Tracks of Our Queers

Benjamin Law is a writer, broadcaster, television creator and producer, and refined homosexual about town in Sydney. He's also a former competitor on Australian Survivor – important. If you haven't already, I implore you to read some of Ben's sharp, warm, illuminating writing. There's Gaysia, an exploration of LGBTQ+ cultures across South East Asia; The Family Law , a memoir of...

Bright Light Bright Light , aka Rod Thomas , is an entirely independent pop superstar based in New York City. Hailing from Wales, Rod has rewritten the rulebook for being a singer songwriter without major label backing, mostly through tremendously hard work, and an ever-growing back catalogue of bangers. He's been backed, endorsed, and collaborated with legends like Sir Elton John, Erasure, S...

Geraldine Hickey is one of Australia's most beloved comedians, and multiple award-winning at that. She's a regular face on TV, a veteran of the Melbourne International Comedy and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, and... a bird watcher. More on that in the episode. We discuss music by Diana Ross, RVG, and Cash Savage. Further reading: Follow Geraldine on Instagram Buy tickets to her upcoming Oc...

Carlton Wilborn is an actor, life coach, and former dancer with Madonna. At 25, Carlton was hand-picked to join the Blond Ambition World Tour, documented in the ground-breaking concert film Truth or Dare (or, In Bed with Madonna ). He would go on to join her second tour, The Girlie Show, before embarking on a career in acting, and life coaching. Apologies in advance for slightly iffy audio – I hop...

Fenton Bailey is a co-founder of production studio World of Wonder, the home of RuPaul's Drag Race . Together with Randy Barbato, Fenton has creatively collaborated with RuPaul since the mid-80s, helping birth his albums, imagery, VH1 chat show, even directing the iconic "Supermodel" music video, before launching the queer cultural juggernaut that is Drag Race in 2009. Over 25 inter...

Sarah Keyworth is an award-winning comedian from Nottingham, England, who you may know from Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats , or their own BBC Sounds show, Am I a Boy or a Girl?  Sarah just won the top prize at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and sat down with me to muse on some of the music that has soundtracked their queer journey, including (but not limited to)...

Brontez Purnell is a writer, musician, critic, model, zinemaker, dancer, choreographer, and quite literally, more. An Oakland punk by way of Alabama, Brontez has just published his fifth book, 10 Bridges I've Burnt . I'm an enormous admirer of Brontez's writing, and am thrilled to chat about his queer tracks. In this conversation, we discuss music by Carol Hahn, Emily's Sassy L...

Carl Austin-Behan served in the British Royal Air Force from 1991 until 1997, when he was discharged for being openly gay. Lauded with honours for services to his country, including a medal for bravery, nonetheless he was ejected from the RAF – simply for choosing not to hide who he was. Carl went on to win Mr Gay UK pageants, elections in local government, and the title of Lord Mayor of Mancheste...

Jenna Suffern is a Sydney-based comedian, producer and writer. One half of comedy due Two Queers Walk Into a Bar , a writer and producer for Pedestrian. TV and VICE AU, and the star of her own one-woman show, It's Not Funny, It's Private, Jenna has helped curate a flourishing queer comedy safe space in Sydney and beyond. We recorded this conversation live in the studio, on Gadigal land,...

Josh Rivers is a cultural worker, broadcaster, and the presenter of the conversation series Busy Being Black , a podcast exploring how queer Black folks live "in the fullness of their lives". Josh conducts his interviews in a way that allows people to unfold into their vulnerability, leading to inspiring conversations with fascinating guests from across the queer Black spectrum, includin...

Tommy Murphy is an award-winning screenwriter and playwright based in Sydney. Tommy adapted the Australian queer classic memoir Holding the Man for both stage and screen, while his limited series Significant Others was broadcast on the ABC last year. Most recently, he adapted Nevil Shute's On the Beach for the Sydney Theatre Company. We discuss music by Whitney Houston, Olivier Messiaen, and...

Stuart Linden Rhodes is the photographer behind the @linden_archives , a fascinating record of queer nightlife in the UK's north.    During the pandemic, I start finding photos in my Instagram feed showing legends like Lily Savage, Su Pollard, and a pre-Spice Mel B, alongside a host of gay clubbers and allies dancing on sticky floors and tearing up the night. Like many others, it felt like I...

