cannot believe how like, you know, it's taken me about 10 years to develop like a
halfway decent Russian accent.
And she just goes in there and like gets it in three tries.
It's so crazy.
she just goes in there and like gets it in three tries it's so crazy well i used to study um all of that like linguistics and and i'm not good at languages like i took japanese classes last year
and i i broke down crying in the middle of class because she asked me a question i was like i don't
know what's going on and there was like eight people in this class mind you and i'm just like
in the middle of the class crying was it waisians it was i'm assuming it was a lot of like 18 year old like a couple of them for chance treatment but
some people like working at google that are just like oh i have this job in you know japan google
that i need to go like learn the language now interesting mixed bag yeah that sounds so hard
oh it'd be so fun for you to write cute music in Germany. Oh, I know. Oh, I do. I go to Japan every year before pandemic.
Are you serious?
Japan-demic.
Japan-demic.
But yeah, I go there every year and I make like a working vacation out of it.
So I have connections there that I can, you know, work with J-pop artists and also like,
you know.
And you write with them?
Shut the hell up.
Oh, it's so much fun.
You are like my hero.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
You have a cool life.
You have a cool life. You have a cool life.
Now to pivot to beauty,
because once in a while we do have to talk about.
Oh, we're pivoting.
We'd like to acknowledge that on this,
we called it the bald and beautiful
and we had to not talk about beauty.
We have to talk about hair, relax.
Well, when did you embrace
the smoke and mirrors of cosmeceuticals?
Because you really go with the hair and the makeup.
You mean in drag or out of drag? Like bothicals because you really go with the hair and the makeup you mean in drag
or out of drag like both where did you get into it well i was raised by a hairdresser my grandma
is a hairdresser she's a beautician so like very very young i was like putting way too much blush
on making mistakes with the eyeliner you know but she encouraged experimenting cool so and she was
really into drag queens too really oh absolutely oh wow she
always said like grandma to have i know yeah she's she's wonderful but um yeah so it's always been a
part of my life like i grew up with a beauty parlor in my house because she worked from the house
i know i know i'm really spoiled so it was always like something fun to do it was never like
you know drag is never a drag in a sense or was it always something like fun yeah yeah you know and lucky for you it sounds
like the vocabulary was set up that there was no clean line about costume and and normal makeup
and crazy makeup it's like right and also i went to private school so i was in a uniform for most
of my childhood so when it was time to like have fun with clothes and makeup,
like I was there.
You went off.
Oh yes.
I think uniforms are great for that.
They kind of like equalize everybody to it in a certain extent.
And then also like make you appreciate your own personal style.
Like,
yes,
it becomes all about who has the flashiest eyebrow ring or whatever.
Yeah.
If they allow an eyebrow ring.
Everything I know about private school,
I learned from the craft.
So like,
don't go by me.
No, they could definitely not dress
like they do in the craft in a private school.
Oh, really?
No.
No, my God.
No, no, no.
Absolutely not.
You would get detention if your skirt was too high.
Like, that's an actual rule.
Okay, so the girls roll them up, right?
The girls, to be slutty.
They roll them up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it depends on the private school.
So like, mine was a little more like lackadaisical.
So if you rolled it up like twice, it was fine fine but there was this one called kellenberg where it's
like you couldn't even dye your hair you couldn't paint your nails like anything that was unnatural
on the body you weren't allowed to come to school with unnatural on the body unnatural yeah so
luckily i wasn't in that school yeah i'm fine with whatever people can like people can look as
extreme as they want yeah then again i don't know i'm more into whatever people can like people can look as extreme as they want
yeah then again i don't know i'm more into i would like be more um uh concerned about behavior
rather than like appearance you know what i mean it's like no don't bring a gun to school and don't
shoot anybody yeah like wear your black lipstick yeah but get good grades and don't mess with it
you know what i mean absolutely yeah sure but if it's catholic school the black lipstick means the devil something else yeah totally you're a pig from hell yeah um are you catholic i'm i'm a spiritual person okay i don't
you know subscribe to one particular thing crystals candles oh yeah oh yeah you have a good crystal
story oh oh not is it a crystal No, it's the good crystal story.
We have a crystal.
We're going to take a break.
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And we're back for the crystal story.
All right.
Crystal AB dance button.
So when we were working together, who is it?
It was a couple of years ago.
A couple of years ago.
We were doing the album like probably three years ago.
No, what?
Why is that funny?
No, I actually remember that because I remember you telling me about your food album.
