Now, we introduced you to Ash + Bone’s Tito Soto back many moons ago and since then his drag is managing to actually offend people – result! – and he’s been working on projects for, *ahem*, Miley Cyrus, Tyra Banks and Troye Sivan. So we figured it was about time we got him back and heard what’s been going on – plus he brought us these stunning photos by Matthew Dean Stewart.

You’ve titled this shoot Summertime Faggotry. Just what did you get up to this summer? All the scandals please…
Honestly, this whole Summer has gone by mega fast. Drag Con LA kicked it off and once Pride showed up, it’s been show after show nonstop. It felt like that Gaga meme that’s been going around. Haha. I promised myself I’d try to rest a bit after June was done, but with all the additional projects happening, it’s been impossible.
As far as scandals, I’m sure you can find a couple in my saved Instagram stories, and they probably involve either Pinche or Meatball, or both if you’re lucky.

Who did you work on the styling of the shoot with?
The whole shoot was very organic actually. Matthew and I just went through my closet and picked out pieces I probably would change into at 4am, right in the middle of one of my rooftop afterparties. We wanted the colors to feel like summer and faggotry combined. Not to be too literal. Haha…

What was it like on set? Any funny anecdotes?
Well, we shot all of it on that rooftop at 4pm, so it was mega hot and we had to take little breaks here and there. But, I was mostly just worried of having to explain to any of my neighbors coming up, why I was naked climbing a billboard wearing 7 rainbow feather boas.

Have you worked with Matthew before? How did this partnership come about?
I hadn’t actually! I’ve been a fan of Matthew’s work for a very long time now and just a couple months ago he moved to LA and we got to finally meet. We were introduced via my friend Stevie Hannigan from Gaypin’ and I’m really so so so happy he’s now become part of our queer fam in DTLA and Silverlake! We love him and he’s so ultra talented!

What has been your summer anthem?
OMG Ariana’s ‘God is a Woman’ totally, I’m obsessed with the video, its message, and all the artistic references you can find in it. It literally makes me wish I did drag, JUST to do that one song.

Now, we need to talk about your Enrique Solana outfit. It was a stunner. Did you collaborate with Enrique?
Isn’t it stunning?!! He really really nailed that. Did you know that kid literally just graduated a couple months ago from FIDM and is already helping out Diego Montoya on Sasha Velour’s latest garments? I’m so proud of him. I reached out to him the second I saw the original on Troye Sivan’s Bloom music video and we worked on it to debut at the three year anniversary of Redline, one of our very beloved DTLA home bars.

I know you are part of Ash + Bone, but are you involved in clothes design too?
Ash + Bone is strictly focused on video content and other like-minded creative services. But, when it comes to my performance wear, I love making headpieces and collaborating with friends and designers for garments. It’s interesting because most of them don’t do much menswear in the style I want, so that’s always an interesting challenge.

I know at Ash + Bone, the company creates visuals for artists. Which part do you specialise in? Is it directing? Is it creating? Both?
Nathan Noyes and I’s Ash + Bone dynamic is also very organic. As a team, we concept, storyboard and edit together. We try to be as collaborative as possible and we’re usually on the same page about most things. I think what makes it so special is the ability to bounce ideas off of each other, since a lot of self doubt goes out the window when we both are in agreement and excited about an idea or direction of a project. Since my background is in Architecture, I tend to focus on the look and feel of the set, composition, colors etc. While his background in photography helps us tremendously in the technical side of things.  But ultimately, it really depends on the project.

Are you currently working on anything else as part of Ash + Bone?
Yes!! We are working on a new project celebrating the explosion of queerness that we have witnessed happen in the last three years in the DTLA scene. To this day, it still boggles me that we moved to LA right before It started happening, it almost feels like this project was meant to happen. Stay tuned!

This year you’ve worked with Tyra, Miley and Troye. What did you do for them? What was it like? Any stories?
We were lucky enough to be asked to shoot some BTS videos in the style of music videos for several photo shoots featuring these artists. We can’t stress how much fun we had with all of them. Troye was a total sweetheart and a dream to work with. Miley’s shoot felt like a day-long kiki, we were blasting RuPaul and Dolly throughout the whole shoot. And with Tyra, you just can’t help but be in awe of a full blown legend, it was one of the most surreal experiences thus far.

If you had to do Marry, Fuck, Kill with those three. Who would be what and why?
HA! Wow. I think I’d marry Troye, as his voice I could listen to forever. I think fucking Miley would be a great time, and maybe kill Tyra cause of how insanely perfect she is? AGH, you can’t do this to us, we’ll never get hired again!

Who do you want to work with next via Ash + Bone?
Well, our Ash + Bone queens are Gaga and Lana, so that would be ideal. Though honestly we’re huge music fans and welcome the chance to work with all artists. We love pushing our boundaries and broadening our work spectrum.

