Tonight's feature is J GRGRY with a stripped back version of "DINOSAURS', exclusively for The Art of Being Queer!
J GRGRY is the guest of the next episode of The Art of Being Queer Podcast which is available now on our Patreon!
Artist Statement:
I am a queer artist based in Los Angeles, born and raised in Seattle. Described as The Police and Peter Gabriel meet St Vincent and Perfume Genius.
DINOSAURS, is a great synopsis of my relationship to queer arts. It's a song I wrote about accepting myself as a gay man and choosing a path of light and positivity, despite growing up in a suffocating religious environment. The chorus lyrics specifically say "I'm not going to listen anymore to the birds chirp down the street", and that is a call for us all to resist the tweeter in chief here in America.
Music and art have always been the bridge to the LGBTQIA community for me and when I didn't have autonomy, it was the only way for me to feel community, even if it was through a record or a movie.
I remember the safety I felt watching Meshell Ndegeocello performing (bass guitar / double bass, was my first instrument as a kid) or how watching movies like Delicatessen and City of Lost Children and admiring the work of John-Paul Gaultiers fashion work, gave me confidence to believe in myself, even though I was being told I had an illness and was bringing harm to the world just for existing as I am.
On that note, visibility is so huge and I feel extremely fortunate to be able to share my identity through music and stage shows and hopefully help bring more light and love to the world.
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