After interviewing various adult stars, I realized that, at least in the mainstream straight genre, no one seems to care about the male specimens. In many given samplings of adult, the female will be in focus far more than the dude. So, with this in mind, I got in touch with Luke Hotrod, a unique and prolific performer from the UK who’s appeared in many films, including some classy ditties from Lust Films.

Speaking with Hotrod was a reminder of the in-depth stories many adult performers, of all genders, have that don’t often get enough exposure. Watching Hotrod’s films, you’d never know he’s a talented guitar player, a fan of the ol’ timey blues, or about the accidental providence that was his introduction into the world of adult entertainment. It was a pleasure to get to know the man behind the bad boy image – he’s really quite a professional, well-spoken bloke.

For anyone who’s ever wondered about the studs in adult, this is definitely the conversation for you. Hotrod is a resoundingly distinctive face in the industry, especially in the European world of adult, but his experience echoes those of many other male stars who’ve generally allowed their bait and tackle to reach the stardom their faces haven’t had the opportunity to. Really, the male perspective of adult is compelling, as it’s a whole different side to a misunderstood realm.  

Enjoy this edited interview about adult performance with the intriguing Luke Hotrod; it’s definitely an eye-opening experience that’ll make you think twice before forgetting to pay attention to the other performer in the mix (depending on the kind of adult that suits your fancy, of course, a lot of material equalizes a whole lot better than you’d think).

Can you give me a rundown of where you can be found and what work you do now that you’re most proud of or that you think is quality?

From the start I’m based in the UK, just working for the UK or UK companies in the first few years. I’d say over the last few years I’m starting to do more European stuff for people like Hustler, branching out more… I’m still fairly new. I’ve only done it four years and in the UK for the first year or year-and-a-half you’re still just finding your seat, because for any male performer it’s very difficult to get a niche because you’ve got to prove yourself. It’s a bit different for the guys. We’ve got to prove ourselves, that we can obviously do the job and sustain the job and still keep doing it.

The proudest work that I’ve done, it depends on the type of shoot really, but I really enjoyed shooting for Erika Lust’s XConfessions, a very nice erotic sort of company, which is very, very nice… she went back to America a few weeks ago and won an award for it. I can’t complain. The scenes have all been very, very good.

How did you get your start?

I’ve been a session guitar player 24 years now. I was a musician professionally recording albums and stuff like that. There was a friend of mine taking photographs for a company called Television X. One of the directors who was shooting this fellow from where I was from in the North of England, she basically said to the photographer, do you know a musician? I would happily come and do a bit of music, play a bit of guitar… then I got offered a scene with two girls. I said I don’t think I can do that. After a bit of convincing and a bit of talk, I went and got tested, all the stuff you’ve got to have done and then after my scene a week later, from that, that was it. I just thought it was one opportunity, quick take, done it. That was how I got into it, but then a big porn company Killergram was shooting a film about a rock band and asked me if I would play guitar in a scene because they didn’t want to just hire a guy pretending to play the guitar. They wanted a real guy playing the guitar and then doing a sex scene. Again I said, “I’ve only done one and that was one offer. I’d never be able to do it.” He said, “Come down and give it a go.” I did a great job and by the time I got home, I had a two-page email from him saying do you want to shoot. It was two quick opportunities; I did a good job on both of them and it went from there.

So how did you feel that first time? I mean because you were doing a guy and two girls and you were coming from a much different background.

It was strange. I was shitting myself, don’t get me wrong. I’m a musician and at the time I was 29. It wasn’t as if I was a young lad coming out of school or university, saying what shall I do. I was touring the world with rock bands and artists so I had been to the parties where you’ve seen strippers and you know the fact that girls are on parade, so the sight of it being two girls didn’t really bother me. The hard part for me purely was, can I do this how they want me to do it, because private sex is different than porn sex. How they want me to do it and how I can sustain it and give a good scene… I didn’t want to leave that scene and have those girls go, “Holy shit, what the fuck was that?” That was it really. That was more important to me. I wasn’t embarrassed about taking my clothes off. I wasn’t nervous about trying to get an erection in front of 5-6-7 people. Like with anything I do in life, I want to do it the best I can do.

