Live from Ice Palace Cherry Grove: Pride with Ultra Naté & Inaya Day

Happy Pride, queens,

This week Adam and I took Trigger Warning live to the legendary Ice Palace in Fire Island and brought true icons with us — Ultra Naté, Inaya Day.

We get into the real roots of house music in gay underground clubs, how LGBTQIA+ culture built the dance floor, and why Pride without house just feels… wrong.

Inaya tells the full story of how “Keep Pushing” blew up — from hearing her own demo on New York radio to making sure the paperwork (!!!) was right so she actually got paid. Because we love a hit, but we love a contract more.

AND Ulta spills the tea on how she got her name!

We also talk:

• The legacy of house music and queer nightlife
• Ice Palace history and Fire Island chaos
• The streaming era vs the golden age of club culture
• Beyoncé’s house moment (we had thoughts)

Plus we tease a new Mexico venue called Temple that may or may not become your next dance pilgrimage.

It’s Pride. It’s messy. It’s house music history. And it’s very us.

#TriggerWarningPodcast #IcePalace #CherryGrove #FireIsland #UltraNate #InayaDay #HouseMusic #LGBTQIA #Pride #GayClubs #DanceMusic #QueerCulture #Studio54

 Interested in Casa Oasis in Zipolite? Email me at Daniel@TheCasaOasis.com for details on the Trigger Warning Special.

@triggerwaringnyc

@redeye_ny

@pridehousemedia

Write to us at: Questions@TriggerWarningPod.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_09 0:03

What happens when you let Enfant Terrible, now just terrible, Daniel Nardicio, off his leash to say and do whatever he wants? The man who has offended everyone is back.

SPEAKER_06 0:14

Along with my brother from another mother, Adam Klesh, we're back with our latest creation, Trigger Warning, a podcast that is not for the faint of heart. Prepare to be offended, enlightened, and highly entertained. Trigger Warning is not a safe space podcast, but answers the questions no one wants to ask. Serves steep in vodka and a dash of bitter.

SPEAKER_09 0:36

Each week we'll bring you the highest and lowest in NYC nightlife. So buckle up, you've been warned. You want to start it? Well then black stockings, white shoes.

SPEAKER_06 0:51

Shoot me alone in the shoes. All right, guys, you're listening to Trigger Warning. My name is Daniel Nardiccio. And I'm Adam Clash. And we're here with Tabasco, who's not always on the show, but today he decided to go. Oh, there's my camera. Is this my mark? We're live in the Ice Pals today, which we've never done before. I'm so excited today's show. First of all, like I said, we've never done it in the room of the Ice Pals. No, never. I mean, we did it on a matronic, but it was closed. Yeah, that's totally. But it's live. It's live. This is live.

SPEAKER_09 1:21

Tonight is a really, really exciting night for me because it is the most June prideful event. Well, this is our pride episode.

SPEAKER_06 1:31

And what is more prideful than these two performers for me? And when I say pride, I mean a general pride, not just gay pride.

SPEAKER_09 1:38

Can I tell you how much screaming, sweating, dancing, hip shucking I've done to these songs?

SPEAKER_06 1:44

You have keybumped cocaine to the pro to the point where I had to quit. You want me to call your sponsor? Yes.

SPEAKER_09 1:55

Call my speech. I'm having too much fun.

SPEAKER_06 1:58

Anyway, you're you're locked into the sound of the underground and the voices that helped define a generation of dance music. Two powerful artists, two unmistakable talents, one musical journey. From chart-topping anthems to dance floor classics, get ready for tonight's incomparable ultranae and the soulful force of Anaya Day. They're at the Ice Pals tonight, a triumvirate of house music excellence, bringing passion, power, and pure groove wherever they go with Bill Coleman. The legendary Bill Coleman. I have a story about him. I love that. He's so sweet. And uh turn it up and let the music move you. It's ultranate and Anaya Day. Yeah. Ladies. Ladies, welcome. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 2:40

Thank you so much. Oh my god. It's an honor, really. I mean, thanks for saying yes.

SPEAKER_06 2:46

Absolutely. I know you guys just said sound check before the show tonight, which is called Ultra Kiki. And we're honored, really. This is a great weekend. Um Shakwita's beforehand, which is really fun. If you haven't seen Shakwita, you know Shakita is so much fun. You can sneak in the back. You love Shakita. Yeah, she's great. Julia Train. Yeah, totally. She's got one octave left. She had four, but she's still doing it. Don't we all?

SPEAKER_09 3:10

Let me ask you, how many gay clubs have you performed in?

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Oh, I would never try to count that. Right? We're talking almost four decades at this point in my life.

SPEAKER_09 3:21

So I mean, did you know that like your music was touching the LGBTQIA plus community?

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Well, long before free, actually. I started in 198, my first single came out in 1989 for my first album. And I started with the Basement Boys, and my first show was on their night, which was a primarily gay-oriented night. So my gay friends that I rolled around in the club with, they were the foundation of my career, really.

SPEAKER_09 3:50

Because that was the start of house music was in these gay renegade uh underground clubs. Like the the big money-making clubs weren't accepting of it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:00

And for the last time Pop Divas didn't acknowledge their gay fans. I think Donna Summer famously eventually did because there was that huge snap. I don't know what really happened there, and it's not my place to judge. But there that whole thing happened. She vi she came out and spoke about okay fans. But you've always, both of you have embraced, which we're internally thankful for. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

You know, I mean, I I feel like the LGBTQIA plus community has been really at the center of my career from its inception on many different levels, not just as fans, but also as collaborators, darling.

