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And we stand in solidarity with.

Transmission on 4zzz, amplifying the trans and gender diverse community of Meanjin, Brisbane and beyond. Hello. Hello, you're listening to transmission on 400 and greatest radio station on earth. My name is EZ, I use he

him pronouns and my name is Elliot. I also use he him pronouns.

It's a he him gang. For the moment. For the moment, yeah. And this episode of Transmission is packed with conversations around community events as well as new music and other. I'm trying to think of multidisciplinary performances and experiences all relating to trans and gender diverse artists and creators. And I'm so excited. We've got a comedian in studio today who we'll be chatting to shortly about their new stand up gig called Frozen Girl Sperm. I'm so keen to talk about that. I have so many questions that I haven't asked a single one because I want to ask them all on air. But before we get into all the fun things that are happening for this episode, let's get into the week in community news. All right, Elliot, would you like to take it away?

Yeah, for sure. So. A Queensland psychiatrist has been restricted over online comments on gender. He's been ordered by Australia's medical regulator to stop making public statements about gender following complaints on over his online contact. His name is Dr. Andrew Amos. He's a prominent critic of gender affirming care and has been directed by the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency to cease posting on gender related topics and is also barred from having direct clinical contact with patients while the matter is addressed. Regulators say that the restrictions are aimed at protecting public safety and maintaining professional standards, particularly where online commentary may be considered harmful or discriminatory. The case has sparked debate within the medical community, with some arguing that action is necessary to uphold ethical procedures practise, while others claim it is raising concerns about limits on professional free speech. The decision highlights ongoing tensions around transgender healthcare, medical regulation and public discourse in Australia.

Also, the ABC cuts ties with LGBTQ plus and diversity groups over independence concerns. The Australia. Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC has ended its membership with several diversity organisations, including Akon's Pride in Diversity programme following an internal review into editorial independence. The decision also affect affects partnerships with the Australian Disability Network and the Diversity Council of Australia. The ABC says the memberships were no longer providing sufficient value and that the move is part of a broader effort to maintain impartiality and public trust. The change follows years of political and media scrutiny over whether involvement in external benchmarking programmes such as Akon's Workplace Equality Index could create a perception of bias in the broadcasters reporting. While the ABC insists it remains committed to diversity inclusion, it will now redirect funding into internal initiatives instead. Akon has responded by stating it does not influence editorial content as debate continues over how media organisations balance inclusion efforts with journalistic independence. Yeah, disappointing. Sounds like community radio is pretty much where it's at still. Everybody, if you're interested. Sure, yeah.

And we also have so New York City has established the first LGBTQIA affairs office led by a transgender director. The Mayor, Zoran Mandamini, has announced the creation of the city's first ever Office of LGBTQIA affairs, appointing civil rights lawyer Taylor Brown as its inaugural director. The move marks a historic milestone, with Brown becoming the first transgender person to lead a New York City government office. The new office will coordinate LGBTQ policy across city agencies, strengthen anti discrimination measures and expand protections for queer communities. Taylor Brown, a black, biracial transgender woman with a background in organisations including the ACLU and Lambda Legal, says she is committed to ensuring New York remains a safe and inclusive city for marginalised people. The announcement comes at a time of heightened national debate over transgender rights in the United States, including concerns about access to gender affirming health care. City officials say the new office is intended to reinforce New York's position as a sanctuary for LGBTQIA people and to respond to growing challenges facing the community. Yay.

Oh my gosh. So happy we got Taylor Brown. You sound bad ass. I'm so keen you're there. Also transmasc athletes take podium finish at major Ironman event A team of transmasc athletes has taken out third place in a major Ironman triathlon in California, beating more than 200 other teams in the process. Team Iron Transmasc made up of swimmers. Sorry, there's things popping up. Shayla Byler, cyclist Chella man and runner Cal Calamia completed competed in the 2026 Ironman 70.3 Oceanside Relay, securing a podium finish in the men's division. The trio combined their individual strengths across swimming, cycling and running to deliver a standout performance in one of the world's most demanding endurance events. The athletes say their achievement is about more than sport, describing it as a celebration of trans visibility, collaboration and joy at A time of increasing scrutiny on transgender participation in athletics competing. Just days after global policy debates about trans inclusion intensified, the team said they hope their performance would inspire others and challenge negative narratives. They have indicated plans to continue competing together with a focus on expanding visibility and opportunities for trans athletes in endurance sports. Oh, yes, I love that. Do you think they had an unfair advantage because they were once women?

Because women are better than men?

Yeah.

The ability to endure more?

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think. I think maybe they had an unfair advantage.

Yeah, I think that, yeah, that it's really goes to show.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think. I think all the CIS men competing were really, really disadvantaged by the elite skills that come with being born perceivably woman and that enabled them to. To win, don't you think? Yeah. I really hope you understand sarcasm, dear four Triple Z listener. Yes. Anyway, trans women in sport just as valid as trans men in sport. Don't forget trans men are out there competing and winning.

Trans men, I feel, win more competitions than trans women do. Like, I see more visible trans men winning things.

Yeah, well, CIS men don't try as hard as women generally.

It's true. It's true. This is why watching women's sports is so much more fun.

