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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:50 | Сообщение # 21 |
 the childcatcher
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| How many artists can name check both Elvis Presley and new wave pop classicist Klaus Nomi as influences? It seems British maverick Patrick Wolf stands triumphant in a field of none, claiming his latest Ace Norton-directed ultraviolet-light show film clip for Hard Times is homage to both - and he succeeds.
The dazzling in both sound and spectacle, Hard Times is the lead single from Wolf's fourth album, The Bachelor. Originally part of a double recorded entitled Battle (named for where it was predominately recorded), Wolf then decided to split the record into two separate albums; The Bachelorand the forthcoming The Conqueror. Aside from fears of overburdening the listener with information, the record was split for "Lots of reasons," says Wolf. "Basically, what we did was we tried to finish as many songs as possible, maybe up to 35 or 40, and we got to the mixing process... and we sat there and thought 'We need another choir or another string section'. So there was a lot left to finish, so the percentage of it that was complete, all the dark songs, became the Bachelor album."
Dark is a good place to start. Following on from The Magic Position, an album its creator calls a "refined record, a polished sound that's popular," The Bachelor finds him turning to a claustrophobic, though no less broad palette.
Wolf explains, "The Bachelor is [about] somebody who has closed himself off a lot, on some songs there's either a lot of love and life or there's a lot of loss, people will notice there's not a lot of love on this album." It's also a record that breaks down barriers of genre with a vast vibrant landscape of sounds and themes, as well as featuring a number of collaborations with the likes of avant garde everyman Matthew Herbert, folk legend Eliza Carthy and Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire. On these collaborations Wolf elucidates that it "was about keeping my ears open, and my head and heart, it was more about being like twins - like brothers - figuring out what we want to do." Wolf's connections even extend to featuring actress Tilda Swinton as 'The Voice of Hope', a narrator-like optimistic conscience who challenges Wolf actress the record to be his best and seize the moment.
This bevy of artistic partnerships is not entirely new to Wolf's repertoire "I've done three records now and it wasn't so interesting for me, anymore, to be closed off from collaborations. I'm only 25 years old but felt so much like a hermit I needed to step out to the world and open myself up."
An isolation, perhaps, generated by a retreat from the media spotlight that has harried Wolf since his new found commercial popularity. Driving to Manchester between gigs Wolf comments on the monotony of the promotional circuit. "The sound with this album is kind of a response to mainstream media, in my country, and America, I seem to do 100 times more interviews. I get up in the morning from eight in the morning up until the show, and then up 'til about 2am doing more." he sighs.
His reluctance is almost tangible, even during the course of the short interview it's clear he's slightly guarded but wary of the opportunity to set the record straight. Understandable considering that the media, particularly in his native country, have always found excuses to make him a subject (plus there was the 'scuffle' that saw him detained by police recently in San Francisco which he announced on, of all things, Twitter). Generating controversy and turning his flamboyant image (think two parts Bowie to one part Bjork) into an ignorant exploration of his sexuality.
It's something that still clearly riles Wolf. In a recent MySpace blog post he voiced his disquiet with a recent gig in which "random Neanderthals" shouted out vulgarities. Having the attention drawn away from his singing, writing and performing to private concerns clearly tires him, he brooches the topic, without prompt, during the interview, "There might be some dumbbell who sees a video and says (adopting shocked ignorance) 'Oh, who is that faggot?' but then say they like my guitar playing. Well you can't like my guitar playing and call me a faggot. If that's the case then go find something simple, I'm not a simple artist, not a simple communicator, my work is complicated."
Complex indeed, Wolf is an artist who has no time for simplicity or those that desire it. A complexity reflected in his sound, combining layers of electronics, traditional instruments, his beguiling voice and, to top it all off, the odd string section or full choir. This music is then presented in equally dense visuals, his rick album art and (as previously mentioned) eye-catching videos, are all part of the artistic make-up.
Confronted with concerns that all this razzle dazzle might overshadow the music he states, "I can understand some people might get confused and they don't know which one to focus on; they can be confused as to what the song is about because of the visuals. But the artwork and visuals shouldn't be tied down to being sincere, or staying true to the content. I'm not a conventional artist, the communication needs to explore and I need to be avant garde with it.
"There are some people who just want simple communication, but I don't make my music or my art for those people; it's for three dimensional artists that like to communicate on every level."
This fiercely uncompromising spirit even extended as far as the album's distribution. As the creator of his own record label (Bloody Chamber), Wolf attempted a new business venture that asked fans to fund the production of The Bachelor by buying stocks in the album through the internet. "It seemed like a bit of simple genius to ask the fans to help fund it. A way of saying basically, 'You can invest in it, be a part of making it. You can earn money with me, so you almost become part of the record company, like a co-owner of the album."
This new business model, part of a technological shift in the future of the music industry as a whole is just another way for Wolf to maintain his independence, the freedom to create."Would I follow this model again? I'd very much like to. It's an exciting way forward."
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:51 | Сообщение # 22 |
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the childcatcher
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| Patrick Wolf from London is a fascinating musician. He demands more tolerance towards gays, lesbians and transsexuals. And it even sounds good! An interview:
ZEIT ONLINE: Mr Wolf, you have been dropped by your label Universal and founded your own. Your album Bachelor has been financed in part via the website Bandstocks.com, where fans can by stocks for an artist's developing album.
PATRICK WOLF: When today somebody pays for an album, that is almost a miracle. (laughs) I only put four or five excerpts online. The people didn't even listen to those - they just felt the urge to support me. I feld very flattered, truly inspired, because my work means something to the people.
ZEIT: The first pieces on the new album were written while you were on a US Tour. How is writing abroad working for you?
PW: When I was there, I often had to bridge time. In Los Angeles I waited a week for a TV appearance. I had nothing to do - thus, a lot of time to think and experience new things. Since I was 19, I was on tour almost without a break. Two days in Australia, then directly to Japan, then America and then again somewhere and back. I felt like cut into a thousand pieces that were scattered all over the world. Last year I declined any tour offers, any festivals, all interviews. I wanted to start a new chapter, sort my feelings. It took until the middle of that year for me to realized that I had gotten quite depressed.
ZEIT: This crisis is what your album is about. First, it was supposed to be a political piece.
PW: I felt misunderstood for a long time. Especially on my US Tour or in other parts of the world that are very conservative in their core - I had to justify myself for everything - the lyrics, my hair colour and my whole personality, before anybody cared about my music. That has gotten better now, since I am better known. But I was stuck in that defensiveness for a long time. Additionally, loneliness and depression caused me to become more aggressive, also politically.
ZEIT: In songs like Hard Times you call on your audience to become more active, to strike back. What are your views on the social situation in England at the moment?
PW: It is strange that it has to be about the people's money before they lean up. When I could influence anything, I would instigate riots about sociopolitical subjects: race equality, feminism, LGBT rights. Even though these are on the political agenda, they are not on the social one. And even the media fears subjects that have been established by generations prior to ours.
ZEIT: Did it change you that you are experience more respect now and simply have gotten older?
PW: Yes, I won't be that Peter Pan figure any more. It is important for me to be honest about my age, about my emotional development and about the never ending learning process. Many people are obsessed by their youth - I on the other hand are obsessed by my maturation process. Thus, I like working with people who have accomplished a lot in their lives such as Marianne Faithfull or Tilda Swinton, with people who can give and tell so much. I feel connected more to those people than to my age contemporaries.
ZEIT: How do you want to be when you are old?
PW: When I will go bald, I will be like Andy Warhol: wigs, wigs, wigs. And a lot of fur coats. And I will use the eccentricity of age as an excuse to do things I haven't dared yet.
ZEIT: Eccentricity is something stereotypically English. Your music also refers a lot to English - and Irish - musical traditions. Why does that stimulate you?
PW: I think, it is a reminiscence to my family. My father is English from the core. And my mother is Irish. The deep emotional bond with my parents can be seen in all of my albums. On my first album, Lycanthropy, I mourn having run away from home and didn't have parents in a way. On the second album, Wind In The Wires, I am coming back. My father has played on it and so has my sister. Then my grandparents died. The third album, The Magic Position, contains a letter to them and to my mother. On the new album, I am singing Blackdown for my father. There is only a little group of people I really love from my heart and whom I would trust with my life. Those always appear in my songs in some way.
ZEIT: You contrast natural folk tunes to synthetical ones. Why are you interested in electronic music?
PW: It developed in the 20th century as a completely new, wonderful style of communication. This sound template is still so innocent and yound when compared to string movements which have existed for hundreds of years. That is an old, mature sound. You can't do too much with it. But electronic music is still fresh. In my heart I am a futurist, even though I am influenced by the harpsichord and by Elizabethan music. I don't concentrate on the past, but I look into the future.
ZEIT: Your next album is already scheduled to come out next year. You must work very productively.
PW: In 2008, I went to the studio with about 40 sings and felt guilty that I had to say goodbye to at least 20 of them, since they did not all fit onto my new album. When I then looked at the lyrics, the chords, the pitches, I realized that I had given birth to twins. They are very similar to each other, but nonetheless two separate creatures. Thus, I will have to publish the second one as soon as possible, too.
ZEIT: The album project is called The Battle - very militant.
PW: Battle is the name of the city where I recorded the music. And indeed many songs induce a militant atmosphere. Additionally, I was fighting with my label Universal until they threw me out. I had to finish the album on my own with little money. So I decided to go ahead and publish The Bachelor for now. I wanted to start with the negative side, the problems, the depression. And with the second part, The Conqueror, the healing will follow, the positive.
ZEIT: You are going on tour again. Do you feel more secure now?
PW: This time I will enjoy it more. I am 25 now. I have grown up and I have learned to control my body a lot better. And then I have my boyfriend with me this time. A little bit of sex after a show, that's what makes you happy. (laughs)
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:51 | Сообщение # 23 |
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the childcatcher
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| There are many theories as to how to become a bona-fide rock star. Some people suggest taking the enigmatic approach, a la David Bowie. Others feel that the loudmouth, posturing route of the Gallaghers is failsafe.