SPEAKER_06 4:32

Sorry, you can tell us that that's a problem.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

No, not at all. I love that he that he wants to say.

SPEAKER_06 4:35

He just goes from person to person. Tabasco is just a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

I mean, it's like in in many different areas of my career, from collaborators or songwriting, production, um, people behind the scenes, photographers, makeup stylists, um, people in my labels. Uh it I mean, the the list just goes on. So that's the this has always been the center of my world and and really instrumental in my success and staying power in the industry.

SPEAKER_06 5:02

Now, a decade ago, both of you were here with Bill. We did something here a decade ago. It was uh, I think it was for the underwear party. I'm not sure. I can't remember the actual gig. I just remember both of you uh tore the house up, which was so exciting. It was fun. The Ice Palace, you know, is now classified as uh, I think the US at least uh oldest continuously running gay or disco the world. We say the world, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_09 5:24

We are classified in the world's first LGBTQI plus, or we say queer now, um disco, it's the world's first, and Cherry Grove is now recognized as America's first gay city. And and because of that, because we're still open, we are the longest running gay discount.

SPEAKER_06 5:42

Probably helps that we only open in summer. That's why we're continuously running because people have time to get they're sick of us by October, right? Whatever it takes, right? Yes. Before that, had you performed in the Ice Palace, you I uh you're Fire Island, you've been in Fire Island.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Yeah, but I think that was the first time at the Ice Palace that I can remember. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

And the last time we were here, Ultra was DJing, and I happened to get on the mic. I wasn't even right. I wasn't even booked, and somehow I probably had a couple of vodkas or something. That's usually how it goes.

SPEAKER_06 6:17

People were gagged. I remember they were gagged because you grabbed a microphone and my friend was like, Oh my god, this is amazing. Like it was one of those moments that felt very spontaneous. When you grabbed the mic, what did you sing?

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Oh, I don't even remember. Who knows?

SPEAKER_09 6:30

Was it automatic?

SPEAKER_04 6:31

No, that's my song. That's her song.

SPEAKER_09 6:32

Oh, that's your song.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

Yeah, she probably did um moving. Moving up. Yeah, I think you did keep it keep pushing.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

You know, but if somebody gives me a vodka, no matter what's playing, I'll suddenly sing everything.

SPEAKER_06 6:44

Okay. Yeah, I noticed during sound check, I'm won't say, well, it doesn't matter the listeners won't necessarily know, but you're doing a gaga song.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yes, poker face.

SPEAKER_06 6:51

Poker face, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

Bill suggested that because I remade it uh what late last year or something like that. And uh I performed it in Australia for Mardi Gras, and everybody loved it and everything. It was the first time I sang it, and I haven't sang it since then. I haven't sung it since then.

SPEAKER_09 7:08

So Mardi Gras insane, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_06 7:12

Mardi Gras wild.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

That is a bum.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

So what song did you guys what what song have you come out with either one of you that where you you didn't expect it to go where it went, like it really took off? Like you know, we're I was just talking with the I wasn't just talking with Kylie Minogue, but I was listening to the Kylie Minogue speak about Padam Padam. Had no idea that Padam Padam was gonna become this hit. Do you have that song where you're like, I had no idea.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

My very first. Thirty years ago, keep pushing.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

Really?

SPEAKER_03 7:36

I did it as a demo.

unknown 7:38

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_03 7:38

In the beginning of the song, it says, It's so low for me. Because Mousti recorded everything I said and everything I did in the session. I had just met him. I wrote four hours on the train from Düsseldorf to Hanover, Germany, because I was doing Little Shop of Horrors. Oh and I had to get back and do the show the n that night. And we were doing it in German, Declo their Der Kleiner Horeladen. Yeah, I'm Bissian. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:02

Oh, yeah. We both lived in Berlin five years.

SPEAKER_08 8:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

I was I lived in Germany for five years. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 8:07

Igwone in Penzalberg, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Yeah, my my second you you were born there?

SPEAKER_08 8:12

No, Igwone. You lives there now, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Um what? Fünf Jahre.

SPEAKER_08 8:17

Funfield, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 8:19

But um, yeah, anyway, so we were saying now for our grammar lesson. Yeah, sorry for the German lesson.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

What that meant was um keep pushing when it said it's so low for me, is because when I I was singing everything from the top of my head, and when I finally got to keep pushing on, they said, keep going, you know, keep going. And they said, Can you sing this um with more power? Like stronger. And I said, Well, um I'm trying to, but um, I'm just getting over the flu, and it's so low for me. Right. So then they started the song, It's a low for me, it's a low for me. And I thought it was funny. Oh, that's super cool. I'm at home in March, fast forward like five months, um, taking a break on hiatus in New York, vacuuming my carpet. I hear, guess Master Mix, keep pushing on. And I was like, Oh, I know this song, and I'm bobbing my head, and it gets to though the mountains ain't too hot. I was like, that's me. Wait, that's me. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_09 9:20

Well, you're driving the car, it was that happen to see you, too. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

It was a demo to me. Yeah, a record to them, and all these years later, Dua Lipa has redone it for Adidas.

