A little history for ya on Pride Month! Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honour the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, New York. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City.
In celebration of Pride Month, Fender is spotlighting two of America’s most vibrant artists, legendary drag queen Trixie Mattel, and ultra-talented indie alternative rock band, Rainbow Kitten Surprise in new video content. Each video features up-close and candid conversations around growing up, expressing themselves through music and following their own paths!
TRIXIE MATTEL
An all-around entertainer, Trixie Mattel is best known for winning season 3 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in addition to being a Billboard Heatseakers #1 charting recording artist. In her video, Trixie takes on the Fender stage and recounts being in highschool and saving up to buy a Squier Telecaster. She shares a fun story about how she used a vintage, hand-me-down distortion pedal and would play all night long in her room, just absolutely in love with her guitar!
“I remember I used to sit in my room and play it and play it all day,” Trixie said. “And luckily I lived with my grandparents who, my grandpa was a musician, so they didn’t care. They let me play guitar ‘till midnight as loud as I wanted!”
See the video with Trixie HERE!
RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE
Next is the Fender Presents video feature with Ela Melo, Ethan Goodpaster, Darrick “Bozzy” Keller, Charlie Holt and Jess Haney from Rainbow Kitten Surprise! In the intimate video, the band comes together to talk about staying true to themselves and their hometown roots, and perform an acoustic version of their original song, “Work Out.”
“The music itself has evolved over the time that we’ve been playing it, and what it means in our lives and what it means to play it for people has changed,” lead singer, Ela Melo said. “In a way it’s just growing everyday. It just means more and more everytime we do a show to share that with people.”
Watch the full performance with Rainbow Kitten Surprise HERE!
Additionally, in honour of Pride Month, Fender has created a special t-shirt which is available for purchase now on Fender.com. 15% of proceeds will benefit the PLUS1 LGBTQ+ Equality Fund, in support of Appalachian OUTreach.
- More about Trixie Mattel: https://trixiemattel.com/
- More about Rainbow Kitten Surprise: https://www.rksband.com/