Yeah. Watch the Matildas. They're fantastic.

We're done.

So I got things stuck in my throat. We're all good. Okay, we're going to move on to some community events. Frozen Girl Sperm, which is a comedy show. A Big fork Theatre, Friday 24th of April from 7 o'. Clock. You can get some tickets online. They're $21.80 online. It's a funny show about sperm. Frozen Girl Sperm is comedian Jay Heather's hilarious exploration of having her sperm frozen, but having no plans for it to become anything more than that. So go on and cheque out Jay Heather at the Big Fork theatre on Friday 24th of April. And we'll have a chat to Jay himself and talk all about it. But yeah, I'm keen. Yeah, yeah. What else is going on?

Navi Koran is doing the Mystic Tour. It's very cool. It's Mystiq. It's at the Cave Inn in Woolloongabba on the 17th of April from 5pm It's 20 bucks if you're a concession ticket, 30 bucks for standard and 40 bucks for the Allies. You can book online. Navikaran's Mystic Tour comes from comes to Brisbane Meanjin. It's a live music concert in dedication to the power of poetry and queer legacy conveyed over dance music club Poetry, R and B and rap. Mystic Discotheque is Navi Karan's latest music offering. It is both a call to action and celebration. A prayer and perversion. We welcome all misfits, freaks, lovers and magic holders. What to expect A relaxed, informal poetry night style gathering with music, community and live performance. Sounds wonderful.

We will also be having a chat with Navi Karan later in today's episode. All about the Mystique tour as well as their new music that they've come out. That they've come out with. Yes, it's good. Mystique. Mystique. Mystique. It's got a cue on the end just to throw you off. Yeah, I'll throw you into the queue, you know, the queer end of things.

I love it.

Anyway, it's also April Atonement, which means subscribe to 4zzz, particularly if you have forgotten about it. Now's your time to jump back.

So what is April Atonement? It's hard to label but it's a way you, your art, your band and your business can support 4zzz. Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich or the Sunny Coast. You're a part of the 4zz circle. Let's work together to keep community and culture strong in our city. So cheque your sub status, join for the first time or renew your subscription. This April Atonement. You can win some great prizes. It's easy.

Go to 4zzz.org au you're listening to Transmission on 4 for Triple Z. My name is Ez He Him.

My name is Elliot, also he him

and my name's Jay. Heather.

Do it again.

Hello, my name is Jay Heather. She her. Have you got me?

Yeah, yeah, I got. I did it. I pushed the right buttons. Hi Jay, how you doing?

Good, good. How are you all?

Oh, we're so good, yeah. So glad to have you here. And I guess we should tell listeners why you're here.

I'm here.

Yeah. So tell us a little bit. What do you do and what are we looking forward to?

So I'm an improviser, comedian, musician sort of thing and I've got a show coming up. I've got a Show next Friday, 24th of April. It's called Frozen Girl Sperm and it's a fun mix of like comedy, stand up, sketches, bit of music as well. Just all about my sort of experience with having sperm in storage. And I have absolutely no plans for it but I still pay for it and I just get reminded of it on a regular basis. It's a fun time.

Hey have you checked out your deposit? It's doing all right. It's still cold. It's on ice.

We changed fridges the other day. It's great.

Yeah, yeah.

It's like checking on a dog. If you got a dog in a kennel or something. It's like, I want pictures of it, please.

Are you taking it out for walks? What's going on?

Does it get along well with the other sperm?

Is it socialising? Oh no, don't socialise it too much.

No, no, no, no. 1.5 metres, please. So frozen girl sperm stand up, like obviously a few things going on there.

Few things going on there.

It's about an hour long show. What's going on for this hour? Like with that. Obviously you can't do that.

Yeah, I know it's always a hard one to describe. So I've kind of built it around like I've, I've written, there's a few sort of stand up pieces, there's a few bits from life. So like there's the experience of what it's actually like to go to a clinic and do the deed of freezing the sperm. And I've got sort of some fun. I take a very like lighthearted approach. Like nothing. It's not a two series show. It is sort of talking about the experience of that. Also the thoughts of like, I think everyone has the gets question, do you want kids someday? Like, yeah, no one's gotten through life without that question. And I think that's a very kind of, how to put it, universal experience of everyone. So I kind of explored that in my own little unique perspective of this reminder that this is here sitting there going like, what's it there for? Because if it's not, if I've just kept it there and I have no plans for kids, then I've just paid for the privilege for eight years of keeping this bodily fluid cold. Like if I just. There's nothing else to it. So yeah, I sort of jump around that a little bit about my queer experience through transitioning. All with this just kind of lens around that. It's just a fun time.

How long. So how long you been doing comedy? Is this the first show?

Yeah, this is kind of my debut full hour show. So I've been doing improv for about four years at Big Fork Theatre which is just great sort of community. It's allowed me to sort of get into performing and kind of find like, oh, I can actually do this. And then I did a half hour version of the show last year with a friend of Mine, Caitlin, we just did sort of a split bill. I sort of gone, oh, okay, this is fun. And then I thought, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make a full hour out of it. So, yeah, I'm super excited. Debut hour, long show.