SPEAKER_09 9:34

It's it's just I can't tell you how many times I've like driven the truck to that song. Well, my brother calls it driving the truck.

SPEAKER_06 9:41

When I dance, I'm like, Yeah, he drives he dances like this. Oh, so I said, or I call him the bus driver. Because I'm like, Key. The bus driver. Exactly. No, let me ask you, this is a weird question, but when something like that happens, you don't know. Do they contact you and say you get like, how does that work? You don't have to go into the real details. Okay, but how does that work? Like, don't you go, well, wait a minute. I need to like know that I'm getting paid.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Yeah, that very like five seconds it took.

unknown 10:14

I'm on the radio.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

She's like, let me call you.

SPEAKER_09 10:18

Let me call you, let me call.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

And I said, I'm on the radio.

SPEAKER_09 10:22

But that's back in like that's back in the payphone days, right? Yeah. And then I'm to like pull over and get on the paper, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Uh my my attorney. And then we called three-way to Germany.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

And I called Boris, and I said, Boris, remember that paper I had you sign? Yeah. Because I always make sure people sign something when I'm not in control of my vocals. Right. Well, that's crazy because you both I don't remember.

SPEAKER_08 10:47

Oh. I said, I do. I do it to you.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

And that's how we got that straight. But it was all good, and we kept going and did hold your head up high, horny. Right.

SPEAKER_06 10:57

Kept on it. Yeah, because you don't want the Martha Wash thing to happen where she her voice basically she got she got really side. She got yeah, she got screwed.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:07

That which sucked. Because like she could have actually, she had a good career, I guess, right? But she could have had like that career.

SPEAKER_09 11:12

But I remember one less the music industry is such a weird. I'm not sure if you two ever met Judy Russell from New Groove Records. Um, but she always said the one thing you have to look out for in a recording contract is the word perpetuity. In perpetuity, yeah. When you see in perpetuity. Yeah, totally. Don't sign.

SPEAKER_06 11:31

So after this, what do you what are your plans next when you like go on? I mean, do you have some kicks coming? I mean, it is Pride Month, I'm assuming something.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

I've never had this situation like what Anaya was describing um because um my setup, my my business situation was set up a little bit differently. I was actually signed to Warner Brothers for my first two albums, and then um in between years writing demos and then assigned to Strictly Rhythm and put those albums out road free and all and all of that. So um, and then from there I went completely independent in 2003. So it's been a different kind of a journey, right? But there's always trickiness going on, um, no matter what direction you go. Um, in terms of like knowing a song is gonna be a hit on the front end, that's really anybody's guess because art is so subjective.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Right.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

So, really, you just kind of approach your session from from our camp's perspective of making the music that you want to make, making the songs that you want to make, and then you kind of like work to make sure that the rest of it kind of falls into place. Every now and then you catch fire and something just immediately blows, but that's more the exception to the rule because if everyone knew how to make a song a hit commercially, then everyone would be doing it all the time. Right. It's more than just about the song itself being great, there's all these other things in the minutiae that have to then follow in order for it all to come together.

SPEAKER_09 12:57

There's like the commercial hit with a hook and whatnot, they call it the Swedish philosophy, you know, where it's a little bit of a lot of people. The Swedish mafia, yeah, they know how to make it.

SPEAKER_04 13:04

Sometimes it's a matter of like timing, it's a matter of like the production sound at the moment, what's happening in music sonically, where what's happening in music business-wise, like how are people building records? Are they building it from the club level? Right. And then, you know, uh passing it off onto like the commercial spaces once it's a club hit. Um, it depends on what kind of label you're with, how their structure is.

SPEAKER_09 13:27

And I remember when I used to DJ all the time with Johnny Dynell, who taught me how to DJ, you would get uh a record or a CD, whatever it was, and you would have big room edit, club edit, radio edit. And like they were just different mixes because there was a way to try and feel how you were putting it out. Are you playing your huge hit for a thousand gays dancing? Or is it one queer driving in the car being like, oh, it's a banger?

SPEAKER_06 13:56

Well, I talked to an old older DJ the other day who was telling me that he used to get a sheet of paper and you had to write out the songs that you played, so you paid royalties at the very early day when you're like we're using uh, you know, when they were in the world.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Yeah, and that's that's a really important point because it's a completely different animal now.

SPEAKER_06 14:11

Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

And there's a lot more real-time um information coming back at you. Um with the record that I just put out with Huguel and MIL Angel uh just on May 22nd, and that was, you know, just five minutes ago. But the feedback and the the reaction worldwide has been so massive. And in real time, we've gotten all this information from around the world of how this record is impacting.

SPEAKER_06 14:37

Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Hugely impacting in a way that we've never gotten that information before. Like even when when we made free and found a cure and all those tracks, there was a uh a bit of a delay in comparison because the internet wasn't what it was now. Social media wasn't what it was now. You know what I mean? So the the trajectory was a little bit slower, a little bit easier to process. Now, in the back then it was kind of like going up that steep hill, that steep climb in the roller coaster, and then you get to the top of it and then it all blows up.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Right.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

But now it's literally like the it's not a tsunami, it's a massive wave that can come out of nowhere if something just catches fire like that. So it's also a matter of like learning the new way that things are maneuvering within the system because the system keeps changing.