You have worked with The Boulet Brothers a lot. Can you tell us anything about them that would surprise us?
Haha yes! Behind their strong and immaculate drag shell, lies a very very soft spot for animals. It’s reaaaal cute.

You’re involved with their current clubnight Queen Kong. For anyone who’s not been, how would you describe it? How are you involved? Who is it for? What’s been the highlight so far?
Ah, Queen Kong, my literal home/queer palace. I’ve been attending this weekly party since it’s debut three years ago, and I can probably count how many I’ve missed with my two hands. You see, I had been performing for probably half a year before my first Kong booking, but that stage has a certain magic that changes you forever and elevates your art almost instantly. It’s pretty simple, Queen Kong has the best queer crowd in the country, and it makes any performer that touches that stage, work as hard as they can to deserve its beautifully rowdy applause.
You will never see shows like the ones you see at Kong because the Boulet Brothers do such an incredible job at highlighting raw queer talent from all types and genres. I love them so much for that. Serving as both a cast member and religiously devoted attendee, I will forever credit this party as not only a huge reason for my growth as a performer and community member, but as the source of several of my most meaningful relationships in my life. It really is like attending our weekly Gay Church, where we worship faggotry, queer expression, and tall glasses of whiskey. This concept was actually the inspiration behind my Gay Jesus performance, which debuted at Kong and is a recent highlight of my career as a performer.

I heard you got into trouble over one of your performances. What did you do? What was the aftermath?
Yeah, I received some backlash on my DM’s for my Gay Jesus performance, which honestly only makes me prouder of it. Basically, I lip-synched to Hozier’s ‘Take Me to Church’, dressed as Jesus with pink stoned triangles on my eyes, and carried a huge pink cross from the entrance of the dance floor to the stage. Afterwards, I get crucified via projection with a pink triangle around me, and as the song intensifies, I get shot and am reborn as a Leather Jesus while Gaga’s ‘Judas’ kicks in. The rest involves Mary Magdalene and I fighting over Judas and culminates in choreography from the music video.
Regardless of whether its controversial or not, I love that it’s caused conversation because that is what performance should do in one way or another. I now consider it one of my strongest pieces so far and one of the reasons for why I’ve been lucky to be booked out of state this year. People always ask me about this specific show, and honestly, If you were offended, you probably missed the point of the performance and are just focusing on the surface.

San Francisco is our favourite city in the world. You recently did a mini tour there, right?
Isn’t San Francisco just so goddamn beautiful?! I’ve visited three times this year and am about go back in a couple weeks! I was lucky enough to do a little SF Pride mini tour and perform at  the Elbo Room, the San Francisco Pride main stage, Oasis for Mother and the Curio Sunday brunch. I’ve seriously become such a fan of their queer community and the work of so many of their incredible artists! Amongst some of these geniuses are Hollow Eve, Pseuda, Jader, and Florida Man; you have to follow them, their talents will blow your mind! The San Francisco community has its own refreshing perspective of drag that’s made me fall in love with it all over again. It’s truly like nothing I had seen before, yet still feels like a sister city to DTLA, we’re all cut from the same cloth.

What have you got coming up? Wigstock? Dragcon?
I’ll be performing this weekend at DTLA Proud, then Queen Kong for my birthday Sept 7, followed by Mother at San Francisco on the 8th, and Oakland Pride on the 9th. Two weeks after that I’m back at Kong, then headed to New York the next morning for Dragcon week to do a couple shows there as well! Also, I’m super excited to be performing for the first time in Portland next January for the legendary party, BlowPony.

I know you are a huge Freddie Mercury fan. What do you make of the new film coming out? I think Sasha Baron Cohen would have made a great Freddie.
I thought Sasha would have been perfect as well, though I’ve been falling in love with Rami Malek from what I‘ve seen on the trailers and some leaked footage of the taping. Honestly, I wish there was a Queen movie for every decade of their history, I wanna see and know it ALL. I guess I have to see the movie to make my final judgement, but even though we may not be getting everything we want to see about Freddie in this movie, I am beyond excited for a new generation of younger Kids learning of his history, legacy and importance in pop culture. Freddie’s story is one that needs to be told to everyone, which is why I perform his music so often. I just hope they don’t try to disguise his queerness and they tell an accurate story.

Last time we asked you for your favourite Mariah song and that was ‘Heartbreaker’ so instead we’re going to ask, what is your favourite Queen/Freddie song?
Wow that is NOT easy, but I think I have to go with Bohemian Rhapsody. My father would teach me all about it when I was a kid, and I quickly became obsessed with its operatic quality and odd structure. Nowadays, performing it is a total journey of intensity with fast highs and slow lows, and the crowd is always in for the whole 6 minute ride. There’s just something about this song that makes the energy in the room extra electric; feeling that kind of connection with the crowd is truly one of the most magical feelings I’ve felt in my life.

For more of Tito see Ash + Bone or follow him on Instagram.
For more of Matthew’s work see www.matthewdeanstewart.com or follow him on Instagram.