So what’s been the main difference between performing in that way versus when you’re in your private life? That’s what really interests me about the dichotomy that a lot of performers have; you’re in a position where you have that differentiation…

I have a good sex drive and I love all women, shapes and sizes, tattoos, colors, whatever. When you go into the porn industry, it’s nowhere near what your normal life is. I’ve got a partner. She’s a big, worldwide porn star. We live together and this is the easiest way I can put it. There’s a big difference because when you go to shoot, you have to get an erection when they tell you, do a position how they tell you, meaning opening up to cameras, which 90% of the time is uncomfortable. For example, having sex in doggy position, when you’re at home, you get behind the girl, you get in there and you go however you want. Slow, fast, hard, soft, whatever you want, but when you’re in porn, it’s almost like having sex with a corner because if you just go straight on, the camera man can’t see, so it’s the angles, and the positions are a lot more uncomfortable; it’s different.

They tell you “we’ve got to stop and wait ten minutes. We have to change the lights around” or “can you wait? We have to change the set in here.” At home, you get into bed and you do what you do to be comfortable. My girlfriend and I, she’d go and be having sex with all these porn guys and I’d be having sex with all these porn girls and we’d come home and we thought that we had to perform for each other. In the back of my mind I’m thinking, “she’s been having sex with such and such and he’s been doing this and doing that,” so I’d try to perform the same with her. We found it wasn’t right; we still had great sex, but we thought let’s try it just normal. We sat and talked about it. If you only last five minutes, ten minutes, do it because it’s natural. It’s normal.

You orgasm when you want to orgasm. You get the feelings when you get the feelings and that’s the right way to have sex. That’s the way everybody in the world has sex. Porn sex is different; you’ve got to last longer, do uncomfortable things, cum when they tell you to cum, hold an erection for half an hour in between when they change. There is a big difference definitely.

What is the experience of actually performing then? How do you physically and mentally get into that role, and how does it feel to be kind of out of the spotlight, when the industry is definitely geared more towards the girls being seen and not the guys?

You always get the guys coming up and they ask the same question. How do you do it? When I first started, yes, I had a few moments where I’m thinking after about 5-10 minutes of one position, shit I feel like I’m going to cum. The more you speak to other performers and the more you learn and you watch, you realize there are tricks. The best thing about it is if I’m performing and I feel like that’s going to happen, then you know the cameraman turns around and says, “give us a second. I need to change the card,” well then that’s great because in some respect, if you’ve reached that point where you’re thinking in the next few minutes I’m going to cum, then it gives you a chance to just let yourself calm down.

At the end of the day, any type of sex for a man is adrenaline. The more your adrenaline is pumping, the more you’re relaxed, the more you’re enjoying yourself, the quicker you want to cum. As a porn performer, if I’m getting to that stage where I’m thinking, “I feel like I’m going to cum too early,” you learn things like, you pull out, you do pussy licking, you get them to suck your cock. Some guys will go, “I can’t pull out and get them to suck my cock. It’ll make me cum,” but for me it doesn’t. Girls can’t make me cum giving me a blow job so for me, if I feel like I’m going to cum, I’ll pull out and I’ll not make it look like anything. I’ll still make it look like part of the scene. For me especially, it’s almost as if once I’ve done it two or three times, I feel that urge and it goes away and then I’m fine after that.

The other thing is breathe. The most important thing I’ve learned is to breathe. You’re in bed with your girlfriend or your boyfriend or whatever and the sweat is dripping and you’re really in the moment, a guy will cum a lot quicker because he’s holding his breath and he’s going for it. If you can see a guy’s face in porn, you will see they’re doing deep breaths.