Patrick Wolf has somehow managed to tread a fine line between the two, never holding back in his opinions or stories, yet somehow maintaining an air of mysticism that is fascinating. He is a lanky contradiction who has sipped from the cup of commercial success, but has not yet drunk fully from it. It could be said that events have conspired against him in preventing wider recognition of his music, but then again, it could also be argued that he conspires against himself.
Following a very public meltdown in 2007 at the end of the promo of third album ‘The Magic Position’, Patrick backed away from the public eye for 18 months to recover, regroup, and record. He shunned the major label support of Universal to start new label Bloody Chamber Music, an enterprise purely funded through the public via new music business model Bandstocks, and his first album as part of the venture, ‘The Bachelor’, has just come out.
‘The Bachelor’ is an album which retreats from the bright lights of ‘The Magic Position’ towards the more gothic, noir-ish earlier albums ‘Wind in the Wires’ and ‘Lycanthropy’. The electonica-infused folk is back, with a more assured, glossy production sheen. It is an account of Wolf’s experiences through the ending of his previous relationship, and the trials and tribulations of being on a world tour during a period of drama and dark emotion.
Collaborations with Atari Teenage Riot’s Alec Empire, Eliza McCarthy for the string arrangements, beats from Matthew Herbert and narration from Tilda Swinton mix up Patrick’s introspection, and for all the darkness which pervades in certain tracks, there are moments of euphoria which punctuate throughout.
Despite retreating from the gaze of the public for so long, Wolf hasn’t been resting on his laurels. Rather than recording the usual 12-track album, he has managed to lay down two albums’ worth of material that he originally intended to release as a double LP titled ‘Battle’. As often happens with Wolf, however, plans change…
- - -
Hi Patrick, how are you doing?
I’m good, Im really enjoying this time a lot more than ‘The Magic Position’; everything seems to be in a good place right now. I’m so busy that I’m a bit doo-lally at the moment, I’m doing interviews at eight o’clock in the morning sometimes, and I don’t know what they expect to get out of me at that time!
You changed the name of your new album from ‘Battle’ to ‘The Bachelor’ – why?
‘Battle’ was the name of the double album I had planned, and I think ‘Battle’ will still be released at some point with the two discs being brought together. Battle was the place where I was playing and recording, and I guess when I finally reached Battle, I suddenly realised that I’d been through a battle myself, emotionally and professionally. When I was recording in Parkgate there were two separate sets of recordings happening: the love songs, the positive songs, and then these very solipsistic, dark, negative bachelor songs. So I just thought it would be rude to mix them together and make one mess of an album. It was important to keep the two separate, as ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Conqueror’.
You recorded two different characters of songs in one long period – did it feel schizophrenic working on them at the same time?
No, I hadn’t been in the studio for such a long time that I had so many songs written, and had been through a real transition in my personal life from being in an extremely happy relationship to suddenly being single, through to being really despairing about everything from finances to would I ever get married, and meeting William, my boyfriend at the moment, and everything just going from wrong to right within one night. It’s been non-stop drama, but I enjoy the drama because it influences a bit of chaos, and I think that chaos is a good start for writing songs, you know, personal chaos. I do believe that a bit of torture and self-destruction does help create a good song.
You just mentioned marriage – there’s references to getting married in ‘The Bachelor’. Is that something that you’re really concerned about?
I think the idea of gay marriage, that’s kind of… I can’t actually marry the man of my dreams legally; I can have a civil partnership but I can’t get married. I guess the idea of marriage is a religious union between two people in the eyes of God, and I was just really fascinated that the whole ceremony was about God rather than about the two people saying that they wanted to be with each other for the rest of their lives. I’m not Catholic, I’m not Hindu, I’m not an atheist, but I’m more of a pagan and I believe in love, and I believe in emotion and romance, and sex and sexuality. I guess with marriage I’m playing with the idea that I would love to be swept off my feet and have someone get down on their hands and knees and tell me that I was theirs forever. I’m a bit of a lady like that.
I think I’d reached the point where I was playing these mad concerts where it was a thousand screaming people, and mad festivals, and I couldn’t go out and socialise really, because that’s not real; that’s not where you’re gonna find your true love, that’s the place to find that stalker. So I really closed myself off from relationships and all that stuff, and closed my heart down.
It took a lot of panic from family and friends when I got really depressed that I should maybe start to get my feet back on the ground and stop being Patrick Wolf for a while, maybe focus on learning how to get on a bus and buy groceries and stuff, and maybe once I’ve got into those things, then a relationship might follow afterwards ‘cos I’d be in a good place to give love to somebody.
This album feels like you’ve left the carnival of ‘The Magic Position’ and moved back to your more traditional musical roots – does that perhaps feel like a backwards step for you?
Well, where could I have gone after the exaggeration and the mania of ‘The Magic Position’? Where does one go after that? Do you keep on going more Boney M, or do you go back to getting drunk on gin and picking up the balalaika and just pour your heart out?
