What Music Do People at a Porn Convention Like?

All photos by the author

Every January, tens of thousands of pornography enthusiasts descend upon the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas like a legion of horny falcons for the annual AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. It's a place where fans can interact with their favorite performers, purchase a dizzying array of sex toys, casually check out a fetish dungeon, and learn about exciting developments in the fast-paced multiverse of pornography. It is, without a doubt, the most fascinating place in the world.

On Saturday, I roamed the convention floor, asking strangers what music they like. I talked to everyone from performers to vendors to cam girls, and even a lady from a religious organization who gave me a copy of a self-help book written by the dude from Duck Dynasty. Below are some of my new porn convention friends, who told me about what they stuff into their ears when they're not busy making and consuming pornography. Some of them are massive stars, some of them work in the porn industry, and some of them are just regular people who came to Vegas to have a good time. But they can agree on one thing, and that's that music is fucking dope.

Ravi: I’m not a gay.

Noisey: Why did you think that I thought you were gay?
In case your magazine is gay. I don’t care. I don’t even look at those lines.

What kind of music do you like?
Country and bluegrass.

Who specifically?
Nothing. Just whatever comes on the radio. I don’t spend any money on albums. When I go to the nightclubs I like techno.

What nightclubs do you go to?
Whatever clubs are in this town.

What do you do?
Everybody knows me. People keep guessing. Nobody knows.

Noisey: What are you guys doing here?
Tao: We’re with the Kink Lair. It’s a fetish thing.

What music do you listen to?
I listen to everything. Latin, hip-hop, James Brown, Tupac, Biggie.

What about you?
Cupcake: Classical and Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, that stuff.

Tom: Here’s my business card.

Noisey: What do you do here?
I’m VP of sales and marketing for assgirl.com.

What music do you listen to?
Mostly classic rock. Rolling Stones, Guns N Roses, AC/DC.

Real shit.
Yeah.

Do you have any interesting music stories?
I’ve got some amazing ones. Kid Rock. I know him. I was in the front of his concert and I was shaking hands with him, and the woman behind me pulled on him and pulled him down to his knees. He stumbled onstage, but he jumped right back up. He was cool about it.

Noisey: What music do you like?
Chris: Give me a second to think about it.

OK.
Today we were listening to some David Guetta. Just getting that party feeling.

You’re here to party?
My dad’s actually in the adult toy industry. He produces and manufactures a lot of stuff. I’m helping him out, doing some research.

What kind of toys does your dad make?
He makes a lot of cyber dolls. If you look on the other side of this wall there’s some dolls there. He makes those, a lot of dongs and vibrators. We’re coming over here to get ideas and see what everybody’s got going on.

So it’s a family business.
Not my family.
Chris’s dad: You’re fucking talking too much!

Noisey: Is this your company?
Doug: I’m one of the founders.

What music do you listen to?
I’m a country boy.

Who do you like?
A little bit of everything. Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Colt Ford.

Luke Bryan kills it. I love that Eric Church album that came out last year.
EC is great. “Talladega’s” a great song. I just went and saw Garth Brooks.

How was he?
Phenomenal.

Noisey: Where are you from?
Mackenna Dawn: Northern Alabama. Near Birmingham.

What are you doing here?
I’m here with Chaturbate. I’m a webcam model. We’re broadcasting live right now.

What kind of music are you into?
I really like 90s music. I love the nostalgia of it.

Who specifically?
Blind Melon. Really mainstream, Top 100 hits of the 90s.

Do you wear the horns when you do cam stuff?
Yeah. I dress up differently all the time. Sometimes I’m a rabbit, sometimes I’m myself, sometimes I’m completely without makeup in the bath. It just depends.

Do you like it?
I love it. I love being able to interact with people and being able to play videogames on cam.

What games do you play?
I play Diablo II and III. I tried Starcraft 2, but I’m not very good at it. I play League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Path of Exile, stuff like that. A lot of Xbox games as well, but not as much as PC games.

What level are you in WoW?
I start a character and then play until I’m Level 25, and then it’s like “Ehhh, let’s start a new one.” I don’t have a Level 90, I just keep starting over.

Do you know about GamerGate?
I’ve kind of heard of it, but I don’t really know what it’s about.

It’s about ethics in games journalism.
Oh.

Jason: What do you want to know?

Noisey: What do you do?
I shoot pornography.

What kind of music do you listen to?
Country.

What kind of country?
Garth Brooks.

Cool. Thanks man.
I feel so used right now.

Noisey: Is this your thing? Dressing in Sci-Fi costumes?
Lucy Tyler: I just really love costumes and dressing up. So I just grabbed some things from my closet to come here.
Tomaso: Hey Lucy, I’ll see you later. While I’m away, take care of that ass. Do squats.
Lucy: Alright.
Tomaso: If you wanna sit on anybody's face while you squat, I’m down. You’re my new crush.