It's the Me show. Everybody come see it. And so what's comedy? What's comedy like, you know, like as a trans person? Cause I feel like I get algorithms now where I get so many trans comedians and they're so funny and they're making such great, great content and I'm like, oh, trans comedians, where the hell are you?

So fun. Yeah, so good.

How are you finding arriving at the station?

It's interesting actually. So, like at Big Fork, there's a bunch of queer people. It's a queer environment. It's great. I love it. And I think getting into that and getting into improv is you're playing with like being different people, being in different scenarios, and you end up playing around with gender a fair bit because, like, you're not going into a scene always as like the gender you are if you don't want to. And you're just mucking around. So I think it's just a really sort of fun to bring that sort of different perspective. It can be a little bit. Like sometimes you don't want to bring full queer into it and you just want to bring observation about life. And sometimes you do and it's great.

That's awesome. And do you find when you were doing your impromptu, like, do you do. Do you go to like, what's it called the. Where you go to comedy nights and

you just, just like.

Oh, like crowd worky sort of things that we're talking about?

Yeah, no, like, you know, you go to a comedy club and you just like, you just sign up on the night and you just go up and do a stand up.

Oh, like open mic stuff. Open mic, yeah.

Oh my gosh.

I actually haven't done too many open mic things, so I've done that.

Terrify me.

Yeah, look, they're a whole different ball game sort of thing. Like, it's such a different sort of crowd environment. You've got to get like this sort of crowd of people just drinking and eating food to be on side of. Like, I'm saying some funny things here where I really do like the kind of. I like to write my comedy and sort of have it. Like, I do like improv, but like in this show, it's all written stuff that I've kind of really like nailed down. And played with fine tuning, fine tune and sort of. There's a bit more of a, I guess a thread through it. Whereas I feel like the open mics of the five minute sets, like you really need. You got that, have that real punchy, punchy little things. And it's a different, different show to that. I do want to get better at that 5 minute ones as well, but

those are so scary. I think there's like, you know, one liner, punch lines, moving on to the next and like also then anticipating, you know, the crowd to not even land anything and then you just stand sweating looking. Whereas if I do that on radio, no one sees me. So that's my logic. They can. They can't see me sweating.

Yeah, no, But I think with this show too, I love involving a little bit of my music into it as well. I think it's really nice to have it like it's split up. I kind of. I've. The songs I've written into it aren't always that funny. They're not like supposed to be funny. I just kind of like the change in mood to everything and kind of involve like the change in like some things, people are laughing, some people are like, oh, that's just nice of music and. Yeah.

Is this some music that you've recorded previously or is. Will this be like a live element?

This will be a live element. So couple with like sort of backing tracks that I've all produced and then a couple, just me and guitar on the stage.

Yeah. Great. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for this.

That's so fun. I love that.

And tell us a little bit about your journey to. To get to here. So have you always had an interest in theatre? Have you been a theatre kid or is comedy. Was comedy. Did comedy just happen to you or did you find it?

Not exactly. I think comedy's always been something I've loved growing up, like watching abc, watching all the sketch shows on TV and stuff growing up. And that's always been there of like. I've always been drawn to comedy versus probably any other genre. And then through sort of school I did do drama, but then I was kind of a bit of a, I guess a nerdy kid, like the physics, maths, B, math C, sort of one. I did a statistics degree of all things as well. Hilarious, hilarious degree for everyone involved. So kind of had a bit of a, I guess quiet spot of not really making any comedy, but consuming lots of it. And then as I sort of found a bit more spare time into like the Last sort of few, five years or so have been able to go like, oh, I can actually sort of find the groups and find. Actually doing comedy and realise like, oh, I can make this. I can do this. Anyone. Like, you can just make comedy and make people laugh and it's just a great feeling. Yeah.

Oh, I love making people laugh.

Yeah.

Do you think that's like the main. Is that. Is that your main goal, to make people laugh?

I think for the. I think for the show it is. It's like, yeah, if people aren't laughing, I think that's. The show isn't going too well.

Please come along on the 20 on the 24th of April and laugh.

No, I, like, I want people to have a good time, I think. And I think comedy is such a good way of like expressing a bit of a message and like an easy way in for people because I think it's like, it doesn't make. It makes you feel relaxed, it makes you go like, oh, cool, I can laugh at this and. And still kind of take in something that I wouldn't have before, maybe.

Yeah, well, that's great. And where can we find you? Where can we follow you? How do.

Ah, so I'm on Instagram. J Heather Au. Not too active on there, mostly the promo sort of stuff. I've also got a little band duo with my friend Kelsey, we're called. Then again, we've got a little bit on YouTube and Spotify. Just making some mix between sort of electronic music sometimes. And our live set is a bit acoustic as well. We're working out how to make that into a. How to turn electronic music into live music via the guitar. Via the guitar. Only via an acoustic, unamplified guitar.

Do you have your friend in the background saying, beep, beep, beep. Like just. It's all making up some electronic background.

It's fully archipelago electronic music. It's what everyone really, really wants.

Acapella Edmund.

And yeah, just look out for me at Big Fork Theatre as well. I perform there in improv shows pretty regularly. We've got another one called Girl Band coming up on the 6th of June. So that's me and four other improvisers, all these super funny women and we do basically an improvised sort of parody of the Spice Girls.