SPEAKER_06 15:20

Right, totally. Oh my god, I hear this all the time about the music industry. Like streaming and television and with YouTube, it democratized things in a way so people that had voices that couldn't get out can now put something on YouTube. But then that became a industry, the industry took hold of that and started forcing.

SPEAKER_09 15:37

And it like filtered out piracy into this weird way where it's like you used to just like buy a person's record, and now there's like streaming it and spotifying it and iTunes. It's the Wild West.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

It's the Wow, Wild West.

SPEAKER_09 15:50

It's like and I always um I I I talk with um you know producers and artists a lot, and they tell me to go to is it called Title or Titan or something like that? Title.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Title Is that That one's uh I believe Jay-Z owns that platform?

SPEAKER_09 16:05

I was told they properly pay their artists as opposed to like Spotify or iTunes percentage rate.

SPEAKER_06 16:11

Yeah, that was the whole thing with them, is that they were really it was a bunch of artists that own that basically joined. I mean, Beyonce came famously, she was one of the biggest artists that title signed. Yeah. And because of the And then Jay-Z bought it. Well, no, Jay-Z started it. And the idea was all these artists, I mean Taylor Schwipp went on, like all these people were on it. I don't know how it's doing, but the idea is they get paid.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:30

It just you get stranded. Like the music industry is such a shark, well, the TV industry movie, it's a sharky industry. You know what they mean? That it's hard to navigate.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

But it seems like you've navigated, uh, you you you seem pretty content with the I mean there's there's just the ups and the downs, and I think the longer we've been in the game, we just kind of we've learned how to surf really well.

SPEAKER_06 16:51

That's a good way to put it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Because you really do have to ride the waves, and it's it's uh it's up and it's down, and the like I said, the the the terrain is changing all the time. And you kind of have to know how to maneuver as you know things are evolving and changing around you. Um, with the Spotify and all those things that you mentioned, they've also lowered the entry point, and that's also created a level of devaluing the music, right? Um, people's attitudes towards it, towards supporting artists. Like, you know, there's so there's so much coming at the consumer, it's kind of hard sometimes to you know, reel your makeup record. It's it's absolutely flooded. There's over a hundred thousand tracks released every single week. Like, who can keep up with that?

SPEAKER_03 17:34

And we can put something out, like for instance, I put something out, what there were two weeks that had gone by, and someone inboxed me and said, When are you putting out new music?

SPEAKER_09 17:44

Like, I just did bitch. I just that's also the problem.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

She was DMOs. Yeah, but I played that to death.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

What else you got?

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, how do you build a classic? Yeah, how do DJs build classics any anymore if you can't play a record past three weeks?

SPEAKER_09 17:58

Remember when there were like songs of the summer, like there'd be like a real banger that just lasted for four or five months, all the boys were dancing to her, whatnot? You can't do that anymore. Well, famously Gaga was saying you in the face.

SPEAKER_06 18:10

Gaga was saying, like, she basically put out her first album as a huge hit, and then she went on tour and she would have to record in her bus. Like she that said was to do it in your bus because she still had to crank out. And it were never an album, it was just like a single, a single, a single. She was dropping singles because people were you're like that immediacy or like thirst. Yeah, and they just you know, the thirst.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

The thirst.

SPEAKER_06 18:31

It's weird too because there's so much content, but they're still so hungry for more content. But I guess it's because you can wear headphones and walk around all day now.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

All day. You know, people keep their earbuds, earbuds in their ears. I keep my earbuds in the room.

SPEAKER_09 18:44

Yeah, I keep my earbuds in even when I don't have anything on.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Because happy because you don't know when they're talking to you or if they're on the phone.

SPEAKER_09 18:50

Well, it's also a signifier of like, oh, he's busy. Leave me alone here.

SPEAKER_06 18:53

I always just say sorry, I'm listening to a podcast. I always say I'm sorry, I'm listening to a podcast can't talk to you right now.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 18:59

Well, speaking of podcasts, we're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back with an ultra night and an I Day.

SPEAKER_07 19:10

The cavalry after the plumbing code. So uh you probably know that it's a promotion of a lot of construction going on. This is a trigger warning promotion away from my need of paradise there.

SPEAKER_05 19:40

We are gonna be offering our trigger warning uh listeners and watchers a deal. We have uh we're building casting just down here. You can own one piece of paradise. You can reach out to me and Daniel at nontastaoasis.com.

SPEAKER_09 19:53

And there's a link to it right here.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

And there's a link to it right here, and we'll give you a little special deal if you want to get the I don't want to get it.

SPEAKER_07 20:01

Oh god, grandma's getting nasty.

unknown 20:05

The man of my dreams wanna show me true.

SPEAKER_06 20:09

My name is Daniel Nardiche. We're back here with the Naya Day and Ultranate. Adam, take it away. What do you got to say?

SPEAKER_09 20:15

I need to talk about the song if you could read my mind. So the film Studio 54 came out in August of 1998, and that song literally made me like a boogie in my seat, and the film itself made me realize something within, because I was 15 years old. Um, and two years later, uh two years, sorry, two months later, October, I came out of the closet, and my brother told me it was okay, my sister told me it was okay. I stopped speaking to my mother. We didn't speak for another seven to ten years or whatever. I just told him be a little more Donny and a little less Marie. But all of but all of my friends said, Do you remember that night we went to watch Studio 54? And they played that song, and they were like, It's okay, babs. It's okay. And every time I hear that song, I just think about finding myself. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's tremendous. I mean, you have the two of you have given the queer community so many moments. Like a soundtrack to their lives.

SPEAKER_06 21:31

True. Well, you know, I'm like sometimes people will come up to me and be like, I met my partner at your parties, or you know, stuff like that. It's it it must be gratifying to have people that go these things have you've you've been woven in the soundtrack of people's lives. It's been really Johnny Dynell last night knew you were coming. I don't know if you know Johnny DJ. Johnny played played each of you at one point throughout the night, and and we were just watching it. He goes, Look at this, it's amazing. Like, you know, like they're gonna the people are gonna die. I love it when Johnny says it's like a

SPEAKER_09 22:00

Real club, yeah. About our club because we put in better sound than when you were. We didn't own it last time you were here. Oh, yeah. The last time you were here, they were all up in the ceiling, broken boxes. Now we own the sound from we bought the sound system from Ministry of Sound Singapore. Oh nice! Yeah, so that's what you're hearing. That's why it rings nicely. Excellent. Yeah, yeah. It's incredible. But I I mean, we can't thank you enough for giving us just moments of joy and finding ourselves and feeling free and a nasty girl on the dance floor.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

You know, it's and we thank you. We thank you, we thank the community because many times for me, most of my gigs, if not all, were for a gay audience. Like how faithful and how knowledgeable of the music are they? I mean, it's ridiculous. When all else fails, they've been there for me. So it's mutual.

SPEAKER_06 22:57

Oh, that's very heartwarming.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

That's very heartwarming.

SPEAKER_09 23:00

I mean, who doesn't love a very talented, powerful black woman? She has hitting it with her mind.

SPEAKER_04 23:09

Exactly, my thinking.

SPEAKER_09 23:11

Good, we're on the same page, girl.

SPEAKER_06 23:14

For sure. It's funny. Well, but but yeah, that said, but but also the immediacy thing, what's amazing is when there are the they they haven't moved on, though. That's what that is beautiful when you say they still they still stick with you because there are so many people that are being churned out right now. A few years ago was that there was that girl, uh, I can't remember now name now. It's a pop singer. She was supposed to be the next big thing. They just turned them out, and then you don't hear about them again. Right. Yeah. Yeah, she had a I she had a song I was gonna say. Of course she had a song. Anyway, I can't remember. She had a pop singer with a song. She had a pop singer with a song. But what killed her is that she had to do it live, and I saw it live, and it was so bad. And I think that was the moment.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

I think Anaya and I came out at a time that was really special. Um, the trajectory of our careers within the time span of when house music came from the underground spaces and started making it, making inroads on in Europe and on radio and getting more more and more foothold. Like being a part of that movement really solidified our voices, our our our artistry, our names, our writing skills in a in a time period before everything blew up and blew out and got oversaturated.

SPEAKER_09 24:24

Well, you had like passion over puff, I say. You know, it was like real singers doing real music, actually caring for the track and whatnot. And then it quickly became uh are you hot, are you attractive? Are you sellable, sexy?

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Well, you know, everything gets commodified once it gets popular. Totally. And the and the first thing they do is distill it down for the masses.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

And so you want they wanted they wanted to distill down the voices, the especially black voices, I must say, black women voices, they wanted to.

SPEAKER_06 24:55

How did you feel when Beyonce came out with that house record? Did you feel like, oh, that's really great? It's giving it a new audience, or did you feel like uh Vogue people felt like when Madonna did Vogue, which was they that she exploited it, or did you feel that Beyonce because Beyonce is arguably, I think, the most famous female vocalist, right? You know, she's she's untouchable. That's all you say.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Did you feel like it was uh uh uh an homage, or did you feel kind of like well it personally didn't bother me because you know, I mean, I'm I'm from this community. So there's for me there's no conflict there's no conflict in terms of it uh taking anything away from anything I've contributed to this space or have yet to still contribute to this space.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Right.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Um I've I I have the the unique position of being able to look at things from a commercial side as well as an underground side from being an artist, but also being a business person. I do understand how you know, if you remove yourself from it from a purist standpoint as a as an artist yourself, from a business standpoint and looking at the culture. I would rather, if Beyoncé is the entry point for some kid to understand, hear, know, and fall in love with the culture, and then takes a deeper dive into it, if that's how it gets there, then that's how it gets there.

SPEAKER_09 26:15

I love it.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Yes, I was in Texas and uh we were in Texas, and this little couple was dancing and everything, and my song came on. One of my songs came on, and I was like, oh snap. And my friend Lashonda, she goes, Oh girl, that's you on the playing you and they're dancing. And the kids go, Oh my god, that's house music. I didn't know house music had vocals. I was like, So I was really happy when Beyonce did it because it was like, okay, now they're gonna know house music has vocals.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

And if you look at the through line, you think about where we are with streaming and the discovery uh features in those in those kind of apps. So if Beyoncé is what drives the kids there to look and see and learn more, then in the discovery, you want to hear more music like this, you know, they start to the trickle down starts to happen where the awareness starts to be created around the origins of this of this music.

