Sharon Needles

“I was really into the bimbo archetype that filled late 80s-early 90s TV when I was growing up. You know, women circling the want ads with nail polish, Rhonda Shear from 'U.S.A. Up All Night,' Peggy Bundy.”

“In the past, when I lacked designer duds, I simply relied on my hot glue gun.”

“I love covers because there's just something I love about replicating someone else's music or taking rare music and introducing it to a wider or a new audience.”

“The most powerful woman I know is my mother, and she doesn't wear any make up at all.”

“I can't speak for all queens, but Sharon Needles is definitely a different entity from me as Aaron Coady.”

“Any younger person - let's say if you're over the age of 30, Pride is a great excuse to go day-drinking. But no one forgets their first Pride and how much they felt that they were included and that the future was bright.”

“I can't speak for everyone, but the kind of comedy that makes me laugh are the ones that kind of make me cringe, and kind of make me look inside my own fears, my own anxieties.”

“The thing about fame is, you want it your whole life, but no matter how bright you are, no one ever asks themselves why they want fame. You never really know what it is until you have it. You can never tangibly feel your own fame.”

“I wrote my first album almost as an entitled child. 'Taxidermy' is written by a much more precarious, untrusting adult.”

“I did drag out of necessity. I had to do it... I had to create this other character because - because she's cheaper than therapy.”

“I think the reason people are propping up drag queens is because it's popular with the fans that identify with them, so we're great for marketing. We're not allowed to be the Christmas tree, we're just allowed to be the decorations, and I still think we're looked at as clowns by a majority of the society.”

“It's like, 'Oh, great, drag queens can excel!' - but then the ceiling is so low. You're only allowed on the first floor; you're not allowed to go play with the big boys upstairs. Even RuPaul, who's a massive success, has been limited to where her music career can take her.”

“I like money but I love performance art and it goes hand in hand. I'm not the 'Titanic,' I'm 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show.' I'm not a blockbuster, I'm a cult classic. I think my strong but cult-like fanbase expects me to challenge norms.”

“If anyone boos you offstage, that is simply applause from ghosts.”

“PG-13' is kind of a scattered, almost movie soundtrack album, with elements of punk and metal and electronica.”

“Once you are in full Sharon Needles mode, you don't feel fear, you don't feel physical pain, and you also don't feel your own moral filter any longer.”

“Not all drag queens but certainly the ones who empowered me, are people who pushed buttons, and poked fun at society from Leigh Bowery, to Lady Bunny and Divine.”

“Sometimes when I'm working with RuPaul, I can't even look at her without feeling so emotional about the process I went through, and what was before the competition and what happened in my life after, and what it's done to millions of gay disenfranchised freaky kids.”