That’s where I wanted to go – I wanted to get genuine again and when it gets too glitzy and showbiz for me, I always feel this punk reaction to fuck things up and get really emotional and raw, and I hit the bottle and started investigating Russian folk songs and misery. I needed something raw: it wasn’t the big city and glitter cannons and stuff, that all seemed like fakery to me, I needed some raw blues again, and I was feeling the blues very much in my personal life.
But I don’t know where I could have moved on, apart from becoming the male Kylie after ‘The Magic Position’. I could only have gone more over-produced and commercial, which is the opposite of what I ever wanted, and I think that’s a big reason why I parted ways with Universal. What ‘The Magic Position was and the potential it showed around the world, they wanted me to get even more commercial and mainstream, and I just didn’t have the stupidity in me to want to compromise that much.
So you’ve said that going more commercial and pop and doing the whole male Kylie thing wasn’t how you saw yourself. How do you see yourself?
I know that a lot of people, if they think of Patrick Wolf, speaking in the third person, I’m sure they think of that boy with the videos, that annoying person who’s a loudmouth in interviews, and that’s always looking different from everyone else, but I’m a singer-songwriter, I just happen to look differently to other people, it’s just that I can’t help that.
I don’t like stylists, and I decided very early on that I wasn’t going to have media training and I wasn’t going to be a conservative person and try and play a game whereby more people will hear my music.
I’m socially and politically aware, and I want to rock the status quo in a way; I want to change things around me as well as being respected as a singer-songwriter and a producer, but if I see myself as anything, I think I’d like to be remembered as a Bob Dylan or a Leonard Cohen or a Joni Mitchell. But I guess I realise that a big part of what I do, when it comes to publicity and stuff, is that I have a very strong visual to go with the music, and it takes people a while to get their head around it.
The people that get it, they really get it; and the people that don’t get it, don’t get it. I don’t know… I just wish that people would just close their eyes and listen to the music and see the stuff that they seek in other singer-songwriters. I see myself as a singer-songwriter, but I spend 90 per cent of the year touring and doing interviews and making videos and doing the pop star thing as well. Maybe when I’m 80 I’ll get the recognition that I deserve.
You just said that you wished people would listen to the music and not pay attention to your image – are you ever tempted to tone your image down at all?
During ‘Wind in the Wires’, I decided to do that, and I felt really compromised after about a year. I felt really stifled and like I was in the wrong job. I felt like I had almost gone into work as a temporary secretary. I was like a model at night and then during the day I was putting on the most horrendous Primark outfit and I didn’t feel like myself, I felt like a fake.
It’s dyed in the wool that I was 6’4” when I was 12 years old, I have 700 moles on my body; I just wasn’t made like other people, and I guess I’m a freak of nature, but that’s fine, I embrace that. But when I use that as a visual as well, people become inspired by it. And if people are inspired by it, then I thought: well, fuck the rest of the world. If I can inspire people to be themselves as well as inspire people musically, then that’s a two-headed beast, and that’s great, I’m happy to embrace both now. I understand that it closes doors: Jools Holland still hasn’t booked me, I’m now on album four and I’ve been after that show for four years, but I understand that I might be too challenging for a lot of mainstream TV and that’s fine. I just think it might be a bit too dangerous to compromise, as where does that end? It becomes like Hitler and chucking all the Jewish people out of Germany.
I am who I am, and I shouldn’t be afraid of being myself, you know? If it means I don’t have as much commercial success, then so be it, but maybe I’ll be understood in 100 years and celebrated for being myself during a time when I could have sold out and been somebody else just to make money.
With Universal, it sounds like their vision of where they wanted you to go next was very different from yours… is that the main reason that you parted company?
Yeah, I think it was stipulated within the contract that they couldn’t do anything that I didn’t like, and it came to a point where when I did decide to make quite a brave departure with this album, in terms of choices with collaborators and the way things were recorded with the timescale and who was gonna mix the album, then they started to realise that… Anyway, I think that was more of an acceptable thing in the late ‘70s and ‘60s where artists were given a free reign to produce themselves and to be a producer and a songwriter. It’s something which has just slipped away, it’s not such a conventional thing anymore.
I walk away with a positive mind frame on the whole experience, and I’m not too upset about what happened, because we just weren’t right for each other, it was a total horses for courses situation. I just wasn’t right for that world, because I’m just too aware of what I wanna do, and you have to understand that a lot of bands have absolutely no idea how they want their records to sound – they come up with a few chords and some lyrics, and that’s as far as they take it. But for me it’s the opposite: I know how the record’s going to sound, I know where it’s going to be recorded, and who I want to work with and engineer it; it goes into the visual after that, and the marketing, ‘cos I’ve spent many, many years working behind the scenes to know every detail of how a record was made, which I guess was very intimidating for Universal. I think it’s a lot better that I run my own label, because I have the knowledge to do that.
It’s amazing that you have such strong ideas of how things are going to sound beforehand. Why do you think that is?