Oh, my God, yes.

And so we make up. We do, yeah, improvised songs and then scenes in between it sort of just playing with that idea of this, like, big, big stadium concert that the Spice Girls used to do and just playing with those characters and it's super Fun.

Which Spice Girl are you?

I've been playing Sporty Spice. I think I'm gonna move to Baby Spice for the next one. We're just gonna muck around with the characters. It's good to move. Yeah.

And does everyone like Posh Spice or

everyone loves Posh Spice,

the trope?

No. Well, yeah, that's super fun.

Great. And yeah, follow. Cheque that out. Frozen Girl sperm will be. Yeah. So $21.80 for a ticket on Eventbrite at Bigfoot Theatre next Friday, April 24th. Please go cheque it out. I'm so keen, I'm gonna acquire myself a ticket.

And yeah, I will say too, if you would like to come and you're hearing this, feel free to use the code FGS15 for a $15 ticket.

Hello.

Oh, FGS15. All right. I'm winking at you, listener. Get. Get on it.

I'm a uni student, so I need that.

Yes, yes.

Peter Sterling, the only man in the

world who's given birth to a child. Someone might say you're a bit of a queer, and they'd be wrong. You're listening to Transmission on four Triple Z and yeah, Transmission. All about amplifying the voices of the trans and gender diverse community here in Meanji in Brisbane and beyond. And just throughout this week, I've been having catching up with some incredible artists for you to listen back to our awesome chats. I was chatting to Navi Koran about their tour, the Mystique Tour, including music and film and other things that they've been up to. So without further ado, let's listen to Navi Koran, my chat with Damon earlier in the week. Hi, Navi, how are you doing?

I'm so grateful to be here and so excited that I'm going to be in Brisbane in just over a week now.

Oh my gosh, you are. You're going on tour. The Mystique Tour, 2026. Do you want to tell us a little bit about the tour?

Yeah.

So the Mystique tour is a seven part celebration of my ep Mystique Discotheque, which is the third EP in my Discotheque series of works that I've been sharing over the last four years now. And every show is different. We were in Alice Springs just over a week ago and we'll be in Castle, Maine this weekend. Brisbane, Geelong, Newcastle, Sydney. And then we are closing the tour with a homecoming in naam. Every show in the tour is different to accommodate and give flowers to the various aspects of queerness that is keeping Us strong at the moment, all the way from music to the legacy of transphobe to fashion, to being together with humans and family and children. And I'm so excited that I get to do this work in this time when, you know, it is becoming increasingly inaccessible to be an artist and a public artist at that.

You're so talented and intersectionally talented, which makes sense that you are bringing this multidisciplinary tour and keeping it different at every venue that you travel to. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what inspired you to have these different intersections at your different shows, these different disciplines?

Part of the reason is that I happen to be in really beautiful connections with a range of artists that do all the way, like, you know, do things like DJ at raves to smash poetry nights, to put together really good house parties, to, you know, just, you know, have a great sense of fashion. And so something that I really wanted to preface in this tour was this aspect of collaboration. We are working with about 45 artists across the tour. Wow. A majority of them, except for one, is a queer, trans person of colour. And I'm so proud that we are able to do this work on this level without necessarily any industry support. Pretty much the, you know, the only space that I've been engaging with, except for social media, is public radio and community radio. And it is so special to be able to work with a range of incredibly talented artists. And I love that you say that I'm talented and I feel that similarly with every single one of my collaborators and I want us to be able to be recognised more thoroughly by the industry. A majority of the artists I'm working with have been doing this for over 10 years and it's insane that we don't reserve, we don't receive the recognition. And so part of this tour and part of wanting to do this, do a different show every night, is also to show the versatility of our work. And what inspires me, inspires them and inspires and brings us all together.

For. For anyone who's familiar with your work, Navi, for anyone who maybe who's also seen Brown Church or experienced that incredible body of work that you did with Brown Church, what do you have to say to listeners who. Or people who are interested in coming to the cave in on the 17th of April? What can they look forward to seeing that might be similar to Brown Church? Or is this totally different? Like, tell us a little bit about that.

We have for the Brisbane show. We've got three incredible friends of mine who are also Poets that will be warming up the venue for us. They're taking a whole hour to share some incredibly grounding poetry. Mini Richani, Huda the Goddess and Ethan Barlow are three incredibly talented artists who have inspired my own ways of being and my own practises of queerness. They don't necessarily all identify as queer. And I think what's really beautiful about poetry, and to pull very humbly from Audre Lord, is that poetry has helped illuminate parts of me that I didn't necessarily realise needed language and needed a strong sense of interiority. And so, for folk who have witnessed some of my previous work, and I'm hoping to bring a, you know, a bigger sense of a new audience from Brisbane, particularly those who are people of colour and trans, is that there will be a really strong touch of poetry and then a really strong touch of dance music and electronic pop music and a lot of community. And so I really encourage people who want to come alone. This is a good gig to come alone. I've been thinking about this a lot because you will meet people and if anything, you will be my friend at the end of the night. So you will not go home alone.

