Dante Drackis: a young god tackles porn, publishing, boxing and sexual empowerment
1 June 2019.

by Drew Rowsome -

Gay porn sometimes pretends to be documentary footage. Gay porn stars can be convincing actors with carefully constructed images and personas. Up-and-coming gay porn star Dante Drackis is good at the former but is breaking the mould of the latter. He arrived on the scene in a flurry of scenes where he played the innocent straight guy - and with his long hair, ingenue face and hairy chest, he looks the part - seduced into gay sex by either coercion, horniness or cash. At the same time he released a book, BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide, rather at odds with that persona.

The book is a quick read full of common sense and kinky advice. But the subtext is more intriguing, with a casually sex and kink positive flavour and revelations of the author's particular sexual preferences. Curious, I watched more of Drackis's porn oeuvre which has expanded beyond playing innocent and even ventured into mild kink. His twitter feed, @DanteDrackis, is a mix of porn stills and clips, personal messages, fitness and boxing tips (occasionally in the nude), guitar playing, gaming triumphs, and selfies ranging from comical through sultry to charming.

Drackis was quick to respond - accompanied by several inspirational self-empowerment quotes - to a request for an interview to discuss BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide and also promote his OnlyFans page. The day before we talked on the phone, he began hyping two more books on his twitter feed, Positivity Through Adversity: 20 Commandments to Guide You and F*ckin' Millennials: How to Get Them off Your Lawn. These books are credited to the grandiloquent pen name 'Gilg Amesh' who also has a previous poetry book, 31 Bite-Sized Haikus. There is also a redbubble.com merchandise page credited to yet another name, 'Slagernicus,' a fitness Instagram, and, back to the porn, an Amazon wishlist, heavy on fetish wear and toys, offering the option of receiving a video or stills of the gift being put to practical use.

I no longer had any idea what to expect when Drackis answered the phone. I had planned on discussing porn and BDSM how-to, now I was dealing with literary endeavours and an entrepreneur. And several aliases or personalities. Fortunately Drackis is as transparent as his twitter feed. Self-aware, self-confident, ambitious, and just cocky enough to be endearing. What started as a book promo turned into, despite the early morning hour, a lengthy conversation with an intriguing and aspiring young god.

"It's kind of complicated," Drackis understates about his parallel careers in the arts of literature and porn. "I graduated with a degree in creative writing. I didn't necessarily want to be a writer but I was always good at communicating my thoughts in an effective manner. My teacher in college emailed my mom and told her, 'Your son needs to get paid for his writing because he's really good at it.' After all these people told me that, I said 'Fuck it,' and I just started writing. Before I'd made excuses like, it's so hard to find a publisher. I was writing a fantasy novel when I realized that it just wasn't my thing. I love fantasy novels, I like reading them, and writing it was fun, but in the end coming up with a polished, complete work in a fantasy novel is work. It's menial, it's boring. It's a lot of editing and re-editing. And I shouldn't say this but, that's because of the symbolism. I prefer to speak straight to the point, not sugarcoat anything. So I decided to start writing non-fiction."

Which came first, BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide or Bait Buddies? "The BDSM book was already written, completely and full before," says Drackis. "I had a friend who asked me for some sexual advice and I told him, 'I got you.'  I was bored as shit in my classes and I had one class that was mandatory attendance, so I took a little notebook and every day in that class I was pretending to be taking notes but I was actually writing out the entire guide by hand. I typed it up and sent it to him. And then it just sat there in my outbox for like two years."

When he and friend Lance Logan decided to publish a book, "I said, 'I'll make it an easy start, I have a book. All we have to do is edit it and reformat it a little bit and publish it.' It'll be a good way to start the avalanche. A little ball of snow down a huge hill so we can gather momentum. We met up and edited, revised, reformatted and then we published it. Then we [Drackis and co-author Roth Sinodon] did the Positivity book and we just published a book about millenials. And we're working on a book about weed addiction."

