Interview with the Dragon - Disco Lemonade

Disco Lemonade, also known as Wyatt Diamond, is a queer performance artist with a knack for leaving audiences swooning with amazement (and in gay panic). In May, Disco dramatically revealed a pair of Haus of Brimstone custom dragon horns during a new act on the Sterling Stage for Velvet Nox’s Marginalia. Disco is no stranger to shining in the limelight, but this act felt particularly powerful, as it left much of the audience’s mouths agape and a few eyes welling with tears. 

I had the opportunity to catch up with Disco to discuss their distinct performer personas, inspiration for their dragon act, and what it was like to perform so many upside down pole tricks in a rather large pair of horns. I also learned some intriguing Disco lore along the way.

JM: Tell me about Disco Lemonade. How did you create Disco?

DL: Is it distracting if I talk about both of my performer personas?

JM: No, I was actually going to ask you about Wyatt too!

DL: Disco is where I started. Disco was my first performer persona. I feel like Disco and Wyatt are different in that Wyatt is a very distinct character to me. He has a lot of different flavors, but he is mostly human. Disco is a little more abstract…Disco is where a lot of my creature [self] is. 

What I like about Disco and Diamond is that they are both…prisms that reflect a lot of light. The way I picture tapping into character is that there may be a lot of different versions of myself refracted into all of these different faces. They are all me and not me. As items, a disco ball and a diamond are both going to reflect light everywhere. There are a lot of different versions of myself that I can see in all of those little light beams. 

JM: I had not put the correlation together between a disco ball and diamond until just now and I love it. 

DL: Maybe because it's a convenient metaphor, I feel like a disco ball has a lot more of those smaller [lights] that shoot everywhere. That is true for how I feel about Disco [who] has almost infinite possibilities of expression. Whereas [with] Wyatt Diamond there is a little bit more a distinctness of who this character is. When I am a character as Wyatt, I am Wyatt Diamond playing that character. If I’m Disco Lemonade, it is a little bit more connected to my home expression in that I feel much closer to the creature-esque, and from a gender place I feel much closer to how Disco Lemonade is as a persona in my life. 

JM: Now…I have a corny question. Is Disco a fan of Marcy Playground [The 1990’s alternative rock band who wrote the infamously horny hit single known as ‘Sex and Candy’]?

DL: Oh my god! I know! I think it’s so funny how many people don't understand the reference. I don’t actually love that song, I like that song, but I loved the imagery of sex and candy [more]. When I started Disco Lemonade I wanted to say sex and candy without saying sex and candy. 

As a fun fact, I was going to skate and be a derby player. I wanted Disco to be my derby name, but I didn’t have time for [derby]. I didn’t think of it as a performer persona at first, but it became that and it became true for me. In another universe Disco Lemonade is a derby player.

JM: There is so much overlap between derby and pole people! Switching gears, I was really inspired by your Marginalia act for Velvet Nox earlier this month. Can you tell me a little bit more about this act? What inspired the piece?

DL: I have wanted to do a dragon scale chest piece since I started taping my chest as a performer. It has been in my mind and [I wondered] how to execute that. Marginalia was the first thing that came by that [felt] perfect. 

I often really enjoy playing with themes of transformation and discovery. I really like to embody things that are beyond human or inhuman. It feels like an expansive place for me to exist outside of what I am supposed to be. [Creatures are] also very colorful, and often have special powers, which, of course, the kid in me loves. 

For the dragon piece, it also is personal. Sometimes I create things…[and] I don't think so much [beyond] understanding the story of the character, and how I feel embodying that. I can feel it in my body without necessarily intellectualizing every piece of what it means to me in words. Sometimes I don't realize pieces of it until afterwards when people ask me questions [about the piece]. There were a few people who came up to me after my [dragon] piece, who were very touched by it in an emotional way. 

I'm sure you're already familiar, but Mitski’s song “Liquid Smooth” is about…relating to your own image, and not just the image of being a femme person, but also images of youth and that being a lot of the value in femme people and their image in the world. It's [my dragon piece] a reflection on relating to that dialogue…that messaging from our culture.

I think that in the world of Marginalia, in a world of fantasy…the Princess to Dragon is a visual metaphor for how I feel with those themes here in our world. There's also themes of recognizing power. The piece’s music tone gets much darker and more intense. That’s also a part of it. And I think that there's restrictions on your own power, ignoring your own power, feeling reserved, and also [being] covered, physically restricted…then not being not physically restricted anymore. There's a reclamation feeling [in the dragon piece] also.

In a lighthearted way, I really just wanted to reveal my horns. And I couldn't get the image of having that double horned hennin over my head, because it would cover them. All I wanted to do was lift the princess hat off and there be horns underneath. 