I think it just developed in my head, as I’d be one of those people at a dinner party who will be staring at a spot on the wall, but in my head there’s six cellos going off and I’m writing a song. I’ve always had this extra… I think it was from being the outsider at school or being really bored in physics lessons, I was just sat there composing in my head and writing, and had my own little world in my head. I hear music in my head as loud as an iPod. Maybe I’d have had electric shock therapy for it 80 years ago, but I use it as my songwriting tool. I hear voices in my head! (Laughs).
How’s your new label going now that you’re a few months in?
I’m smiling when I wake up in the morning, because working for yourself is really empowering, and working for your own interests… I don’t think anything can beat it. To be the underdog for somebody and to work for somebody else’s best interests, if that’s what you want from life that’s great, but I think if you’ve got something you truly believe in and you’re working hard for it and things are working, then it doesn’t get any better than that.
Things are working out for me now: I’m being accepted and embraced by people who over the last three albums haven’t really picked up on it, I just seem to be finally getting some kind of respect from people. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit older now, and people are just kind of: Hey, Patrick’s been around for such a long time that we’re starting to listen and engage a bit more, and it’s lovely that it’s on my own label so that if success does happen with it, then you know exactly where all the pennies are going, and I know that I can make enough money to reinvest it in another artistic project. That’s all I really want from doing this.
You’re no longer just a young upstart.
Exactly, yeah. And I feel it from the interviews as well: I’m finally over that period of ‘What are your influences’, or ‘Where do you come from’, or blah blah blah. It’s all those really strange questions and suddenly it’s just straight into questions about the album and ‘How have you been recently?’, and I’m really enjoying it now. There’s not so much justification because there’s nothing to justify.
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:51 | Сообщение # 24 |
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the childcatcher
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| When Patrick Wolf arrives for our meeting -- in a parking lot on the Sunset Strip -- he's surprisingly tall, sporting a modest coat of stage makeup that nicely complements his bleached-blond hair, and exuding an air of gentility and good nature that’s quietly contradicted by a mischievous grin. He’s the type of character whose mind works so fast, his speech can hardly keep up. Throughout our conversation, his impulsive train of thought seems to compliment his savant-like grip on the art of music.
As a master of viola, ukulele, piano, and harp (to name a few) and wielder of an incomparable 15-megaton voice, it’s no surprise that music has always been at the center of Wolf’s life. He took to the stage at 14 to play theremin for Minty, an avant-garde performance art group founded by the late queer legend Leigh Bowery. By 16 he was busking the streets of London with a violin, leading to the release of his first couple albums and a healthy heaping of critical praise (NME once compared him to Prince, David Bowie, and Björk all in one breath -- it doesn't get much better than that).
Initially, Wolf took a reserved, cautious approach to publicity, toning down his look to allow the music to speak for itself. But after being picked up by Universal for his third album, The Magic Position, Wolf surprised some fans by appearing with vividly red hair -- and matching short shorts -- clinging to a merry go-round on the album’s cover, thereby introducing his playfully audacious and frequently evolving sense of style to a mass audience.
Unfortunately, some critics confuse the lighthearted eye candy of his personal aesthetic for the content of his music, eager to write off Wolf as silly and campy when his music is anything but. His new album, The Bachelor, is an epic and brooding affair that boasts collaborations with Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire and Oscar-winning thespian Tilda Swinton. Having parted ways with Universal, which, he says, wanted him to become "the male Kylie," the album was financed with small investments from fans through a site called BandStocks, enabling Wolf to have complete creative control.
Read on to uncover the scandal, the politics, the sexuality, and the artistic inspiration that fuels Patrick Wolf.
I'm a follower of your Twitter, so I have to ask: What happened last night? You got arrested after spitting in someone's face?
Just a typical day in the life of Patrick Wolf! This bouncer was being a real asshole. We were going to a goth club, and he thought we didn't look "goth enough." I just wanted to take my friends out for a drink and it was the only place open after hours. It was one of those instances when you can tell someone just hates you and they don’t even know you -- they just take one look at you. I always want to challenge people like that, because I hate ghettos -- people sticking to codes of conduct and rules of identity. So I was being really, really nice for about 15 minutes, just talking to him, but he wasn't having it, and he tried to punch me. The only way I could protect myself was to spit in his face, because I don’t throw punches back.
I got chased down the street, got on the tour bus and we tried to drive away, but the police were called. This bouncer had tried to beat me up and the policeman just said, "Oh, you're gay, so your spit could have HIV in it, and you could kill that man!" He was being a total dickhead -- but when he realized what he'd said, he just knew he was in big shit and he had to let me off, because he'd decided to get really homophobic. He was rubbing his gun and yelling, "Shut the fuck up!" and pulling his gun out, stuff like that. I gave him the wrong passport by accident, because I have two passports, and it went on and on and on. It was just ridiculous. It made me quite excited, actually. I guess for some people that’s a sexual fantasy.
Being assaulted by the police?
