The Vixens of Volstead Serves Looks and Sass at Hotel Vegas’ Drag Brunch

Hotel Vegas in Austin, TX sent off pride month in style with their 4th annual Pride Brunch featuring the Vixens of the Volstead.

Hotel Vegas is a beloved intimate venue located on East 6th street in Austin, TX known for supporting local artists of different mediums and at all levels of their careers, featuring events such as concerts, live comedy, movie screenings and weekly Sunday drag brunches. In honor of Pride Month, Hotel Vegas closed the celebrations with their 4th Annual Pride themed brunch featuring the drag group known as the Vixens of Volstead which included regular performers Veronica Valentine, Tequila Rose, Mars, and special guests Travis Randy Travis and Monae Davenport. Off Record got a chance to chat with the main queens themselves on their experience in the drag scene and performing in the Texas heat.

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ORB: What got you started doing drag and what does drag mean to you?

Mars: Growing up I was always pretty girly, you know. I liked pretty things, but I didn’t know what that meant exactly. I would just be putting towels on my head or had my grandma dress me up in sheets. And then one day when I was a teenager, probably 15 or 16, I was flipping through channels and stumbled upon RuPaul’s Drag Race. I was raised in a very small town and no one told me what drag was, and I would see it on the guide and I would think drag racing, like cars, and then I saw the episode and I was like “Oh this is something that people do.” At that moment I was like oh this is what I’m made for, this is what I have to do. So it was really RuPaul’s Drag Race that opened up my world, and then I started doing my own research on the long history of drag and now it’s something that I can’t imagine never doing, you know?

Veronica: I started doing drag in San Marcos in 2017 under my drag mother Cheetah Daniels Kennedy, with my sisters. We were in school every Tuesday and our mom was pushing us to do themes and if she wasn’t feeling what we were doing she would tell us to dig a little deeper. I feel like it raised us to be very critical of what we were doing and what we bring to the stage, and that’s what it’s about for me, showmanship, and expression of gender, and art and all things queer. And it’s a lot of fun, I enjoy dressing as a woman and playing with gender and all of that fun stuff.

Tequila: What got me started doing drag was the same thing as Mars. When I was in highschool I started watching that little show, I don’t know if you ever heard of it, the RuPaul’s Drag Race one, you know, that little one. So I started watching it, and I came from a background in theater. I did competitive speech and debates and I did plays and musicals and plays and what they were doing on the show is what I was doing, but they were doing it glamorously. So from my adolescence, from 5th grade, I was involved in theater, I was a performer. It carried through and I said “I want to try that.” When I was in high school I would collect wigs, clothes and items from that (theater) department and when I got home, right after I would take a shower, I would do some makeup on my face, because I would have that from theater and bring it home with me. In San Marcos, I knew that there was a gay club there, and that’s when the journey opened up the box to continue. I think what got me started doing drag was that outlet of theatrics. I think it;s getting to escape your realm for a second and entertain for 3-5 minutes and bring an audience with laughter, joy and light. So I think with drag, that’s how I got started. In a nutshell, that’s why I’m so attached to it. After so many years, well we can’t stop doing this because it’s so much fun.

ORB: What is the meaning behind your drag persona and how did you come up with the concept?

Mars: When I was trying to figure out who my drag persona was, it took me a second. I think it’s important to let it come to you and not force anything upon yourself. I was almost Venus, Art Pop by Lady Gaga had just come out and I just love space and I love mythology, and I wanted something mythirial and goddess-like. Then I realized there’s already quite a few Venuses in the drag world already. I didn’t want to be another Venus. So, I came up with Mars, and that kind of spoke to me on another level because Mars is the Roman God of masculinity, which was something that I was always told that I don’t have enough of. That was kind of like my middle finger to masculinity, toxic masculinity, and the world that we live in, and that’s how I came up with Mars.

Veronica: The way that Veronica Valentine came to be was, well I have an affinity to the name Veronica because it was my grandmother’s name and one of my favorite movies is Heathers, and in a world full of Heathers, I am a Veronica. And Valentine is really funny, it comes from Chucky, of all places, Tiffany Valentine. I love Tiffany, and that scene in The Bride of Chucky, where she gets in drag, changed my life. It was one of those focal moments where I was like, I want to be like her. Veronica is just a little small town girl, who wants to be a big town star. A little fish in a big pond, who one day loves to dance and tries to sing, and we don’t know if she can (chuckles). And that’s about it, that’s me in a nutshell, she’s the sweetest girl in Austin, TX.

