It’s no secret that we love ourselves a drag king here at GURL so we were absolutely stoked when one of our favourite UK kings agreed to do us a little interview, enjoy!
GURL: First things first; introductions, who the hell are ya?
Adam: My name is Adam All and I am a Drag King performer based in London although I gig all over the UK. I am co founder/producer/host of BOiBOX Drag King cabaret night with my on stage and life partner Apple Derrieres (we married in August this year).
GURL: That’s so adorable, congrats on the wedding and well done for the cabaret too! How long have you been performing?
Adam: I’ve been performing for roughly 11 years now.
GURL: What’s been your favourite performance so far?
Adam: I’ve had some incredible experiences performing as Adam; two TedX shows – one on my own and one with my partner which were both amazing, hosting the main stage at Pride in London this year was also a huge honour, we absolutely love pride events. But the big one for me so far has to be hosting the finals of Man Up! at EartH, marking the incredible development of the King scene here in the UK with 16 amazing finalists, and it was my birthday so the 800 strong audience sung me ‘Happy Birthday’ which I think would make anyone well up a bit, just a stupendous night.
GURL: That must have been incredible, a well deserved turn out to exactly the kind of event that the UK scene needs right now. We can only imagine how proud you must be. We’ve popped your show reel below for everyone to see:
GURL: Show us one of your most fabulous looks?
Adam: Adams look is all about gentle and nutritious masculinity. Fierce is not necessarily a word I would associate with Adam but strong, for sure.
GURL: What a perfect example of camp and creative – this is literally strong and gentle in a picture!
GURL: Who are your biggest idols?
Adam: My biggest idols include the amazing and awe inspiring kd lang. I’ve seen her in concert twice and both times I was utterly blown away, but in terms of role models she has always been a shining light to me, showing us all it can be done. There are plenty of Kings I admire but if I start listing them we’ll be here all day, so lets just say I love Kings and the whole collective of them gives me happy tears. And I’m not gonna lie, I’m constantly in awe of my wife, she does so so much for me and for the community its incredible, I don’t know how she works so hard and juggles so many things its completely amazing.
GURL: Tell us something absolutely random about yourself?
Adam: So random, when I was young I was really into sport, I tried all sorts of things, and for a time I even trained in Synchronised Swimming… nose clip and all. I also did Judo when I was younger still, and climbing….i was pretty active. Now its more yoga and free weights and a lot of walking.
GURL: Gotta admit, we were never expecting synchronised swimming to come up in the interview, that’s amazing. Please come round and teach us some yoga some time, we’ll make you a cuppa or a cocktail depending on the night!
GURL: Any advice for someone wanting to embrace the art of drag?
Adam: So I love helping young Kings onto the stage, its a passion of mine to see people embracing drag. There are loads of ways you can approach it, its not any one thing, more like a medium through which you can express all sorts of skills. The one thing to be really mindful of is that it is a performance, its a show, and you have to sell it. My advice to budding kings, make it loud, make it big, sell it to the back row and bring something uniquely you.
GURL: Sounds like pretty darn sound advice to us, definitely important to embrace your unique self and absolute make the people in the back row remember your name.
GURL: One song to be your anthem, go!
Adam:I have lots of songs I really enjoy performing but there are two which seem to encapsulate my character the best. The first is Footloose by Kenny Loggins, its a feel good 80’s floor filler about letting everything go and embracing the freedom of a dance floor. The other is Human by The Killers, a similar theme but also delivered in a genderless inclusive way that feels like just to be human is to be a dancer, whoever you are.
GURL: Both of those are absolute anthems and even more enjoyable when put into such contexts of freedom and expression.
GURL: If you had to recommend us a fellow fierce entertainer, who should we hit up?
Adam: There are some incredible kings hitting the scene right now, its utterly mind blowing how much talent is out there. I’m going to recommend checking out the amazing Romeo De La Cruz; he’s my first Drag ‘son’ and an ambassador for BOiBOX as well as a dear and close friend, but watching him and his wife Jada Love conquer the world right now is just so amazing, they are both amazing.
GURL: You heard the king, go follow both of those amazing people, we’ve made sure the names are now links for you!
GURL: Finally, what’s your fave design from our collection?
Adam: I’m really enjoying your GURL wings collection, I love the design its got a real 80’s throwback feel to it and even in rainbow its got some butch too.
GURL: We do love a good 80’s vibe, pleased to hear you’re on board. Thanks so much for the interview, you’re a true superstar!
Adam: Thanks again, Adam All.
GURL: Any time!.
Make sure you check our Adam and all the fabulous work this king is doing, Instagram and a fabulous show reel below.
