Gloss Cover Model Jeremiah Kerr is the Knotsmith You Didn’t Know You Kneaded
Part-time model & full-time masseur, Jeremiah is knot afraid to open up
Words by Kenshi Westover | Photography by Dot • PhotoByDot.com • IG: @photobydot• Photo illustr. by @iamkenshi
This being the Street Fair issue and all, tell me, Jeremiah, what do you like about them and which is your favorite?
San Francisco is an amazing city for street fairs. We have so many different genres that put our creativity, passions and our unique identities on full display without inhibitions. We are a culture that pushes the boundaries of convention and translates those ideas into art. I grew up in a very small town in the middle of Kansas where repression is a way of life so I think the leather and kink festivals like Folsom or Dore Alley are my favorites. I think society as a whole tends to demonize sex and I find that sad and unhealthy. The leather community has helped me strip away the nonsense and reclaim my sexuality and foster the exhibitionist within. Plus I love how I look in leather.
What is one thing you love about San Francisco and one thing you despise?
This is a city where you can be whoever you want to be. This is where I not only found myself, I then evolved that self by experiencing everything I could and devouring life as much as possible. That’s the absolute best thing about our city. People in other parts of the country have no idea what that even feels like and I am so grateful to be here especially with the ugly politics of today. My least favorite is easy: parking.
What’s one thing you love about yourself and what’s one thing you would change?
I think what I love most about myself is my ability to admit when I’m wrong. This has been the most fundamental aspect of my growth as a human being. I’ve had a lot of moments in my life where I realized that my entire perspective or thinking was wrong and as hard as that is to digest, it’s what has allowed me to move forward and change. I grew up in a small town in Kansas of about 50 people called Paradise (it was not). I felt like an alien growing up and like a lot of gay men, I became hypervigilant and aware of every move I made and everything I said in order to protect myself. Unfortunately that created a very harsh inner critic within me that to this day at 47 still plagues my life. This is what I would change. Maybe someday I’ll get there.
What do you do for work and what drives you?
I have had a massage therapy and bodywork practice that was initially called Knotsmith, but is now Jeremiah Kerr Bodywork (Knotsmith is now the name of my signature massage). I had two car accidents back to back when I was living in Austin at 21 that gave me whiplash and started an adulthood of significant back problems. I have spent the past few decades trying to understand the body as a machine and how to undo the tension patterns that cause us so much pain. This is why I started my career working primarily in injury and sports massage.
Put simply, muscular rtension is influenced by signals from the nervous system telling those fibers to contract and remain guarded for a number of reasons—such as protecting against overuse or impact, or providing stability, as the muscles in the neck so when supporting the head.
I specialize in a modified trigger point approach that is designed to interrupt those habitual neuromuscular patterns and give the nervous system an opportunity to reset. My current technique takes that clinical knotwork and offsets it with intentional, distracting touch that gives the nervous system competing sensory input. This allows for more efficient tension release while feeling like a dance.
I’m trained in a variety of modalities, so I can design a massage experience for each individual, no matter your bodywork goals.
I love helping people. I love holding space for my clients and meeting them where they are at both physically and emotionally. When I restarted my practice at the end of the pandemic I had a lot of moments where I held my elderly clients and simply allowed them to cry. I was the first person to touch them in over a year and I was honored to be that for them. This is what drives me. It’s my passion. I think being human is hard. Empathy makes it easier.
What’s your favorite part of being a gay man?
I think the most powerful part of being gay is that if you survive being shoved outside the box (many of us don’t), then you get to turn around and see the box. My rainbow siblings and I have a unique perspective on reality that most in society will never understand. I question everything and will continue to do so until the day I leave this planet.
You mention a modified trigger point approach that you developed yourself. Is that your signature “Knotsmith” massage?
Yes. “Deep tissue” isn’t referring to the depth or pressure involved. It simply means starting at the insertion and pulling through to the origin. I’m more concerned with disconnecting the brain/muscle connection that causes the tissue to be tense to begin with, so I take the length of the muscle in sections using a circular pattern that’s similar to cross fiber, but with a specific intention. I “turn off” the muscle as I go along, all while distracting with the other hand or using my knee, etc., to pull your attention away from the knotwork.
You say this allows for more efficient tension release “while feeling like a dance.” What do you mean, “like a dance”?
I work to the music, incorporating rocking and movements of my body that act as the engine of the technique. It feels fluid and dance-like throughout the session.
Let’s talk about that cover image for a second where you are the Folsom-ready leather daddy on one side and a campy Castro queen on the other. It’s really something else. It’s A LOT [Laughs.] and I’ll admit I’m a little biased, since I’m the one who put you in front of the lens because I love “a lot,” especially when it comes to identity. How did you feel, not just as the model, but as a person, embodying both the hard/masculine leather on one side and the campy/flamboyant side on the other in the same image and allowing yourself to be seen by the world like that in such
a public way?
First, I want to say that I’m honored to have been part of your creative vision, and I want to thank Dot Photography for making me look like a cover model. Twice.
I think this is an important dichotomy for gay men especially, because it’s a line many of us straddle for most of our lives. We are taught to be masculine from birth. It’s what is expected of us. Then we become adults who are attracted to men, so many of us strive to be seen as “masc” because we’ve learned that masculinity is what other men are supposed to find sexy.
But we aren’t fully ourselves if we ignore the feminine energy that also powers our ability to shine. Our inner light is a raging fire, but we are taught to keep the embers dim and quiet.
If I had been asked to do this shoot even five years ago, I’m not sure I would have had the balls to do it. As I get older, though, I continue to push my boundaries and find my edges. I’m at
a point in my life now where I embrace all the parts of myself: sexy, awkward, feminine,
masculine, angry, sad, happy. I’m no longer afraid or ashamed of any of it. It makes me who I am and is a testimony to how far I’ve come.
Well, thank you for doing it. It was a lot of fun, wasn’t it. And by the way, your ass looks great. In both looks, if you were not aware. Thank you for sharing your “assets,” and I’m not just talking about the one in the trunk!
[Laughs.]
On that note, what’s the best way to contact you if someone wants to get their knots kneaded out?
My website is currently being revamped, so the best way to reach me is by text at 316-990-8836. You can also find me on Instagram @Jeremiahkerrbodywork or on
Masseurfinder at Elevating Bodywork by Jeremiah.