Lucy [To me]: He was so nice.

Yeah… So what do you do?
I’m a performer. Porn star. I do features. I like parodies and acting. Being sexy while I get to do those things is always fun.

What music do you listen to?
I’m in a blues-rock band. I play bass and I sing. I listen to a lot of Pack A.D. White Stripes. Even Melvin Taylor. I’m a jazz singer too.

What’s your band’s name?
Eggplant Kickstand.

Where do you live?
Seattle.

Do you like it?
It’s really fun. On a Saturday night if you get bored you go to El Corazon, Studio 7. You can hear bands who play genres you’ve never even heard of.

Macklemore’s from Seattle.
Yeah, my friend fucked him.

Do you think he should Mackle less?
Yeah. I definitely do.

Noisey: What’s going on here?
HFJ Rep: We’re part of a local church. Valley Bible has been coming here for 14 years. We used to protest outside as an alternative to the porn convention, we’ve had a booth inside the porn convention for eight years. I also work for Hookers for Jesus.

What is that?
We help women who get out of prostitution, get away from pimps, a lot of them are dealing with addiction of some form. We’re here to help them.

What music do you like?
Primarily Christian music. I’m all over the board, Casting Crowns to Switchfoot. Annie, who’s the founder of Hookers for Jesus, is actually married to one of the founders of the band Stryper.

No shi—no way.
Yeah! He just went out of town on Wednesday night because they’re getting ready to do another album.

Noisey: Did you just get that tattoo [Editor's Note: Chris had a fresh tattoo of a bunch of ducks on his arm]?
Chris: Yeah, like two days ago. It didn't hurt. I have a high pain tolerance.

Where are you from?
Palm Springs.

What do you guys listen to?
Chris: Country, classic rock.
Riley: Same thing. Lotta country, lotta classic rock.
Robert: Country, 80s rock and pop. A dose of metal in there, too.

How are you liking the porn convention?
Chris: I just got a picture with Bonnie Rotten. She’s fucking awesome, dude. I got the last picture of the day.

Noisey: How’s it going?
Bella Benz: Not bad. Having a good time.

What do you do?
I’m a BBW performer. I do a lot of stuff from hardcore to fetish.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done?
I get asked that all the time. I would probably say lunar stuff.

Lunar stuff?
Like balloons. There are people who are sexually attracted to balloons and latex. I love giving people that gratification. Doing blow to pop stuff. Blowing up a balloon as big as I can get it until it pops in my face.

What music do you like?
I’m really big on classic rock. I’m a big fan of Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, The Doors. Also I have a soft spot for 90s alternative.

Noisey: What are you doing here?
Joey Ray: I’m nominated for two awards. I’ve been doing porn for 14 years. I’m Bang Bros’ number one director. I’ve been shooting for them for nine years in Miami. Before that I was in about 3,000 movies as a performer. I’m moving to Vegas and buying a house here.

Really?
Vegas is really where it’s happening. A lot of the companies down in Miami are outsourcing to Vegas. It’s cheaper to get people from LA to Vegas than it is to get people from LA to Miami.

I work for a music site—
Actually, my House album comes out this summer. I celebrity DJ all over the world, and I do EDM House music.

Oh my god.
I’ll give you my card, you can check out my music on Soundcloud.

What are some DJs you admire?
I wouldn’t say DJs. I would say producers. The ultimate is being a DJ and spinning your own music. I like a lot of the stuff from Spain. Pacha is a label out there that does disco house. Minimal lyrics, almost electro-pop. That’s the kind of music I like. If you listen to my soundcloud that’s what you’ll see that I play. I’m not into techno and crazy hardcore stuff.

Do you play out in Miami a lot?
I was spinning at Space, Fountain Blue, a couple of other places down there.

Noisey: How are you liking the AVNs?
Evan Stone: I love it. It’s a great fucking time.

You seem happy to be here.
I love people. I love getting feedback on my work. You’re not going to get a report card saying you’re doing a great job, so I talk to my fans here. I get a feeling of the style they like.

What do you listen to?
I have a rock band called Gang Bang. We’re motivated by classic rock and we have this hip-hop thing going on. We’re recording now. I’m also doing a movie called Killing Ron Jeremy where I kill Ron Jeremy so I can be the number one guy in porn. It’s a Game of Thrones type thing.

You look a lot like David Lee Roth.
Thank you. I know David.

Is he sick?
He’s alright.

Find all of Drew Millard's coverage of the AVNs here, and follow him on Twitter.