Missy Suicide And The SuicideGirls

Missy Suicide And The SuicideGirls

Gather around ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for an anecdote! I had heard of SuicideGirls because a friend of mine was accepted into their ranks as a model and was over the moon with excitement. I thought it was an awesome achievement and looked more into SuicideGirls and found they were all about empowering women who expressed themselves in alternative ways from unique hair styles to body piercings and, my personal favorite, through wicked awesome tattoos. Needless to say I supported them right off the bat for their ideals.

Fast forward to this year and I find out that SuicideGirls are having their Blackheart Burlesque show and it would feature various pop culture themes, a few of those relating to geeky topics. I knew I was going to go but I wanted to go a step further than just attend and so I reached out to SuicideGirls and asked if it would be alright if I featured them in my humble blog and possibly interview
one of their dancers or staff. I expected a no response because I knew they were extremely busy folks and completely alright with that.

Then they responded. Not only were they kind enough to offer media passes but they also agreed to an interview with Missy Suicide. Being the filthy casual that I am when it comes to being a fan of SuicideGirls, I thought it was awesome and assumed it was one of the dancers! They suggested a phone interview but I declined because I thought it would be more convenient for Missy. I began writing my questions up and then got curious about who Missy was. Then I discovered she is one of the two co-founders of SuicideGirls.

I stared at the google page results for a good 10 minutes in utter shock. I then proceeded to run around my apartment, kicking myself for refusing the phone interview and then chanted “Don’t fuck this up, DeAngelo(My name)! Don’t fuck this up, DeAngelo! ” as I finished my questions before reviewing them and sending them off. All in all the SuicideGirls contact that I worked, Alex, with and Missy herself were incredible in every way during this process!

Without further ado, here is my interview with Missy Suicide on herself, SuicideGirls, and information on their Blackheart Burlesque show which is touring internationally right now.

The Geek Lyfe: Although I am a huge fan of SuicideGirls, there may be a few of our readers that are unfamiliar, would you be alright introducing them to what Suicide Girls is/are?

Missy Suicide: SuicideGirls was started in 2001 in Portland Oregon as a place to celebrate beautiful women who choose not to fit into the norm and as a corner of the internet where outsiders could congregate and be appreciated for being themselves. Our ethos is: That confidence is the sexiest attribute a woman can have. We have all types of girls, 3500 SuicideGirls from every continent in the world including Antarctica.

TGL: Those of us who know and love Suicide Girls follow and support you girls in everything you do but I’ve always been curious about how SG got started. Would you be able to tell us the origin story?

MS: I was inspired by Bunny Yeager’s photos of Betty Page. The confidence and beauty that came through when a woman was posing nude for another woman. I thought my friends were the most beautiful women in the world and wanted to photograph them with the same sort of respect and grace as the classic pin-ups had. SuicideGirls is a term that comes from a Chuck Palahnuik book in which he describes girls that choose not to fit into the norm, girls who commit “social suicide”

TGL: What has been your favorite moment so far in this industry?

MS: There have been so many incredible memories, The Blackheart Burlesque opening for Queens of the Stoneage last Halloween. Being on an episode of CSI: NY as myself, Meeting fans in Australia on tour. I could really go on and on 🙂

The achievement that I am most proud of is having women come up to me and sharing their story of how SuicideGirls has changed their lives, given them confidence and made them feel beautiful about themselves. It incredibly humbling and the most rewarding accolade.

TGL: Most frustrating?

MS: Dealing with Trolls on other sites.

Luckily the community on SuicideGirls.com is really supportive and civil even when they disagree. The people who are members of SuicideGirls.com all find tattooed and pierced girls attractive and are reasonable adults who don’t leave jerky comments. Those two things that people have in common has made it the meeting place for outsider culture on the internet for over 14 years.

TGL: What geek medium(Video Games, Comic Books, Novels, Movies etc.) made the biggest impact on your life and why?

MS: Oh man probably movies, just because they are such a part of our shared conscious. There are tons of pop culture influences in the Blackheart Burlesque though, I think they all have made an impact on me. Planet of the Apes, Adventure Time, Legend of Zelda, they all represent hours upon hours spent 🙂

TGL: I follow Suicide Girls on Facebook and found out about their Blackheart Burlesque show and that they are touring internationally. I was excited to find out they were coming to Phoenix, Arizona! Would you be able to tell us a bit about the Blackheart Burlesque show?