Tequila: When creating a drag theme it’s so hard because you want to be unique, vibrate, and very distinct too. So when I was developing my persona, I wanted to name myself Ashley, because my mom said if she ever had a girl she wanted to name her Ashley. So it was very simplistic, but I was like no because I’m someone so unique, I’m such an entity that I need a superstar name. So my theater teacher, Leann Ents back where I’m from in Harlingen,TX, she was a huge role model to me and she birthed a lot of drag queens. She birthed one before I, I was the second from her teaching. Whenever we would travel, I would take my stuff too, and she knew that I had a desire to do this and so we were thinking of names. I was thinking of Tijuana Cox, something provocative, we weren’t thinking just vulgarness. And then I thought about it and I wanted to play up the aspect of something to do with my background, something to do with my heritage and everything. So she was like you should name yourself Tequila, and then when I heard that name, I just like, fell in love. I replied back with well what can we pair with that, so I thought Rose, Tequila Rose. I also didn’t know when I named myself that it’s actually a liquor, strawberry liqueur. So I get tagged on Instagram, all the time from so many different posts so we would never post from Tequila Rose. I think I need that partnership deal with them. Tequila Rose, I think uh, my drag mother Cheetah, she would have this name after her two favorite things. And no it’s not straight guys and dicks (laughter). So, Tequila and Rose, it’s a perfect pairing and just like the drink I’m strong, I’m independent, and I’m not easy to take. I’m an actress, I’m a role model,  I’m a beauty girl, and I’m just, like girls love to just, I’m too advanced to comprehend. So, I’m very crazy, right, and I talk in riddles and Tequila Rose is just this entity of just fierceness and just infectious.

ORB: What challenges did you face coming up in the drag scene, not only outside the community, but in the drag community as well?

Mars: So much of the Challenges that come from starting drag are just coming from within and having the courage to start doing it. Once I started doing it I got passed the wall of like, I don’t know, being scared, start and make a name, just get on stage. Half of it is just the courage to just get on a stage. Once I found the courage to just get in a stage, I didn’t really have too much pushback or problems from the community because I think we’re all kind of each others chosen family and we’re all kind of looking out for each other. That kind of meant the world just to be accepted, by like almost the first time in my life, from like wanting to perform and be as fabulous as I can. So that was a really awesome experience and I’m very lucky to have met a lot of my drag family right away and make connections really quickly, which isn’t easy for everybody. Some people don’t have a family that is supportive but the drag community itself is a chosen family so I’m very lucky to have that.

Veronica: (laughter) That is a loaded question. So, huh, it’s a complicated question because whenever you’re coming up in the drag space it’s up to you to advocate for yourself and be your own biggest fan. So I can’t keep it at fault of the community of where I am, but I did find it a little hard to break into the mainstream clubs, in Austin, which is why I decided to come to the east end and find my own space. And Car got a place for me and my girls to uplift performers in drag that don’t always have that open stage. But now it’s really cool that there are a lot more open stages in Austin for younger queens to come up and make their name on the four street scene.

Tequila: So challenges faced internally and externally? I’m going to have to say internally, it’s yourself. I think, whenever, as a drag artist, you’re always trying to reinvent the wheel. But sometimes if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. So, whenever you are a drag artist I think like, the challenges that you face are your own demons. So I think, like, the challenges that you face are your own demons. So if you over analyze or if you’re a hard critic on yourself, you just want to be the best that you can be. And then that just feeds into going into externally with other people and how they’re going to perceive you. Are they going to enjoy what you do? But, then, I feel like that’s my challenge that I feel inside. But at the end of the day, what I tell myself is that, I do it for myself. I don’t do it for anybody else. I do it for myself. So I feel like that’s the main challenge, all across the board. But I also feel the stigma within the gay community. It’s like, huh, When you put on a wig, or if you put on nails, or if you put on anything that’s within the realm of fem, you’re criticized for being hyper-expressive. But you know, that’s silly at the end of the day. It’s nothing too deep, it’s just an art form, a self expression. And it makes it complicated within, like, the dating scene. It makes it complicated with like,..dating especially. That’s like the biggest thing. Well, everything isn’t as complicated, it’s just like when you are romantically involved with someone, some people just aren’t into the idea of it. So, that’s what I feel like the challenge both inside the community and outside too. It goes for queens, it goes for trans performers too. I think the biggest challenge is just like, just how to be more comfortable with it. I think that a lot of people are. Every once in a while, you’ll meet someone that’s lovely, but it’s nothing too deep, you know? And I think that’s the biggest challenge I would say.

