Jodie Harsh on My House, clubs and 'drag queen rock stars'

"Believe me. I don't want to be playing to my phone screen from the living room for much longer."

Like so many other DJs, Jodie Harsh is gagging to get back to her pre-pandemic life, playing nightclubs full of people.

"I do think we need to be around touch, closeness and human interaction, but there's going to be an adjustment period for sure."

Jodie's been a staple of the UK's club scene for more than a decade - hosting her own nights, playing parties and even supporting the Spice Girls on their comeback tour.

"I was literally flying around on planes playing DJ sets, having a lovely time in sweaty rooms, playing festivals - and then we couldn't leave home."

This was one of Jodie Harsh's final DJ gigs before the first lockdown, appearing at a party hosted by the Elton John AIDS Foundation

"Escapism and joy is so important to human beings.

"It's in our nature to gather, dance, celebrate and escape for a moment."

Jodie Harsh on the prospect of clubbing coming back.

When the first lockdown happened in March 2020, Jodie immediately adapted her lifestyle and business model. She turned her attention to podcasting, more music production and the inevitable livestreams.

"I live to entertain people," she says.

But she found it difficult to adapt.

"It was hard to not live in the moment without lots of people around me, listening to loud music and sharing in that experience of joy with people.

"I know DJs who have really lost everything and I think they'll be some building back to do after this."

She calls herself a "glass half full" person and thinks we're about to have a "summer of love" where - if it's possible and allowed - people will be desperate to have a big night out.

"Look at how the mood's lifted in the last few weeks. I feel people are ready for a reason to celebrate being here and getting through what's probably the hardest thing we'll ever go through together."

If the government's roadmap goes to plan, all legal limits on social contact would be lifted in England by 21 June. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also have planned routes out of lockdown.

Jodie has a headline show planned for August with no social distancing or masks, but knows things might be different.

"I don't think clubbing can be the same in a post-pandemic world. I'm not sure exactly how different, maybe we'll be swabbed on our way into clubs, but we'll appreciate the good times a lot more."

'Everybody's Welcome To My House'

She says it's one of the reasons her latest track, My House, has resonated with the public, who've turned their houses and flats into their own makeshift party spaces.

"I tell everyone that everyone's welcome to my place and it's how I wish the world really was. It's a message of inclusivity."

For the video, she managed to rope in dozens of British drag queens, including nearly all of the queens who've taken part in both seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

Bimini Bon Boulash, Baga Chipz, Tayce and Divina Di Campo are among the famous faces lip-syncing to the track, although Jodie says it was a logistical nightmare trying to organise everyone.

"Drag queens aren't the most reliable members of society when it comes to returning messages or getting files sent over. It was an absolute nightmare but I think the final product looks pretty cool.

"I wanted to get biological female queens in there too, as well as trans queens, because the drag world is so vast. I wanted it to be broad."

As someone who's been doing drag longer than many of the queens in her video ("I won't age myself. I'm still very young"), Jodie thinks the explosion of the art-form into the mainstream is "an absolutely magical thing for queer culture".

It's also had huge personal benefit because "doors have opened in the last few years that would have previously been shut" in her face.

"I've always believed in what I want to do and I always knew drag queens were one day going to be the new rock stars. I've just persevered and stuck to my guns."

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