-How did you get interested in performance art?
When I was a little girl, I loved the Fly Girls from In Living Color, and wanted to grow up to be one…I’d mimic their dance moves…they were always so crazy and funky…then when I got older, I discovered GWAR, and really admired Danielle Stampe’s roll in the band as Slymenstra Hymen(very empowering to women, funny, creative, and talented). By the time I was 16, I knew that I wanted to be a performance artist for bands, but didn’t have the confidence, so I forced myself to learn how to be more femanine and gain a stage presence by becoming an exotic dancer at 18. Within’ a year or so, I was offered a Halloween show by a local band, and got a great response, proved to myself I had what it takes, and haven’t looked back much since. In all honesty, I think I was born to be on stage, it’s always been what makes me the happiest, and where I’m at my most comfortable.

-What is the weirdest thing you have done for a performance?
I didn’t do this, but it happened to me…I have this boar’s head I made that I used to wear for shows, and it’s really hard to see out of. At one point last year, while performing with The Pleasure Elite, this girl jumped on stage, and I could barely see her. I ran towards her, and she tackled me, throwing me into the guitar stack, breaking my boars head(r.i.p.), then she threw my legs back and bit my labia majora…hard. I threw my palm up into her crotch and dug into it really hard, and was gonna fuck her up on stage, but she jumped back into the audience. My pussy was bruised for almost a week. I was pist, and then to top things off, she started contacting me on myspace trying to hook up. I wanted nothing to do with the psycho. Who the fuck bites into a stranger’s vagina like they’re going after a steak? Seriously…

-Besides being a performance artist you are also a musician, who are some of your musical influences?
GWAR, I love how rude and funny they are…plus it’s like a live action comic book to see their live shows. Alice Cooper, Howlin’ Wolf, Tom Waits, Ministry, Portishead, honestly, I love music so much, I listen to everything. Anyone with a distinct voice or a killer stage presence always catches my attention. The music I write covers so many different genres, and when I sing in my truck, it’s more bluesy stuff. My current band, Bastard Child, combines so many genres of music and is a funny/performance art project, but I would really like to do a serious blues project one day.

-You have some really beautiful ink, is there any one tattoo that has a special meaning to you or that you like the more than the rest?
Thank you. They all mean a lot to me. All my tats are well thought out and planned. In my head, I’m pretty much already covered, just waiting for my pocketbook to reflect that….ha ha ha. I think the one that means the most would be the two lines on my ring finger. They are the simplest, but definately mean the world to me.

-You mentioned that modeling isn’t you main passion, do you still enjoy the artistic aspect of it or do you do it more as a way to promote your other work?
Honestly, I only do it because people like to take my picture and they seem to think I’m good at it. Modeling only goes with the territory. It definitely helps with promoting the band and what not, but I don’t really see myself as a model. That’s why I love being on Deviant Nation so much, because the main focus isn’t really modeling so much as it is the community. Don’t get me wrong, I like having my picture taken…I’m very vain, but at the same time I don’t really seek out photographers. I dunno, the stage is where I fully express myself, and you can rarely capture that energy in a photograph.

-Not to sound too much like a job interview but seeing as you have a variety of talents/interests I can’t help but ask, what do you see yourself doing five years from now?
Being on stage. It’s all I’ve ever wanted since I was in grade school. I used to dream of being on a stage, hearing the roar of the audience. Music is what I live for. When I perform, it’s my interpretation of the music flowing through me, and writing music is just another way for my body to express what my words fail at. Anytime I’ve taken time off from performing, I’ve become a miserable and anti-social person. It’s my outlet, and I honestly can’t see doing anything else.

-And lastly just for fun, if you could have any superhuman powers what would they be and why?
The ability to grow up to a 15″ long penis at any given time…it’d have to dissapear at will too…then I could create some neat party gags, fuck like a man when I wanted to, and still have my beautiful Miss Kitty that I’m incredibly attached too. lol

See and hear more of Zebrana Bastard’s work at the following links:
Deviant Nation
The Pleasure Elite
Bastard Child

-What inspired you to start modeling?

