Interview August 2001

Gay-ireland.com: How are you getting on after 18 months in Dublin? 
Renttecca:  Everything is going pretty well in the Dublin drag world. I've been very 
busy as of late with performing at various shows here and around Ireland. 

I'm quite happy with the way the crowds have taken a liking to my style 
of drag and performance. When I first started, very few people clapped 
during my shows and now the audience are loads more supportive to what I 
do on stage 

Gay-ireland.com: Have there been any major changes in your life since you 
moved over? 
Renttecca: No huge changes really. I guess I've started drinking a lot more (which is 
to be expected). Back home I never touched alcohol because I am usually 
a complete lunatic when I don't drink. Now I'm considered "a danger to gay 
society" when I'm locked. No cute Irish boys are safe after my 5th pint of 
Guinness. 

Prospects for dating have also improved since being here. I was lucky enough 
to meet my first boyfriend last year (which ended with him getting the house, 
the car and our epileptic dog). I find lads from Britain and Ireland to be some 
of the most attractive that I've seen in my life. Mainly, I like pasty white boys 
with blue eyes and mad personalities. Needless to say, I've been spoiled here. 

Gay-ireland.com: Can you tell us a bit about your drag background in San 
Francisco? 
Renttecca: People ask me this quite a lot. That, and "why did you move HERE from a 
great place like San Francisco?!" 

I first started at the local drag club in San Francisco called Trannyshack. It 
started when I saw my first drag show there and was not too impressed with 
what was happening on stage. I'm a rocker girl at heart and wanted to get 
up there and just rock the stage with a Hole song. The desire to do drag wasn't 
really present in my mind ever. Basically, I just wanted to get up, do my 
thing and then get off of the stage. At the end of my first number, the crowd 
gave me a great response. So...I decide to do it again a month later, 
then the month after and it just went from there. I'd only do hard rock 
songs no matter if the audience liked them or not. It was all about the 
performance, but a big part of drag is looking good. I knew nothing about 
makeup, outfits or accessorizing - so for the first 2 years of my drag life 
I depended on my drag mothers to help me out. After going through 3 
different drag moms, I was getting tired of asking people for help and 
vice versa. During my last year in San Francisco and my time in Dublin, 
I've been doing my own makeup and styling. 

I was one of the first rock queens to emerge on the Trannyshack scene 
in 1997 and now in 2001 the club is ruled by rock drag. I miss the shows 
there very much and am looking forward to visiting in the winter this year. 

Gay-ireland.com: Have you travelled much since you arrived in Europe? 
Renttecca: Last year I was in Prague and Mallorca with my boyfriend. Most of my 
European travel was done a couple of years ago when I spent 4 months 
in London. Managed to squeeze in Paris, Lisbon, Scotland, Germany, 
Amsterdam, Brussels and my first trip to Dublin. 

Gay-ireland.com: Are you enjoying the drag scene in Dublin generally? 
Renttecca: The drag scene took a little while to get used to here. It's a much smaller 
audience and the drag style is different back home. At Trannyshack you'd get up 
in front of 150 people and do one number. At Bingo inside the George you 
get up in front of 3-400 people do five numbers over the course of the night. 

It took a little while to be accepted by some of the other drag queens. Some 
people I got along with right away and some people I still don't get along with. 
My most important relationship is with the Dublin audience though and that's 
what I try to focus on mainly. 

Gay-ireland.com: Have you felt much pressure to perform mainstream songs? 
Have you ever felt that your performances have been miss-understood, or 
haven’t been well received by the Dublin audience? 
Renttecca: Yeah, I've gone pretty mainstream compared to what I usually do. That said, 
the numbers I do onstage can sometimes be what you'd normally never see 
in Dublin drag show. It's pretty rare that I perform a song that someone in 
the audience has seen another queen do before. 

I've always tried to put together high energy, intense, trashy or comical numbers 
so that hasn't changed since I've been here. 

My first time at Bingo wasn't very well received. I did numbers that got huge 
rounds of applause with the Trannyshack audience, but flopped here. Through 
a process of trial and error I was able to figure out what the people wanted to 
see. A great deal of what is performed at Sunday Bingo is musicals and pop 
tunes - which isn't my style at all. So, instead of doing everybody else's numbers 
over again, I try and create my own unique style. Whether it be rap, rock, gospel 
or comedy - I'm open to most things. 

Gay-ireland.com: How did you enjoy competing in the Alternative Miss Ireland this year? 
Renttecca: It was really great being in front of all of those people (1600) and getting the 
response I did. My original number that I was going to do actually fell through so 
I had to go with one that had already been performed before because of time 
restraints. Of course, I would've liked to have placed higher...but it was the great 
experience nevertheless. 

The amount of exposure I received from the pageant was fantastic as well. I made 
it onto the cover of a new gay Irish magazine called "Scene In Ireland". Also, there's 
going to be a documentary on Channel 4 in a few months called "Dublin Nights". The 
camera crew from the show followed me around for 2 days filming my journey through 
the Alternative Miss Ireland jungle. I'm hoping they don't make me look like some 
tragic wanker in the program. I was under a great deal of pressure leading up to and 
during the pageant. A few choice comments may have made it out of my mouth and 
I hope those words fell on the cutting room floor. 

Gay-ireland.com: What projects do you have in the pipeline? 
Renttecca: I'm dying to start my own club again. Last year I joined up with a few mates of 
mine to help out with a club called Q&A. It was a huge cult hit among the indie 
gay crowd. I'm hoping to find a venue with two rooms 
playing two different genres of music - one with happy, cheery pop and the other 
with loud indie, alternative music. This style of club has been a huge hit in the 
UK and I know it would go over well in Ireland. It would also give me a 
fun place to go and socialise since what's currently on the gay scene really 
doesn't suit my tastes. 

Oh yeah...before I go, don't forget to check out 
my website at www.Renttecca.com

 Cheers! 

Interview 2000 - Click here