JM: I know you mentioned that a couple people came up to you and said that your act made them cry. A caveat we all know as performers is that anything we create is subject to interpretation. Is the feedback you got from that piece what you were trying to convey on stage?

DL: I think that as an artist…I accept what things mean to people. The fact that it means anything to anyone is really beautiful. That's why I love art, and that's why I love live performance spaces in particular. That connection is special. My hope is that people understand the character and the story, but the connection to the audience is more important to me than them understanding what I'm trying to say or what it means to me. It also [says] that to some degree, they felt safe in the space, which is a really wonderful testament to Velvet Nox and our community.

JM: Shifting gears a tad with the [dragon] horns that you concealed under your [double horn hennin] hood during the beginning of your act. Did you custom make your hood to fit on top of them? 

DL: I did!

JM: How long did it take you?

DL: Oh, that did not take me very long. I made the hat very frantically in like an hour. We're gonna be real here for a second, I was running out of time, because the scales took a long time.

JM: How long did the scales take?

DL: I have no idea. I wish I counted…dozens of hours, probably. I had cut them all out of vinyl. I had to flame every single one to get the bend in it. I cut the shapes and then folded all of them in half with a lighter, and then airbrushed all of them myself, and then glued them on and pinned them in. 

JM: Every scale is literally made with intention, every single fucking one. 

DL: The scales and the dress took so long, so the headdress actually wasn't that bad.

JM: So between taking the headpiece off and being a complete beast on the pole and going upside down multiple times, how did you make sure the horns were going to stay?

DL: A lot of bobby pins! Also, Haus of Brimstone gives you a little kit with a headband and I went over [to their HQ], because they custom made these horns. They custom painted them for this act, which I was so excited about. I was giddy. 

Harley would send me photos, and I would just get even more excited. They walked me through the different options. With the big horns and with all of the stuff on the pole, the headband had to be the go [to] with a lot of bobby pins. And it was fine!

JM: Did you practice with the horns before the actual show, or did you just raw dog it?

DL: I just ran through it in tech!

JM: You're so much braver than I am.

DL: I feel like I'm good enough at adapting. I’m scared to say anything, because I'm gonna jinx myself…I gotta find a tree to knock on. [DL actually physically got up and knocked on a tree].

JM: Can we talk a little bit more about the collaboration with Haus of Brimstone? I know you had the custom painted horns, which were gorgeous.

DL: They were SO gorgeous. 

JM: I have never seen a pair like that. That's why I wanted you to be the first artist I interviewed for this project. Did you start with creating your scales and then show photos? Or, did you just discuss the color scheme? What did that process look like?

DL: Harley [Brimstone] asked if I already had the costume to match. [At the time] I was really in debate between red horns and sea green horns for a minute. We were looking up reference pictures of different cartoon dragons, and [I was] sending a bunch of stuff to Harley. 

There's a little bit of red at the base of the horns. And part of that is because I generally like dimension. I also change my hair a lot, and I wanted something that would still work when I don't have this color scheme, and I do tend to do red hair. I decided it would be cool to have a red base since horns do that. I [also] think it would help me blend these horns into future projects. It was really cool to be able to make custom horns that aren't just for the show, but also with the future in mind. Harley came back with mock sketches to show me and I picked my favorite options, and gave some commentary.

They did a little tester on a tiny little imp horn for me… it was so cute. They [told me] it'll be like this on every section of the horn. I was so excited. I was uncontainable every single time they messaged me. 

JM: I love that. 

DL: It was so, so exciting. And [the Haus of Brimstone team is] so talented. Oh my god! 

JM: So you mentioned you might use the dragon horns for a future act. Do you think that you will use the sea green dragon horns again?

DL:  Absolutely! I feel like once you are a dragon, you can't not be a dragon. I want to use these [dragon horns] again. I’ve said this a few times since then, I’ll be a dragon as many times as I can possibly be a dragon. 

JM: Oh yeah, I cannot wait! I have loved talking to you. This is really fun. I'm a nerd about process, and I love to just pick people's brains and learn. I was really excited that you got to be my first for this project. 

DL: Yeah, this is so cool. I wish I'd talked more about how amazing Haus of Brimstone is, not only artistically, but to work with. 

JM: Is there anything else you want to add?

DL: I also told Haus of Brimstone that I wanted to add rhinestones in the future. We really talked about the full scope of various stages of what the horns’ life may be in the future. They are great!!

I can’t wait to see what future life Disco breathes into their custom sea green Haus of Brimstone dragon horns. Make sure to follow Disco on Instagram to follow along on their queer adventures! If you have questions about customs horn requests, contact Haus of Brimstone!

Photos used in this article by Patrick Rusk Photography.

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