My start to modeling was quite different than most people’s. I was contacted by a photographer on myspace asking me to do a shoot (they liked my tattoos, plain and simple) and slowly got involved with the more pinup rockabilly modeling then. I grew out of it and wanted some sort of hobby to occupy my spare time.

-What do you enjoy most about being a model?

When i first started modeling,  I worked at a restaurant with a really strict uniform policy, so wearing something other than khakis was a huge relief and something really exciting. Now I just like creating images that really inspire people and speak for themselves about me.

-Are there any photographers/models who have inspired you or that you really enjoy working with?

MellyKitty, hands down. The first time I met her, we got naked on a rooftop together. Now I drive 160 miles round trip just to go hang out with her. Someday I’m hoping to be as good of a model as she is!

It’s never really affected me. My coworkers have to tell me to put my pants back on at least four or five times a day because I keep using my body as reference to their artwork. My family for the most part generally know that I’m nude on the internet, but more along the lines of a don’t ask don’t tell basis. My mom’s pretty open about it and keeps asking me for copies of my pictures because she thinks they’re cute… not so much sexy. Just really natural. It bothers my brother to some degree, I’m sure. One of my cousins is probably my number one fan, primarily cause I’m not a PINK girl.

-You mentioned that your husband is a practicing Buddhist, has being naked on the internet ever come in conflict with his or your religious beliefs?

-What inspired you to start modeling?

I was first inspired by outspoken women on the internet who made me feel like I was finally home and in a place where I could contribute the true weirdness of my sexuality. Oh, and I loved the idea of getting paid to muse and be naked. Modeling has since taken me to so many places, creating with so many artists, and just fulfilled so many corners of my life that those initial reasons have expanded a thousand-fold.

-What do you enjoy most about being a model?

Being naked. Exploration. Musing artists. Musing people in general. When I get a fan mail telling me s/he has stared at a set of images for hours because it intrigued her/him or because s/he gained some new perspective about sexuality from it, my heart melts. It is the product generated from modeling that I enjoy most, not the act.

-I know you shoot fetish work; do you have a favorite fetish that you really like to shoot?

I love exploring fringe fetishes, those kinks that are stemmed from normal, everyday, common themes, but have been taken to a pedestal and worshiped. Feet, shoes, mouths, tongues, vacuums, aprons, spit, peeing, nude in public, nature, hair, shaving, kissing, touch, anticipation, and burping are some of the themes I try to explore as an artist in Fedora’s Box. I like to film every day things in a strange way, with weird lighting, intriguing classical music, and innocence. That innocence in exploration is something I relish in injecting into the media I create.

-Besides being a model you are also a photographer, where have your photos been published?

I am a regular in Skin Art Magazine and its subsidiary magazines as well as The Seattle Sinner. I have had features all over the web from erotic sites like DeviantNation.com and BrokenDollz.com to web zines like MidsMagazine and AceMagazine. I also do a good bit of video production and acting. G4′s Attack of the Show featured Titty Wars for a montage on boob slapping this year and my most recent full-length feature film with Old School Sinema, The Spook Show, where I play the bartender, just released.

-Do you think that being both a model and photographer gives you insight that other models/photographers might not have?

Hell yes. I am adding skill after skill into my toolbox. I feel like I can reach in at any time and exemplify any creative project. I believe that being a business owner has helped me be able to see an entire project and accept my role in it. Sometimes when people are awesome at one thing, they forget that everyone else has talent in other areas that are totally necessary, too. Back to answering your question, the insight I glean from being a model and a photographer is vast. As a model, I understand the lighting concepts a photographer is using in our scene without having to ask. I have new ways to bond and gain respect from my photographers because I can relate to them through being a photographer. I can talk shop a little more than a typical model. As a photographer, I am able to make a model feel more comfortable because I understand what it is like to be the poser, and the various ways in which a photographer may fail/succeed in relaying an idea. I can describe a pose or a concept from the model’s perspective, as a photographer, thus increasing my bond with my models. Being a woman helps a lot, too. For some reason, women like to relate to one another; it inspires them.

