Meet The Suicide Girls (Interview)

Missy Suicide, co-founder of SuicideGirls, explains how tattoos, burlesque and Planet of the Apes go together, and reveals whether she thinks whether Bret or Jemaine is the sexiest Flight of the Conchords singer.

SuicideGirls is described as ‘the alternative beauty’s largest online community of pinup models’, but the truth’s a little more complex than that. “You’d think that after twelve years I’d have a concise answer, but it doesn’t fit into a breadbox that you can serve up,” Missy says.

“It started out as a website of tattooed and pieced girls. It’s evolved now and we’ve got the burlesque tour, movies, books – it’s so much. It started out as a social network. Hundreds of couples have got married through the site, there’ve been thousands of best friends – it’s really helped to bring so many people together. Ask any Suicide Girl and she’d say it’s her favourite part – all the friends that she’s met.”

Anyone can join the SuicideGirl community (for a price), but becoming a Suicide Girl involves a rite of passage. “You can apply online at suicidegirls.com/model and fill out the application. The model coordinator goes through all of them – photos, and the reasons girls want to become a Suicide Girl. ‘My boyfriend thinks I should,’ we might not be so accepting of, but, ‘I want to show the world that I’m beautiful and unique’ – that’s a good reason.

“The model coordinator sets you up with a photographer and you shoot a photo set. It gets sent to the member review section and people give feedback. You become part of the community and start talking to girls, getting to know each other, and if your set is well-received you become a Suicide Girl.

“You don’t have to fit into a box; everybody is beautiful. It’s really confidence – that’s the sexiest attribute a person can have. Most tend to be modified in different ways – piercings, tattoos, hair every colour of the rainbow.

“Fans admire their confidence and their joy. They represent an ideal, sort of. A lot of fans are people who the alternative lifestyle appeals to, who might have been not as confident or outgoing. They get inspired,” Missy says.

The Suicide Girls have taken their burlesque show on the road before, but this is the first time they’ve been to New Zealand. There will be seven girls in the show. “The line-up will be finalised tonight,” Missy says.

“The tours we did from 2002 to 2006, 2007. It was a long time, because we were out on the road. We decided to take a break and work on the book, then we thought let’s do a movie… When we put out our most recent book we did a book signing tour. 500 – 700 people showed up to have two girls sign a book. We thought – clearly people want a live show, and we can do better than this.

“In the meantime – we were the first ones who were doing non-traditional, non-old timey burlesque. Now a lot of people are doing it – Star Wars Burlesque, Lady Gaga – large scale. We knew we had to up our game.

“We worked with a really great choreographer, Manwe Sauls-Addison. He’s worked with Lady Gaga, Beyonce and a bunch of big huge names. We did the US tour just before Christmas, something like fifty shows. It went really well.

“It’s really fun, sort of different. There’s a geeky element, a pop culture element, fun music. My very favourite number is the Planet of the Apes number, with girls in silver bikinis. The music is a bit eclectic. Everything from Disclosure to Kenny Rogers, it’s pretty awesome.

“We made it to Australia in 2006 and I’m super excited to come to New Zealand because I’ve never been before. I’m a big fan of Flight of the Conchords. Who’s my favourite? It’s so hard. Jemaine is definitely sexier. But Bret – there’s something endearing about him… and he was in Lord of the Rings.

“I’m really excited to come and check it out and see New Zealand. I just watched The Hobbit last night. I’m so excited.”
– Kathryn van Beek www.joyriderpromotions.com

SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque Tour

9 March, The Studio, Auckland

Visit Eventfinder for more information