Bamby Salcedo is the CEO and President of the TransLatin@ Coalition , the largest trans-lead organisation in the United States, with a mission to improve and enrich the lives of trans Latin@ women. Her activism over 25 years has seen her champion issues across undocumented migrants, HIV-AIDS, youth incarceration, and of course, the LGBTQ community. Her leadership is powerful to behold, and I hope...

Michael Cragg is a prolific music journalist for The Guardian, The Observer, Vogue and more, and as of last year, the published author of Reach for the Stars, an oral history of the mind-boggling period of British pop music that flourished between 1996 and 2006. We discuss the heady confluence of factors that lead to an era bookended by the Spice Girls and the X Factor, Michael's own complica...

Sherry Vine is a drag legend. Over a thirty year career, she’s carved out a reputation for searing wit, spectacular performance, and filthy humour.  Sherry joined me for this conversation as the second season of The Sherry Vine Variety Show was about to premiere – the show has just completed filming on it's third season, and you can catch it on Apple TV. We discuss music by the Smiths, Soft C...

Right back in ye olde podcasting days, I listened to just three shows – RuPaul and Michelle Visage's What's the Tee?, the BBC's Desert Island Discs , and the interview series LGBTQ&A , presented by Jeffrey Masters. A GLAAD Award-winning broadcaster, Jeffrey's compassionate and curious nature shines through in his conversations with a ludicrously long list of queer legends,...

Welcome back to Tracks of Our Queers.  One of only two female resident DJs at Manchester's iconic Haçienda nightclub in the early '90s, DJ Paulette has spent 30 years pioneering a rich legacy in a male-dominated industry... not the easiest of tasks as a Black, bisexual woman. In this beautiful conversation, Paulette shares insights from her career and identity, alongside three transcende...

Adriano Cappelletta is an actor, writer, and creator across film, television, cabaret, and music. After researching Australia's reponse to AIDS in 2016 after years of volunteering with HIV/AIDS organisations, Adriano wrote the play Never Let Me Go , which was adapted into the 2022 television series In Our Blood by the ABC. We discuss music by Arthur Russell, the Pet Shop Boys, and Madonna. Yo...

In 1975, a very young and very gay trio of musicians were signed to Jet Records, a London label headed up by, well, Sharon Osbourne's dad. Handbag regaled audiences with outrageous on-stage simulated sex and snogging, before recording their debut album... which sadly remained unreleased, due to the stifling and fearful climate of the time. Earlier this year, frontman Paul Southwell dusted off...

Annie Frost Nicholson is a multi-disciplinary artist based in London. It's easier to list which forms of art she doesn't bring her magic too, but I have particularly fallen in love with her visual meditations on loss, grief, and a lust for life. Annie's own experience of a particularly unique tragedy has coloured her work ever since, leading right up to her roaming Grief Rave. In th...

Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer from the South Coast of New South Wales. He's the author of two young adult novels, The Boy from the Mish – a stunning depiction of a queer summer romance between two Indigenous teenagers – and the brand new We Didn't Think It Through . We discuss music by Bob Dylan, Kylie Minogue, and Elton John. You can follow Gary on X here , and on Instagram here ....

Sophie Galpin is a UK-based multi-instrumentalist musician and artist, writing and performing as SOFT LAD . Collaborating and touring with Self Esteem, the Breeders, and Jessie Ware, Sophie began putting out her own work last year, and continues to shape her own artistic voice with a new EP on the way. We discuss some proper bangers this episode, by the likes of CeCe Peniston, Jessie Ware and Mela...

Bill Hayes is a writer and photographer, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in nonfiction, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times . The author of seven books, Bill is perhaps best known for his magical 2017 memoir Insomniac City , covering his move from San Francisco to New York, and his relationship with the groundbreaking neurologist Oliver Sacks. Bill's taste in music is as div...

Shamir Bailey is an American singer-songwriter based in Philadelphia.  Bursting into the stratos-queer in 2014 with "On the Regular", Shamir has since continually defined and redefined his musical language, visual identity, and artistry, on his own terms. His latest album, Homo Anxietatum , is out on August 18th on Kill Rock Stars. It was an absolute pleasure to discuss Shamir's own...

Kris Andrew Small has left his distinctive signature on art for clients including Apple, Adobe, and Adidas — queering the mainstream along the way. He joined me in the studio for this conversation, in Sydney / on Gadigal Land. We discuss music by Brockhampton, Madonna, and M.I.A. You can follow Kris on Instagram here , and purchase his art here . Tracks of Our Queers is produced, presented and edi...