Asking about his pen name leads to another ambition. "I use Gilg Amesh because right now those two personalities, my personal one and my porn one, are separate," says Drackis. "I want to keep them that way at least for a little bit. My eventual thing - I'm trying to be a world champion of boxing in my weight class - and when I get to that point and they bring me that microphone when I win the world champion belt, my immediate statement is going to be, 'Oh, by the way, I'm Dante Drackis,' and I'm going to drop the mike and walk out. That's my plan. My whole goal is to make the world realize that just because you do porn, it doesn't mean that you're a sexually depraved motherfucker. It doesn't mean that you can't be intelligent. It doesn't mean that you're not a nice person. What your job is, what you do in your spare time, does not define who you are as a person. That's my whole goal with this."

But there is another, initially contradictory, reason. "I use a pen name right now is so I can send the books to my family who don't know about the porn. All my friends know about Dante but my family doesn't. I have a huge like 250 people Latin family." I point out that I made the connection without excessive searching. "When you think about it, I blast the books on all of my social media as Dante. I'm taking the risk that at any point in time, some family member will stumble upon that and it will be connected. There's nothing I can do about that. Go ahead and write about it. The only thing I don't want connected is my real name and eventually I'll connect that. It's all about risk and reward and I'm willing to take the slight risk. Worst case is, oh no, my family finds out. What are they going to do? Hunt me down and tie me up to a cross and crucify me? Whatever."

Drackis also has an alias, 'Slagernicus', he uses for his redbubble.com page that sells t-shirts, mugs, prints, cell phone cases, etc. "It's an old user name. A kid in middle school used it and I just kind of stuck with it. It's an anonymous name I used for streaming and then I thought fuck it, this anonymous identity doesn't need to be separate from my porn stuff. I just somewhat merged them. I'm expanding my name and my image until I become a brand. I don't know, I might as well have my own clothing line, I don't care, whatever I can get my hands into, I will if I want to. I'm just that kind of person."

When asked how BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide is selling, he responds, "I got two reviews on Amazon. I do get feedback from the people who buy it, they send me messages about how the book went for them and what they enjoyed about it. A lot of people enjoyed the educational nature of it and then said that it helped them in their personal sex lives, to do things in a different way, try new things, be a bit more experimental. I got a very nice burst of sales in the beginning, but then they sort of slowly dwindled down you have to keep in mind that in a sense I'm still a nobody in terms of the world. Let's say Kim Kardashian published a book, immediately she's going to get a shitload of sales and sales are going to just keep coming in as more people hear about it. But for me, it's like who the hell am I right now? Right now I'm just a random body in the universe."

But he won't be a nobody for long as his porn career continues to heat up. A coffee table version of BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide packed with explicit photos of Drackis, the Kardashian formula, would be a bestseller. "That's the whole reason I'm trying to use porn as a footstool," he says, "but also do the writing, also do the streaming and then also be world champion. They're all going to tie together in the end to basically create the image of a fucking god. I want people to realize that within themselves they have the potential to do anything they want. The only thing that limits you is you yourself. If you say you can't, then you can't. But if you go in with the mentality that you can, then you will."

How did he get started in porn? "I had some modelling profiles online. There was this one site called sexyjobs.com and I had posted a profile on there for Miami. I just randomly got a fucking call, legit, I just got a phone call. The guy was like, 'Hey,' and I was like, 'How's it going?' He said, 'I see you have a modelling profile online, don't get offended but how would you feel about doing porn?' I was like, 'Keep going. My interest has been piqued, continue talking.' He's like, 'I have a shoot today and one of my models cancelled and I need another model.' I'm like, 'Alright, how much is it? Where is it? And what time is it at?' He told me and I was like, 'Okay, I'll be there.' He said, 'Okay, just bring a couple of changes of clothes.' I said, "Alright,' and that was it. I showed up and I had my first scene which was the Property POV scene. That was it, I was into it. They guy on the phone became my agent and here I am. It's kind of wild. It's like the shot that was heard around the world, the phone call that started it all."