SPEAKER_06 27:09

Right, because her when you go to Spotify or something like that and you put in that that album, it will do like songs like that, and it will like lead you to other Beyonce radio, and then it leads you otherwise.

SPEAKER_09 27:19

Yeah, I'm so happy and I I'm not surprised, but I'm I'm filled with joy. The house underground community to hear you two say, no, we didn't feel passed over, we feel like foundation, and Beyonce is just another level in the house for some kid to be like, I'm gonna do that. I feel that it can be done. It's inspirational because you have so many people that are I talk about it all the time. There's a fork in the road when it's in like nightlife and you know, entertainment, whatnot. There's cash and there's culture. And when you take the cash route, you normally burn out and you're made fun of or whatever. When you take the culture route, you stick to it, you help others, you build up your community. And I didn't expect a different answer. I really didn't. That's great. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:10

Well, we love you and we thank you for doing this. Um, we're gonna take a break for just one moment and we'll come back. I'm gonna do a quick trigger and then we'll see if uh if the ladies have trigger if anything triggers them. Who knows? Sometimes people think that's a good thing. They're so pleasant. What's so pleasant? What might trigger them, shitty producers.

SPEAKER_09 28:25

We'll be right back in just one moment.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Hi, I'm Lena. And I'm Connie. And you can catch us every Thursday on the cutting up of Kiki with Connie and Lena on all your streaming platforms. Like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube. We're also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. Catch us on Thursdays. This is yo. See you, motherfucker. What's such a natural?

SPEAKER_06 29:04

All right, guys, you're back here at Trigger Warning. My name is Daniel Nordiccio. You know what really triggers me, Adam, is last night we had the underwear party uh here at the Ice Pels. This place was a packed. It was so packed here. Uh it was a wonderful night. She was busting at the seams last night. She was busting the seams last night. And I but I stayed, I twirled a little bit because I'm a woman of a certain age. I'm just kidding, I'm a man of a certain age. I went to bed, you know, and I was your curls. I was in like pin and curlers.

SPEAKER_09 29:32

Turn down music.

SPEAKER_06 29:34

I I went to bed and then I woke up, which I often do in the morning, to all of these texts, like, uh, hey, what's going on? I haven't talked to you in a while. And I, it's like a realtor guy that I haven't talked to in a year. And I know that means he's waiting in line, he wants to get in, he wants to cut the line. So what I've done now is I don't respond, but the next morning I say, Oh my God, this is so great to hear from you. Because I'm working on a project and I need to sell well, we're working on a project, uh Adam and I in Mexico, um, and I need to sell this condo. Um, would you help me with that? And it was like, cricket, cricket. So what I've done is I've turned the whole like get me in for free to you do something for me. Right. And it works because they just they just disappear. So I'm gonna start doing that with everyone. I don't mind compinging. You can cut the line, but you have to sell me a $200,000 condo. This is gonna be an ongoing trigger. I've said this one before. I don't mind you asking me to be comped to something. I really don't. I understand not having money. It's not like I'm running around all people. But just pretend you're a friend. But just call and say, write me and just say, hey girl, I really want to go to this. I just don't have the shekels. And I'll be like, uh no problem at all. Or the whole like, oh my god, I haven't talked to you so long. How have you been? Which you know is gonna be followed by 115 on a Friday.

SPEAKER_09 30:42

Exactly. 1115 on a Friday. I'll be best. That triggers me. Or just like buy the ticket and be like, hey girl, I don't feel like waiting. It's $20. It's $20.

SPEAKER_06 30:51

And if you're on Fire Island, let's face it. You usually have a lot of things. You got $20. Yeah, $20. You got 20 bucks. Anyway, that that's a little bit of a trigger for me.

SPEAKER_09 30:58

What's pissing you off, literally? You go first, Jeff.

unknown 31:02

Me.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

I'll choose one because I have a feeling.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

I have a feeling.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Well, I do a lot of band gigs, and so sometimes I'm the producer, the musical director, the lead singer. I've made the set list. I'm running around, but people text. Hey, I wanted to come tonight, but you know, this bus is taking so long. How much are the tickets to get in? Do they serve food? Dude, there's about to do a show. How do I get in there?

SPEAKER_06 31:35

I get how do you get there? I'm like, they they have this thing called Google Maps.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

Right, and you would be surprised at how many how do I get there's I get every time I perform. How much does it cost to get in? I could do it be doing a festival or something. And they're like, so um, how much does it cost? And I don't know. I'm not throwing the festival. How about just come? I cannot stand it. And God bless my family and friends, but they let me have it. They let me have it.

SPEAKER_09 32:04

Family and friends, if you're listening, Google. It's been a thing for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

That's funny.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

That's that's the leadership problem. When you become when you're a leader, like the people don't they just kind of defer instead of like taking the initiative sometimes.

SPEAKER_06 32:20

You're like, I can go straight to the top.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 32:22

Last week I did a I was in Mexico, as I said, and um there was a big storm, and a tree had fallen on my property. So I was out there literally with an axe chopping a tree, and I got a text message or phone call from the DJ who was DJing. He was filling in here on Friday night, and he goes, It was the day of. And he goes, So we never talked about money. And I'm thinking, and I said to him, I'm sweating like Kesha trying to hit a high note in this Mexican heat.

SPEAKER_09 32:51

Down there like a Paul Bunyan in Mexico.

