It’s no mystery that the LGBT community houses some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. These vulnerabilities are often under-discussed, receiving little to no media attention. LGBT people struggle daily to receive proper medical treatment and navigate sensitive situations, even more so during a global health crisis.
We wanted to highlight some of our favorite LGBT acts from Atlanta, to check in and see how they’re doing as well as see what new projects they’re working on. We live in strange times, which may or may not be a conduit for creative expression. But mostly, these are artists you should know about and strive to keep up with. They’re producing some of the most resonant work coming out of Atlanta, whether through laptops or amps. Theirs are voices that shouldn’t be stifled and deserve a highlight.
Yancey Ballard (Shouldies)
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
Well, last week I made the big move from laying on my bed and looking at the ceiling for the majority of the day to sitting on my floor and staring at the wall. I\’m excited to see how this will evolve further. I\’ve been taking everything really slow and trying to nurture myself as much as possible. As far as what I’ve been consuming goes, I’ve listened to “Breathe (2am)” by Anna Nalik pretty much exclusively. It feels relevant. Life’s just an hourglass glued to a table, ya know?
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
I mean, it’s a sick combo that the LGBT have a higher percentage of HIV/cancer/chronic illness and a higher percentage of being low-income as well. How ya gonna stay at home (if you have a stable living situation) and be safe with no money? Also being more susceptible to this and figuring out how to navigate hospitals when they don\’t treat us too well. I personally try to avoid hospitals at all costs because of past discrimination, and I\’m saying that as a person with just a sprinkle of oppression as a white trans masculine person. It is really strange to be isolated. I’m kinda used to being in a trans bubble. I feel very privileged in the Atlanta scene to have the community that we do. I feel like I’m In high school again just drooling at any ounce of representation on TV because I’m so starved for my trans family.
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
John Pierce and I recorded our second full length as Shouldies before all of this (keep an eye out for single releases in the upcoming months). If this isolation wasn\’t marinated in panic, it would be enlightening. I haven\’t really had much to say so I haven\’t been able to create, buuuut am very excited for the onslaught of releases about loneliness by dudes with guitars™️. :)
Anything you’d like to plug?
Taves newest release Akátá. Everything Taves touches is absolute gold. An elite being really. The Art of Losing it podcast is! So! Good!
Also! There’s a lot of people who really need help right now. If you have the means, please throw some doubloons over to these folks.
FU Coronavirus! Support Undocumented Youth in GA
COVID-19: Supporting communities in Honduras & Guatemala; forced migrants & refugees
Homeless Black Trans Women Fund
Black Trans Sex Worker Survival Kits
Cashapp: $nasirxshabazz93
Nasir is a Black trans man living with 3 chronic illnesses and raising kids mostly on his own he just got out of the hospital after being there for two weeks and needs help with providing for his family.
Zaida Sanchez
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
I’m in a good place in life right now, so I’ve been working. My time isn’t so much spent relaxing but checking in on people. Making sure folks I love are okay, mending relationships, and in general, just appreciating my friends a lot more. That helps pass a lot of time, but so does Zelda, haha.
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
Our community is acutely aware of how serious this shit is, but at the same time, we tend to be very social. Your social life is everything really, and being forced to dig into your bonds with people can be… different. In some ways, though, some segments have always had this as their normal — believe it or not!
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
Right now, there isn’t really a demand for my DJ abilities. I could do a live stream, but I can’t promise I’d be enthusiastic about it. When it comes to playing music, I’m not really a disciple of any genre, so something like [a] radio gig wouldn’t be compatible with my goals in this. That said, I’ve been learning new software and experimenting. It’s been interesting.
Anything you’d like to plug?
Quarantine Radion on IG is killing it; it\’s a surprisingly successful formula. Nothing for me to plug specifically, so keep supporting your favorite artists. They’re out here trying to make it work during the crisis and art keeps people’s souls alive.
Haint
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
My girlfriend Alli and I have been watching horror movies, which is maybe not the way for everyone, but for me horror is strangely comforting. I\’ve been limiting my time looking at the news, because it is more often frustrating than informative. I\’ve enjoyed watching others\’ streams, like Taylor Alxndr\’s Queerantine: A Social DistDANCE Party. Other than that, I\’m baking more, because it occupies my time and there\’s a delicious treat at the end.
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
I know I myself get more angry stares at the grocery store, I guess, because people want a scapegoat. I\’ve seen others say the same. And money is a common problem; most of our community has little to no savings, and no one\’s going to bail us out. Society doesn\’t have our interests at heart, so in a crisis like this, that goes double. People don\’t want to provide us health care on a regular day; how do I get good care at the ER while uninsured in [a pandemic]? It\’s hard enough to get good care without all that.
