When he saw my unkempt hovel, he was so nonjudgmental

I’d had a big, sparkly pop career in my 20s, but by 2024 I was beyond my twink era and getting by hopping from one weird gig to the next. Covid had really done a number on the music industry and, while my friend Paul Mac had kept me making music, I found myself drifting through a strange, boozy few years in Sydney.

Single since 2020 and with my cat as my best friend, I was terminally online at 38 and one day posted a favourite track from the Dissociatives, which earned a little fire emoji from the drag queen Karen from Finance—someone I realised I’d bumped into before when they’d performed a 15-minute Tina Turner medley at the Gaytimes festival in 2022.

An online connection with Karen’s alter ego, Richard Chadwick, slowly bubbled up. We’d suggested meeting when in the same city but the stars never aligned until the 2025 Melbourne fringe, when I was staying with a friend and spotted his face on Grindr at zero metres.

pop career, dissociatives, paul mac, sydney, melbourne fringe, grindr, drag queen, gaytimes, tina turner, twink era