My favorite Queer woman of rock Beth Ditto is featured in this months Spin magazine in an interview that shows how fab she really is, I just love her!Do you find it at all marginalizing to be on Music With a Twist, a Columbia subsidiary for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender artists?
No, I love being on a queer label. You're sitting in a room with a group of people who have all the same reference points as you, you don't have to explain anything about your identity to them, and people aren't like, "What's a tranny?" It's not about integration versus segregation; it's just a way to get the music out there.
You've said that you think being a bigger, gay woman might have held the band back from mainstream success, but do you think it's also worked to your advantage?
I never would say that it worked to our advantage, but I think it's a breath of fresh air for a lot of people. And you gotta play the game. If you can work it, then you work it no matter what. And talent transcends all those things.
You have been known to strip onstage during live shows. Isn't there a danger that it will attract exactly the kind of attention that female musicians want to avoid?
I have a lot of things to say about that, and one of them is that it's important that the body becomes a normal thing. I don't think the rules are the same for me as they were for Courtney Love or [Bikini Kill/Le Tigre frontwoman] Kathleen Hanna, because I don't think my body was accepted in the same way. In the beginning, people were really uncomfortable with a big girl, so it was a radical political statement; and it's even more radical to not be objectified with your clothes off. Also, onstage, it's so hot we're dying. It just feels nice sometimes.
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