Oh. And you have a tendency to bring people together who are just so wonderful and willing to say hi, to make hide of new people and make connections. So I think, yeah, if you're contemplating whether this is a gig for you, it's a gig for everyone, that's for sure. So, also, you've got. In one of your posts about the tour, you said, it's club, it's dance, it's R and B and rap, it's house, it's kind of. It's like everything, right? You're touching on a whole bunch of different genres that you've worked in and overlapped. And also, you're just so vibrant and colourful. There's not really a question in here kind of gushing about how great you are now, but thank you. Yeah. So what have you been working on? Is this all leading up to. Is it going to be an album launch out of this? Is there. What. What other aspects or things are you pulling on for this incredible tour?

So, last week, on Transitive Visibility, I put. I shared my ep. It's called Mystique Discotech. It's only available on Bandcamp, and all of my portion of the royalties will be donated to Beyond Bricks and Bras to support.

Oh, that's amazing.

Yeah.

I'm really lucky that I'm at a place where I can afford rent and I really want my Art and my work and our work to liberate anyone that they can not from necessarily like a white saviour perspective. As much as I know that when you know, when someone else is free, that adds to my liberation. The EP is out in bandcamp and so you will find it under my name, Navi Karan. It's a six track project in four languages. I've covered two of my favourite tracks from South Asia. And so the project in itself is this really beautiful, noisy sentiment to trance rage and to the range of experiences that trans femmes experience. There is a storyline in the project that will be revealed and talked about more in a future project where this EP ends with a club being set on fire and the lead protagonist, who is this trans femme is. Who is murdered in that club. And this EP is a prequel to Chic Discotheque, which is my first EP that I put out in 21. And in the place of that burnt club is where this new club, Chic Discotheque, was born. And I'm really inspired by this idea of fire as an element that destroys but also renews. I'm in a phase of my life where I've experienced such deep levels of grief and I think we're all experiencing various levels of grief. Grief that is interpersonal grief, that is intergenerational grief, that's ancestral grief, that's global. And I want this music to offer a place of solace for people that will maybe need some more. And so, yeah, so that's. That's one way of answering that. So there's music in relation to this tour? Yeah, there's gonna be so much more. I'm trying to take it one, one day at a time and figure this out.

It's interesting. I feel like you're trying to potentially, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're trying to create an event that inspires the intersections of all the experiences that trans people of colour experience every day and the wide range of things that we're experiencing in a. In a world that's becoming incredibly divisive and quite dangerous for trans people. You're trying to make something. I feel like you're trying to make something that's going to be beautiful, the beautiful storey of our life. Even though there may not be peace everywhere in the world for us, I

think there's power in trans ego and not in a way that is self centred as much as that is community led and for community by community. I think now more than ever it's really important for trans folk to be loud, to be bold, to be and to really demand for our needs and to speak for what we need. And I think that for me, music is a way of doing that and movement and fashion and club is a way of doing that. Food is a big part of that for me. You know, Brisbane is so close to my heart because it, it burst of a range of my genders, a range of parts of my genders. And I hope that I can continue offering that to other trans folk, to younger trans folk that may engage with my work.

How long have you been working on this tour? On this, on this creation. Birthing this creation.

Yeah. So this particular project that we've been working on for two years now. So this EP is co produced by an artist called Simu Su who is a NAAM based queer non binary person. And the tour we've been working on since late October last year. I had this little idea of wanting to do a show in NAAM to release the episode and I then felt very selfish that we were sticking to naam. And so then I messaged a bunch of my friends at a few different places and asked if they would throw parties with me. And then this is how it slowly. And I had a whole wall covered with ideas for a few months. Yeah. And so it's, it's been, it's been a long time coming and I'm so

happy that it's out, it's living, it's breathing. Do you want to tell us again where can we see you? How can we get tickets?

Yes.

So my show at Brisbane is on 17 April at the cave Inn in Wolongaba. So if you went into the Cave Inn's Instagram, you will find a link in your bio or more ideally, you could come find me on Instagram Navikaran, which is N a V I K A R a N N double a V I K A R a N. And if you come to my Instagram, there's a link in bio, which is essentially my website and that will give you all of the information of the tour, all the way from the press release to the photographs to the music and then the links to the different shows. So if you're not from Brisbane or if you're travelling someplace else, you'll also have something for you there.

Amazing. Okay, you've got to cheque that out. I do, I will. I'll stick some links up on the transmission socials as well, so people know where to find you. But I also had another question for you. About another project that you've worked on. You did a film recently, is that right?

Yes.

Do you want to talk a little bit about where are you from?

Yeah, so I made a short film, my debut project, it's called where are you from? And it's also a sort of documentary style music video for the first track I ever wrote. So it's the second track from my, I guess baby project, Brown Church. So Brown Church, where are you from? Is from Brown Church, if you remember. And where are you from? Is also me exploring rap and you know, engaging in rap as a practise. And so we made this film on a whim because I really wanted to start making music videos and then it turned into a really sort of heart driven project with a bunch of other trans folk. And yeah, it's done quite well. We premiered at ACMI with a film festival called Tilda, which is a transgender divers film festival festival based here in naam Melbourne. And then it's travelled across the world. It was part of Melbourne Queer Film Festival. It's playing in Ireland this month. It's been to the us, it's been to a few places in Europe. It's played at a festival in Nepal. I think it's been to about nine festivals across the world.