ORB: What do you want people to get out of your performance and what do you think the importance drag brings to the LGBTQ+ community?

Mars: I just want people to, you know, just remember to just have fun and twirl around, and just be yourself.  And yeah that’s just what I want everybody to just take away and that is just the message of love, and self expression, and acceptance, and just being who you are.

Veronica: Personally, I love to bring people joy. I know it’s a little generic of an answer, but I just like to take people in my world for 3-5 minutes, and let them escape the stress of everything going on in the world, going on in their lives, going on with their jobs, and just smile and enjoy. Maybe see themselves in me for a second. I always want to have someone see themselves in me, the way I wish I had someone to look up to when I was a kid, if that makes sense.

Tequila: Any time I’ve stepped on a stage at any venue, any club, my main goal for my number is to encourage people. Because when I used to host a lot of shows in San Marcos, I think the main thing I strove for was encouragement and upliftness. Because, if I’m up here, in this teased out wig, and this rhinestone dress, and all this glitz and glam, you can do anything you want to do. There’s no limitations to your power that you hold within an individual, so you got to go out there and make yourself be known. And I think that’s like, anytime I do step out and do a performance and do the delivery, I want the audience to, I want my energy to be transferred to them. Enjoy yourself , and don’t take anything too seriously because, in the long run, life’s too short. Have fun, and that’s the thing, it’s about having fun. Drag is fun, it’s not supposed to be complicated, it’s not supposed to be stressing yourself out. Even though you do, which is like, the hard thing about it. You just have to step out there and you have to own yourself, showcase to the audience of why you do what you do. And I think that’s what my mission statement is, it’s like, I know my areas of strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the day I’m here to provide an atmosphere of love, acceptance, encouragement, and upliftness. And I think why drag is important for the community, is whenever we go and do community prides, more or less like New Braunfels, or like local cities around Texas, and like the Central Texas area. I think those matter the most because when you witness why drag is important, you teach these kids that blue and pink is any color. It’s not a boy or a girl’s color. People, they always come up to us, and they’re like you just made my child, my son, my daughter have complete confidence. And I think that’s why it is important for them to see it. I’ve done story hours and I think those are remarkable. With the whole legislation that happened, with like banning story time drag hour, the thing is, is that parents can choose whether or not to take their kid to participate in the event if they want to. And I think when they do it’s progressive, they want them to learn a little bit more about life. I think when they do see someone in a different element that they aren’t normally used to, it opens a perspective. It broadens their horizons, It makes them a complete strong factor in their day to day life. So I think at like that early expression, that’s what I wish I was taken to a drag time story hour. I think I would’ve been more bold in my highschool years and my middle school years. I think that would’ve shaped me at an earlier age, rather than later. So I think drag all across the board, it’s to remind people that despite the circumstances that we face day to day personally and around the states in America, your job is supposed to be there just to have fun. And that’s the golden rule because if you’re not having fun with yourself as an artist, then the audience isn’t going to have fun. But when you do have fun, people leave shows, there was a girl today who came and she went to school in San Marcos. She was telling me that she was having a hard time mentally this last past week, and she wasn’t going to come but she decided to come and step out. And she thanked me, and she thanked all the girls, and the king tonight that she was happy she came because she felt this spark for continuation for her life. So it’s like we always get those and it’s important because it’s like it helps people forget the negatives about themselves about the world around them. And when you step into that world of drag, it just brings a smile to people.

ORB: On the subject of Pride Month, many corporate companies get backlash for only embracing the LGBTQ+ community during this month, and then immediately abandoning their support. How do you think companies could do better in this regard? Do you think the support is appreciated? Do you want to see companies show support during June even if they’re not going to for the rest of the year?

