Meet Tay Kincaid | Producer & Founder

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

Hi Tay, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The Whorror Show has quite a few inspirations behind the creation!
One of the main thought processes behind it had come from Dragula’s Monster of Rock episodes. These episodes would feature the drag artists becoming rockstars and would include a challenge where they would have to perform as a band. The looks and outfits were always stellar, but they would be air playing their instruments for it. That had always been my favorite challenge, but I couldn’t stop thinking of how cool it would be if they actually played their instruments. Then, I saw Dragula live on tour, and during the set, Blackberri came out and did a My Chemical Romance number. The crowd went crazy with screaming the lyrics while they performed. It was truly so endearing to find a queer, gothic community as I had felt seen in ways I never did before! I LOVED it, but was once again, I was hit with the thought of “it would be cooler if this was done with a live band”. So that was the base inspiration behind it all!
Another huge inspiration behind creating The Whorror Show, was the lack of queer culture within the alternative community. The alternative community comes across as very queer coded, but as you get into it more, the more you learn it is a predominately straight community. I wanted to create something that would help introduce queer culture into alternative spaces; specifically spaces that have been cultivated by the imprints of Warped Tour.
I come from a music background. I’ve been touring non-stop for 4+ years with several bands at a national and international level and my roots are the DIY music scene. I love live music!!! It is truly my main passion at the end of the day. Coming from this background, I knew how to put together a show, but I was only a fan of drag. I’m very lucky to have made friends with Nova Necrophiliac as they really introduced me into the local LA drag scene and helped me find a home within it for myself but also for The Whorror Show.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I feel VERY proud of what The Whorror Show stands for. We pride ourselves on creating a genuinely diverse lineup without it just being for woke points. It happens so organically and I’m so grateful that we can consistently make shows where anyone is welcome to be themselves no matter their race, gender, sexuality, and how weird they are!!

The thing that sets us apart is simply the fact that we are pioneering the combination of live music and drag. It hasn’t been done before! There are drag artists who may be musically talented and there are bands that have very vibrant frontman’s, but no one is truly doing what we are doing. We are frankensteining the two worlds into a brand new community! And that does come with its own challenges. Describing this show to someone that hasn’t come to one before is always a bit a funny situation. It seems like no one truly gets it until they see it live, but that’s also what makes it SO special! The way we operate is, we have the instruments played live while keeping the original vocals in the track (I wanted to pay montage to the usual lip syncing you see at drag shows). Every venue we come to, the sound person looks at us like we’re insane when we explain that the lead vocals are in the track and need to be loud. A lot of people will also assume we are having bands play while drag artists perform behind sets, but don’t quite understand that the drag artists are performing alongside the band. They lip sync while the band plays the song and it is like the drag artist IS the front person for that song.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I actually already have this on my mind! I just spent over a week in New York with some friends that I had made from touring and we were already talking about it being their turn to come to LA!
My itinerary would definitely include sharing some of my favorite queer spaces. I love Akbar in Silverlake; specially their LA Gaymer nights and their Craftoke nights. I’m a huge fan of Brat that happens every Thursday night at Revolver in WeHo. It’s one of the only alternative drag shows we have! I would also love to share Precinct in DTLA as that’s more of a gothic club vibe, and I love the drag show She’s In Parties that happens monthly.
I’m a huge fan of arts and crafts, so definitely would love to show someone Remainders. They are a second-hand craft store that also offers classes! They are a queer friendly space as well.
Being in LA, we are privileged with so much nice weather so would love to take my friends on some nice hikes, hit a little park moment, and also the beach!
Other fun locations, I really love Revenge Of in Eagle Rock. They are a comic book store that is queer owned and has lots of community nights too!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout is definitely dedicated to my team and my community! I have always deemed The Whorror Show to be a community project created by community for community.
I want to give a VERY special shout to Dane (he/they). They create all of our incredible graphics from our flyers, logo, promotional material, and to our merch! If you ever need someone for graphic design, Dane is your guy!
Eli (they/them) has also been a huge contributor to the aesthetic of Whorror Show. They drew up the little Frankengrrl you see on our logo and have help created some merch such as the Alien Cuntry shirt and a Queer Resources infographic.
I want to also give a HUGE shoutout to my best friend Syd / Scoot (she/they)! They have been my literal day one. We met from touring together. We both have had a lot of touring experiences that left us feeling very defeated by the music industry, and it’s been incredible working on this project because it has helped healed our relationship with music in more ways than one. They put together the tracks for our live shows, play drums in the haus band, music direct, and help me with figuring out the logistics behind making a band work no matter how unconventional the space is!
As I previously messaged, I am also incredibly grateful to Nova Necrophiliac for believing in this show from when it was just an idea in my head and helping make it a reality! Nova is our host and someone that has helped me a lot with getting connected with the local LA drag scene.

Website: https://www.thewhorrorshow.live/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewhorrorshowlive?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr