We had the good fortune of connecting with Freak Daddy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Freak, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I have built an intimate relationship with risk and it’s power to transform me and my art. My current project Freak Daddy began in 2018 with my breakout single Confetti which was the first glimpse of my struggle with gender identity. It was featured on the HBO Max show The Sex Lives of College Girls and served as foreshadowing for what would come next. After singing and working professionally in the music industry for 15 years I came out as a transgender man and was secretly exploring HRT (hormone replacement therapy). I knew I wouldn’t be able to access the healthcare and support I needed in my hometown of Nashville, TN so I sold everything I had and drove myself to Portland, OR in January of 2020. I had very little community or support. Just a dream of a career on my terms and the knowledge that my gender was not all that it seemed. I was terrified to start Testosterone knowing that my voice would drop and I might not ever be able to sing again. I had to grieve the possibility of losing not only my professional career but this piece of myself that had been my identity since I was a child. All in exchange for finally feeling comfortable in my skin. I spent the first three years of my medical transition writing my record S.G.S.M. (Sorry, God. Sorry, Mom.) detailing the beautifully painful and liberating journey of leaving the Southern Christian church and embarking on my medical transition. I started recording the record with soprano vocals and watched as my range dropped and melodies I had previously sung effortlessly became impossible for me. To my surprise, what emerged in its place was a beautiful deep tone that felt more like “me” than anything I had experienced before. I re-recorded the tracks in a lower octave so that I could continue to sing them and my executive producer Saint Pressure and I layered my pre-testosterone soprano vocal tracks as harmonies throughout the record for a once-in-a-lifetime piece of art that transcended any of my previous imaginations. While recording and developing the album I was working as a sex worker and stripping at local clubs saving money to finance my career and my eventual top surgery. Every risk I have taken has been dangerous and sometimes traumatizing as much as it has been liberating. Now 6 years later, I have reemerged with my debut album S.G.S.M. documenting the pain and reward of taking risks in pursuit of accessing my true self. It dropped 7 months after I again sold everything and relocated to Los Angeles with almost no savings and a dream to prove that trans men can and will compete in the music industry along with all the other heavy hitters. I have taken gambles and believed in myself over and over again and I will continue to in hopes that my work will show that being yourself is always a risk worth taking.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a southern trans man who grew up in Birmingham, AL and I started my career in Christian music if you can believe it. Most people outside of the American South or the Christian church have no idea there is an entirely separate music industry with labels and stars specifically for an evangelical audience. But it does exist and I am sure there are churches out there still singing songs I was featured on. I learned to play guitar while leading the worship band in my youth group and when it was evident I had talent, my uncle, who was filling in with Creed on bass at the time, helped me make my first EP at 10 years old. The drummer of Creed, Scott Phillips, played on it and my uncle did all the rest of the instrumentation to the songs I had written. My grandmother sent that EP to a prominent Christian music producer and the next thing I knew I was offered a development deal. For the next two years, I traveled back and forth to Nashville, TN where I was trained how to be a professional musician writing in the studio and recording my second EP. I also began doing vocal session work and writing songs and would eventually sing the theme song of a popular E! reality TV show and sell a song to Disney. Unfortunately, in both of those cases, my being 17 years old and naive meant I never significantly profited and the development deal ended abruptly due to a music industry hemorrhaging money from the shift to single song downloads. I permanently moved to Nashville where I finished high school and attended college and over the next few years I started several bands and recorded one last EP before deciding my dream was only ever going to be just that.

Fast forward to 2018, two of my friends took me in when I found myself homeless and broke, and one cold night as we were sitting around smoking cigarettes the two of them asked to hear some of the songs I had been working on in secret. Even after the bottom of my career fell out I was still writing and producing songs and had quite a large catalog of unfinished ideas. They encouraged me to seek out a production partner and give my career one more shot and that’s how I stumbled into Saint Pressure’s studio and the rest was history. The first single we did was Confetti which dropped in late 2019 and marked the beginning of my new project Freak Daddy. It was recently featured on an episode of The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max. The song talks all about my shifting gender identity and memorializes the last abusive and seemingly hetero-normative relationship I tried to force myself into before finally admitting my gender and my sexuality did not fit the Christian standards and ideals I had been taught as a child. It was during the music video screening for the single held at the biker bar where 5 years earlier I had been married to a man (whom I swiftly divorced the year after) that I saw the truth I had been unwilling to accept. I was a trans man. I’ll never forget standing there in a black PVC skimpy outfit and a long orange wig watching the love letter I had written myself. I knew I had to make a choice. Stay safe and unsatisfied in the life I had been sold by my religious leaders or take the risk to admit who I was and find out what was on the other side.

