Precious Child on Her New Album 'AR-15s for Transgender Teens' and Queer Community.
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Blending industrial nu-metal with surreal music videos and haunting vocals, activist and artist Precious Child is back with a new album, AR-15s for Transgender Teens. It explores the difficult emotions we encounter in the aftermath of trauma and abuse, as well as the experiences of being openly transgender and queer. It is a defiant album that punches back at the transphobic vitriol she faced in the wake of the viral Wi Spa allegations.
Hi Precious. When did you start writing the album?
I wrote a couple of the songs when I got back from touring in 2018, and then I did a couple more in 2019...The rest of it I wrote in 2020.
Did lockdown grant you more time to write?
Not really. My writing routine is always the same; I set aside blocks of time and just write. In the process of writing one song on the album I probably wrote about 20. I sit there for like, a week, and write and rewrite. My experiences of protesting with Black Lives Matter and being a trans woman out on livestream - that played an effect on my music.
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Is your music an extension of your activism?
The music I write is very personal and not easy to write. I believe personal confrontation itself is a form of activism. We’re compelled to deny various aspects of our existence and our experiences of ourselves and others; it’s hard to tell the truth even when you’re alone with yourself.
“There can be solidarity between trans and cis people and queer people; most people aren’t fucking horrible.”
Now my personal experiences are different - I’m also known, specifically, for activism as well. So it’s inextricable from my art, because the consequences of my activism are a major part of my life. The album’s an answer to my experiences of being demonised for being trans. Right wingers use trans kids as political tools. They’re treating the gender critical people as if their claims are legitimate, which is essentially advocating for hate crimes. That’s why I say arm transgender teens. People are coming for us.
What’s the story behind your newest video, Tear Up?
It’s a direct response to the hatred and violence I received and experienced around Wi Spa. Right wingers want queer people to be seen as both monsters and weaklings. I don’t mind being demonised, but I don’t like it when people think they can harm me and get away with it. I’m not gonna be made to feel small by you.
The video is making fun of everything they thought happened at Wi Spa. No assault took place but they said there was a man in the woman’s side of the spa - although first they said it was a trans person. They’re trying to arrest this person the gender critical people said was there; realistically they don’t have the legal grounds to issue an arrest. The person should be protected under the law. I don’t know what’s going on with that. At the time, the person was unidentified, it was possibly a hoax, so in the video I did what all the people were accusing me of doing. The other actors in the video were very supportive; they knew the situation - solidarity amongst women was important to express.
I received lots of support from the queer community, and I recevied support from cis women too. That’s important. There can be solidarity between trans and cis people and queer people; most people aren’t fucking horrible. The video was directed by a queer person who was at the protest themselves - Francis Orr - who experienced physical assault while they were there. It was a really personal thing for us to do.
How did your experiences at Wi Spa differ from other protests you’ve attended?
At the racial injustice protests, the primary enemy was the police. The right wing did attack - two people drove their cars through the protest. This one girl was hit by a truck right in front of me, which happened on livestream. That was terrible. Her skull was fractured. The police caught them and let them go, no charges. Another person, a friend of mine, was run over by someone’s car and broke their foot. So there was a threat of violence beyond the police at these protests. The Black Lives Matter protests were bad because of the police, but these were worse because there were fascist right wing groups. People advocating for a white country, for national socialism - they’re Nazis.
At Wi Spa, what happened was the police backed these people up because these Nazis are their friends - this is well documented, people in the LA police force stormed the US Capitol. 80 people were arrested at the second Wi Spa protest and none of the right wingers were arrested - none. Being arrested sucks - you lose your personal freedom and you have to trust people. In my situation I have to trust people who really don’t like me. And then say you were charged and let go, there’s the legal cost of it. These anti-trans protests were pretty harsh.
Do you have any thoughts on the way queer people find family within each other, and how it comes into your life and artwork?
I love it. I think it’s pretty wonderful. On tour, at least half of my fans are queer. I see that ongoing mutual aid and community building. It’s really powerful and it makes me really happy. We’re not the most powerful or advantaged group - we’re kind of the opposite. I definitely see a thread of unity in the proactiveness of the movement. I think it’s wonderful. In my art...about half the people I work with are queer. I’m weary of working with cis people; I wanna lift up and work with queer people, disadvantaged people - not the status quo people. However, I work with them because they wanna work with me - and they know what I’m about - I think I gotta accept that help and encourage them because that’s wonderful, and supportive, and we all need the support we can get. I appreciate it and everyone I work with.
Words: Tilly Foulkes