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
When I perform I usually perform everything through my laptop — I trigger backing tracks and run my guitar through an amp simulator. I love how portable that setup is, but sometimes I miss using a synth, a drum machine, and a guitar amp live. Since I\’m playing at home now and preparing for live streaming, I don\’t have to worry about portability, and instead have my computer controlling a synth and a drum machine while I sing and play through my guitar amp. It\’s given me a different perspective on songs I\’ve already recorded and feels more like playing with a band, which I sometimes miss.
Anything you’d like to plug?
Yes! I\’m hosting a weekly HAINT Quaranstream Show on Facebook Live every Saturday at 8pm. It features my new work simplified for streaming. Mostly, the stream will be unheard tracks from future releases, as well as more familiar songs. These new tracks will be recorded to four-track cassette and made available as pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp. It\’ll be a sort of teaser for a studio album I\’ve been recording over this last year. Unfortunately, being unable to tour and play out to support it, it\’s best for me to postpone this release. But as always, the rest of my discography is available at haintatl.bandcamp.com, and people can give a follow on Instagram and Facebook @haintatl. Any and all support is appreciated!
Taves
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
The quarantine has given me the space to process and understand my depression. It is challenging me to figure out new ways to cope. I\’ve spent a lot of time exploring things I once had interest in, like relearning French, playing my 3DS, making music again, reading, and watching every film under the sun. Time to pamper myself is also thrown in there!
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
Finding resources is the biggest struggle I\’ve seen for the trans and nonbinary community in and out of pandemic. Since we\’re all forced to not work for an indefinite period of time, the fragility while living as trans or nonbinary becomes even more fragile. I\’ve seen many surgeries pushed back or cancelled due to the pandemic whether it be because they\’re not accruing any money and/or offices being shut down. I often think about how my friends who are transitioning are coping and hope they are safe.
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
I\’m dropping a mix with Harsh Riddims and a Prince cover of I Would Die 4 U soon. I\’m also promoting my new EP Akátá that released March 27 while working on my next project that\’ll be due some time next year.
Anything you’d like to plug?
Wizard Apprentice! Wizard Apprentice! Wizard Apprentice! Tieraney Carter makes such amazing music. I had the pleasure to play a bill with them this year and I was blown away by their presentation. It\’s a whole experience about love, loss, and confronting abuse that I implore others go and see for themselves. If you\’re looking for art that will help you heal, they\’re the one.
Nick Wiggins (Hydrakiss)
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
Ironically, I spent the last two weeks before quarantine complaining that I didn\’t have enough time for my own projects, so I mentally put them on hold. And now I have nothing but time to work on them lol. Quarantine has been very busy for me. Video games, for sure! I got Octopath Traveler and have been obsessed; such a cute, and surprisingly hard, game.
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
This has been a really strange time for a lot of my friends because so much of our livelihood depended on social and personal interactions and events. COVID-19 has cut off a lot lifelines for the LGBT and put so many in do-or-die situations where even eating is a major hurdle, not even considering how they\’re going to pay rent. The black LGBT community has really felt the brunt of these issues, because we\’re self-sufficient and self-supportive. That\’s how we have to be, so when we lose our ability to make money to support ourselves and others, what do you do? There are LGBT members that don\’t have family to lean on or ask for some support. Thankfully, through all of this turmoil and death, something akin to a renaissance is happening with social media and live streaming. I\’ve seen so many (Club Quarantine, for example, which is AMAZING) that highlights POC LGBT members, and gives them a way to make some money, as well as exposure to promote themselves and have a source of income. [It\’s] so beautiful and something that I hope stays after all of this and is integrated in some way.
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
Honestly, I\’ve been working on organizing my hard drive. I have sooooooo many projects and tracks and stems all over the place with no titles, or titles that make no sense anymore. I need to clean that shit up. I have two — one smaller release and a main release — that have been keeping me busy and constantly learning new techniques. The smaller one is a follow up to this mini-EP I released a few weeks ago, which was heavily techno inspired. The main release is the one I’m most anxious about, because I have a few changes to my artistry planned along with it which is frightening. Isolation and the inability to physically see the people I love and the people that inspire me has made being creative a bit of a struggle at times. But there have been moments [when] I\’ll have a video or artist or a movie recommended and the inspiration pours out. I have enjoyed the time to do some self-exploration and exercise my creativity at my own speed. Nothing but time to just indulge in your vices and be as free as you want.
Anything you’d like to plug?
Mallgrab released two amazing projects that I have been spinning non-stop! There’s been a surge in quarantine releases that have been really good and feeding the kids. Summer, if we have it, is gonna be nothing but non-stop parties and the soundtrack will be crazy. ArtistRelief.org is a relief initiative started by a group of national arts funders that provides assistance to independent artists and has been doing some great work! I would definitely check them out.
