Trixie Mattel
“I’m doing a costume fitting, and you get the distinct pleasure of me putting my drag body on while you watch,” Trixie Mattel says as soon as her camera turns on. “Normally I charge money for this, so this is huge for you.”
Seeing as how I’m a fan of 8-year-old UNHhhh clips, the iPhone 3 joke in “All I Want for Christmas Is Nudes” and the surprisingly correct advice in Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood — it was huge for me.
The Scene is catching up with Mattel — who has appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, UNHhhh, The Trixie & Katya Show, Trixie Motel, The Pit Stop and more — via Zoom ahead of Solid Pink Disco, her Saturday show at Cannery Hall. We discuss becoming a self-taught pandemic DJ, making a reality TV show with her partner, and her love of Nancy Sinatra.
“What I love about disco is, at a time where the world is so divided, disco is where your conservative grandma and your queer nonbinary granddaughter can go to the same party and dance to the same music,” says Mattel.
A skilled musician (she plays guitar, piano and autoharp, for starters) and self-described tech nerd, Mattel taught herself how to DJ while at home in the lockdown days of the early pandemic. She clocked hours every day for months teaching herself the basics. By the time the restrictions were lifted, she was ready to start taking DJ gigs around L.A.
“I love it,” she says. “It’s everything I love. I love doing drag and feeling fabulous. I love pressing buttons and hitting levers. I feel like I’m operating the Star Trek Enterprise up there.”
Speaking of enterprises, Season 2 of Trixie Motel, the hotel renovation reality TV show Mattel made alongside her partner, producer David Silver, is out now. This time they’re renovating their own house.
“You have to be a little bit crazy to renovate,” Mattel says. “But I think you also have to be a little bit crazy to, you know — love is a trustfall. And it’s a trustfall for the insane.”
Mattel is proud of the motel she and Silver renovated in Trixie Motel’s first season. She says the world may be in decline, but she’s keeping her side of the street clean, and the Trixie Motel stands alone. It’s pure, beautiful, distilled and joyous. When people walk in, they start crying.
“I knew we did something special,” Mattel says. “I remember the first episode, when they unveiled the pink flamingo room. I saw the vision and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is gonna be the best thing in Palm Springs.’ And it is. It’s the most amazing thing in Palm Springs.”
Depending on how closely you follow Mattel on social media, you may or may not know how much she adores Nancy Sinatra. Mattel posted a photo with the legendary singer in L.A. in October with the caption: “Had to go meet Nancy Sinatra! A major inspiration for my look and a complete icon.”
“I remember when I first saw the music video for ‘These Boots Are Made for Walking,’ I pretty much had a heart attack,” Mattel says. “For years, Google image searching her was a major source of inspiration for me, because she really embodies that super ’60s fembot. She’s everything to me. I met her at the Amoeba Records down the street from my house once, and I was like hyperventilating.”
Mattel has been to Nashville many times — she’s performed at the Ryman, the House of Blues and Play. She says shows in more conservative parts of the country have better audiences, because when they’re in a room full of like-minded people, it’s a safe place. They laugh harder, they scream louder, and they dress up.
“It’s a Trixie city,” Mattel says about Nashville. “When I was doing country music, they loved that. When I do Trixie and Katya Live, they love that. And I hope they’re a disco city. I think they are.”
