The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast

We celebrate the best in British Queer Talent with BAFTA winning actor & writer Ryan Sampson, ground breaking music academic & drag performer Jacob Mallinson Bird, & concert pianist Cyrill Ibrahim. First up, Graeme Smith meets the very funny Ryan Sampson, known for playing Grumio in the Ancient Rome sitcom Plebs and Tommo in the comedy-drama Brassic. He also created, wrote & starred in Mr Bigstuff alongside British actor Danny Dyer, who called him “one of the best actors this country has ever produced”. Ryan discusses the fifteen years of persistence behind getting his own show made, writing for Dyer, and bringing a gay perspective to straight masculinity. He reflects on growing up in northern England, finding himself through acting, and discovering that fans have had his character permanently tattooed on their bodies. Music academic & drag performer Dr Jacob Mallinson Bird joins Alastair James to explore queer identity, music and performance. A lecturer at Oxford and Cambridge universities, Jacob talks bringing queer noise into his lectures, challenging expectations and giving students new ways to think about music, sex and self-expression. Then concert pianist Cyrill Ibrahim talks to Alastair about the expressive power of music, the barriers he has encountered in the classical world, and developing his own voice as an artist. He also shares stories of performing for the British royal family and Kim Kardashian. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast is a queer fashion special. Graeme Smith is joined by the enfant terribles of the fashion world JordanLuca - Jordan Bowen & Luca Marchetto. The couple talk about their love story, the creative partnership behind the brand, getting married on the runway in Milan, and the realities of building an independent fashion label. They also speak candidly about the state of the fashion industry, and why they believe the traditional system is broken. Then Tag Warner, Chair of Gay Times, meets the new boys on the block: Average Boys. Founders Jordan Sloan & Chris Ashley explain how the brand began, the gap they saw in gay menswear, the inspiration they take from decades of queer style, and why they want Average Boys to become more than just a clothing label. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode of The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast , actors Sebastian Croft & Connor Jessup curate highlights from their first Queer Was Always Here Residency at BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café London . British menswear designer Geordie Campbell joins i-D magazine’s Douglas Greenwood for a conversation about fashion & queerness; Marty Davies is in conversation with Drag King Don One about why & how they set up Trans+ History Week; film-makers Jomo.Wrld join Connor to discuss the relationship between film & queerness; and we have readings from poets Troy Cabida , Jaime Lock , William Rayfet Hunter , & William Wyld (all published by Fourteen Poems ). Queer Was Always Here is a community dedicated to queer lives, queer art and queer history. For more information visit queerwasalwayshere.com Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Pentreath OBE is an English architectural and interior designer, described by Country Life as one of the best country-house architects in Britain. Recorded live at our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café in London, Ben joins Alistair James to discuss colour, beauty and his belief that the best homes and buildings should evolve over time. He also reflects on working closely with King Charles, his lifelong love of Scotland, and the chance discovery that led him and his husband Charlie to leave Dorset for a remarkable new life on Orkney - an experience many listeners will know from his Financial Times column. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! podcast looks at queer publishing through fiction, photography & independent print. Matt Cain is interviewed by Graeme Smith in front of an audience at a BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! MEETS event at our gallery in London, discussing his career, the rejection he faced from mainstream publishers, the launch of Pansy Books and his new novel, The Castle of Stories . Alistair James talks to Adrian Lourie, the photographer and publisher behind the cult gay zine MEAT, and to German author Kai Spellmeier about his debut English-language novel, Boy Friends . BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! MEETS continues again soon at our gallery in Fitzrovia, London. Upcoming guests, dates and tickets are available on boysboysboys.org. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For more than 50 years, William Yang has documented Australia's queer community through his camera, creating one of the country's most important social archives. Although his name may not be familiar to everyone, his photographs have captured generations of queer life, from the liberation movement of the 1970s, through the AIDS crisis, and into the present day. His work has become an invaluable record of queer history. As William celebrates his 80th birthday, BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! revisits his remarkable story in this exclusive chat with one of the pioneers of gay photography. Graeme Smith speaks to William about his extraordinary career, the stories behind some of his most powerful images, and why preserving LGBTQ+ history has never been more important. William features in Volume Six of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! magazine, where we celebrate his life and work. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is great when two like minded organisations get together. So it is a great privilege for BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! to partner with Queer Was Always Here: a community dedicated to queer lives, queer art and queer history. They also work in partnership with Choose Love to secure futures for LGBTQIA+ refugees and displaced people around the world. It is an extraordinary organisation set up by two extraordinary young actors: Sebastian Croft and Connor Jessup. Both stars from juggernaut TV shows that you will have seen: Sebastian from Heartstopper, and Connor from Falling Skies. From 30 June - 2 July Queer Was Always Here will take over the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Cafe in London for a residency hosted by the boys. You can get more information and details on how to get tickets from our Instagrams @queerwaslawayshere @boysgallerycafelondon or via linktr.ee/boysfineart Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two of the most exciting young queer actors working today, recorded live at the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café. First, Xelia Mendes-Jones, the breakout star playing Dane in Amazon Prime Video's post apocalyptic juggernaut 'Fallout' opposite Ella Purnell and Kyle MacLachlan. Footballer turned Cambridge scholar turned screen actor, Xelia is razor sharp on trans representation, on the difference between a character whose transness is the whole story and one for whom it is simply true, and on why the loudest takes about who gets to play whom usually miss the point. Then, Tiptoe star Gabriel Clark. First coming to our attention as Ollie Morgan on Hollyoaks, now in Russell T Davies' hot new drama 'Tip Toe' alongside Alan Cumming and David Morrissey. Gabriel also takes us inside the chemsex play 'Jock Night' and the tabloid storm around his coming out. Funny, fearless and unafraid to say the things most actors will not. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Breakfast Club comes from one of the most significant locations in queer history: the Oscar Wilde Suite at The Cadogan, A Belmond Hotel, in London. The room where Oscar Wilde was arrested in April 1895. Joining Graeme Smith & Ghislain Pascal is the award-winning historian and biographer Matthew Sturgis, whose acclaimed biography Oscar: A Life is widely regarded as the definitive account of Wilde's life. Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize and praised by the Times Literary Supplement as "the Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade", Sturgis drew on newly discovered letters, court records and years of original research to create the most authoritative portrait of Wilde ever written. If you're going to tell the story of Oscar Wilde in the very room where history unfolded, there is no better guide. Then we are joined by BOYS! photographers Paul McDonald and Nigel Grimmer to discuss photo fairs & galleries; Paul's new zine Things I Wanted to Say - but Never Did; and Nigel's striking brutalist series in the latest edition of our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Magazine Volume 11. From Oscar Wilde's final days of freedom to contemporary queer photography and storytelling, this episode brings together history, art and lived experience in one of London's most remarkable rooms. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This special episode was recorded in front of a live sold out audience in the Rare Books Room at the landmark Strand Books in New York for the launch of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! The Magazine Volume 11. Dan Wakeford (former editor of People and Us Weekly & founder of Celebrity Intelligence) was in conversation with BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! founder Ghislain Pascal & photographers Sean Patrick Watters, Michael Epps & Sebastian Perinotti. A live BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! conversation about art, sex, identity, publishing and queer culture, from the heart of Manhattan. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before liberation had found its language, Arthur Tress was photographing hidden queer worlds in New York City. Born in 1940, Tress is regarded as one of the masters of modern American photography, his work held in many of the major museum collections in the United States. His photographs trace seismic shifts in social history while exploring desire, sexuality and the complexities of human encounter, alongside an extraordinary body of ethnographic work. In this special extended episode of The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast , Graeme Smith speaks with the legendary 85-year-old photographer about a life spent documenting dream imagery, underground culture and social change. Best known for work moving between documentary, surrealism and homoerotic fantasy, Tress reflects on photographing men in The Ramble in 1969, the subject of his extraordinary new book The Ramble , published by Stanley Barker. The conversation ranges from cruising culture before Stonewall, Coney Island ruins and ethnographic travels, to 1980s New York, Robert Mapplethorpe, queer visual history, masculinity, fantasy and the underground worlds that shaped modern queer photography. A rare long-form conversation with one of the great, if still too little-known, figures in American photography. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, American photographer Christopher Makos reflects on a legendary career spanning decades, including his iconic collaborations with Andy Warhol and his lasting impact on queer photography. He shares insights on the people, places, and images that continue to define his work, and what he’s looking forward to next. New York-based artist Jordan Eagles discusses his provocative and politically charged practice using blood. In a conversation focused on identity, stigma, and the realities around blood donation for the LGBTQ+ community, Jordan explains how his art confronts systems and challenges perceptions. And we hear from our very own photographer AdeY, who introduces his latest series and book, JOY , offering a short look at his newest work. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

QUEER BRITAIN brings together standout moments from our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! MEETS recorded live at our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café in London. Intimate conversations in front of a live audience with creatives shaping queer culture in the UK today. Composer Iain Bell , described by the BBC as one of the most compelling musical dramatists of his generation, reflects on opera, audiences, and the question of elitism. Actor and his husband, the writer Michael Batten , discusses his critically acclaimed theatre work, including Remembrance Monday , and the journey from concept to sold-out runs in London and Mexico. Kitty Scott-Claus (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK) brings humour, warmth, and insight into performance and identity. Comedian and broadcaster James Barr talks candidly about being out on the radio, comedy, and navigating being a regular on the Piers Morgan show. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graeme Smith speaks with two filmmakers whose work has been part of this year’s Academy Awards conversation, each telling a very different story about queer lives and history. First we cross to New York to meet Matt Nadel, the documentary filmmaker behind Cashing Out, an Oscar shortlisted short documentary produced by The New Yorker. The film uncovers a little known and unsettling chapter of queer history during the AIDS crisis, when investors began buying life insurance policies from dying gay men, turning tragedy into a financial market. It is a powerful and complex story about capitalism, mortality and a moment in LGBTQ history that is often overlooked. Then we head to the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café to meet Lee Knight. His short film A Friend of Dorothy earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short. The film stars two beloved queer icons, Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Fry, and Lee joins us in front of a live audience to talk about the remarkable journey from writing the script to finding himself in the Oscars race. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Triple Booker Prize nominated author Tash Aw joins us to discuss his latest novel, The South — named one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Books of the Year. We talk about what it means to be recognised at the highest level of global literature, and how The South explores identity, immigration, queer lives and globalisation from a perspective rarely centred in Western publishing. A precise, intelligent conversation with one of the most critically respected writers working today. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DJ Fat Tony is one of the most recognisable figures in British nightlife, spending decades at the centre of club culture, fashion and celebrity. His time DJing at Trade, the legendary gay hard dance club, was just one chapter in a much bigger story. Tony joins us for a revealing conversation at our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café in London to share his stories from DJing at the wedding of Brooklyn Beckham, reflecting on the ups and downs of his long friendship with Boy George, and looking back at his early days brushing shoulders with the New York art world with Keith Haring & Andy Warhol, including a memorable detail about what Warhol actually smelled like. The conversation moves between funny, shocking and unexpectedly tender. Tony speaks openly about addiction, recovery and rebuilding his life. Now more than twenty years sober and happily married, he looks back on the chaos with honesty and perspective. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! features a genuine political outlier: Carl Cashman , the 34-year-old leader of Liverpool City Council’s Liberal Democrats in the North West of England, a straight politician who has built influence by putting LGBTQ+ people at the centre of his politics. Carl represents a new generation of progressive politician: culturally fluent, visibly present, and entirely at ease in queer spaces. He’s as comfortable sharing the occasional gym selfie and taking the attention that follows as he is being clear and values-led on trans rights, European Union membership, and civil liberties. Often to the left of his own party, Carl has joked that at Liberal Democrats conference it can feel like 80% of the room is LGBTQ+, and he’s clear that queer members and voters are central to the party’s progressive energy. The Liberal Democrats are the party that delivered equal marriage and the party still reckoning with the cost of the 2010 coalition. Yet in a landscape dominated by caution and culture wars, they remain one of the few national parties openly pro-EU and committed to individual rights. During a week of TV appearances in London, Carl joined Graeme Smith — equally Liverpudlian, equally direct — in front of a sell-out crowd at the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café in London. Over a drink, in a queer space, he answered tough questions about trust after 2010, immigration, the arts, trans rights, Trump, and whether Westminster is next. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! we speak with Tyler Udall - the first ever BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! photographer and a regular voice on the podcast. Recorded during one of our MEETS at our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café London, this episode traces Tyler’s path through a series of worlds that don’t often get connected. He began as a ballet dancer in New York, before moving through the fashion world, including as fashion editor of Dazed & Confused and AnOther magazines, before stepping away from the industry to build a photographic practice rooted in intimacy and lived experience. Tyler is known for work that resists spectacle. His photographs focus on queer bodies as presence rather than performance, shaped by memory, vulnerability, and the politics of being seen. His undeniably personal and emotionally compelling photographs are shaped by the familiarity he has with his subjects, most of whom are friends and past lovers. In this conversation, Tyler speaks candidly about being diagnosed HIV positive in the late 2000s, and how photography helped him process this. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to two extraordinary queer filmmakers: Ira Sachs, one of the defining voices of American independent film; and Benoît Duvette, an emerging French director making waves. Sachs to promote his latest film, Peter Hujar's Day, that centres on the legendary queer photographer Peter Hujar starring Ben Whishaw; and Duvette to talk about his recent film Eden & Charlie, which caught our attention for its tenderness and clarity of vision. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast presents highlights from our BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! MEETS , each recorded live in front of an audience at the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery Café . We hear first from German photographer Richard Kranzin , on his journey from model to photographer, about exploring the sensuality of male youth and his new book Interior . Then from Argentinian photographer Sebastian Perinotti about his latest series & zine The Mirror, who is joined by one of his models & collaborators Bernardo . And finally from Irish photographer Charles Moriarty , who is joined by bodybuilder and actor Brock Yurick to talk about their new book BROCK. Brought to you by BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! boysboysboys.org @boysfineart @boysgallerycafelondon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.