A few months later, I sold everything and drove myself across the country to Portland, OR. I had visited months earlier for work and was struck with the intuition that it was there I would write my first record. I also knew I would have access to the healthcare and the community I needed to figure out whether medically transitioning was right for me. I didn’t expect to go viral on TikTok the month I was leaving town or for there to be a global pandemic months after landing on the West Coast but it all catalyzed a three-year journey of isolation and painful self-discovery I documented publicly on the internet. Taking testosterone for those who don’t know, makes your voice drop. Medically transitioning in adulthood means I ran the risk of never singing again. At least not the way I had been accustomed. I knew I would likely lose my soprano range and feared that it could be the end of my career. Even the people that I trusted and loved were warning me not to do it. They couldn’t understand that my career came second to me finally feeling comfortable in my skin. Saint Pressure and I started writing together sending tracks back and forth via the internet for months. We had to take breaks for my voice to settle and even re-recorded tracks in a lower octave to accommodate my now lower range. I decided to keep my original vocals as harmonies in most of the tracks on the record and to my knowledge, recording a record about my medical transition while I was actively in the process that features both pre and post-transition vocals is unprecedented.

Beyond making what I hope is historically impactful art, I also understand that my privilege demands I speak up on behalf of my community any chance I get. In 2021, I was asked to come back to Nashville to perform twice. Once at Outloud Music Festival where I opened for Todrick Hall followed by Nashville Pride sharing a lineup with Orville Peck, Kim Petras, Soccer Mommy, Tommy Gensis, and Salt N Pepa to name a few. When I came back home I was interviewed on the news where I subsequently came out on live TV in front of my entire hometown. That night, I took a toilet to the capital building and then on stage with “Flush Bill Lee” written on the lid. The governor had been penning laws forcing Nashville restaurants to alert customers that trans people were allowed to use the restrooms of their choice in that establishment. So when I got on stage that night to perform my newest single B!TCH featuring Daisha McBride, I said “I heard Gov. Bill Lee is afraid to use the bathroom with trans men like me. So I brought my own f*ing toilet.” The extra irony was Gov Lee made his fortune by owning one of the top plumbing companies in the state. The music video for that single starred many local trans and queer artists in Portland and was featured at the Bend Film Festival.

Three years after setting out from Nashville, I got a call that my friend and choreographer Jackson Thrive had taken their own life no doubt due to the racism and transphobia they faced. I was devastated and still reeling from the news when I was offered a place to stay in LA and decided I would uproot and move there with little savings, freshly healed top surgery scars, and a finished record. I got the call that the wake would be held in March and made plans to go home. It just so happened that Gov. Lee was again passing transphobic laws but this time targeting performers like myself. He and his cronies were conflating drag and transgender identity in a way that made performing or simply being in public as a transgender person a felony. Local nazi organizations had been targeting the homes of transgender people spray painting swastikas and hanging banners along the highway calling for our extermination. I called my friends back home who run Banana Tapes and suggested that we host an underground rave in protest. I wanted to honor the life of my friend and make a public statement by shooting a music video for my yet unreleased song Abomination on the steps of the Tennessee Capitol. I did so in defiance of the state’s bigotry and public backlash that I felt contributed to my friend’s death. In the video, I don’t hold back on calling out the hypocrisy of the church that raised me and discarded me once I came out. I donned a crown of thorns and went to the capitol building baring my chest with arms stretched out in the shape of the cross challenging viewers to reexamine the slogan “What would Jesus do?” The video is dedicated to my friend and I am so grateful for the help I received from my peers to make that video happen so last minute and under such dangerous conditions.

I released my record S.G.S.M. (Sorry, God. Sorry, Mom.) independently and quietly in August of 2023. It is an 8-song record that is meant to be listened to in chronological order as it outlines the entire process of my medical transition including the rejection from my family and my departure from the church where my career began. After months of dead ends trying to acquire representation and afford PR to help boost my release I decided to set it free with little fanfare. I knew the work would and could speak for itself and in time those who were meant to find it, would. It was named after the tattoo my ex-husband chose to get on his hands when he met me at the courthouse the day we got a divorce. It felt like a perfect full circle moment to my discovering I was trans in the bar where we said “I do.” It was also a nice play on BDSM which funded my top surgery and helped me survive as I was a sex worker and stripper while living in Oregon. A reality many trans people face as they try to survive in a society that pushes us to the fringe. Soon after my record dropped, my TikTok account with over 300k followers was permanently banned no doubt a result of mass reporting from transphobic accounts and my choice to show off a costume on a live that featured ass-less chaps. I always say I was not made for community guidelines and I guess I proved my point. I spent years trying to make my family and my religious leaders happy and now I have no interest in being palatable.

In addition to the tour this year, I will be finishing my first novel. A sci-fi thriller that forms the backstory and lore behind my avatar Freak Daddy. I was world-building alongside my record production and despite the more accessible label of “industrial pop” my new sound receives, I call it Darchnerve. It is also subsequently the title of my upcoming book and foreshadows the universe I am building to house my life’s work. You can get a taste of the inspiration and access some of my preliminary writing by going to my website (freakdaddyworld.com) and working your way through the maze of password-protected pages. If you get stuck, a key can be found on my Discord.

I have dreams of opening doors and creating opportunities for myself and other trans musicians through community building and mutual support. I believe there is room for everyone and that together we can make ourselves known. That’s why I created the Gender Blender playlist on Spotify that features almost 11 hrs of music from transgender artists all over the world. It inspired me to continue to catalog transgender music and art and I have plans to expound on the idea. In a time when trans identity is yet again facing erasure, I want to be a historian of sorts and a keeper of our truth. I want to do my part to make art that not only uplifts and encourages my community but inspires them to make work of their own knowing there is an eager audience waiting for them to do so with open arms. Freak Daddy world is a refuge for all the outcasts and renegades who are unapologetically themselves. Those who have survived the rejection of family, faith and country and are still making art because our lives depend on it. I am committed to pushing boundaries, setting records, and breaking glass ceilings to defy the expectations and efforts of those who would seek to snuff us out.

My career has just begun but it has already changed my life. I showed myself that commitment to your innermost truth can and will result in the extraordinary reward of self fulfillment and self actualization. This is available to anyone and my story is one of thousands. I will always be pushing boundaries in both my life and my work while helping to bolster a community where people like me can go from surviving to thriving. I have learned that no matter how afraid you are, there is no better feeling than being your unapologetic self.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I spent the first six months in LA just trying to survive food scarcity and housing insecurity with no car. I haven’t had time yet to explore the city or the disposable income to afford the luxuries that the city has to offer. However, I can say some of my favorite free and low-cost outings have been to the Silverlake and Los Feliz flea markets, hiking at Griffith Park, visiting The Last Bookstore downtown, or walking around Venice Beach. If you’re looking for shows, I think everyone should support Alejandro’s Night (@alejandrosnight) and Fluid Presents (@fluidprsnts). They are both trans-inclusive parties that directly support the local community of creatives and dancers here in LA. Be sure to check them out!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My record was made possible with the help of my executive producer Saint Pressure, guitars and BGV screams by Anna Orchid, violins by Mel Guerison, and the mix and master from Messyah. Since I started Freak Daddy I have hired and worked with so many incredible directors, makeup artists, stylists, graphic designers, and creatives to get to where I am today and I am very grateful for their support of my work and willingness to collaborate with me and my vision.

I also want to mention my friend and choreographer Jackson Thrive who passed away almost a year ago. They were an incredibly talented dancer and friend whose support and encouragement helped me face the fear of leaving home in pursuit of my dreams.

Website: https://www.freakdaddyworld.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/topfreakdaddy/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FREAKDADDY

Other: Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/topfreakdaddy That features my EPK, booking information and links to my merch store.

Image Credits
Liann Grahm

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