The second question, yes I agree, the girls are porn stars; we are porn studs, they’re the stars. They’re the ones that everybody wants to see. The guy’s there and as long as he’s got a big enough dick, then it makes the scene look good, but the thing that people all forget is a girl can turn up for a scene with me, she might not be into me, she might not find me attractive, she might just be like “do I have to do this” in the back of her mind, but if she’s not feeling it, a little bit of lubrication, a few oohs and ahs and she can do her scene.

Now if I turn up to the set and I look at that girl and think, “oh my god, do I really have to,” which luckily for me hasn’t happened many times, if my dick doesn’t go hard, you ain’t got a porn scene. The guy really is important because if you are shooting a boy/girl scene and the guy’s dick doesn’t go hard, the whole day’s ruined. I’m not saying it’s not fair because we still get paid and I can’t grumble at the job that I do. I’m definitely not knocking it, but we don’t get as much appreciation.

My girlfriend and I have been doing the job for the same length of time. I have just over 8,000 followers on Twitter. Now for a UK porn star and a UK euro porn star, in the business under five years, that’s a hell of a lot of followers. Some of the guys who have been in longer than me have less than that. My girlfriend has 160,000-odd followers so that sums your question up.

In terms of life outside the industry, do you tend to hide what you do or hope that the people around you will be open enough to understand it?

In the beginning I tried to hide it, but in 2013 I won Best Male Performer in the UK. I’ve been nominated every year since. Last year I came runner up because they tend to give it to new people, which is obviously understandable and that’s great. Now you Google my porn name, if anybody finds out, it comes up first thing. You hit images and it comes up with me. You can’t hide it. Once you get into the mainstream and you’re on the Internet, it’s going to get somewhere.

I sat down and told all of my family and my friends and yes, it is difficult. People tend to date within the industry… When I was single and I first started out, this girl I met found out I was a porn star; I was actually playing a gig, she was manager of this venue I was playing. She came up and said, “I would love to get into porn” so I said, “Okay, let’s have a coffee and let’s have a chat about it.” We ended up dating for a few months, but she thought it was great in the beginning because “wow he’s a porn star and the sex is going to be good” and all these different things. Then when reality hit in she was like “I’m going to meet me pop today at the venue to open up and serve beer and food and get ready for gigs and promotion” and I was going, “I’m going to have sex with two girls today.” When that sets in, it does become a lot harder.

I’m about in my 30s. I’m not some young kid. I’ve also got my music career. If the worst-case scenario happened and the porn fell apart and nobody booked me again, I’ve still got something to fall back on. I’m doing well in it now and I’m getting booked very regularly all over the world so I’m quite happy. I’ve got nothing to hide. I always say to everybody that asks me the question “aren’t you embarrassed” that at the end of the day, we all wouldn’t be in this world without having sex. The only difference [with] my job is you can actually watch me have sex. That’s the way I play it. I’m fine with whatever and everybody that knows me, family and friends, knows I’m safe; I’m sensible and I do the job because I enjoy it and I can.

What do you think about all the controversies surrounding the adult industry and sexual media?

It’s exactly what I said before. We all wouldn’t be here; your parents, my parents and everyone’s parents and all that. So we’ve all done it. We’ve all been naked. We’ve all had those moments, so why shouldn’t you be able to watch it? It’s a natural thing that everyone is doing. They say it’s one of the most thought of things. Even in advertisements, clothes magazines; ads on the TV, music… It’s all sexual innuendo, but the actual act of watching sex; people still are a bit funny about it.

I always wonder what porn can add to the conversation, or whether or not it’s up to other people or educators to educate, because people always point their fingers at porn.

Okay, it’s like any movie. You watch any type of movie; you watch violence, you watch people driving cars certain ways. All things are stretched and the role is exaggerated and people understood that. Still, porn is a bit exaggerated. Girls watching it are not going to look like some of these girls with perfect faces and the perfect boobs and the body to die for. Nobody is like that, but nobody drives a car like in Fast and Furious. It’s all stretched. It’s all a bit make-believe.

