The Suicide Girls are back on tour with Blackheart Burlesque Tour and they are hitting Los Angeles on December 5th. Taking over the House of Blues, Blackheart Burlesque show features performances, music, tongue-in-cheek humor and, of course, sexuality. While making fun of Adventure Time, Clockwork Orange and other favorites, the show features choreography from renowned choreographer, Manwe Sauls-Addison.
I was lucky enough to interview the creature of Suicide Girls, Selena Mooney (“Missy Suicide”) and find out a little bit more the tour and the girls.
When you created Suicide Girls, what was your inspiration and what were some of the hurdles you faced?
My inspiration were the incredible, unique and beautiful women I was lucky enough to be friends with. I thought they were the most beautiful women in the world but they looked nothing like the women mainstream media was celebrating as being beautiful. I wanted a place where they could share not only our sexy, strong pin-up images but also their thoughts and feelings with the world.
As far as adversity, it was 2001, before social networks were a thing, before instagram, facebook, twitter, myspace or even friendster. In starting SuicideGirls I was asking not only the models but the paying community members to share their lives online next to BOOBS! At the time everyone thought I was crazy but here we are 13 years later and it turns out people like to document and share their thoughts, feelings, breakfast and selfies, online, all the time, in their pocket with them, forever 🙂
Where did the name, Suicide Girls, come from?
Girls who choose to commit “social suicide” by choosing not to fit in. Plus Chuck Palahnuik used it in one of his books and he is the bees knees.
Do you find that beautiful tattooed women are more prevalent today than 13 years ago? How many women apply to be a Suicide Girl each year?
Definitely! We get around 25,000 applications a year!*I have been saying about 1,000 a month in interviews for soooo long but we just did the math and a conservative estimate is 25k/yr holy cow!
I am so grateful to be able to have had so many amazing women boldly and confidently share themselves with our community. We have 2700 SuicideGirls from around the world and hundreds of thousands of hopefuls who have joined our sorority of badass bombshells and geek goddesses. I am incredibly lucky to have the sexiest, smartest, and most dangerous outsider women in the world call SuicideGirls home, they truly are an inspiration.
We sent 2 girls to do a mini book signing tour up and down the west coast and 500 – 750 people showed up at a comic book shop in Santa Cruz to get their book signed. We knew that we could put on a much better live experience. So it was time to get the show back out on the road!
What was the most exciting part for you in creating Blackheart Burlesque?
Getting in touch with my inner David Lynch. It is the best job ever. I get to bring all of my nerdiest fantasies to life, like our tribute to “Planet of the Apes” with girls in silver bikinis and gorilla masks who are dancing to Disclosures “When a Fire Starts To Burn” with Simpson quotes AND it is the sexiest thing people are likely to see.
What can audiences in Los Angeles expect from the show?
Sexy, Funny, amazingly choreographed, pop-culture laden strip teases set to the most amazing soundtrack.
After many years of success, what is one life lesson you can share with your fans?
Everyone makes mistakes, really, no one is perfect. The quicker you admit that you made a mistake, learn from it, and move on (and apologize if necessary) the farther along in life you will be and the quicker you will find success. I just turned 37 in human years but have made the same number of mistakes as an average 102 year old. I feel like that is a mark of a life well lived.