SPEAKER_06 32:54

Like a ball, exactly.

SPEAKER_09 32:55

Oh, sorry, Pablo Bunyan. Paul Bunyan.

SPEAKER_06 32:58

I was just trying, and I'm like, we're negotiating now. I said, uh, you know, I I completely understand we didn't discuss it before, but I have a standard rate, whatever, and I should have, I shouldn't have. I take as much. But I said, but now you're asking me. So then I told him, and he goes, could is there wiggle room? I said, absolutely there's wiggle room. Had you asked me like a week ago or before you took the gig. Sign the conjunction. It was annoying. It was annoying. But whatever. Sorry to meet it. That was your trigger. I jumped on your trigger because it triggered me hearing your trigger.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

It goes to show that my trigger has merit. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 33:26

Your trigger definitely has merit. We all have that problem.

SPEAKER_06 33:29

And Ultra, before I I forget, I have to say this. You we mentioned before we went on the air here that uh, or before we started recording, that your your name is actually originates from the perfume alternate alternate. Uh no, sorry. Ginita. Ginnitate. Yeah, ginnitate. And I remember when I was a kid, my mom had a giant bottle, the kind that you get that you get only it's like a promotional bottle. It was right next to the promotional vodka bottle. Promotional vodka.

SPEAKER_09 33:56

There was the promotional vodka. The promotional vodka was empty.

SPEAKER_06 33:59

My mom emptied that one out. I know she got it. I think she got it from like a counter where they, you know, they stole it. She stole it.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

Wow. But yes, my mother was motive was very inspired by the Gene Nate perfume. Yeah. So that's where she got Nate from.

SPEAKER_06 34:19

That is a that's a funny thing. What are the top notes? Let's just say it's not.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

I have a question. How did you get your first name? Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_06 34:35

Oh, this is good. Whatever we got.

SPEAKER_04 34:38

She already knows the answer. Oh, okay. She's like, you're intentionally leaving that part out.

SPEAKER_09 34:43

All right, where's the first name from?

SPEAKER_03 34:46

Spit it out.

SPEAKER_04 34:47

From Ultra Sheen Cosmetics.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

Yes. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_06 34:54

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

I live. So you didn't want to go with ultra beats. Ultra Sheenate. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 35:00

Oh my god, that's good. That's okay. Good for her. But it's a good name. I mean ultra nutte is a good name.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

She thought ultra was a great would be a great name.

SPEAKER_09 35:09

She had to be wonderful with names like Ultra. Wait, Ultra's not your real name.

SPEAKER_04 35:14

Birth certificate.

SPEAKER_09 35:15

Birth certificate. Ultra nut.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

Day one.

SPEAKER_09 35:18

Day one. I thought gobsmax. I'm gobsmacked. Yeah, gooped and gobbed. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

That name just catapulted you to success before you even started.

SPEAKER_09 35:28

You know what's a shame is that I don't know your parental history, but my parents were never going to ever reach a level of coolness to give me a name like that.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

That was all my mother. That was all her. That's pretty great.

SPEAKER_09 35:41

Is she a cool cat?

SPEAKER_04 35:42

Yeah, she still is. Still is.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

If you see pictures of them side by side, you'd understand everything.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

Yep. Yep. She still is.

SPEAKER_03 35:51

She's a wild child.

SPEAKER_09 35:52

Did she drive the bus? No, my mother can dance, like dance dance.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

Well. Yeah, she was a dancer back in the day.

SPEAKER_09 35:59

Wow. All right, give us the trigger.

SPEAKER_04 36:01

I would say probably people shitting on your music or something online instead of just, you know, in a world scrolling by if you don't like a song.

SPEAKER_09 36:12

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

I don't need don't need your opinion.

SPEAKER_09 36:14

It's very old school. Like if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything nice at all. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

Because it's like, imagine me caring about your opinion if you don't like a song.

SPEAKER_06 36:25

Right, totally.

SPEAKER_04 36:25

And we're and you can just scroll.

SPEAKER_06 36:28

There's so many things in the world that I don't like, but I don't think about necessarily going on and commenting on it. You know what I mean? Like exactly.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

That's exactly the way it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_06 36:36

If there's a criticism that's sometimes there's a smart criticism, I'll be like, okay, I took that in, but like a lot of but most of the time it's just like nasty.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

No, most of the time it's just yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's just all for attention. It's all for attention. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:48

And the internet made everyone feel like they have a voice. And I hate to say it, but like Shut up. Shut up.

SPEAKER_04 36:53

Shut up that voice. It's very, yeah, it's very well. You know, the thing about the the human brain is that you it, you know, you things stick out more if it's negative than positive.

SPEAKER_06 37:04

Yeah, why is that?

SPEAKER_04 37:06

I think it's just our wiring.

SPEAKER_06 37:07

It's like if if you put out a if you put on something on Facebook and a hundred people said, Oh my god, this track slaps, as the kids say. And one person said, Oh, this is tired, retreat, whatever, blah, blah. Right. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time. I'm changing my brain though.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

Yeah, you can rewire your brain.