MS: In the same way the the photos on suicidegirls.com take the sexy spirit of classic pin-up photos and creates a modern version of femininity; We wanted to put our own spin on classic burlesque and bring the same confident energy that we conveyed in our images to life through our geeky, fun filter. When we first put out our SuicideGirls Burlesque tour in 2003, we were the only people who were doing non-traditional, non-old fashioned burlesque on a large scale. We were excited to put on a sexy performance that didn’t involve feather boas and songs like Hey Big Spender. We wanted to use modern music and references to modern pop-culture but still put on a show in the spirit of old time burlesque. Now, a dozen years later, there are a lot more non traditional burlesque acts around, and some of them are doing really fun and different kinds of shows. The Star Wars Burlesque is a great example of just how diverse and non traditional the Burlesque scene has become. Also look at the spectacle performers like Lady Gaga put on at live shows. People have seen a lot and it’s much harder to show them something that really feels new and original. So clever Quentin Tarantino Burlesque numbers and a leather pants AC/DC striptease is just not enough to wow people these days. We really had to take the spirit of pop-culture modern burlesque that we pioneered over a decade ago and up the production values, sexiness and performances by a factor of ten. It’s the same kind of Burlesque show we used to do, but we have executed at a much higher level in almost every respect: dancer abilities, costumes, choreography, everything.

TGL: I was able to look at all of the tour destinations and it looks intense! From Wisconsin to the United Kingdom, the Blackheart Burlesque show is scheduled to entertain fans. How do you prepare for a tour that huge?
MS: Oh man we are just thrilled to be able to bring the tour to so many places and meet so many international fans. Our largest show will be our show in Santiago Chile in January. It is a venue that hold 2500 people. We are thrilled to be making our South American debut in Chile, where we have over 65 SuicideGirls!

TGL: Are the dancers all the same or is there a pool of dancers that you shift in and out?

MS: The girls on the tour are incredibly talented dancers and performers. The dancers rotate in and out depending upon their availability, they are all professional dancers and this is a 10 week tour. No two performances are the same and all of the shows are full of energy and personality and individualism.

TGL: Alright, so the best thing about being an indie blog is that I get to ask the hard hitting questions our readers want to know, so I hope you are ready for this. First off, what is your plan in the Zombie Apocalypse(Slow zombies)?

MS: Hole up in the Nakatomi building.

TGL: Second, and this is a question from one of our writers who was dying to know, do you prefer Chunky Peanut Butter or Smooth?

MS: Smooth on a banana. Best snack ever. I get that it is kind of phallic and scatological but it is delicious.

TGL: Third and final hard hitting question: Star Wars or Star Trek and why?

MS: Star Wars because it is a grander universe, was conceived to push the boundaries of movie making. While I love Star Trek, and I have an inordinate soft spot for Wil Wheaton, it was conceived of for television and to push the limits there and during an earlier time frame. Star Wars just made a larger impact on my life and imprinted in a larger way as this is the grand scale the future could be. Plus the earwig Wrath of Khan thing freaked me the fuck out and there is no way that I would want to live in a world that would allow that to happen 🙂

TGL: Do you have any projects in the future we should be excited to see?

MS: We have a new art book set to come out this summer. I am working on a book book.

TGL: I’ve met many girls whose dream it is to become a Suicide Girl one day, what advice do you have for them?

MS: SuicideGirls are confident and beautiful, although not in the way typically celebrated by mainstream media. They confidently contribute their unique and personal beauty to our larger discussion of redefining beauty. Be active and enjoy the community listen to their feedback but be yourself and do what makes you feel good. Take the pictures you want to take and will be proud to have on the internet forever as a reminder of this period in your life.

A huge thank you to Missy Suicide for taking the time to answer a few of our questions and another huge thank you to my contact, Alex, who answered my emails throughout the process! If someone had told me that I’d get to interview a SuicideGirl, let anyone one of the co-founders, I would have thought them a crazy person and gone back to watching Anime. I am excited to attend Blackheart Burlesque when it comes to Phoenix and I encourage all of you to check out SuicideGirls and their Blackheart Burlesque show touring internationally.

Photos from the Official SuicideGirls Facebook Page and Missy Suicide’s Instagram.