Mars: Absolutely, I think pride isn’t just for the month of June, I think Pride should be every day of your life. Pride should be celebrated throughout the year, and I think corporations, hmm, would do much better, mmm, I think corporations should be as supportive all year as they are in the month of June, weather that’s having a pride sticker in the window, just so that people know everybody is accepted here, you know. Doing what they do here year round would make all the difference.

Veronica: I think, hm, I think that companies should keep it up year round. I think it is important work and I think, when I was a kid, if I had seen more LGBTQ+ advertisements and people in advertising that were part of the community, I would’ve felt a little safer in the world. I think it does do good work. I think it’s hard to decipher which is a cash grab and who is standing for what’s right, but I think it is part of the work we, as part of the queer community, need to do. And we need to make sure we’re putting our money into the companies and people that are doing the correct work, and aren’t putting it towards the people who aren’t.

Tequila: Whenever companies just highlight during the month of June, I think it’s just like total bogus behavior. And you see those videos where companies just strip off decor and completely terminate it within really it’s just like June/July. I think though like pride is every day, just like mother’s day and Valentine’s Day. It’s just like, you don’t need one month or one day to be loud and to be vibrant. *interview is stopped momentarily* I think for companies to better support the LGBT community, they need to  also discover the individuals who are a part of their team. To carry out events throughout the entire year, like having Extragram. In Austin they have a telegram service where a drag queen comes to your workplace or bridal shower. Having just some incorporation of just having an LGBT friendly month or having a day honoring Harvey Milk when he passed. Just like having some instances like that. I think that they should take like some more…that would be a perfect example. LIke not only is June just like the gay month, incorporate that throughout the whole year. Find individuals who made an impact on people, celebrities who’ve made an impact, like Madonna or someone else like that. I feel like they need to incorporate more events yearly and not rip off the band aid too fast of the celebration because that’s what you see all the time. I think it’s just criminal because , it’s everything not when you just look at it from the LGBT perspective, but it’s elsewhere. I think it needs to be more universal and I just think people need to do more research.

ORB: Who are your biggest sources of inspiration in the drag scene both nationally and locally?

Veronica: Ohhhh, that’s a good question. Um, my main source of inspiration is myself, obviously, no (laughs). I love to watch, obviously I like to watch Drag Race, so I do love to be inspired by all of the girls on Drag Race. I  like to go to local shows. A lot of the girl’s in the local scene that I do, I admire. I don’t necessarily look up to because they started after me (chuckles). But, there’s queens like E Bank, Roxanne, they’re just latina and they turn it and burn it, and that’s what I’m all about. I grew up Nosavous, so I try to, which means, I am Mexican I just don’t speak, I wasn’t raised to speak spanish. So, in my drag, I try to, as much as possible, line through my heritage and push that and be more in tune with that sense of myself.

Tequila: I would say locally my biggest drag inspiration would be Cheetah Daniels Kennedy, my drag mother. Cheetah taught me the importance of what it means to be professional, what it is to be a queen, how it means to identify as someone. She taught me the basics of what drag is and if it wasn’t for her or any of them…I always get emotional talking about her she came into my life at a moment that really…I was so young. I moved up from down south Texas to San Marcos when I started school…Whenever I think about her I get overwhelmed, I’m sorry. She’s just monumental. Cheetah grew up in San Marcos, and then went to New York City in the late nineties and she was there until 2009-2010. And she got to work with Candice Kane, and Peppermint, and Honey Davenport, and she literally saw what RuPaul implemented when she was doing Supermodel, and when she saw how big drag was going to become, and knew what it was heading towards. Whenever she would talk about her experiences at the club, she just brought that back to us. And without her I wouldn’t know how to host a show, I wouldn’t know how to entertain an audience because she captivated the essence of, it’s much larger than throwing on a wig and going out in front of audiences. It’s about making ripples in your community and standing for something. So she’s really my inspiration, she’s really just so good. And then on the national level, I think also when I was watching drag race when I was younger, Melissa Edwards, she, I saw a video recently of her, she was doing Denver Pride actually. And she was going through the crowd and, gigantic foam hair, rhinestone embellishment costume. She was going through the crowd and someone handed her a $20 dollar bill, and she told them in the video, “I don’t need that”. She was like “Keep it”, she was like “Thank you so much, I don’t need that. Keep that for you”. When I look at her, she was the inspiration for why I wanted to put on a wig in highschool. My first season of Drag Race was season five. The way that she carried herself, Texas queen, big, bold, dramatic, is what I wanted to become and she was like a fighter, in my early years, as in my envisionment for doing drag. So Elisa Edwards, she’s humble and she’s just beyond. She’s the diva of all divas, and she’s just like…Also I relate to her because she owns her own dance company. She teaches dance. She always says she’s a teacher, she’s a leader, she’s a mentor and don’t dream it, be it. Elisa’s awesome, I got to meet her one time and…these questions are kind of hitting differently, I don’t know. I had such a long weekend, and my energies drained. I think about sensitive topics and I get emotional. But those two are my locked answers.

