KYLE HOLDING THE ISSUE #9. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GAYLETTER
EY! EY! EY! NEW YORK
A chat with Luis Venegas, the creator of EY! Magateen, one of our favorite publications.
We received the latest issue of EY! MAGATEEN in the mail last week wrapped in plastic with a pair of Diesel underwear, six sexy postcards and some fake dollars to give to go-go boys. This issue is xxxtra special, it’s their first New York issue, and is filled with lots of nudity — it’s super sexy and gives us plenty of dirty thoughts…
All photos were taken by Steven Klein, portraying the models as bad boys, which we can’t get enough of. It inspired us so much we even photographed a bad boy of our own holding the issue naked (pictured). We had the chance to chat with Luis Venegas, the Editor, Publisher and Creative Director of the magazine about the issue.
How did EY! MAGATEEN start? It started in 2008 because I felt it was the right time to do a sexy magazine with young boys for young boys and their girlfriends. I was doing Fanzine137 and I loved it — I still do — but I felt it only showed one side of me, that side related to archival material, arts, and deep interviews. I wanted to do a magazine that was the opposite, with flashy headlines, splashy-full-pages pics and short, funny, cute texts. No more, no less.
Why did you choose NEW YORK for this issue? Why not? NYC is the most exciting city in the world and EY! Magateen is supposed to be the most exciting Magateen in the world, so…
What’s special to you about the NY issue? It’s bigger, it’s 40 more pages than the previous issues, it features 30 models, it’s been entirely styled by Nicola Formichetti, it includes Diesel underwear briefs as a gift, plus 24 EY! fake dollars, 6 postcards, 2 gatefold posters… would you like me to go on?
How did you pick the models featured in the issue? Steven Klein, Nicola Formichetti and I asked the casting director Douglas Perrett (from COACD) for the most exciting guys in NYC. Usually the guys in EY! are new faces and no older than 22 or so… but this time we decided to print many more pages, so we could skip that “rule” and feature some older guys, because they’re GREAT, like the fabulous Sebastian Sauvé or the Baker twins.
Was it hard to get some of the models to show their penises? Not really. I mean, there were some who preferred not to show, so we didn’t insist. And some others agreed to the idea, so they just did it.
Was it easier to get them to show their butts? It’s always easier for guys — models and not models — to show their butts, isn’t it? I mean, in the case of butts “size doesn’t matter,” I couldn’t say the same for penises… By the way, all the guys featured in the new EY! have really great butts!
How did Steven Klein get involved? We did the 4th issue of EY! (the Argenteena issue) in 2009 together and since then we had been talking about doing a monster issue featuring NYC boys at night… so finally we found the right time to make it happen.
How did Diesel get involved? Nicola has contributed to my magazines for a long time, and again, we had been talking about doing an issue of EY! together. After he became the Creative Director of Diesel, it seemed the perfect time to make it happen!
What are the advantages and disadvantages of running your magazines from Madrid? I love living in Madrid… so from my own point of view, honestly, it’s all about advantages.
Who’s your favorite male model? Matt Ardell and our cover boy, Liam Dean!
You’ve created four magazines: Fanzine137, EY! MAGATEEN and Candy. How do you find the time? I’m just a passionate, enthusiastic, professional, resolutive and strict hard worker.
Your Instagram often features photos of celebrities from past and present. Who’s your favorite person in pop culture now and from the past? In pop culture now maaaaany people but if I had to chose just three I guess they’d be Justin Bieber, Barbra Streisand and Laverne Cox. From the past, Andy Warhol, obviously. 🙂
Below are some of our favorite images from the issue and the two different cover versions they printed:
