"If you’re not wearing nails, you’re not doing drag!"

Having crash-landed on Earth just in time to take over the airwaves of season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race, runner-up and fan favourite Alaska Thunderfuck is set to make her return to Calgary’s gay Pride for a second year in a row where she will be headlining the Hot Mess pride blowout at Rebublik Nightclub (219 17th Ave SW) on Sunday, August 31st, 2014. Currently appearing in a live drag theatre version of Sex and the City at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, Alaska speaks to GayCalgary about her life since Drag Race, current musical projects and her fondness for soft-core straight porn.

GC: Are you looking forward to being in Calgary for the second pride in a row?

AT: I am! I’m really looking forward to it!

GC: Any good memories from last time you were up?

AT: Um, I used to drink a lot. (laughs) So my memories are pretty cloudy but I’m sure I had a really good time.

GC: Well I know that we all had a good time! What is your favourite part of coming up to Canada to perform?

AT: I don’t know if you know this but my grandmother is French Canadian, so that makes me one fourth French Canadian. So it’s sort of like returning to my homeland. I inherited a lot of my extravagant tastes from my grandmother, because she loves fur coats and exquisite hats and things. So Canada has a really special place in my heart.

GC: What has life been like for you since season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race?

AT: It has been great. I’m like, a working drag queen now which is really cool. So thank you RuPaul for giving me a job that I really like. It’s like, a tonne of work, and it is sort of non-stop, but I’m really happy to be doing it. I’m really grateful.

GC: Being on the road so much, do you have any travel tips for drag queens?

AT: Yes! I actually do! I think that you should get one of these Bluetooth speakers. Because I really like listening to music when I’m getting into drag, so when I’m in a hotel room I can just turn on my Bluetooth speakers. I actually have two different kinds! (laughs) I have one by Stelle audio and it looks like a clutch purse, but it actually is Bluetooth speakers, and the other one is by Beats. I love them – they are like my favourite thing because I can listen to my music really loud in my hotel rooms and annoy my neighbours!

GC: You have a couple of cruises coming up in November with AlandChuck.travel. What can guests expect when cruising with Alaska?

AT: Well, I have enjoyed cruising for many years (laughs). I love the cruises, [they are] really fun. I like to get in drag as much as I can when I’m on them. It’s like a really fun opportunity to get to hang out with the fans of the show. And they get to hang out with you, not just for like a few minutes in a meet and greet, but they get to hang out for a whole week. So you really get to know these wonderful people. Oh! And I have a lot of speedos, so I will be wearing those.

GC: Oh! So you will either be in drag or in a speedo?

AT: Yes! I will either be in a wig or a speedo.

GC: Or ideally both!

AT: Mmmm hmmmm! (laughs)

GC: Right now you are doing a show in San Francisco called Sex And The City, Live! What is the show about?

AT: It’s so much fun. We are in our final weekend at the Victoria Theatre here in San Francisco. It has been really great; the audience response has been so good. Have you seen Sex and the City, the show?

GC: Of course!

AT: It’s basically that except the women are men (laughs). But we go right off the scripts from the show; we mash them up so they each get the most interesting story lines. But it is all scripted from the show itself and it’s really different through the lens of four giant men in these characters.

GC: Well Samantha I don’t think is a very hard character to translate into a drag queen.

AT: (laughing) I know!... She really just is every drag queen. That’s not too much of a stretch.

GC: You have been putting out your own music these days. You have got "Ru Girl" and most recently the music video for "Your Makeup is Terrible" and I understand you have a song coming out called "Nails"-

AT: Wow! You’ve done your research!

GC: (laughing) I try. Could you tell us a little about what "Nails" is going to be like and, I was wondering, do you write all these songs yourself?

AT: I know it is shocking that lyrics like Your makeup is terrible can be written by me, but it’s true. And lyrics like Nails, nails, nails; nails, nails, nails, I came up with them all by myself! (laughing) Yeah, I basically write them by myself. "Nails" I actually had help from one of the writers at Killingsworth studios, who produced all of my songs, Ashley Levy... "Nails" is actually a really important song for the drag community because it teaches the lesson that if you’re not wearing nails, you’re not doing drag. Which are good words to live by for a young queen starting out. So I’m glad I can use my public stature to share these really important life lessons with the world (laughs).

GC: Absolutely! They have got to get their makeup right and they have got to get their nails on.

AT: I know, right? I mean, I feel like maybe later in my career I will write songs about really important, serious issues like life and love and things like that. But, to start out with, I just want to write stupid drag songs that are about drag, you know?

GC: Well they are fun.

AT: Thank you. The video is really cool. We shot the video and it’s going to be really amazing. It chronicles the crash landing of Alaska’s spaceship.

GC: When can we expect to see that come out?

AT: I have no idea; I guess I’ll decide when I see it. I still haven’t seen it, but we have shot it.

GC: We are anxiously awaiting that now.

AT: Me too!

GC: You famously auditioned for every season of Drag Race and then finally got on for season five. Looking back, are you glad that it turned out the way that it did? Or would you have liked to have gone on with Sharon for season four?

AT: No! That would have been really bad if Sharon and I were on the same season because I think she would have sent me home really early on! (laughing) No, I’m really happy with how it turned out. I think that I wasn’t really ready at that time because I still had growing to do as a queen and as a person. I’m just really glad [and grateful] to mother RuPaul for letting it happen how it happened.

GC: Who, from your season, have you kept in closest contact with? Is there anyone that you don’t get to see very often that you really miss?

AT: I love Jinx so much! And I never get to see her. I don’t think she has stopped working since the show ended. She has just been on a stage ever since. I love her, and I miss her, and I think she is really cool.

GC: Are you still in close contact with Roxxy and Detox? Is there still a RoLaskaTox?

AT: (laughing) Yes! We have weekly RoLaskaTox meetings where we bully young Narcoleptic drag queens.

GC: (laughing) Well thank God you have kept that work going. What is the funniest, or most outrageous, moment that occurred during your season that, for whatever reason, we didn’t see on the show?

AT: Well, we used to get Cinemax in the hotel rooms. So late at night I would sometimes, if I was really lucky, get to see like, really soft-core straight porn. Which was the only option for porn that we had because we didn’t have computers or Internet or phones or anything like that. So that was like, a lifesaver dude.

GC: (laughing) Thank God for straight soft-core porn.

AT: I know. I mean, it was so bad. Sometimes they didn’t even have boys in them. It was like, what am I supposed to do with THIS!?

GC: (laughing hysterically) That does make it a lot harder.

AT: Uh well... or doesn’t, you know?

GC: (hysterically laughing) Oh my God, I’m dying!

AT: Don’t die! (laughs)

GC: On to a slightly serious topic; back in December it came out that you and Sharon had decided to end your relationship. The two of you have managed to maintain a strong friendship and working relationship. How do you manage that and to keep everything drama-free?

AT: I think that we both just are coming from a place of not wanting it to be any more painful or dramatic than it has to be. So that is good. But it’s still hard; it was a really important part of my life for a long time. I’m still recovering I guess. But you know, we’re cool.

GC: What is the best and worst fan moments you have had?

AT: (laughing) Oh my goodness. I think the best AND worst moment [was], there is this guy with a tattoo of me on his crotch or his hip or something. That is pretty cool, but it’s also pretty insane. So that wins both categories.

GC: Other than Ru, who is someone you have been really star-struck to meet in real life?

AT: ...I was really star struck by Cory Wade Hindorff from America’s Next Top Model. He lives in Philadelphia and he is friends with Mimi Imfurst. And I just like, got to meet him and we went shopping one day. He is really cool and really sweet, so he wins that contest.

GC: If the show asked you to come back for a season of All Stars would you be up for it?

AT: (jokingly) Oh well, let’s see... if I can find time in my schedule... (laughs) Yes! Of course! If RuPaul calls you don’t really say no. I would be there.

GC: Any final message for the readers of GayCalgary anxiously awaiting your return for Pride?

AT: I just want to let everyone within the sound of my voice know that if you’re not wearing nails you’re not doing drag.

GC: Well then, I think everyone coming out for Hot Mess had better come out with their best nails on.

AT: That would be great. Or if they just want to bring me a set that I can wear, that is fine too. (laughs)

GC: Well thank you so much for speaking with us today Alaska.

AT: Absolutely! Thank you honey. Byeeeeee.

Don’t miss your chance to see this strange and beautiful drag alien at Calgary Pride. Rock your favourite Alaska Thunderfuck t-shirt available online at AlaskaThunderfuck.com and don’t forget to wear it with your best drag nails!