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Yes, yes.
And originally it was a bit more ambitious.
We had like eight tracks or something like that.
And then there was one,
you had done an arrangement in Sanskrit and Latin.
Right, yes.
And then we cut those
because dead languages don't really burn up the dance floor.
Turns out.
True.
Turns out.
In a dramatic turn of events.
A language that's been dead for thousands of years.
Womanizer ends and people are like,
I want to hear something I don't understand liturgical yeah um but then so you what was it that that um
this rock it was um oh my god so i had katya over it was i had katya over for raviolis because we
were just talking about writing ravioli and i'm like i have ravioli i can make sauce come on you know come over i love your
accent oh yeah i can make a sauce it's amazing yeah oh hardcore long island long island but um
so basically i i had this i wasn't going through like a weird time and i have a very spiritual
friend who's into like crystals and stuff and i'm like desi and he also has a company called
developmental now where he just like has these amazing like
it's like a i don't even know how to describe it it's just all spiritual things to help you in your
lifestyle but basically he was like oh you need to get some modal moldavite it'll help you like
get through this change in your life i'm like great i go to the crystal store and they're like
you want moldavite and they they have to actually take it out of a locked box
it's separate from all the other crystals moldavite moldavite it's considered one of like
the darker stones because it it pushes you through trans transitions um so they were like
dark that what are you going through excited yeah they looked at me like moldavite you got a demon
you got a demon in your closet yeah and the thing about the moldavite oh you're looking it up yeah it's green huh it's green yeah so it's it's from a meteor that that
hit the earth and because of the chemical changes like all these properties and moldavite help you
go through like extreme changes so anyway um desi said okay you have to sleep next to it for like
five days before you even put it on your body.
You have to align your energy to it.
So first night slept with it.
No problem.
Second night, I had like just weird stress dreams.
Third night, my boyfriend wakes up screaming next to me.
He's like, is that nightmare rock in the room?
Mind you, it's next to me.
It's next to me on the bed.
And he's like, get that thing out of this room
he's having a traumatic dream and uh then the next day after that you were coming over for ravioli
yeah and i know you were going through transition as well yeah and i was like
transition but you operate on like on a certain frequency that I'm like, I absolutely I'm like, I'm
like, you know, I think this would be better off in your hand.
Yeah.
And I gave her the Moldavite that night.
And then I checked in a couple of days.
I'm like, how's the rock treating you?
And you loved it.
I love that rock.
She gave me the best dream.
One man's nightmare rock is another man's dreamscape.
Spectacular.
Yeah. Because I think like, you know, it was so funny because I think I slept, it was on a pendant.
Yes.
And I think I slept with it on for like-
First night.
Yeah.
Straight up?
Yeah.
She goes right in.
Ashley, are we surprised?
Oh, please.
Are we surprised?
If you said like, do not go into that closet, you know, it's haunted.
I would just be, I'd be, just jump right in there.
She'd be there jerking off.
Yeah, like, whereking off like where you at
where you at yeah yeah i love that shit oh my god it's fun do you still have it i think so yeah i
think so oh that's good i think it's like i might have like molded into a butt plug and stuck it on
my ass however you have to bond with it yeah can i ask when as a performer did you start i mean for
a woman to embrace the wig of like and you don't wear like a like a pop star wig you wear like a stylized
yeah it's a 52s wig yeah yeah yeah you don't wear just like a fall
right do you use your real hair in the front or is it a full wig it's full wig
because in the beginning i was brunette when i was first doing the blah blah
blahs and i'm like i feel like she has to be blonde
oh 100 and then also it's like, I don't want to,
because I grew up with a beautician,
like I knew I didn't want to tease my hair all the time
because it would destroy my hair.
And teasing color treated,
lifted, super lifted hair.
It's yeah.
Lifted.
Oh, there's like bleached.
Lift the color.
For her to lift from her natural hair color to that
and style it all the time.
Oh, it would have been a nightmare.
Bald.
A lot of wear and tear.
Well, I did.
I did have to cut
it off like the first hairdresser i had in la burned my hair off they burned it right off yeah
so i had to that's why i think when i met you my hair was a lot shorter oh yeah oh i remember that
yeah so that wasn't by choice you like the long i love having long hair but i also long on you i
love short hair too though because it's so easy and you could do fun things with it. I did like all kinds of like faux Hawks, like the Brody Dale fantasy, you know, Brody Dale
from the distillers.
Oh, I don't know them.
Uh, I think she was, or is married to the singer ranted.
I don't know.
I haven't checked in on her, but if you guys Google the blah, blah, blahs right now and
you, you see her, her album covers, it's, it's a wig.
It's a huge wig.
It's huge.
I got it from Outfitters wig though.
Oh,
I was going to say,
yeah,
they're from Outfitters.
They're huge sculptural like helmets.
They're amazing.
Well,
you know who helped me pick it out?
Actually,
Sharon.
Sharon Needles.
that's right.
Oh,
cause you worked.
That's the Moldavite.
I get her some Moldavite.
Yeah,
she has,
I'm sure she has some.
She is walking Moldavite. You worked on, how I'm sure she has some. She is walking moldavite.
You've worked on, how many drag race alumni albums have you worked on?
So many.
Oh, so many.
It's a dream.
Sharon's.
I can't even tell you.
PG-13.
Oh, wow.
When that came out, it was, Sharon, I'm sure you're listening.
That was the best drag album that ever.
It was amazing.
There was nothing like it.
Those songs are amazing.
Call me on the Ouija board. Oh, fun right flew the chat i love that song it's great it's so good we had a
lot of fun writing that album and that was like one of the last albums where we really made like
a party and an event out of it i like i haven't had that kind of experience with writing a full
album since that what do you mean?
Say more about that.
What is like a party or an event?
So like basically David would make these beautiful spreads of food.
He made like an apple cobbler on the barbecue.
Like David Charpentier.
Yes.
Are you fucking kidding me?
David Charpentier.
You've been holding out on us.
I was going to say,
I can barely get a phone call. Grilled copentier, you've been holding out on us. I was going to say, I never- I can barely get a phone call.
Grilled cobbler?
You've been found out.
I know.
Oh, it's-
That's me.
It's his manager, by the way.
It's going down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A cobbler and a barbecue.
Can't return my phone calls, but you can grill some pastries for Sharon.
Okay.
Barbara's on the charts again.
You got this right.
I'll send you some flowers.
Meanwhile, I got a rack of ribs for Sharon.
Oh my God.
So how long would it take
to write the album the album i mean i was still working a nine-to-five job in new york that i
just quit and i was like well i'm going to do the sharon record you guys snapped and honestly
that album you want to talk like opening it because it's like rupaul supermodel that's
probably the next drag race album that opened that door more for any of us right it's amazing and did
you do battle axe yes that song is so good and tomas and shiny i should have known it was you
it's so you guys that song is amazing well sharon's fun because she comes in with like a fully
developed like this is the concept help me like put a melody to these words like sharon has just
books and books of words yeah she's a
rock star oh she's a freaking rock star and the voice is great I've and this is not a read to
Sharon I've seen her get up there in a blackout oh yeah sing the words and the notes really yes
I mean she just can do it yeah my like most iconic moment was I toured a Halloween thing with her
and she gets wheeled on on stage in a coffin, right? And one night they were like,
all right, everyone knows Sharon's
gonna come out of the coffin,
but what if you were in there too?
And then halfway through the set,
you pop out like you've been suffocating
the whole time in there.
So it's Halloween, actually Halloween.
And I'm in the coffin face-to-face with Sharon
on stage for like 30 minutes in a coffin together.
No, no.
But it was like being in Santa's sleigh on Christmas.
Oh.
I don't know that I would say that.
If Santa was like drunk.
I was going to say in Santa's sack with a bunch of dead cats.
So then she gets out and does half her set.
She's laying on the coffin.
I'm still in there.
I'm like smiling.
And then halfway through the show, I bust out of it.
I love Sharon.
That's so funny.
What an icon. I mean, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be with my boyfriend and that's the truth uh yeah so i was out with
sharon because she calls me up when she's in town you know pre-pandemic we could go to like you know
the burgundy room and hang out with the burgundy and well i was out with sharon and then grant who
wasn't my boyfriend yet he called me up and he's like hey what are you doing and i'm like oh you
gotta come out meet my friend sharon and like he called me up and he's like, hey, what are you doing? And I'm like, oh, you got to come out, meet my friend Sharon.
And like, he's a comic too.
He's a professional comic.
So when he was talking to Sharon, he was like, wow, I feel like I'm talking to a comic.
Like, cause he had never like been in the drag queen community, you know, like it's
comics and drag queens.
It's a weird separation.
I don't know why.
Miles apart.
I don't understand it because there's so many similarities.
Yeah.
But yeah, she's like, oh, I feel like I'm talking to like a comic.
This is crazy.
And then when he left, Sharon was like, you got to keep this one around.
You got to stop hoeing around.
You got to lock this one down.
Not Sharon saying you got to stop hoeing around.
It's the multivite.
Did you work on Alaska's albums? Yes. You did yes you did how many so who like go down the list
two of you whose albums so so started with sharon alaska uh violet tchotchke oh that's right miss
fame did you do betty yes betty tommy lee did betty tommy lee those are tommy lee drums Those are Tommy Lee drums Ashley You are so iconic Betty Was
Betty was so good
Oh I love that song so much
I think
That one is
My favorite
Violet
All of them
You guys
Violet
All of you snapped
If you guys at home
Have not heard Violet's album
Her song Betty
Her EP
Yeah
It's so good
It's so so good
It's kind of vampire fitness adjacent
Oh I mean I would like
I would die
Like if I would absolutely
Just redo that song with my voice.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Cause it's an industrial vibe, right?
Betty part two.
Like what's another name for Betty?
Petty.
Petty.
Oh my God.
Petty.
The studio, the people in the studio love it.
Lori Petty.
Okay.
And then who else?
So, okay.
Miss Fame, which a lot of that actually turned out great to my like surprise. studio the people in the studio love it laurie petty okay um and then who else so okay miss fame
which a lot of that actually turned out great to my like surprise oh it's great she has a beauty
she can get like whimsical and ethereal well you know she doesn't exactly have like a songbird
vocal she has a david bowie quality in her voice oh i hear that listen in certain parts yeah yeah
like she she can the way she enunciates
and stuff is very bowie to me sometimes and you want to talk crystals and energy oh yeah that
freak is nude in switzerland right now stroking a crystal in some like um hot springs just like
getting in tune with the divine yeah completely dewy skin looking over her shoulder like yeah
acceptance is the key to transcendence totally she's she's a wacko jacko who's it can i ask
you who's like your dream collaboration like what artists would you love to write for or sing with
in in life in my entire dead or alive your world is your dead or alive oh my god okay
the band dead or alive i love dead or alive oh myive. Oh my God. Is that Pete Townsend?
Pete, no, Townsend.
No, I said you spin me right round, baby.
Yeah, yeah.
You look like you're having fun.
Who's the one who's the...
Pete Davidson.
Not Davidson.
Anyway, go back to it.
Sorry.
I think Alive, Julian Casablancas.
I'm a big Strokes fan. Love the Strokes. Oh my God. Anyway, go back to it. Sorry. I think Alive, Julian Casablancas.
I'm a big Strokes fan.
Love the Strokes.
Oh my God.
That 1251 song is embarrassingly good.
I know.
I know.
Who do you think is the most beautiful voice?
Beautiful?
Yeah.
You covet their voice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean Adele.
Adele.
Adele.
It's next level. A full bodbodied, beautiful clarinet voice.
It's amazing.
What does that mean, clarinet voice?
So when I hear voices, like Sam Smith to me is a saxophone.
If you listen to the tone of his voice, I hear, okay, the same kind of sound comes out of a saxophone.
To me, Adele could be a clarinet.
Adele's more of like a woodwind.
What's Celine Dion?
She can be brass
She's an oboe
Yes
She could be brass
Or she could be an oboe
For sure
Okay
Who's
Michael Bolton
Oh
He's
French horn
French horn
That's interesting
What about
Sorry I'm gonna keep going
No I like it
Who's
Britney
Yeah Britney Spears
Oh my A kazoo I'm just kidding keep going. No, I like it. Who's Britney? Yeah, Britney Spears. Oh my.
A kazoo?
I'm just kidding.
I sense flavor sometimes with voices, like especially women's voices.
Oh, that's cool.
Like confections, like flavors, like foods.
Okay, what's Britney?
Britney to me is like a caramel.
Really?
Wow.
I can see that.
Because it's so mellow and like.
Yeah.
What about. More stylized mellow and like. Yeah. What about.
More stylized speaking in a way.
Yep.
What about like Joan Jett?
I love Joan Jett.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
But what confection is she?
Yeah.
And what instrument and what flavor is she?
She is a.
She is a flavor blasted gold.
I'm not saying they all pop out very obvious sure sure I saw her when I was
16 I was at a pride festival and I was in a sea of lesbians and she's you know 65 and patent leather
with a corset with white paper white skin singing this song fetish and then the interpreter is
having to interpret all these pornographic lyrics and she's humping him and rubbing her crotch.
