If you delight in the drag arts, you know no one's made more of an impression in 2015 than Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova, professionally known as Katya, also known as "Mom" and "America's Sweatiest Performer." Her elimination from this season of RuPaul's Drag Race caused a tsunami of inchoate rage from the Twitterverse, as no one else had come close to connecting with audiences via personality and shamelessness to the extent that she had.
Though the crown was not to be hers, other paths lay open. Funny, perceptive and fearless when it came to pushing boundaries (shark leg realness for days), she was the breakout star of Season 7, despite only winning Miss Congeniality when les jeux finally sont faits. Hailing from Boston, she pulled herself up from the grimy streets and proceeded to make them her own in a quest to serve up a special blend of glitter and gutter for all to luxuriate in.
Katya spoke with the Scene recently in preparation for her show Friday night at Play Dance Bar here in Nastyville. (A longer version of this interview appears online at nashvillescene.com.)
Going back to your Perestroika days in the mean streets of Boston, are you saddened by the closing of T.T. The Bear's? (Nashville equivalent for local readers: The Basement, except people actually dance.) And were you ever part of the crew at Heroes or Videodrome Discotheque? That crew is my crew! Chris Ewen of Heroes and Blythe Russo and Craig McNeil of Videodrome are a huge part of my drag life in Boston. They supported me, booked me for their gigs, and came to my show all the time. They are the reason I had so much fun performing and being a part of the scene in Boston. It's so rare to have people in the club scene like Chris, Craig and Blythe, who are really good at what they do and are genuine, nice people. I love them so much, and it's such a bummer that TT's is closing. Nightlife in Boston is in danger, it seems.
Sadly, it's like that everywhere. What was the moment that brought your character into focus? What made "Russian sex worker/Faith Hill impersonator chic" crystallize for you? And did Boston weather have anything to do with it? I had been learning Russian for fun, and I based the character off my teacher. I love languages, and I love learning about different cultures. I also love food, and the people who eat it. Boston has a huge Russian community, so it was really easy for me to find them and follow them around. In Brookline, you can see old Russian couples taking their evening stroll together. You'll know they're Russian because the woman will have fiery dyed-red hair, the man will look pensive, and they'll be looking down and not talking to each other.
Have you had any interactions with the Russian community? Would you say their responses lean more toward appreciative or concerned? In the beginning, whenever I would meet a Russian person I would start reciting poetry by Anna Akhmatova. They did not seem to mind, but they also didn't seem to enjoy it, which to me seems very Russian.
Does the road/scheduling/environment/odd hours of your work schedule sometimes feel at odds with your sobriety? I thought it would, but ultimately the sobriety ends up supporting the tough schedule and long hours on the road. I can get four hours of sleep for several nights in a row, and because I'm not dealing with hangovers or coming down from ecstasy, it's manageable. I'm not really tempted to drink or party when I'm at a gig, but mostly because I'm not that kind of girl. I never just had a few drinks and a bump for a good time. I'm the girl who will take a wheelbarrow full of cocaine home and you won't hear from me for three weeks. So I'm very aware that I'm able to experience all these amazing opportunities because I am sober, and I am not going to jeopardize that. I'm having the time of my life. I also love food.
Given the time and effort you've put into character work, are you interested in film and stage acting, and is that something the public can look forward to? Oh, definitely — I mean, I hope so. One of my dreams is to produce a sketch show that's kind of a cross between Saturday Night Live, Twin Peaks and Forrest Gump — but with all drag queens. Maybe not all drag queens, but you get the idea. Yes, I would love to act. I'm not very good at it right now, but I am a student of life, and if there's good food involved, I'm down. I'm also working on a one-woman show right now that's a series of vignettes by different characters. I wanted to call it "Love Stories From My Vagina," but my manager won't let me.
They're so strict. How does it feel being America's most beloved pansexual icon/trash goddess? It feels like I am finally trudging barefoot through the muddy road of my destiny. I don't fuck pans, though.
What advice do you have for anyone who is letting shame and/or tentativeness hold them back? Just be yourself! And if no one likes that — change!
That article in Forbes about drag branding and DragCon pretty much said that major corporations could learn from you specifically how to build and keep a fanbase. How do you react to something like that? Well, first I get a boner, then I do that cartoony thing where my eyes spring back and forth out of my head, and then I just say, "I'm very humbled." I think one of the keys to growing and keeping a fanbase is identifying the fans who are the most obsessive and mentally ill and inviting them to sell merch for you on the road. Also have a great Twitter presence, wipe front to back, and then the story just kind of writes itself.
Last but not least, what's the most inspiringly nasty thing a fan has made or done for you? I get the best gifts — I mean, incredible gifts. They are too many to mention, but recently this lovely girl Laura from Scotland wrote, illustrated and printed a children's book about me and my terrible wigs. So nasty and so rude, and so inspired. I still don't fully grasp the concept that I have fans. It's so bizarre! But as long as those little horseshits keep sending me gifts, I will keep doing drag.
Katya Zamolodchikova performs at Play Dance Bar Sept. 18.
Email arts@nashvillescene.com
