INTERVIEW // Lucy & La Mer

Interviewed by Angie

If you live in Los Angeles, you should know about Lucy & La Mer. Lucy is an embodiment of sunshine and a great friend to the LGBTQ music community. She is an amazing activist and performer whose voice, kindness, and inclusivity make her always fresh and admirable in such a huge music scene. Lucy has been busy touring Europe, playing San Diego Pride and Echo Park Rising, having her hit, “Rebel Babe”, featured in Billboard’s list of Top 50 Stellar LGBTQ Songs of 2018, all while doing gigs, interviews, videos, and covers. I’ve been blessed to know Lucy for a few years now; she’s been a guest on Despair At the Costco and has been around Long Beach performing at campus fundraisers and Happy Sundays. She’s committed to putting on a show that’ll make everyone in attendance feel their best and bubbliest afterwards.

After her 3rd annual “Love is Gay” Valentines Benefit at the Echo, I asked Lucy some questions about developing the event, finding her people in LA, celebrating awkwardness and vulnerability, the awes of Europe, comforting memes, and favorite spots around Echo Park. We hope you enjoy this fun interview and remember to wish Lucy, your favorite Pisces, a belated birthday!

ANGIE: For those who don’t know, you have hosted a benefit show called Love is Gay for the past 3 years to raise money for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. How did you come up with the name, “Love is Gay”? It’s so memorable, funny, and classic.

LUCY: I’m glad you like it! I honestly just thought it’d be funny. I feel like Valentine’s overly romanticizes heteronormative values; it can all be very serious, too. I want our LGBTQ community to have a fun, playful space to celebrate all forms of love.

ANGIE: Love is Gay had so much thought put into it from the performance aesthetics, to audience inclusion, to variety of performer genres, to allowing space for LGBTQ craft-persons to sell art, apparel and jewelry, to even having a space to make old-fashioned Valentines! How did you go about gathering together such a group of amazing people to put on such a memorable and social event?

LUCY: The event is all about building community. There’s a lot of outreach and contacting people I’ve never even met before and inviting them to be a part of it. I’m so lucky to know a few queer artists, who each know a few other queer artists, who each recommend a few more queer artists. Every year I meet more and more folks who will become a part of our growing community.

ANGIE: I’m glad you have become so connected to so many creators in the community. You said in a recent Instagram post it was difficult for you to find other bands and venues to play with during your first few months in Los Angeles. Despite this struggle, you’ve really made yourself into a unique and uplifting voice in the community. Who were some of the first places you played at where you felt truly comfortable and who were some of the first people you played with who inspired you or made you feel inspirational yourself?

LUCY:I felt very out of place playing in LA. I think in general, it takes time to find your group here. This event was my way of finding my group a little faster. The first event had artists Emma Cole, Lauren Ruth Ward, and Leslie Stevens, and they were all very inspiring women for me. Play Like A Girl has been incredibly supportive as well, introducing me to new artists and showing me that there is a space for everyone in our community. I think putting yourself out there in a big way like, “Hey, I’m putting on a benefit for something I really care about; that is really personal for me!” not just “Come to my show!” is really important. It creates a space for people to react in a genuine way and we can all share something together. I’m constantly inspired by the creators around me.

ANGIE: Events with a purpose beyond the self always make for a really great turn-out and have the ability to foster new relationships between total strangers. It cuts through the awkward silence of just being there to support an artist, then go home. You are all there to help make a statement or change. Something I’ve noticed about your performances that sets you apart from others is your commitment to audience engagement, as well. I’ve been to a lot of shows where performers do no more than say “Thank You, [Name of City]” and although there’s nothing wrong with that, I really appreciate how you try to create a dialogue with audiences big and small, especially your tradition of awkward middle school slow-dancing. How did you start that tradition?

LUCY: First, thank you for awkwardly slow dancing with us. Second, it’s my favorite thing ever. I started it while I was on my first tour. I was playing to a small room in Texas, and I guess I always imagined a Honky-Tonk type of venue in Texas where everyone was in bedazzled boots and dancing, but it was a dive bar with like 6 people who were clearly not there for the band. So I thought I’d make the most of it and get everyone dancing and reminiscing about what it’s like to be young, crushing on people, and being awkward. I’ve kept it going at every show because I can see the audience bringing their most vulnerable self out, their brave, best selves, they get up and slow dance like it’s 6th grade again. It’s beautiful.

ANGIE: You’ve also done some awesome covers at shows. Are there any songs you’ve yet to cover that you desperately want to?

LUCY: I’ve been listening to Kacey Musgraves and King Princess all week. I’d really love to do a duet of one of their songs with another LGBTQ artist soon!

ANGIE: You went on tour in Europe this summer. We talked briefly about the wonders of Paris’ macaroons after the show, but what were the best things you saw, heard, and tasted abroad?

LUCY: YES! The macaroons! I also loved the coffee in Paris, and I really admired how the french talk about politics casually. The mountains in Switzerland were mesmerizing, and the diversity of Berlin was very inspiring. After being in LA so long, the quiet of Ireland was amazing, too. Everything was so green and lush and silent. We spent the last couple days in the countryside of Ireland with some friends, it was a great way to end the tour.

ANGIE: It felt like such a relief to freely discuss politics with no aggressive tension  while aboard. Across the Atlantic, people are so worldly and aware of the struggles of others beyond their borders and communities. When I visited Amsterdam this Summer I also visited the Homomonument as you did. I felt so many emotions at once while standing in front of it. You radiate positivity with your music and commitment to activism, but I’m sure there are days you just feel the weight of the world on your chest. What are your favorite ways to cheer yourself up?

LUCY: Absolutely. Especially when I see the struggles of those before our generation, like with the Homomonument in Amsterdam or the memorial in Berlin. We’ve come so far and yet it’s still heartbreaking to see how far we still have to go. I tend to curl up and shut the world out, but I know the best way to cheer myself up is by talking to others who have felt this way. Even if it’s just a DM thread of memes with friends while I hide under my blankets in my room, little connections within our community our very important. They help us feel less alone. ANGIE: Memes truly can be healing! I’ve gone from sobbing hysterically to giggling in twenty minutes when I find some really good memes about things I love. Sometimes, exploring a new area can also help with hopelessness. My friends and I got to explore Echo Park for several hours before the show. Since you call it home, what are your favorite places to shop, grab a bite, and just hang out?

LUCY:I’m all about picnics at the Echo Park Lake. Two Boots Pizza on Sunset Blvd is delicious. And Mohawk Bend has a lovely patio for watching the world walk by.

ANGIE: Before the show, I popped into Stories on Sunset, a great cafe and bookstore near The Echo to discover some future reads. I’ve always loved to read but college made it difficult to find time and energy to read for pleasure and not for research essays.  Are you a big reader? Do you have a favorite book or even just an article you’ve read recently that really changed your worldview, even in a small way?

LUCY:I struggle to make time to read, too, but I’ve been challenging myself to do 5 pages before bed. Right now, I’m reading “Bad With Money” by Gaby Dunn: She’s a bisexual YouTuber who also has a podcast called “Bad With Money”.. I think it’s vital for young adults to know the basics of finances. Especially for artists, who are learning how to run their own business. It’s obviously a touchy subject for most people, but it’s so important to being successful in your own pursuits. The book is really showing me just how bad our national finance systems are and how common it is to avoid talking about money with your friends, family, etc. Pretty crazy stuff considering money is used by everyone.

Buy Lucy & La Mer’s music here.