Chrissy: 'Things Can't Go On Like This Forever'

The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.

San Francisco’s Chrissy is a musician, DJ, and producer who makes dance music in the realm of house, rave, and techno. Chrissy grew up in a fairly rough neighborhood in Kansas City, where he didn’t feel accepted as someone who didn’t consider themselves as a “super heteronormative, gender conforming, person out in the world.”

Chrissy’s older sister was involved in the rave scene and introduced him to the music through mixtapes when he was a child. He later began attending diverse events and nightclubs while learning more about the dance music scene on his own. The song “Things Can’t Go On Like This Forever” was written and produced by Chrissy and sang by his friend Carrie Wilds.

Regarding the origins of queer dance music, Chrissy says it’s historically tied to many of the struggles from the Civil Rights Movement.

“It used to be that when you went out for a night of dancing, you and your partner would dance face to face,” said Chrissy. “Music performances evolved out of the era when men dancing with other men or women dancing with other women at underground gay bars was illegal. The scene kind of originated out of a place of refuge and acceptance.”

Chrissy says he thinks about DJing when writing music as well as how the music will be received.

“I definitely write things with the idea of how they’re going to work functionally in a nightclub or at a party,” said Chrissy. “I’m thinking about how it would sound to a crowd in a big room with people dancing to it, but also kind of thinking of how another DJ would be able to use it in one of their sets.”

Prior to moving to the Bay Area eight years ago, he spent time in Chicago immersed in the city’s dance music culture. While he enjoyed it, he feels that the Bay Area’s music culture is friendlier and warmer, particularly the East Bay queer party scene.

“There’s so much amazing stuff happening right now,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed by the diversity of where in the region events are happening.”

If you’d like to hear Chrissy live, he’ll be performing at Mothership Bar in San Francisco on June 22 at 9 p.m. as part of a showcase organized by local music organization White Crate.