And I was just like.
Yes.
I just, I love her.
I mean, the Runaways, the cultural impact.
Sure.
Iconic.
The Cranberries, Dolores O'Riordan.
What flavor?
That's a fun voice too.
That is fun.
She's like a.
In there, Bob.
Yeah.
Miso soup.
No.
Beautiful voice. Yeah. Gorgeous. Haunting. Yeah. she's like a um in there yeah miso soup no beautiful voice yeah gorgeous haunting yeah haunting what what instrument would she be she's she's a woodwind to me i'm not exactly sure which one she's gonna have to do some research
yes what's the woodwind it's like a like a woodwind would be like a flute or a clarinet
or an oboe or and what's the bassoon that's a woodwind that's a woodwind a woodwind would be like a flute or a clarinet or an oboe. And what's a bassoon?
That's a woodwind.
That's a woodwind.
A woodwind.
Yeah.
Just checking on different instruments.
Just checking in.
Yeah, just checking in.
You're going to think about that though, right?
When you're listening to voices now.
Also like, yeah, instruments and flavors too.
What flavor are you?
What's your singing?
Oh, it's probably like, um, it's like, uh,
something that's too dry tobacco.
It's like,
um,
you know,
something too crispy in your mouth gets all dry.
It's a Triscuit.
Yeah.
It's a cracked water.
It's a cracked olive oil.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Rosemary Triscuit.
That's it.
I love that.
That's my favorite Triscuit.
But with no water,
no drinks around.
Oh,
really stressful.
No cheese.
Really stressed.
I love the sound of your voice. do too it's so beautiful and it's the perfect amount of like it sounds good
but it doesn't you don't sing like you're trying to uh sing you sing like you're like telling a
story yes it's like you're not trying to like it's more like the attitude and the delivery
because the foundation is so like yeah it's a great voice yeah you sing it like you mean it like it's a story i just love it
effortless yeah incredible raw do you want to know where people can listen to you you guys have to
listen to ashley's music yeah yeah oh yeah so you could check us out at uh the blah blah blahs music
on instagram and then it's just the blah blah blahs on spotify and we have a
couple music videos out too you could youtube us i love super duper yeah um wait i want to ask
something else who do you think um who would play her yeah let's give it who would play actually
who would play you in a movie the movie of your life who would play you and then also who in
contemporary music do you think is a no talent piece of shit motherfucker who doesn't deserve their success so who would play
you yeah would you like to play you who would i like to play me that's a really tough question
i've never thought about this what do you guys think you guys know me well yeah like you're i'm
thinking of your your face reminds me of like a few different actresses and i'm trying to think of who um it's well depending on my weight i've gotten claire
danes yep i can see that oh i can see that yeah i'm thinking it's um is it emma stone from the
face no no really i definitely see claire danes claire danes yep um i'll take her romeo and juliet
claire danes thank you i'll take her that's an anybody
will take her in that role so beautiful broke down palace we're the broke down palace emma stone
and then who's your contemporary it's it's music that everyone hears that you're like
i see emma stone hold on really yeah smile yeah listen she's beautiful
yeah well thank you oh that's very sweet and then um yeah i don't know january jones for some reason
is also what i'm saying january or if you're if you're spanish speaking so beautiful i don't know
yeah britney snow britney snow oh i love britney snow she's fun Who's Brittany Snow She played Amber in Hairspray She's not gonna know what that is
Brittany Snow
Screaming Brittany Snow into the phone
Oh yeah
Oh I know who that is
She has big eyes
Big lashes
She'll have to wear brown contacts
But that's okay
And then
What's the contemporary music
That you're just like
Why do people live
Yeah is there like
Is there a fad
Or like a
She's like how much time do you have Yeah Well it's hard right because like i have to like keep my pulse on like what's
going on absolutely now and but what i really like to do is like when i'm cooking i listen to the
turtles so the turtles i love the turtles so my heart is in the past but i have to keep my pulse
on what's happening now and i'm gonna going to say, because I stood up,
I just watched the documentary on a Takashi six,
nine.
Oh,
is that the guy,
the, the,
the predator raper?
He's a lot of things.
Yeah.
He's,
he's a lot of run-ins.
I don't know.
I don't want to get in trouble.
I don't want anybody coming after me.
Oh,
that's yeah.
Yeah.
Let's keep it.
Keep it hush hush.
