Exclusive Interview - Eve 6000
I'm going to start right back at the beginning of your drag journey and ask when and how did you discover that you wanted to do drag?
I was watching RuPaul's Drag Race, season two I think shortly after it came out, I remember catching glimpses of season one but it didn't really attract me and then season two there were some of the queens that I thought, oh that's more interesting to me. Then I kind of put it away and once I was watching like season four and five I became obsessed with Roxxxy Andrews and I was like okay that is what I want to look like, that's who I want to be. I printed out a picture of Raven and a picture of Roxxxy and I put them on my wall and I thought every day I'm going to practice and i'm going to learn how to do that kind of makeup. I've always been a visual artist so the makeup is what initially attracted me, then it took me a couple of years before I actually started going out in drag. I was practicing the makeup for a long time and then I eventually started going out I think it was like, season six viewing parties.
This week we saw you and the other Queens take on another singing challenge, after not doing as well as you hoped in the first singing challenge how did you feel about taking on another?
Well, I was very excited because I don't consider this a singing challenge, it's a girl group challenge. The challenge in this was recording a verse and performing it and I know that I can write songs, I know i'm good at that, I knew that I would have a good handle on this one and I was very excited to get to record a verse as opposed to singing live on stage which is a lot more difficult. When I said I could sing, I did not mean that I was a freaking like opera singer, what I meant was I can get in a recording booth and I’m not tone deaf!
On the runway I personally thought you brought some of the best looks, they were very creative and I liked all the tiny details, I thought that’s really what elevated your looks.
Thank you.
Where did you get your inspiration from?
I get a lot of inspiration from Mugler, from classic films and old school Hollywood stars. From villains I love, like Disney villains, I love strong silhouettes and I love pointy shoulders! There’s so many interesting things that come from cartoons, to get the mark of a great cartoon character is to identify them by the silhouette.
Who is your favourite Disney villain?
My favourite Disney villain I think has always been Ursula, I think I identify with her being an outcast and a black sheep if you will. Both in family and in a social aspect. I like when she transforms into Vanessa, I always liked that character and I’m like, she's kind of a c*nt! Can I say that? **Eve laughs** She's just great! I really love that whole character and I love the purple skin, it's beautiful!
It's very Drag! In your meet the queen's video you said that you wanted to be there for the non-binary kids and why is that important to you?
It's really important to me because when I auditioned for Season One of Canada’s Drag Race I didn't say that I was non-binary because I was scared that would close the door for me. There's been a lot of rumours over the years about Drag Race casting, not that any of that is true, I'm just saying, there's rumours. But when I saw Ilona Verley on season one, she was very open about her gender identity. I was like, okay the door is open and you can be there and I needed that to be able to fully express myself with regards to that. It was very important for me to be another influence for people, to let them know that there's a place for you and what you're doing is just as valid as everyone else.
One fact that I didn't know about you was that you're an illustrator, how did you get into that?
I've always been a visual artist since I was really little, I've always drawn and illustrated, I started doing illustrations in 2014 and it was really just a silly little sketch here and there. Then somebody told me, hey you know, you could probably make money off and then eventually I started building that up and I worked with so many drag queens, I probably worked with like over a thousand, I would say probably maybe even 2,000 queens. l eventually got to work with some really big stars and some of my favourite queens like Monet X Change, Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka, Alexis Mateo and it goes on and on.
We must talk about the moment in Episode One when you were told that you were safe, how was it watching the episode back?
Well after that happened we all immediately were making fun of it and laughing about it. I was laughing about it as well but I was not expecting to get so emotional when I watched it again, it was just a very emotional moment and it was not funny in the moment at all. It was interesting the way that it was aired but I’m glad they did it that way because it made it sort of a touchstone for the season. It made it an iconic moment and I’m happy with how it played out.
Shout out time – Who would you like to give a shout-out to and why?
Since Season Three is casting now, I feel like I should just talk about some queens that I want to see cast. First of all I would say Ivory Towers, she's an amazing queen in Toronto who has a 10 year plus career, she's a legend! Jada Hudson also a legend. Miss Fiercalicious, beautiful, talented and a lot of drama. Luna DuBois, also the same thing! Those four ifIcould make any recommendations for casting, Iwould say those. If anyone's listening to me those are the queensIwant to give a shout out to for sure.
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Photography - Courtesy of World of Wonder
Note: Some of this interview has been edited from the original transcript to help with readability.