Yeah. But I just can't believe the police would talk to anyone like that in public. It’s shocking.
In San Francisco of all places …
Right. The police are often the same people who bullied you in school, who can't find a job, so they decide they're going to bully the public. It's fine. I've had my run-ins with the police before. I'm a tough boy.
That's not a bad quality to have. So how exactly did you get to work with Tilda Swinton on the album, and what was it like working with Derek Jarman's muse?
Well, that was one of the most exciting things -- the Derek Jarman connection. I've always wanted to connect on an artistic level with Derek. His books were one of the most inspirational things for me as a teenager dealing with my sexuality, and he had such a strong artistic voice. You can take away all the scandal that went on in his life, and his work is the testament to a true artist, a beautiful, beautiful soul.
With Tilda, I wanted to make quite an English album, you know, return to my English and Irish roots and pay tribute to my island musically. So it couldn't really have been anyone else. It was just total circumstance and serendipity that brought us together. A year before recording, I'd written in my production book that for the monologues I'd very much like to have Tilda Swinton. When I was finally finishing up the vocals, Tilda happened to be doing a Q&A for Julia next door at the cinema. I had no hopes, really; I just thought I would go to Q&A and give her a CD of the songs. Extremely successful people can be very guarded, and there are many layers you have to break through in order to get to ask someone a question a lot of the time. But amazingly, the next day I woke up and she'd written me an e-mail saying, “I loved the song, let’s do it. Let’s go to the studio and be spontaneous.” So we extended the studio for one more day, and she came in and gave me so much hope, really. I think I was quite worn out by that time, because it'd been a long record to make. I was losing focus. So to have her come in was just so unexpected and so easy and inspiring. I wish all collaborations could be like that.
As an artist whose work feels very personal, do you ever get self-conscious about writing so autobiographically? How does it feel when you meet people who think they already know you through your music?
I think I found it very strange with the first album -- when you release an album, it's easy to forget that people are going to listen to it in the same way that you've listened to your favorite albums; it was a very hard thing to grasp. It’s something that I've accepted now. It's one of the major parts of doing what I do, and I really appreciate it when I find people have sort of analyzed the lyrics and made their own interpretations ... because quite often people just look at the front cover and go, you know, "Fucking freak!" and throw the CD away. So when people actually engage with the whole piece of work, I like that. It’s a real honor.
On "Hard Times," you sing about not giving up in the face of prolonged ignorance, fear and oppression from society at large. Are you feeling more optimistic in 2009 -- did you get swept up in the whirlwind of hope that people have created around Obama?
Yeah, it’s fantastic for your country, for sure. I mean, I'm very interested in how England is right now, how there's no leader. There's no Obama right now in England, no one for the public to focus their positive energy on. It’s just an absolute dog’s dinner. It reminds me of when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the parliament, you know? Everyone is furious at our government about all the spending they did with all our tax money.
It’s a real class war going on and I find it really exciting. It’s a good time for England -- people seem to think it's a depression, but I always think out of these depressions and recessions, really fantastic things come, because it makes people reassess what they value, what the most important things in life are, and a lot of the time love comes out of that, and creativity and art and respect. Even when the world thinks it’s in a really good place, socially and politically, I think you've always got to have that critical sensibility where you don't just say, "Everything's good," and get out a cocktail and relax. You've got to remember there’s always something to achieve, always some boundary to be broken in the world.
You don't make your bisexuality an issue in your music, but you also seem very comfortable with it and you don't shy away from addressing the subject. Even though you were comfortable enough to be on stage with Minty at 14, was there ever a time when you struggled with your sexual identity?
Yeah, I mean, when you're surrounded by drag queen chat at 12 or 13, everyone’s fishing out for your sexuality and trying to be supportive. It’s like going into a family, it’s like a house, and you have all these people to speak to, these great performance artists. I got not only personal advice but performance advice, everything, so I was being nurtured to be as free and liberated as possible from a very early age. I was very comfortable with the idea of being transgender, bisexual, lesbian, everything -- it seemed so normal. It was only when, later on, I crossed over into the pop world and suddenly had publicists in my ear saying, "Well if you're going to say this, if you're going to be like you are right now, than don't expect to sell any records, don't expect to get publicity,” that suddenly all these limitations were put on me.
I had so much to think about at the age of 18, I just decided to close off and be, like, Morrissey-style: totally nonchalant about sexuality and almost sexless. I think I was young enough and innocent enough to play the Britney card, where I would say, "Oh, I don't think about sex," you know? And then when I started to experience and witness rife homophobia in the entertainment industry, I thought, Well, if no one’s going to be outspoken, then I am.
There are so many people that are still in the closet after six, seven years in the industry -- they're the total slags of London and then they go do interviews where they're talking about how they want to get married and they fancy this girl or that girl, and I just think it’s so unfair, because then there become no role models for the younger generation. They're left with these canned representations on TV and not real people to be inspired by. I thought it'd be quite exciting to be -- not a role model, I'm more the opposite of a role model -- but to show that you can be strong, you can be successful, you can be supercreative, and you don't have to follow any rules. You can make yourself your own person, and I guess it’s what I'm trying to do every day. I'm still exploring myself in terms of my level of confidence and my personal comfort level with privacy and public and all those things.