Daniel Eberlein (Park Ranger)
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
I think towards the beginning of this period of isolation, I had so much frantic energy to get out. I felt like I was constantly bouncing between tasks to busy myself. Cleaning, making music, playing video games, cleaning some more, texting everyone, scrolling forever, and repeat. The last couple weeks or so I feel my pace has slowed down. Some days I have trouble doing much of anything. On those days I\’ve been streaming lots of movies, which is something I hardly ever used to do before. I\’ve found what is most helpful to level out my mood and energy is moving around. YouTube yoga, qi gong, and taking walks to the lake in my neighborhood with headphones is often the highlight of each day. I\’ve been going through my books and reading the ones I haven\’t read yet and it seems the ones I\’ve chosen were waiting for this moment. I read The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran in one sitting and cried my eyes out through most of it. I\’m almost finished with Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. These books were the kind of slow, meditative reading that has helped me sort out my thoughts and to better sit with and process this disturbing and absurd reality. A lot of days all I want to do is sleep. The musical discovery I\’ve made that I\’ve been enjoying the most is Aldous Harding. [I\’ve] also been listening to Basic Channel quite often.
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
This question makes me aware that I haven\’t really read much LGBT-focused discourse regarding the current situation at all. (I might not be paying close enough attention.) It makes me think about how so many queer people I know rely on non-traditional forms of income that are not eligible for unemployment or other benefits that so many people are relying on now, which is indicative of a larger fundamental injustice, among so many others. Personally, I\’ve been thinking so much about my own relationship to queerness and queer communities/chosen families. I\’ve realized that I\’d been distancing myself for quite a while already before this happened. Just going to work and going home. While this has been valuable in some ways, I\’ve found myself dealing with a lot of strange and confusing feelings about why I have closed myself off to the openness and acceptance that queer communities can offer. I\’ve also been thinking of ways to foster autonomy among my communities. Ways to share resources and depend on each other in times like these.
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
I have felt mostly not super driven creatively, although there have been moments. Since I\’ve begun social isolation I think I will turn on my synths and play a little bit each day, but usually feel very unfocused and not inspired by what I\’m making/hearing. The times where I have felt good it has happened really fast and I\’ve recorded it quickly in one or two takes. This is how I used to record everything and is quite different from the methodical and slow approach I\’ve used to make most of the music under this moniker. I\’ve recorded two tracks and the one I\’ve put out is here. I was supposed to record an album\’s worth of new material the week that all of this started, so I have that to look forward to. :)
Anything you’d like to plug?
I\’d like to encourage everyone to listen to Taves\’ new EP Akátá out on Harsh Riddims (one of the best local or in general music labels). Taves is an incredibly dear friend and one of the first friends I made after moving to Atlanta. Their music has always been so important to me and I\’m so proud and amazed by this incredible set of songs. I think the Mainline and My Illegal Body are doing incredible work to keep everyone informed of what to do in these times, fundraisers and causes that are important, and in general helping to foster a sense of community among artists, LGBT people, etc.
TAYLOR ALXNDR
How have you been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine? What have you found to help you pass the time or relax?
I have to say that I\’ve been enjoying the alone time during social distancing. I usually work from home, but most of my nights are spent doing shows and events, so it\’s nice to have a change of pace. It allows me to give more attention to things I usually can\’t because of life being hectic. I\’ve fallen into a rhythm of cooking, going outside to relax and unwind, and trying to find areas of my home that make me relax (besides my bed).
What are some unique struggles you’ve noticed for the LGBT communities during the quarantine? Are any of them specific to the micro-communities within the LGBT umbrella?
The queer community is definitely still one that depends heavily on in-person connection. Whether it\’s a bar, coffee shop, or just going to hang out with friends. Sometimes we\’re isolated in areas that don\’t support us, or we feel alone. Lack of IRL connections plus lack of resources and money and jobs equals it being incredibly difficult for a lot of queer folks. And of course, further marginalized groups — Black and brown queer folks, trans folks, the youth — are facing it even harder. I think we\’re adjusting to a new world where a good chunk of our interactions will be online, but I still don\’t think it will outweigh IRL interactions.
What have you been working on during the quarantine? Has this time of isolation been enlightening creatively or has it been difficult to feel inspired and work?
It\’s been a mixture of working on my next album, working on everything Southern Fried Queer Pride, and also trying new things like online events and digital work. I\’m lucky to still have creative outlets that can exist without in-person contact. Surprisingly, I still feel as busy as I was before quarantine — possibly even more.
Anything you’d like to plug?
Absolutely! My drag family, the House of ALXNDR (@houseofalxndr), is doing bi-weekly drag shows on Saturdays via Facebook Live. We\’re also doing RuPaul\’s Drag Race watch parties every Friday. On Fri., April 24, we\’re producing 404 Error: An ATL Online Drag Show, featuring a bunch of amazing drag performers from the city. On Sat., April 25, SFQP, Wussy Mag, and Queer Appalachia are putting on a telethon via Twitch to support rural queers during these times. Of course, SFQP puts on weekly online events, which can be found on Facebook as well as our Insta (@sfqp).
