In 2024, I became the first ever writer-in-residence at Queer Amusements, a brand new queer arts festival in Blackpool. I spent the summer developing new writing, which I performed for the first time during a one-off live spoken word ritual at the Autumn Equinox, the dead, the divine and the diabolical. Six months on from that night, I’m sharing three of my favourite pieces from the show…

The equinox is one of only two moments each year when day and night — light and dark — are equally balanced. In 2024, a cute bit of calendar synchronicity meant the Autumn Equinox coincided with Bisexual Visibility Day. Making it the perfect moment to debut an experimental work-in-progress featuring brand-new writing developed during my festival residency, amplified with atmospheric soundscapes and additional vocals from my very special guests, Ziggi and Avadrian Night.

The dead, the divine and the diabolical took its title from a book about Vikings (more about that here), and explored themes of finding home and family, untangling bloodlines and ancestral lineage, memory, grief, witchcraft and worship, from honouring ancestors and reconnecting with lost loves from past lives to obsessing over the reported hauntings at Blackpool Pleasure Beach…

MOST HAUNTED is about memory, family, grief, ghosts, and watching Most Haunted alone in the kitchen at midnight.

In another life, I loved you explores the idea of having lived and loved before, and how that love might survive and be remembered across the centuries. It’s about finding your queer sibling soulmates, doing mushrooms and witchcraft in the woods, and creating queer family.

Last but not least, but definitely the one I’m most shit-scared to share… BABY, WE COME FROM THE VIKINGS is my first ever time attempting something like singing onstage, honouring my rock’n’roll lineage with a song about my dad.

Massive, massive love to Queer Amusements for having me, to Bootleg Social Club for giving us a home for the evening, to Ziggi and Avadrian for their beautiful contributions and being such brilliant onstage company, and to everyone who made it down on the night or watched the livestream. It’s one I’ll remember forever, and I can’t wait to see how this material might develop further and have another life in future.