SPEAKER_06 37:24

I would focus on that, and then I realized like you can actually train your brain to focus on the pot. We when we took this over, to uh not to make this about us, but when we took over the ice powers four years ago, it was a monumental effort to return it over. And and the town who had complained about the prior owner just switched and started complaining about us. And I was like, oh my God, they they a lot of the locals now it's changed, but the future. You started the white wine club. I started the Cherry Group White Wine Club, and it was a Facebook group for all their whining about stuff. Um things that they just whined about everything. They whined about they whined about the push pins, which have been around for 20 years. Everyone, all of a sudden, we were dogs were being maimed and people were crawling on the bloody like they were crazy the town. That was just that they want to complain. So I started the White Wine Club. But my point is, um, I and I got the first year I was tempted to get bitter. Uh think about that. And then I I stopped and I said, Daniel, watch all the people who come up in support. What focus on the people that are really excited about. Now, of course, they give up, they always do the negative ones, they eventually get tired.

SPEAKER_04 38:26

Yeah. But um anyway, we and they know they can't, that it doesn't impact you in a real way, they will give up.

SPEAKER_06 38:32

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 38:32

It's just it just to me, the like the energy to even do that is so bizarre. Right. You know, and then when you're an artist, like everybody has an opinion. And being an artist is to me, is like one of the most courageous things you can you can be out there because you put yourself out there every single time you are in front of people, whether you're live or whether it's music that you're putting out, you are opening yourself up for everybody's criticism. And to be able to do that over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

And that comes from inside, and we're going here, presenting it, and somebody goes, You're giving your heart and soul to the total. Some people can't take it, it's not for everyone.

SPEAKER_06 39:11

No, it's not for the faint of heart. Being an artist is not for the faint of heart.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

Yeah, you know, bad things attached to music to this industry.

SPEAKER_09 39:20

I'll wrap it up with my last trigger. Oh, you gotta try to I forgot you. I'm here. Yeah, yeah, sorry. He does the show by himself. No, we heard you. No, mine's actually mine's actually really simple. I love that you all had big, you know, huge things. Um, because we're in the club so much, we're all in the club so much. Let's talk about fucking gum. I love that you have fresh breath. I love I'll I'll make out with you. I don't care. There are trash cans everywhere. I know totally. Every piece of gum comes with a fucking wrapper. Why am I finding it on my speakers, on the walls, on toilets? Like oh, don't even talk about under the bar. I wiped under the bar.

SPEAKER_06 40:03

I thought that was a cliche.

SPEAKER_09 40:05

I mean, I guess is there a part of it that's like we're giving people the ability to like be their child, you know, like you're in the sound bath having a blast that you feel like you can like under the desk your gum. Throw it the fuck out. No, totally. It's disgusting. Our employees should be like mopping the floors and taking the treasure, scraping your fucking gum off. Yeah, totally. Find a garbage can, you piece of shit. Well, all right. All right, I'm done.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Well, to treat your house, sorry. Treat the house like it's your own house. Why don't people come to a club and re-educate your crowd?

SPEAKER_09 40:36

Why don't people come to a club like it's their living room? That's right.

SPEAKER_06 40:39

We're opening a place in Mexico, which is gonna be purely music, a little a nightclub that's purely music, like no drag queen screaming, make some noise. And um that's that was his very first trick. And it's called Temple, and the idea is that it's a temple for music. And you know, at some point when we open, which is gonna hopefully happen soon, we'll let you know because I'd love to have you guys.

SPEAKER_09 40:56

Oh, you guys gotta come to Mexico. Yeah, totally. We're in this little beach town.

SPEAKER_06 41:00

We're at Oaxaca and Coast. We're in this little beautiful beach town that's incredible.

SPEAKER_09 41:03

And it's like optional. Totally optional, yeah. But it's you like to have your you know, take old biddies out.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 41:18

Well, I uh I I know you guys have to get ready, and I want to just say we're honored. I'm truly honored that you guys did are doing this. I'm so excited after just hearing this little bit of a sound check. I'm like, ooh, everyone's running around, all excited. Um, thank you so much for doing taking the time to do this. Thank you. Thank you to Bill for or helping us organize.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

Thank you, Bill.

SPEAKER_06 41:38

I was in Mexico a lot of the negotiating, and I I'm sure he lost a few hairs or they went gray because I didn't respond right away. I apologize on the air.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

I know.

SPEAKER_06 41:48

He's still got those flacks and locks. Anyway, uh, thank you guys for listening. Thank you guys for being here. Uh this was Trigger Warning. Have a good week.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 42:02

Trigger Warning, hosted by Dalen Ardicho and Adam Meet Hammer Clesh, is a Pride House media production and produced by Josh Rosensweig. Please note the views reflected in this podcast do not represent the views of Red Eye, the Ice Palace, or any of its subsidiaries. And any reference to Scat, shrimping, upperductor, skank, smash baiting, rump riding, wolfbagging, Cleveland Steamers, Jigglypuffing, Rusty Trombones, Cosby Sweaters, Mexican pancakes, and Alabama Hot Pockets are the views of Mr. Ardicho, Mr. Clesh, and his listeners, not the establishment. If you are offended, please seek immediate psychiatric attention.

SPEAKER_06 42:30

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you're there, leave us a rating and review it. It really helps others discover the show. And if you didn't enjoy this episode, don't tell anyone. Stay connected and join the conversation by following us on Trigger Warning Podcast. And you can send us your questions or hate mail to triggered at triggerwarning.com