Who is Johnny Silvino?

Johnny’s your typical het male. He thinks with his balls, eats cheeseburgers and is HYPER protective of his baby – Lolita, the Harley. He LOVES women. All women, but has a REALLY bad habit for go-go girls. It’s no accident that his murky past is tied up with casinos and Vegas… he’s a 29 year old ex-nightclub owner with a past. I like Johnny. His three favourite possessions are a red feather boa, a Camel lighter and the blow up doll under his bed. He’s good craic. 

A lot of guys would be envious of Johnny, I mean what more could a man want! He’s enacting a lot of male fantasies – messing with a go-go dancer on stage whilst a bunch of lesbians watch! He knows he’s got the support of the guys because they’re always sending him drinks…(laughs). 

His dressing room’s full of all these BEAUTIFUL women, with exotic names like Panti and Veda – he has NO idea that they’re really guys! (laughs). Johnny is a sexist pig and everything that you might find offensive about some blokes. But, these kind of guys can be really funny. He does the silly things as well – he’d stand on his head if he thought it’d impress a bird. You’ve gotta laugh at guys like that. But no man actually acts like Johnny! I think masculinity is made up of many different aspects – the good, bad, ugly and down right funny. As a drag-king I want to perform, celebrate and explore all these aspects through Johnny, and as an entertainer, I want to entertain my audience with his antics!

How did you get into doing drag?

I was performing as Stephanie Strap-on in The George for over a year and in the back of my mind, always thought about doing male drag.  But it wasn’t until I was picked for the Alternative Miss Ireland that I actually decided to go for it and have a drag sex change!  I looked up a few drag king books in Trinity Library for inspiration because I’d never seen or heard of any drag kings before and only ever really thought about it. 

I put together my main number with my go-go dancer for the Alternative Miss Ireland the day before the contest and only met the other four dancers an hour before I went on stage!  It was surprisingly natural to choreograph a man dancing with gorgeous girls.

What, or who are your Drag King inspirations?

I’ve never actually seen a drag king performance, it’s coming from within. However I was chuffed to meet Del La Grace Volcano (Drag King book photographer) this year. I’ll be doing shows in the States next year with performers there, but at the moment I’m glad of the chance to create my own style, without any outside influence. It’s kinda cool that I’m having to create everything from scratch and to know that what I do is original to me.

Tell us about your upcoming club “Glitter & Twisted”.

Glitter & Twisted is a new kind of queer performance, dance club. We’re using Eamonn Doran’s, Temple Bar, and the launch is Friday, November 16^th from 8pm till late.  The venue is perfect for our needs – it’s a dedicated performance venue with a stage and complete lighting and sound rig. But it also has a dance floor and all these cool, dark corners for people to get up to no good in! If you wanna join me, you’ll find me and a beer in one at the end of the night…

We’ve a complete night of performance. G & T un-plugged, from 8pm to 10pm with live sessions with the gorgeous Úna O’Boyle, Eimear O’Kane, Suzy Roland and the gang.  It’s going to be very upbeat and lively.  They’re all musicians of a high calibre. Very cool people. Suzy’s like a white Tina Turner, Úna O’Boyle won the Hot Press 1997 singer/songwriter award - trance, jazz, trad and all different types of music. Eimear? Great voice, great looks, BIG double bass (laughs). Funky. And Rachel Scoazec’s f**king brilliant. We’re really lucky to have her with us. She’s played with some amazing people – Eric Clapton, Talking Heads…imagine a beautiful, French woman doing Hendrix…(sings)…”ooo, foxy lady”

From 10pm to 11ish is “Swagger” which is a drag hour with an emphasis on Drag Kings. Featured acts include: myself, Sid Viscous, Pelvis Fresley, Renttecca and Tom Fingerland….need I say more?

From 11pm to very, very late (…sh!) you can dance your ass, your moustache or your fishnets off to progressive house spun by DJ Karen – the STUD from SLAM!! who EVERYONE wants to Slap Lick And Munch!! (laughs…em, did I say that?!)

All glitter boys and twisted girls are welcome to come along!  It’s only £5 from 8pm to 10pm and then £8 after 10pm or £6 if you’re in drag. We expect a lot of women to take the opportunity and drag up for the night, and we all know the boys don’t need an excuse to slap on some lipstick and tights. Go on, you know you want to!

What are Johnny’s plans for the future?

Mo’ bitches, mo’ money, mo’ hairspray…cough, cough. (em, can I go now? I’ve a fitting with Armani.The buttons are gone from Johnny’s last suit…some women are SO impatient!)

October 2001
Thanks to Matt, Alex & Johnny