-Why did you decide to start up your own website, fedorasbox.com?

Everyone needs a passionate personal project that makes them feel like they are spending their time in the best way they can imagine. My mind automatically thinks about women, video, photography, art, nakedness, literature, and music, so incorporating things I really love and require, like business, marketing, generating revenue, merchandising, and nerdy things like these makes for a really fulfilling project on all fronts. It seemed the cosmos was telling me that I just had to create Fedora’s Box.

-I love your “geek” tattoo, what do you think is the geekiest thing about you?

I am a math geek. I love doing equations, whether it is breaking my entire world down into numbers as an explanation to all things or balancing my checkbook, I am stoked. I have set up a budget that runs itself, helped several friends out of debt and saving hundreds per month, and I do my taxes in less than an hour because of mathematical organization.

-What advice would you give to girls looking to get into modeling?

I don’t have any. In my opinion, 95-99% of prospective models will never do much as a model. There are reasons for this such as they do not have a memorable look, don’t take care of their bodies, are starving for attention and/or lack personal drive. The attention whores jack themselves off in front of a camera (metaphorically masturbating their egos) until they get so much rejection that they give up and quit. Either you have it and you know it, or you don’t. Do work. I have no advice for this.

-What inspired you to start modeling?

I had a friend ask me to pose for him for a few nude figure photos and also to show off his makeup abilities. It was a lot of fun drinking strawberry daiquiris and just taking pictures all night. I really wanted to branch off and do different things with different artists so I moved on from there.

-What do you enjoy most about being a model?

I love the way it makes me feel. I used to think I had such an awkward body and that my legs were too long and my boobs were too small and my ass way too fat. When I started modeling nude I was forced to open up to the side of me that made me most uncomfortable. I never used to look at myself in a full length mirror before. Now that I’ve seen my body the way other people see it, I feel fantastic. I don’t hate my body anymore. I love myself and that’s the most important thing that modeling could ever do for me.

-I think “MellyKitty” is a very cute name, how did you come up with that as your model name?

Haha, no one ever asks me about that. It’s actually a nickname I picked up in high school. I used to wear cat ears all the time. I actually have them on in my senior picture. The nickname stuck through everything so I just carried it over to my modeling.

-Why did you decided to exclusively model for Deviant Nation?

I really love it there. The people, the models. I just feel like I belong. Eventually I’d like to model for other sites as well but for right now DN just seems to fit me.

-What is the strangest thing that you have done for a shoot?

Aside from moterboating Oktane’s bewbs, I’d have to say climbing a tree in just a corset and stripper heels was pretty intese. The worst part about that was the photographer flaked and I never got the images.

-You mentioned that your boyfriend is you main photographer, is that because it’s just convenient or do you find that modeling for someone you have an intimate connection with makes for better photos?

He’s actually a really dificult person for me to work with but I bennefit from greatly from it. We have a lot of fun on shoots together and he’s easier for me to open up to but he has no problem telling me if I’m making a stupid face that doesn’t work in the photo. He’s a very straight forward person with me over other models because he wants me to be better than them. I feel that my shoots with him come out so much better than with other photographers because he pushes me further than anyone else ever would.

-Has posing nude on the internet ever caused any problems for you in real life like family or coworkers coming across your photos?

I haven’t run into any issues so far. I try to keep my work life and my home life separate for the most part. I have a few friends that I work with that I’ve shared photos with and they’re fully supportive of what I do. I don’t really talk to my family about it. My ma knows to a point about what I do and my sister-in-law knows but they’re it. My dad and brother don’t talk to me on a personal level like my ma and sister-in-law do.

-You mentioned that you started modeling before you got tattoos, has having tattoos changed the types of shoots you do or the amount of work you get?

I’ve had a few photographers try to hire me and tell me that they were going to photoshop out my tattoos. Mostly I get photographers that want to shoot with me because of my weird hair and tattoos. I feel that I get more work because of my uniqeness than the other way around. I’ve gotten offered more jobs where my tattoos are a part of the photo rather than just a part of me.