Yeah, I can see you've been like, you've been selected for a bunch of different awards including in Seattle, Queer Shorts, Vienna. This is excellent. I'm so happy for your success. This is amazing. Even in cabin two, my goodness.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's weird because

I'm seeking asylum and so I don't, I'm not able to leave the country to travel and so it's always this surreal experience when your work is witnessed by complete strangers in a place that you cannot visit.

Yeah, that would be strange.

It's been bittersweet and I'm, you know, overall grateful, but it's so nice.

Yeah. And how, if, if any of our Brisbane based listeners or podcast listeners are wanting to catch this film, whereabouts would they go to to watch at this point?

You'll have to DM me really nicely to, to receive a secret link to watch the film just because it's been. I'm still waiting to hear back from a few more festivals and so I can't publicly share the link. But you know, if you send me a really sweet message, I'll be so inclined to let you watch the film. But I'm hoping to release it publicly this year, hopefully sometime. We're also working on a new Film. So I don't want to gatekeep. I want to be the least gatekeeper of my work in this lifetime.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, when it's out, when it's released, when it's easy to access and people don't have to sneak into your DMs and wink at you, let us know and we'll let the community know that it's available as well. Might be really awesome to do like a screening or something even with the Cave in or somewhere up here as well.

That could be really cool.

Yeah, look, we haven't. Maybe, maybe we will do a screening at the Cave in for my show on the 17th of April. So, you know, maybe it's film and it's poetry and music. So you should come find out the

incredible, wonderful, multi disciplinary intersectional talent that is Navi Karan. Thank you so much for chatting with me today. Yeah, love you, Heat.

Thank you so much for having me. Okay. Okay, let's do this.

In my.

Ram he norim.

Now, Sam,

It's that there was Kojai by Navi Karan. You'll listen to transmission on 4ZZZ. My name is Ez He him and you're listening to trans Music Power. And speaking of trans musicians and power, there's been a brand new album has come out by Cry Club, High Voltage Anxiety, which came out the end of March. I love it so much and I love it so much that I tracked down the band and made them have an interview with me. Although they were, I didn't. They didn't, they weren't. Look, they weren't held at gunpoint. They really wanted to be here. But you know, it was, it was a bit of fun. Anyway, so I chatted to Cry Club early this morning. In fact, at 7am they got up early for me so I could get them to you today, listener. That's how wonderful they are. Heather and Jono are fantastic. So I'm just gonna push play on this and yeah, thank you so much for tuning in to Fortune. Well, so nice to have you here, Heather and Jono. I am such a fan of both of you. Can you please tell us who, who you are? Like, what is your band? Who are you?

We're Cry Club. Hi, I'm Jono. I'm Heather and we, we were a pop band, we became a rock band and now we're kind of an industrial band.

Yeah, you've been through some, some iterations. I've definitely witnessed some of that journey.

Now I make like gay noise.

We're A gay noise band that sounds like.

Like pretty on brand, actually. Gay noise. Cry Club. And it's also. You're. You've just released a whole new album. Do you want to tell us a little bit about High Voltage Anxiety?

High Voltage Anxiety for us, I think, is kind of us at the. Like, us at the most us. I think as bands kind of continue, either they try and soften their edges to become more accessible to a broader audience or they refine down to like a stronger representation of themselves. And I think that's kind of what we've achieved with this record, where there are a few pop songs, but for the most part where the record is kind of existing in a space of like, oh, this is scratching the itch of who we are as people a lot more specifically than our previous stuff. Not that I dislike our previous stuff at all, it's just that this feels like the closest we've gotten to sounding like Final Form Cry Club.

Yes.

Over.

Over 9,000. You're looking for that kind of. You're finding yourself through the journey of the music that you're making, essentially. Yeah.

I genuinely was looking for the Cell meme of like, the different evolutions of Cell from Dragon Ball Z. And trying to do that with the records, I ended up finding a spongebob one instead.

Well, you know, Heather doesn't not look like maybe Vegeta in the album cover for High Voltage Anxiety. So there, there, there might be. There might be some power hoarding energy vibes going on in the.

Definitely. I'm like. I'm like waiting. I just realised.

Squinting with intensity.

Squinting so loudly. It can be heard on radio.

It's over 9,000. I'll add a sound effect, like static or something for you.

Yeah, it's like. I think we're both quite easy to read people, I think, me like more so, I think. And you kind of end up just making the music sound like what you're feeling. And I think, yeah, it always gets like. Every time we're like. We've written these angry songs and they're kind of pretty specific, but they probably won't be relevant when we put them out. And then everything kind of gets worse.

Oh, no.

And they're still relevant. So.

Yeah.

Well, it's like brutal.

What are the kinds of themes that you're touching on in this record?

I think for us it's like a big thing of like, navigating like the current. Like to be online and to exist in the current day and age is to be so overwhelmed with incredibly important information and the least important information in the world. And the two things sit next to each other. Like, you've got, okay, there's a genocide happening in the world. And then you scroll one step down and there's like, a post with infinite more interaction, and it's a link to a Google Doc of some cancelled person you've never met on an online space you've never interacted with.

