ok so
In my creative work, I often cite that I "run" (incredibly generous usage of that word) a record label/art/writing collective called GLITTERDXCK RECORDS, or sometimes the GLITTERDXCK COLLECTIVE, and that's probably confusing because it doesn't really make any sense. And it is true! On the most technical level, running a tape label is something I do! It just has very few releases that aren't my own. As of now, one, exactly (although another is in the works.) You can listen to the other artist I've produced tapes for here, and you really should because she's incredible. She even wrote the music for my wedding!
But as much as I am a musician/songwriter/yeller on stager, I am a zinester as well, and I've always had a vision of the GLITTERDXCK COLLECTIVE encompassing more than just tapes, and encompassing art and writing of all forms. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
THE ORIGINS OF GLITTERDXCK RECORDS
Let's just get this out of the way: I am dogshit at branding while also being incredibly particular, and I will use GLITTERDXCK RECORDS and GLITTERDXCK COLLECTIVE interchangeably; they are the same goddamn thing. It's me begging my friends to do stuff with me. Do not get confused, although I can understand how it may be easy to do so. It's the same thing, I promise, sometimes one just sounds cooler on a zine fest application from than the other. It's fine, don't worry about it.
Another thing to get out of the way: I HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT RIPPED OFF BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL THAT'S GOING ON HERE. I AM COMPLETELY UNORIGINAL. I would love to say that I'm just doing BTMI for trans people, but of course that turned out to not be original either:
But yeah, you really don't have to read any more of this. Quite literally back in 2015 I found out about Jeff and his bands and decided I wanted to do Exactly That™ but for trans people and trans people alone, and it took me so goddamn long to actually do that he ended up coming out first! Obviously, this was unsurprising to me and I am very happy for him, but it does make me even more of a poser.
AND POSE i SHALL
The longer version of this story is that in 2015, I was drunk alone in the house I shared with a youth minister, gearing up to try to come out as a woman, sitting alone in the living room with a half-frozen bottle of malibu when I found a tape rip of Jeff Rosenstock's We Cool? on youtube (athough I think this is a different upload):
Needless to say, this resonated with me quite strongly. I was, of course, rapidly approaching full-blown alcoholism, did not want to live, and was realizing that I somehow wasn't dead yet and was rapidly growing older at the end of my touring career. So, naturally, I began devouring every record this person put out, in addition to every live set I could find and every interview I could track down. This led me to gain enough of an understanding of his process and how he approached everything he did artistically, making these tours and records front to back. I had done two national tours with a drum and bugle corps, playing stadiums around the country in 2013 and 2014. If you've never done DCI, this is incredibly impressive. If you have done DCI, it is respectable but in many ways really is mostly just a testament to just how much you hate yourself. This experience, coupled with my position in a classical studio to get a music therapy degree, made me hungry for the kind of raw and genuine art that took a real sicko to like. I wanted cringe. I wanted to scream and wail and play out of tune for basement shows with three hipsters wiggling along in the crowd.
The combination of seeing the crowds Jeff was pulling with his projects (no matter how small) along with the weird Tempe, AZ scene I had found myself a part of made me hungry to make art for the weird trannies like me. I had been writing songs already (my whole life really) and had a songbook I was scrawling lyrics in while on phones at my shitty job, and scrawled a logo for my vision: GLITTERDXCK RECORDS. This was now 2017.
so I wrote like a whole ass 10,000 word zine about this whole "getting the idea to do this" thing and was going to link to the store page for the distro I gave copies to but it seems they don't have any in stock so #SufferingFromSuccess I guess and I'll have to try to remember to backfill this link when I get around to making more, in the meantime check out Wasted Ink Zine Distro here because they're rad as fuck and have a bunch of cool shit, and sometimes when the executive function arises zines from me. Point is, there's a several year gap between then and when I actually started Doing Things and I won't bore you with the personal sob story here. The horrors persist but so do I, etc. etc.
SO YOU DO RECORDS? OR TAPES? OR... WHAT?
shut UP, I know. From the very beginning, the GLITTERDXCK COLLECTIVE has been a vision of just that, an art collective by and for trans people. I tend to not stick to one endeavor for too terribly long without getting distracted, and many people I know are the same. I'm not trying to make a career out of this, I just want to do cool stuff with my friends. Truly. Visual art, music, poetry, essays, writing, performance art(?????? if you do this hmu). I got really into hyperpop when many did in 2019-2020, and still am, but was really struck by 909 WORLDWIDE and how it truly seemed just like a group of friends really excited to make cool stuff they all liked together, and that really reaffirmed my vision.
GLITTERDXCK RECORDS exists, very much, specifically as a tape label. I've done a couple of different runs now, and have more in the works (if only a very small number). And I will use the term to refer as such, but do understand that I am artistically voracious and want it all. I want what I can't have. Or at least, I want what I can't do myself, which is where all my cool ass friends come into the picture. I have a zine of essays, fiction, and poetry from the GLITTERDXCK COLLECTIVE brewing, and I hope it's only one of many. I'm so thankful that I have cool, ambitious people in my life that trust me with their work and are excited about all of this nonsense as I am.