Putting this album out by myself is one of the best decisions I've ever made, because you have to understand -- at Universal they didn't want me to be known as a gay artist, because they thought it would cut out 50% of records sales or something like that.
That’s appalling.
It is appalling. But now in the gay media I find myself getting five-star reviews, and in the music media I'll get three and a half. There is great support within the gay media for queer artists to be successful and do good things ... but I'm sure some straight reviewers take on board the fact that I'm gay and remove a star or two on the review, prefixing everything with "he's camp, quirky, flamboyant, kooky." Why don't they just say gay? Spit it out, motherfucker! It’s all so subversive, because political correctness has silenced a lot of people and forced them to be subtle with their insults. It’s much more subliminal now, homophobia, but it’s still there. I don't like to play the victim card, but when you work so hard your whole life to be successful and to get your work across to a mass audience, it’s frustrating.
I want my music to be listened to by everyone from an American football player to a truck driver to a grandma to a 16-year-old kid to a drag queen. But what the media does is it compartmentalizes you and tries to place you in a niche. That’s my battle, and it’s a hard one to fight.
That leads me to something else I'm curious about: Who were your own queer heroes and role models, growing up and even now?
Since I've become quite comfortable with everything in the last few years, I'm not as scared of things I once saw as camp, myself. I really appreciate Paris Is Burning and The Naked Civil Servant and things that when I was younger and a bit more punk, I would have been like, "Fuck that bullshit!" and gone back to listening to my punk music and industrial music.
Growing up, I guess my heroes were the people I got to know in London: the performance artists, the drag queens, the hard-core queers like Leigh Bowery who were breaking down the idea of ghettos and trying to bring more respect for sexuality to the public -- that was very exciting for me. John Waters was really exciting to me as a teenager too. I was more of a rebel punk. I belonged more to the queer youth than glow sticks and ecstasy and stuff like that.
I have a lot more respect and awareness now of how there was a time when it was illegal to kiss your boyfriend or to sleep with another man, and all the pressures that were put on people trying to stay free. Quentin Crisp was really brave to do what he did in the world he was living in.
Probably because of your frequent references to traveling and your history of busking the streets, I tend to picture you as a restless vagabond who's in a constant state of Rimbaudesque exploration -- do you really live a life of nomadic romance?
You mention Rimbaud -- I mean yeah, for sure. I fell in love with Arthur Rimbaud about a year and a half ago. I think he was my long-lost lover I never got to meet. He wrote such beautiful, beautiful words. When I first discovered his work, my friend Edward and I, we thought we were Rimbaud and Verlaine, for a long time.
I do see myself as something of a wanderer. Travel is 85% of my life. I have no fixed abode, just various motels, hotels, and now living on a bus. I tell my band they're going to have to start getting into gypsy culture, because we live like gypsies on tour. The road is something I love. I just let go. If my phone doesn't work, I don't care. I’ll just stare out the window and see where I end up. Making friends in different cities is hard -- you have to cram all your friendships into one day. I’ve met some wonderful people around the world and they're all in my heart.
I did get a chance to take some time off last year. I met William, my boyfriend, and we became really, really domestic. I never used to cook, and I would survive on soup for like a week, just continually reheating it -- I didn't know how to look after myself. But with William, I started making chicken, and we were acting like husband and wife, and it was really fun. And I was the wife, I guess.
On the title track, "The Bachelor," you sing about never marrying at all.
Well, it's more of a question than a statement. I can actually see how it could now be like, a Proposition 8 protest song. Because the bachelor’s saying, "I'll never be married," and he obviously wants to get married, but he can't. So that either comes down to romantic failure or wanting to sleep around the rest of your life or not really committing to love -- or it could be that there's some general restriction in the fact that you want to get married. So it could easily be read on that level as well.
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:53 | Сообщение # 25 |
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the childcatcher
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| "Patrick Wolf 'arrested' after nightclub altercationNever one for exaggeration, the lupine singer claims to have been 'almost shot in the face by a policeman' for spitting at a bouncer 'in protection of myself'
Patrick Wolf was arrested in San Francisco after an altercation with a bouncer, according to his Twitter feed. The English singer claims he was threatened by police on Monday night and ordered to "take [his] shitty ass music out of [the] city".
Wolf tweeted the news early on Tuesday morning. "Was arrested by san fran police for spitting in a bouncers face in protection of myself," he wrote. "Was almost shot in the face by a policeman. WTF?"
Of course, Wolf's use of the term "arrested" may be a little imprecise – he did not seem to be writing from jail and described leaving San Francisco on his tour-bus. He also hasn't explained how spitting in someone's face – presumably a bouncer at Slim's, where he was playing on Monday night – constitutes self-defence.
But much more interesting than these technicalities is Wolf's rousing tale. "Was told by the policeman, 'take your shitty ass music out of this city and if you ever step off that tour bus you will be ***** ********,'" he tweeted, asterisks and all.