I don’t walk around the house with a guitar, singing and parading around. I go and do my job. This is what I mean. When I was younger, in my early 20s, I was like everybody else. Going and having sex 15-20 minutes, half an hour depending on my mood or how I was working that day, and then when I got into the industry, it’s made my life so much better and happier. Some porn is fairly erotic. It can help. It can improve people’s sex lives, it can improve all sorts and it has for me. It’s opened my eyes to everything. It’s just opened the book for me and made me think everybody is just normal and [to] get on with things and enjoy and experience things will make you a better person.

We can see it as exploration, as part of our being alive, to experience this in ways that won’t make our relationships crumble apart.

If people would just be a bit more open, you know… Again, never break the law, but if people just stepped back, this could help, instead of going, “no, I could never watch a porn movie. I could never watch that.” If it’s going to help you and your relationship and make things better, then why not give it a go? You know what I mean? If you’ve got nothing to lose, it’s not going to make any difference if you give it a try.

Is there a similarity between when you’re up on stage playing the guitar in front of a crowd versus having sex in front of the camera?

I’ll put it to you this way. When you walk out on that stage, you get that little tingle just like everybody does. It doesn’t matter if there’s ten people in the audience or 100,000 in the audience. Just before you walk out there, [you] think, “C’mon let’s have a good night.” You get that tingle in your body. It is exactly the same. You can walk on stage. Why? Because you’ve done it. The first day you had to walk on stage in front of a big audience, you were probably shitting yourself just like I was, the same as when I first had to get my dick hard in front of 20-30 people and go have sex. I was shitting myself. That’s exactly the same.

The more I read about this and I talk to people, the more transformative it is to be able to do it, do it live.

That’s just typical nerves isn’t it? It’s like you get a job in the band. You become the new employee and you walk into work and you are all nerves and jitters, but the minute everybody speaks to you and everybody sees you and says “welcome to the business” or you get on that stage and everybody gives you a burst of applause after that first song.

You get out there, your dick goes hard, your pants go down, she starts giving a blow job, you get in there, you start doing it, you have a brilliant scene, the chemistry is good and all of a sudden you look around and think “this is going great” and you become the entertainer. You become the star. You do the job you’re cited to do.

Do you have a character? I mean you have the name, but do you find that you like slip into the persona of it or are you still you while you’re working?

I’ve learned that being me doesn’t seem to work. You’ve got to put a little bit of an act on to get the job done. It’s like doing it on stage. I tour, I play the guitar, I’m sure you don’t sit there banging on the drums all the time. You do your normal life. When you go on stage, you get into rock star mode or whatever.

When I was asked for a porn name, because I got put on the spot the first time and you’ve got to fill in this form, I said, “I don’t know” and they said, “What are you into? Are you a guitarist? What type of guitar do you play?” At the time Steve from Toto was a friend of mine. I played with Steve and I started using his guitar, which is called a Music Man Luke, because I was using the stage name Luke, so I said, “I’ll use the Music Man Luke.” He said, “What else are you into?” Obviously I’ve been a big James Dean fan, I’ve the hair and the tattoos. I’ve always been into classic motorbikes and I said, “I love old fashioned bikes. I love hotrods and all of that,” and he went, “There you go.”

It goes with the sort of the image that I have with the tattoos and a bit of the bad boy. That’s the way people think of me even though I was probably fairly nice to people. When I first started, I played the guitar, and then I got asked to play the guitar or a piano on set and I’d sit and play and sing whatever. They went, “I didn’t know you could do that,” and then you explain your life to them, what you’ve done. I’ve done movies now where they based the whole thing around me playing guitar. You know what I mean? Gives me an extra edge, more than just being this guy with a six-pack and a hard dick who can fuck. It has given me something else.

Hope you enjoyed this chat with the excellent Luke Hotrod. Follow him on Twitter and search the prolific man for a wide range of finely produced (and scored) adult content.