ORB: Any word of advice for up and coming performers trying to get into the scene?

Mars: Just do it. So much of just like starting and trying to get on to the scene is just going to an open talent or just an open stage for the first time. Come and just be ready to mingle and just talk. *interview is stopped momentarily* What was the question again?…Just you know, come out and meet everybody, come ready to talk and make friends because that’s essentially what you’re doing at a show, is just coming out to meet people like you and you’ll find people who accept you for you and be brave. Jump into it, take a dive. Jump into the world, the world is ready for you.

Veronica: Words of advice for up and coming performers, uh, pack it up, don’t do it (laughs). No, I’m just kidding. Just remember that drag takes a lot of time, patience, energy, and growth. And you have to do a lot of open stages and spot light gigs before you get your first paycheck. I personally believe all drag is valid, but I think that all drag should be necessarily paid for. You work your way towards that. It may sound harsh, but it pushes everybody to be and do their best.

Tequila: I alway say, if you have a desire, an ich, go out there and do it. What’s stopping you from doing it? If you have that passion and that drive, it’s going to be a long road and it is complicated when you start off, because no one knows where to begin exactly. Now we live in a world where the internet is so accessible with TikTok and Youtube, to different elements of Instagram. There’s so many tutorials on hair to makeup to the best products to use, you know? It’s an open book. And now there’s no rule book, either. There’s no rule book as to what you should be doing. I think if you have an envisionment of wanting to create some art, floor it. Hit the gas on the peddle and just go with it. Because I even think about it when I first started it, it felt almost like, I don’t know how to say it, it wasn’t thought out, you know? It just became. So if you’re thinking about it, you just have to do it. You just go with the flow. Find and you learn. And that’s the thing, I always think about the quote, “Art is never finished”, because it never is. At the  beginning you may have a little trouble with presentation, there’s a long way until it gets good. But you just have to stick your working heart towards it. I also think the main thing now, since it’s so mainstream everywhere…The first time I got into drag was in 2016, when President Trump first got elected into office, November 16th, 2016. Cheetah told me, there was supposed to be a lip sync battle at the show, she said there’s not going to be a show. The energy was bad that night, of course. That was the first night I stepped out, publicly, into the scene. And then I carried on, I didn’t let that one night defeat me. I just think back to those years when I first started to now, and I got on this rollercoaster and I haven’t gotten off. And drag always has its moments, like recently right now and last week, I’ve been wanting to hang it up, you want to take a hiatus, or you want to take time away. The summer heat is an example, a factor, an indication for it, but it comes in waves. What Cheetah always taught us was that you can always access it. If you want to take a break, you want to take a beat, do so because you will always have it in your back pocket. And I think everyone should do so, but not everyone should. It’s kind of an oxymoron, because it’s like I encourage people to do it, but I think people need to understand why they’re doing it. Because when I started doing it I had a desire, season 6 (Drag Race) had just ended. Well season 7, then it was going to season 8. After season 7 premiered, that’s when it exploded into the mainstream. So I was on that cusp of a baby boom drag race, but now everyone’s doing it. But I think people need to ask themselves why they’re doing it too. Don’t do it for money, don’t do it for fame, don’t do it to get on the show. Do it because you have a drive for it. And I think that’s what shows as an artist, if you’re going to step out and do what you do, put on a silly little wig, and do a silly little number, it’s because you have a passion for it. And I see lots of fun at different venues, we need people to tip and we need people to record. But at the end of the day do it because it’s liberating. Drag is free and I think once you do step out, even if you do it with your friends, or even just do it in your house, or anything. I think it gives you that sense of power, it makes you feel like a superhero. So I think that people need to experience it one time, at least in their life, and envision it so they can feel that glory.