But,
but also I just,
I don't think i understand it like most
like trap artists i would say like i get it but that's not like where my heart is so like to my
ears i'm like i'm not gonna listen to that yeah yes very in the school of like there's no right
answer in music so it's always from like if i don't like it i'm like yeah it does nothing for
me i don't get it right yeah that's the thing do you think art i mean i'm trying to think about like if other uh art works that way like the same way it does in music because it
seems like okay i've accepted the fact that some music just sounds like total fucking shit to me
and it can be the you know the most inspiring thing to somebody else does that work with other
stuff like i think so um because i don't love friends but i know that people love both
both the show and people i don't like having friends but i know if everyone loves it it's
gotta be hilarious it's just not my thing i'm also not into friends but if so many people love
it that makes three of us yeah no i think one two three that makes us right well millions of people
are wrong yeah we're right yeah and in music is the thing that is like, you know, film, television, even like painting or whatever.
I mean, music is the ultimate snobby.
Like that is the thing that people love to get completely snobby and judgmental about.
And it's like when people say, like, I have the best taste in music.
I'm like, yeah, everyone thinks they do.
Everyone.
Have a great day.
Yeah.
Especially metalheads especially i dated one for a long time and he didn't want to hear anything else
about any other genre of music oh yeah so you came home to like like like that music playing
yeah and like even harder than that and i listen to it but it's got to be in another language
like there's i know a whole bunch of metal Japanese bands I love.
Oh, that's fun.
Yeah.
Did you like Evanescence back in the day?
Who didn't like that song?
That's what I'm saying.
Oh, I hated that.
Evanescence was so wonderful.
They were great.
They had a great song.
I hated that.
What was that album called?
Bring Me to Life?
No.
I don't even know.
Is that the Fallen?
Wake Me Up Inside?
Yes.
Evanescence Fallen.
That's what it was.
I fucking hate that shit.
I've never liked music like that, but for some reason when they came out i don't know
her voice is beautiful the songs were great but i would never listen to that type of music again
no yeah i can appreciate the like the oh nice vocals i suppose that music doesn't sound like
pots and pans banging around but i hate it so much it's like i don't like pop at all i know
that ariana is probably one of the best voices of our generation but i don't like the songs because i don't like pop right but i know she's a great singer of
course i i feel the same way is this is it weird to say that i feel like her voice is not being
used to it's um not like it's not being i feel like it's wasted on the music that she makes
sometimes yeah like i hope one day she does like a a, like I bet you she could murder some like hymns,
ballads.
Yeah.
Hymnals.
Please praise him from whom all blessings flow.
Yeah.
Something like that.
Did you sing in church?
Is that how you got your start?
No,
no.
I,
it was like,
I went to Lutheran school,
so it was not fun.
Church Baptist music.
You know,
I wish,
I wish Lutherans like i do gospel now because i'm making up for lost time and you're trying to atone for your slutty days figure
yeah you're backwards before sharon put you on the right track
how slutty are you that sharon has to say you know you really need to pull back
yeah that's scary there was a new every time I saw her there was just a new guy you know I had just moved to Los Angeles I was
having fun yeah I don't blame you you're young you're beautiful you're talented take the world
yeah so you're wild oats absolutely well that's that I mean I've been with this man for almost
like four years now and it's great I prefer a relationship personally like i don't know how you guys feel about it but i'm still trying i'm always ltr i always have a boyfriend yeah she does
yeah serial monogamous serial monogamous yeah it's just something more cozy about it yeah then
sometimes you do have to you know oh wow so gotta hold on oh i know fuck everyone oh that's right i
keep forgetting but yeah she's on a relationship wait a question what is cuffing season so what does that mean you want to go ahead so cuffing
season is especially like when you're on the east coast right boston like the colder months you find
somebody to like snuggle up with in the winter and then you hold on to them until the late spring
comes and then it's like party time and then it's get the fuck out of here what does cuffing mean
though so it's more like we're going to shack up
at least for the next few months
because we're going to be going out less.
We're handcuffed to each other.
Yeah.
And everyone's wearing cufflinks.
And their pants are tight rolled.
Yeah, and they're in like a chain gang.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay, got it.
That makes sense.
Well, Ashley, we love you.
Yeah, thank you so much.
One of our favorite people.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me. Yeah, and you so much. One of our favorite people. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
And continue to inspire the world with your beautiful voice.
Yes, go listen to Blah Blah Blahs.
I'm promising you'll never heard anything like it.
You're going to love it.
Yay.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.