And Drackis has no trouble with the demands of porn. "I enjoy it and it's rather simple because I'm not an anxious person whatsoever," he says. "I could be driving a car and if it was set on fire, I'd just calmly pull over and then get out of the car. I'm not one to panic and lose my shit. I was raised super independent, I basically took care of myself from when I was 12. Making up my own meals, I never had any help with homework, I never had any help with paperwork. It was just me from very early on doing my own thing. I was in a household with a single mother and she was working until like 7 or 8pm every night. It made me super confident and comfortable in my own skin."

BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide contains, right between 'Recording' and 'Pegging,' a chapter on roleplay. Does that help with the thespian demands of a porn shoot? "That translates very well into porn. Essentially the acting  portion, where we're clothed and we're acting out something like I'm a shoplifter and the cop is feeling me up or whatever, it's easy. I just get into the mentality of that. For example, with Bait Buddies, they're one of the easiest ones to do because of the fact that I didn't have to act. They said, 'Act like a straight guy,' and I said, "That's fucking easy.' I just answered honestly like as if it was myself. Where I have to act differently like some other person in some other situation, I just put myself in their shoes. If I have to be someone's brother and I have to catch them jerking off and be kind of a fuckface about it and get them to play with me or whatever, I just imagine myself as the brother and that I really want to fuck with him. Then boom I just go off. I'm a very empathetic person and I'm super into philosophy, I'm all about mindset. About viewing things from other people's perspective. So I just put myself in the perspective of the person I'm supposed to be acting like and take it from there."

Though Drackis emphasizes that he is using porn as a stepping stone, he takes that career seriously. "The thing is, I'm probably never going to stop it. I'm in it for the long game so I don't really see a reason to stop. When I do something I like to do it right. And I like to become better than I was before. And then eventually just the best. I want to break the mould of the porn world. Eventually I want to branch off from strictly gay porn and branch off into all kinds of porn. The way I want to bridge that gap is to show people that the way you fuck is probably the most important thing to you when it comes to sexual action."

To that end, "What I've been trying to do with the directors I work with is to get them to give me a little more free reign. Like let me choose the positions, let me take control. Once in awhile they give me a little leeway to have my own say but I'm not quite there yet. I'm trying to get my name big enough that I can be the big dick in the room. Where I can walk in and say, 'Okay bitches, we're doing it this way.' That's kind of my end goal. I get on a porn set and to me it's like child's play with my personal life and how much I did during my college days. Like I'm being restrained and they're like, 'Are you okay? This is so weird.' And I'm sitting there thinking, Jesus Christ, I did this shit in high school. Do you want me to help restrain myself? I want to show to the world, I want to show them truly, what it would be like to have sex with me on a personal level. Rather than the acting kind of shit that I have to do on set. Obviously a lot of it is fake and it's not exactly how I would have sex with someone."

Then shooting, directing and releasing clips for his OnlyFans page must be a step in that direction. "To an extent," he says. "I do a lot of solo content on there because that's what a lot of people want to see. When I get an OnlyFans subscription, I send them a little message thanking them for subscribing and saying that if they have any requests to let me know. I tell them, here's my Instagram, here's my Twitter, you're welcome to talk to me on there. Most of the time people don't request anything, they say, 'No, I'm happy with your content.' I post every day and have a humongous variety of content on there. The thing I'm lacking right now, I don't do much content with guys and I have very limited content with girls right now. That's simply because I don't particularly like hooking up with guys, it's just my personal taste, I'm gay-for-pay, I prefer to hook up with girls or transwomen. I'm just not attracted to masculinity or males in general."

Gay-for-pay is a controversial area for some but Drackis, in a tweet, tried to clarify his position. "I like dick. I don't like men. And trans girls are NOT a fetish. they are women. Don't disrespect them." Receiving a backlash from disappointed gay men, he tried to explain. "Look I know it's weird, but I consider myself straight. I like cock just as much as most of the gay guys. The difference is, I don't like what it's attached to."

