"Kleines Kabarett is a raucous mid week punky lil arty cabaret show where as we’ve discovered since its inception, anything could happen."
Kicking off my Brighton & Hove residents' community corner series is the legendary Joe Black! This interview marks the very first in a vibrant series of interviews spotlighting Brighton & Hove’s dazzling drag artists and genre-defying performers. Stay tuned - there’s a whole parade of brilliance yet to come.
Known for his gothic cabaret style and theatrical flair, Joe is often mistaken for a drag queen-understandable, given his stint on a certain high-profile drag competition but Joe is in fact, a cabaret performer and musician whose dark, decadent style has made him a cult figure in the city’s underground arts scene. Our conversation peeled back the layers of his persona, revealing a fiercely creative mind behind the velvet and eyeliner. It was the perfect opening act for a series that celebrates our city's vibrant, genre-defying performers.
So, let’s dive in head first!
I write to you while on a train to London from Brighton, where as nature intended-there are issues. The natural ordered restored/signal problems. But yes I am good. The person working making coffee at the place I got it said they may faint because they’re overwhelmed at being a supervisor, so I feel like I'm going to be worried about them all day. Fainting into the pre made sandwiches like a woman in a Jane Austen novel. Exhausted by the responsibility of not quite upper management, but of supervising. Good coffee too.
He/him at all times. I have a pencil moustache because of a combination of Gomez Addams, John Waters and Vincent Price. But I do understand it’s got an air of both pervert but possibly non binary. Maybe both.
I’m a cabaret performer and musician who works in the story and song genre of classic cabaret. Weimar Berlin meets travelling showman. Dark but fun. Confrontational but comforting. Locally I host and produce a quarterly variety show called Kleines Kabarett which is a raucous mid week punky lil arty cabaret show where as we’ve discovered since its inception, anything could happen.
I think it becomes really clear when someone isn’t happy doing drag. They start making bizarre choices that don’t fit what they’re doing, they start cutting corners and you can see their hearts not in it. Something goes in their eyes. I could absolutely sense it in myself and I feel like me, the audience and drag as a form deserves more respect than that. I love performing, so that wasn’t the issue. I decided if I wasn’t going to do it well, I wasn’t going to do it at all.
I’ve had a really strange few years where I just wasn’t really happy generally.
Things had to go and that was one of them. It’s hilarious in hindsight, but imagine being in a sequin fishtail gown and huge ostrich feathers looking like a silent movie star puppet and looking in the mirror wishing you were anywhere but there and doing anything but that? I loved performing. But doing drag made me question that. Now it’s thoroughly gone I’m loving being on stage again. There’s nothing sadder than someone all dolled up who clearly doesn’t want to be there and I honestly wish other people had the self awareness to realise that in themselves too. Because there’s going to be someone who really loves it waiting for your stage, and if you’re not respecting the platform and audiences-give it to someone who will.
I think maybe there should be a one in one out policy on drag now. They get out a torch to see if the light has died in your eyes and if there’s still a spark there, you can continue. If there’s not-you’re kicked out. There’s also a thing of having work intrinsically linked to a specific look that’s expected, and then you have to question whether the work remains of value even without that. But I think that’s a much bigger and possibly loaded territory.
Also to answer the question on how I’d describe my artistic identity, I think just cabaret performer works? That’s always been what I’ve done. Drag was an aesthetic for me. I am now simply a man in a suit with a white powdered face and some dark eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. Which is how I started anyway, so it’s just come full circle as I try to remain entirely authentic to myself. If you’re not being authentic, why bother? Do something else if you’re not gonna contribute what you uniquely have.
Last year at my Halloween show there was a tribute to all things classic monsters. Which was so much fun to play with. I basically handed over a list of classic monsters to acts I love and trust and said "do what you will". I myself did Dracula in act 1, then the Invisible Man in act 2. Which I thought was a hilarious idea until I realised that being wrapped in the bandages was probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been on stage. I couldn’t see. I could barely speak. Looked great though.
This year my theme is mostly surrealism, but I’m also giving way to absurdism, expressionism and Dadaism. I wanted to do a Halloween show that could be fun and unsettling but not just-ooooo spooooky!-again. Because the classic monsters was so fun and I feel like giving a different set of boundaries and ideas will be fun and inspiring.
Well I’m not hammered constantly anymore, so I’m much more aware of what I’m doing on stage and what I can do and have done. It’s meant that shows don’t descend into chaos. By the start of act 2. I feel more switched on and more capable. I also wake up appreciating what’s happened the night before, rather than wallowing in the aftermath of what I’ve done to myself. Also like I said-I’ve not been happy for a few years and it was really eye opening to cut out booze. I don’t think it fixed that, but it certainly gave me the clarity to work on myself properly and identify issues.
Actually, I’ve not shouted about it yet cause I was waiting for it to be closer. I have no PR or press so I’m just gonna let it drop really, but I’ve got a little 4 track EP coming out on September 19th. It’s me accompanied by a five-piece jazz band. Just simply titled Joe Black & The Raghouse Devils - Live at The Abbey. So if you’ve ever wondered what my growl sounds like backed by a full band doing some filthy gutter jazz-September 19th is that day.
I once had a job playing Salvador Dali in a spanish restaurant every Wednesday. It’s how I paid to go to Australia and do my shows in Melbourne maybe 14 years ago? The pay was awful. And the agent who organised it was one of the most deeply unpleasant men I’ve ever had to work with. I would commute up nearly 2 hours from Portsmouth, where I’m originally from. To play someone whose accent I absolutely couldn’t do. And looked absolutely nothing like even after makeup, wig and moustache.
I used to do sideshow stunts for corporate events as it was extra cash for me. The people eating in the restaurant really didn’t want us doing the show and made it clear. Horrible gig. Paid for Australia though! And I did learn loads about Dali.
Komedia Brighton has become a bit of a local spiritual home for me. That’s where Kleines Kabarett is, but also where I’ve done most of my local shows throughout the years. I love the space, I understand the space and I feel like I connect with it in a specific way I can’t explain. Low ceiling basement? My flat is like that, so maybe that’s the answer. I’m short, so ceiling height never affects me.
Well I just recently rewatched The Hobbit films and every time Lee Pace as Thranduil appeared I let out a little sigh.
No plans currently. It’s so much work as I do it all myself! No producers or bookers or help. So the fact I managed to get Sophie Ellis-Bextor for series 2 is a guest I could let the podcast finish with. Though I would love to do more, I really enjoyed interviewing people.
When I last saw him he was laid out like a fat grey pancake on the bed. I suspect he’ll still be there when I get back. Klaus is a cat for anyone reading. Not a large grey child I leave in my house.
Tickets for Joe's upcoming Kleines Kabarett Halloween Special at Komedia starring Lachlan Werner, Kheski Kobler, Ezme Pump, The Public Universal Friend AKA The PUF and Arran Shurvinton are available HERE.
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