Or it's someone, like, wildly misunderstanding the Pit.

Oh, my God.

Misunderstanding the pitch.

Yeah. Oh, my God. That's an entire thing on Twitter.

Okay.

People are obsessed with the Pit. And one of very few people, I think, with media literacy.

Yeah.

I think 1% of the viewership of that show, at least on the, like, online fandom space. They are. They're writing. Obviously they're already writing fan fiction, but they're writing fan fiction of the show that they are interacting with, like, in real time, which, funnily enough, I think is, like, kind of a thing that exists in so much of our, like, reality currently is that people are taking information in and going, how can I make this affirm my world?

Yeah, the echo chamber.

Yeah. But even, like, to the point where it's like, oh, yeah, we're talking about it in a TV show. But then it's like, okay, something happens in the news, and then suddenly this is confirming my perspective of reality, even though it was, like, had nothing to do.

Yeah.

With whatever prejudices this person walked into. Watching that thing with. It's crazy. So that. That's kind of like, when I think about the record, like, I think about it from that angle of, like, how are we supposed to balance all of this?

Yeah.

This is genuinely absurd to ask the human brain to hold all of this at the same time.

Yeah. And also inevitably inducing anxiety. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. And it's a hot mess. It's a hot mess out there between, like, the rise of fascism and genocide and. And all the things that Quiz and trans people are experiencing. How does transness and queerness inform what you're creating?

I think it's always the baseline because there's a lot of the time you like the rhetoric we're seeing now and, like, the approach, like, people have or the, like, what's the word? I always think trans people are one of the, like, canaries in the coal mine. You know, like, as soon as people start saying something, like, really crazy, crazy stuff about trans people, and people are like, nah, that's just like some random person who doesn't matter saying this thing. And it's like, five Years later, we're like, how's that going? Getting pretty bad now. Like, it. It's. It's always. It's. Yeah, it's like the. You can see these early warning signs and then you kind of feel a little crazy trying to tell people, like, this is very bad.

The canary's dead.

Yeah.

Can you see?

There's no canary. This is like you. You're actually holding something and there's a rock in the cage. Like, there's nothing there. What are you doing?

So.

And they even. Like, on our previous album, we had this song, People Like Me, that was. It was like the. I think that was the foundational kind of song to a lot of these songs on this album, because that was the first time we were like, it's getting pretty bad.

That was a kind of.

That was a great record, too.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. But I think, like, that. That thing of, like, you know, there's always that discussion about, like, is all art, political and all that sort of stuff. It's like, by us both being queer and Heather being trans, there's a combination of just like, well, existing as politicised identities means that, like, it's not that we feel like an obligation towards it and that we feel like, oh, we have to do this because, like, we've been sent to do this task, but it's just like the task has been sent to us, not the other way around, where it's like, there's a version of this where we let. Queerness and transness isn't politicised. Yeah. There is a version of that that exists and that we could get to.

And do you feel like the music that you create is kind of like this outlet for all the frustration and difficulties that you see community facing?

But, yeah, I think I go a little bit more bananas not being able to. To make this, you know?

Yeah.

And the. It is so angry at the moment, but then the. The catharsis of playing the shows and having everyone there, like, screaming, like we're all together. It's like. Yeah.

And you have. You have such an epic presence as well, with a live performance. And it's very tangible from. From the audience perspectives of. Of being able to scream with you. So I appreciate it. Yeah.

It's all about the live show. It's like one of the best things. And like, you. You have this, like, one moment of writing the song and then when you get to play it over and over again, it. You, like, you have. You get to, like. I don't know, you have that moment of writing it again, but then it changes and changes and changes. And, like, every time you hear people singing it, you kind of find something new in it. Even if it's something like you're really, really angry about. There's always. I love playing them live because there's always that little. I don't know, this little feeling of, like, hopefully one day it won't be so angry. Like, maybe we won't be singing this with, like, such urgency.

One day you'll wake up and. I was just gonna say, one day you wake up and you're just like, when did we get a banjo acoustic version of this track? Like, it's like, now. It's a love. It's a love song, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's an ode to a time that was.

Or remember when.

Yeah. And I guess, like, we're. It's also so hard for us to. I don't know, to kind of do anything else. Like, we could be like, yeah, everything's bad. Let's make like an escapist kind of thing. But I don't know, it's not possible.

Yeah. I don't think that would have any. Any connection to our process at all. Because it's like, you'd have to be in, like, denying reality.

Yeah.

In a way that I don't think.

We don't really have the luxury of that.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, your music is about the very valid feelings that you're experiencing as well. Right. Like, it's. I actually, I personally find why I really like listening to Cry Club is because there's. You give me something to cry about. Right. Like, it's. It's this outlet for what's going on that I think a lot of us are experiencing as trans and queer people. And also, I think your music is, like, quite high up the poll in terms of quality of noise, quality of production. And just every album seems to be like a stepping stone to more authentic version of your band, which is amazing. Huge fan here at 4 triple Z and at transmission.

We're so proud of this one. We self produced it too. So it's like, this is us.