Drackis remains unconflicted but curious about the pursuit of his desires versus his onscreen performances. "If I were to look at my own porn and become attracted to my own porn, how does that work in terms of sexuality? I'm just curious. I haven't done it. I mean I was on set, there's no reason to watch my own fucking porn. But what if I watch it and get turned on by it? Is that super narcissistic? I think it's funny."

Posting daily content is work. "If my content starts running low, I go into complete hunting mode. A lot of women aren't that okay with being recorded. And it takes more time. I have to actively develop friends with benefits, a multiple instances relationship with them before they get comfortable enough for me to broach the subject. Guys are the opposite, I can basically hop on Grindr and find a guy to record with in two seconds."

Both Michael Roman and Teddy Bear have said that the OnlyFans model works best when two stars shoot a scene that can be used on both their pages. "That's something that I'm trying to get at," says Drackis. "There's a couple I've been talking to who seem somewhat interested, so we'll see if it pans out. When I expand to a larger fan base, if I'm sitting on let's say 50,000 followers or some shit, at that point it will come a lot easier. Because if I contact one of the female porn stars, they're going to want the exposure of 50,000 people that they can reach through me. The problem is right now that I'm so busy with my other shit, my writing, my streaming, my full-time job, that I can't be diverting hours a day hunting for people."

That full-time job is a demanding one. "I work as an estimator at a mechanical engineering company. People send me mechanical plans and then I tell them, 'It's going to cost you this much.' I scan through the plans, there's this unit, there's that unit, this much stuff to work with and then I put a price on it. Actually it's very boring and menial but there are moments like these where I step out for a phone call real quick. It energizes me and I go back in inside and blast out a few estimates. The eventual goal is to make enough off of all my exploits that the day job becomes not necessary. Right now I'm able to accomplish all of this shit that I'm accomplishing while devoting around 60 hours a week to my day job. Imagine if I had 60 hours a week to use elsewhere? Those would be very, very beneficial. I could be publishing more books, I could be publishing lengthier books, I could be involved in a lot more scenes. I've had to turn down so many scenes just because I work Monday to Friday. It's a pain in the ass."

But Drackis isn't one to give up. "When I workout, I listen to positional music which is orchestral, like that shit you hear in superhero movies when they're in the middle of the battle, there's this great chorus in the background and all this kind of shit, because then I assume that I'm a god. I'm like fucking Thor. Nothing can stop me or slow me down. And that's how I get through my workout. I've passed that on to some of my friends and they've been able to push through their workouts because of this fucking music. They get into that mentality of nothing's going to bring me down, so if they fail, they count to three and then they get up and keep going. None of us think that we're gods or anything but during the time frame of working out, that's how we consider ourselves and it's like, 'Would a god be taken down by a set of 50 push-ups?' No. Fuck that. So neither will I."

Drackis uses that inspiration in all parts of his life. "It also ties into the whole acting on a porn set. Role play and changing my mentality, my mindset. It's very easy. I should probably right a book about mentalities because it's impacted my life. Changing my mentality to be positive, it's a whole other world. Everybody's like, 'It's Friday, it's awesome,' and of course I'm happy it's Friday because it's the weekend but it's not like I'm super hyped up because it's Friday. Friday's like any other fucking day of the week. Monday through Sunday are all days of the week, they're all 24 hour periods. You should be having fun and be happy every day. If you wake up depressed because it's Monday and you have to go through another week, then either change your job, change your lifestyle or change your mentality because something's wrong."

After all positivity worked for Drackis. "The whole concept is hilarious," he says. "because it happened so suddenly and out of the blue. Two or three weeks after I started in porn, they flew me out to California for some shoots and I was walking around Cali and I was goddamn, this is real, this is happening. I'm not just some nobody from nowhere, I'm becoming a person with relevant real world influence. That's why I decided to take it a step further and use it as a stepping stone and eventually as a bridge for my later goals." And his goal bears repeating, " I want people to realize that within themselves they have the potential to do anything they want. The only thing that limits you is you yourself. If you say you can't, then you can't. But if you go in with the mentality that you can, then you will."

BDSM, Anal, and Sexual Fantasies: A Beginner's Guide is available at Amazon