"As soon as one of my friends referred to me as 'Cybil War: The 7ft Whore' I knew I'd found my name."
We’ve known Mark aka Cybil War for many years so The Emancipation of Cybil has been a joy to behold. From blossoming in New York to coming home and bringing her talent back to the London scene, this is just the beginning…
Did you used to perform before you did drag?
As a kid most definitely but not really as an adult if I’m honest. When I was younger I’d take every opportunity I could to perform. I was always the first to sign up for school plays and more often than not I’d usually end up in drag or as an overtly ‘flamboyant’ gentleman. Once I left school though performance wasn’t really something I was able to easily access so I took to dressing up whenever I got the chance to escape into London and go clubbing.
On the first night you did drag, was it for a party, an event, a performance?
The first time I went out as Cybil was for a club night called Sink the Pink and it was just an excuse to get dressed up but it wasn’t until I moved to New York that she really started to become a thing for me. I met group of Brooklyn queens at a barbeque and one of them, Merrie Cherry, asked if I wanted to compete in her show ‘Dragnet’ that month. I jumped at the chance and ended up being the wild card in the final and coming in the top 3. I met so many amazing queens being a part of that show and seeing how they all brought such amazing diversity to their performance. It was so inspiring that I just had to keep doing it. I still joke that it’s Merrie’s fault that Cybil War is what she is today. So yeah, you can blame her.
Does the name Cybil War have any personal attachment beyond a great pun?
God, I tried so many names before Cybil but everything I came up with was either already taken or just shit… Cybil War wasn’t even something I was really planning on sticking with but as soon as one of my friends referred to me as ‘Cybil War: The 7ft Whore’ I knew I’d found my name.
Who were your initial influences?
I’ve always said Cybil is the bastard love child of early 2000’s NuMetal and the film ‘To Wong Fu Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar’. Think Slipknot meet Patrick Swayze in a wig.
What sort of looks does Cybil War go for?
I’ll always try to come up with looks that fit the night I’m going to or the performance I’m doing but regardless of what I do it usually ends up falling someone on the spectrum between ‘Heavy Metal Whore’ and ‘Margo Leadbetter’. And if all else fails I just throw on a jockstrap and my highest pair of heels and hope for the best.
What can we expect from a Cybil War performance?
Gonorrhoea.
We know you are into your acrobatics. Are you still incorporating that into your performances?
You know I’d really love to! I used to study trapeze for a few years and I’ve always wanted to do a drag performance that incorporates it but I’ve never been able to find a venue where I could set up a rig. I’ve recently bought a set of fire fans so you can expect the smell of burnt hair from my performances in the near future.
Where have you performed so far?
I’ve mostly performed in New York and more specifically in Brooklyn, these scene there is just so vibrant and welcoming that it just inspires you to want to create performances you just want to show off. Since being back I’ve performed up in Nottingham for an awesome queer night called ‘Dirty Filthy Sexy’ and I’m currently in the process of looking for a venue to start my own little project so you can expect to see a lot more of Cybil in London in the near future!
You lived in both New York and London. What differences have you found between the two when it comes to drag?
For me the biggest difference actually comes from the intrinsic differences in our nightlife cultures. In the US you can go out to any gay bar on any night of the week and see an amazing drag show because for many of these queens this is their art and their livelihood and their rent is paid from the tips they make. In the UK we don’t have that same bar and tipping culture so our drag has evolved in a very different way.
The UK has a long history of live cabaret drag which is like nothing you’d ever see in a US bar but in the post RuPaul’s Drag Race era, the UK is producing world class drag which is really exciting.
We’d normally ask what your favourite Mariah song is. But we know you’re a huge fan of Cher. What is about Cher that you love and what is your favourite song of hers?
Cher is just a goddess, there is no other way I can describe her. I have this theory that if you search for long enough every queer person will find an artist that they feel drawn to above all others. Something about that artist that just speaks to them on every level and for me that artist is Cher. ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ is the song that got me into Cher and obviously you and I both love ‘Emotional Fire‘ but my favourite song is actually a really obscure album track from her 1995 album ‘It’s A Man’s World’ called ‘What About the Moonlight’. It’s this beautifully understated ballad about supporting someone with depression and is so removed from what people usually think of as a Cher song that I just love it.