Yeah. I was watching your journey on Instagram, you guys, in studio, and you're very active on the social. On Social as well, so. Which is great. So for anyone. Anyone listening who'd like to cheque out Cry Club, you can totally do that. You can head to their Instagram page. Cry Club underscore. Can't miss it. Also, when are you guys. Are you thinking of coming back to the Engine. Are you gonna come back to Brisbane? Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely. I think the, the idea was like there's the classic process which is like band releases an album and on that day they announced the album tour.

Bing bang Bo.

And it's this whole thing and it's like when we were getting close to things, there's a song from the record called for your Health that's about like burnout and how all of this can just like grind you into the dirt in some capacity. And it was just like, yeah, we could, we could do that or we could actually like take the advice that we're actually. We have released as a single and go, you know what if it, if the tour happens in six months, that's fine.

Yeah.

Like

whether you're there in a week or whether you're there in six months, I'll be there either way. Yeah. And you've got lots of fans here.

We love. Yeah. It's always a good time.

Yeah.

Great. How can listeners find your album? Purchase your merch, support you, where you at?

We, you can find us anywhere on socials. We actually built like a whole website to buy and download like so to buy merch and download the record and all of this sort of stuff separate from like places that we're gonna take a big cut and all that sort of stuff. We have our own thing.

Independent. Yeah.

Independence. How cool. So just being able like, so you can find like if you go to our website, the very first link is to like the merch and the album. We've got tonnes of copies of the vinyl that we can ship out. We're doing all of that ourselves this time. So amazing from home.

Amazing. I'm just, I'm just gonna hold my, my, my signed Cry Club.

Hell yeah.

I need to cheque. If I spelled my name right on that one.

There's one record out there with a very poor spelling.

No, there's like five.

Did you add two E's and or.

No.

It's like I, I miss a letter because there's so I'm left handed and so I just will like loop. But I can't see what I'm writing as I'm writing it. So I kind of just close my eyes and pray and then look at it and go. I spelled that really wrong.

So you're like, it's a record. If someone gets a record from Heater, that's what's going on.

Heater and Jono, members of Cry Club. Well, thank you so much both of you for coming and chatting with me this morning. I can't wait to share this interview with listeners. And yeah, we're keen to listen to more of your music I'll be playing and yeah, we're keen to listen to more of your music I'll be playing High Voltage Anxiety for the next few months, that's for sure. Yo, that there was my interview with Cry Club earlier this morning. Oh, so good. Such good people. And thank you to Robert for texting in saying I was not expecting this level of metaphysical and moral philosophy during the album interview. But it's fantastic. Yeah, well, that's what you can expect on For Triple Z's transmission we're now going to listen to for your Health by Cry Club. Language and content.

Look at me, I've got it all, I've got it all, I've got it all with just one foot in the door? Foot in the door, foot in the door. Let's turn up the pressure now? The pressure now, the pressure now. Do you think you'll make it out? You'll make it out? Out? You make it out. You should be grateful to be given a chance. You just got to play along with the plans and you know they'll still be cheering. Ready? You myself. It's for your help, it's for your help to scream, to drown it's for your help to burn it's for you. Everything I got is gold. I've got his gold, I've got his gold. Look at me. No one to hold, no one to hold, no one to hold. Aren't you grateful to be given a chance? You just got to play along with the plan. And you know I'll still be cheering when you dance. It's for your help.

Oh, Cry Club. Amazing. You're listening to transmission on 4 triple Z. My name is EZ. He him.

My name is also EZ. Elliot. Also he him.

My name is Also EZ.

My name's Also EZ. Hi.

It's definitely come to the end of transmission today. And before we go, I believe Elliot has a little announcement.

Yeah. Do you know that it is April?

It's April.

It is April. It is. And you know what that means.

It's time to atone.

It's time to atone. It is for ZZZ's April atonement. It is the annual month long subscriber drive wherein we not only welcome new subscribers, but also those with lapsed subscriptions and anyone who subscribes. At this time of every year, every subscription helps keep independent community media alive. But across April, there's also some additional incentive. There's some really cool prizes that you can get. I think there is a Thrill House.

There is.

What is it? A voucher?

Thrill House have a if you subscribe as a household. If you don't know who ThrillHouse is, it's three house tattoo, which is the only studio named after a Simpsons episode and it is proudly women and trans non binary led studio that prides itself on caring for its clients as much as it cares for Community. Which is a hell of a lot by the way. A lot of the ink on my arms comes from Thrill House. They are a sick studio, they really are. And so you and your household could totally subscribe and go in for a Thrill house pack. Head to 4 Triple Z.org au to subscribe, win prizes and keep Community Radio alive and support amazing shows like Transmission. I love this show. We play nothing but trans and gender diverse musicians for the entire two hours. If you are a trans person online a lot, maybe scrolling through your Instagram you might hear some trans musicians. Dylan and the Moon actually. So Dylan actually emailed me recently and sent me all of his music, including a song that I particularly like, which is his cover of Coldplay's Yellow as a duet with his himself before Transition on Testosterone and then after Testosterone. So we're gonna listen to that on the way.

Incredible track.

It's so good. It's so good. Thank you for tuning in to Transmission. We will see you all next week. Bye bye. Thanks for listening to Transmission. Catch us Every Monday live on 4zzz from 10am or listen to our podcast on the Community Radio plus app.