"Feeling very thelma and louise right now.. must sleep... not allowed off the bus or i will be shot by a policeman. this country is insane!!!"
Wolf later explained, "apparently my spit DEFINITELY contains 'hiv, swine flu and hepatitis'. that is why my spit is a deadly weapon according to police here!"
Happily, Wolf seems in better spirits now. He played a gig in Hollywood last night – with no word of lethal expectoration – and has written about a recent dream featuring Mick Jagger. "[Jagger] asked me to move in with him in a little cottage in Richmond," Wolf wrote. "I think we had just got married."
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:53 | Сообщение # 26 |
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the childcatcher
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| Revolutionary sweetheart British art-throb Patrick Wolf brings epic pop back into fashion
Patrick Wolf has already been compared to David Bowie, Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry and, if I might add one more name to the pantheon, ABC's Martin Fry. Now, a compelling new song called "Damaris" will likely add art-rock icon Scott Walker to the list.
"Those are all wonderful comparisons," says Wolf, "and I'm a lot happier to be compared to them than any of my male contemporaries — or female contemporaries, really. It's a huge compliment: Scott Walker's a total genius."
Even with his offhand dismissal of a whole generation of musicians, the comment is fairly gracious coming from Wolf: "When I was 18, if anyone compared me to anything, I was like, how dare you, I'm an original! But as you grow old, you realize that it's just people's way of communicating to the rest of the world."
At the advanced age of 25 — "saving for my facelift, yeah" — Wolf has reasons to be cheerful. He's already amassed critical acclaim ("there's nothing remotely not awesome about him," wrote Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield), and his fourth album, The Bachelor, debuted last week at No. 49 on the U.K. charts, besting new entries from Elvis Costello and the Dave Matthews Band. The album tends to be more reflective than his previous works, while retaining an epic sound and vision beyond the aspirations — let alone reach — of most current rock musicians.
"It wasn't like a Metallica situation, where it took years and years of work," says the South London native, who trained at the Trinity College Music Conservatory before finding pop success. But it did take a year and a half, a 12-piece string section, a gospel choir and "a hundred grand or something like that."
Ironically, Wolf's most ambitious album comes after being dropped by Universal Records. To help finish the record, he enlisted fans to buy shares, in £10 increments, through bandstocks (a new venture run by execs from Kaiser Chiefs/Primal Scream label B-Unique).
"With free downloading, everyone's keeping costs down, and it's affecting the quality and production of music," explains Wolf. "Everyone's doing it from home, and if they want a string section, then they'll use synthesized strings. So I just went for pure authenticity — I wasn't cutting any corners."
Waltzing with Tilda
To complement his own proficiency on piano, viola and, yes, ukulele, Wolf recruited the likes of folk artist Eliza Carthy, electronic musician Matthew Herbert and even actress Tilda Swinton, who was doing a Q&A at the cinema next door to the studio where he was recording.
"I went up afterward and gave her a CD. I said, 'This song has a narrative part, and I can't think of anyone else in the world to speak it [other] than you.'"
Swinton's narratives appear throughout the album, bridging songs that range from the Celtic-tinged title track to cuts like "Vulture" and "Battle" that find Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire lending his industrial expertise.
"It was important that I worked with him," says Wolf, "in order to learn something new about music."
Although Wolf handled all the arrangements on previous albums, this time he called upon Fiona Brice to orchestrate tracks like "Theseus" and "Damaris." The latter song was inspired by a visit to a graveyard in Brede, a southern English town where most of Wolf's ancestors are buried: "There are about 80 graves there from my family, and in the corner, under the shade of a tree, there was this small wooden cross with 'Damaris' on it."
Inquiring at the church, Wolf was given a leaflet recounting its history, including the centuries-old story of Damaris' ill-fated love affair with a vicar's son. When the holy man forbade his son to marry a Gypsy girl, Damaris took her own life and assumed her quiet place in local history.
"It could have been really easy to write a song where I was telling that story in some kind of mad Bob Dylan narrative — well, not easy, but that would have been the most obvious choice," says Wolf. "But it struck such a chord in me, for anyone who has ended a relationship and lost contact with something they really cherished, so I wrote it from that point of view emotionally. And that whole battle of the church versus a true love that sees past religion and race and creed."
Damaris might well have been pleased: The song is unabashedly passionate, especially on the chorus in which her bereaved lover intones, "God damned Damaris."
"A lot of people who heard it in the States are like, 'Why is it God damn Damaris?', which I guess is quite a rude thing to say in America," notes a bemused Wolf. "But it's 'God damned Damaris. It's quite hard to sing, actually, God damned."
Persona non grata
As lofty as Wolf's music can be — and as polite as he is in conversation — the artist's on- and offstage persona remains a magnet for controversy. Earlier this spring, the Guardian referred to him as "Britain's most innovative, radical, creative and, yes, ridiculous, pop star, whose overt sexuality, visual flamboyance and unusual lyrics set him apart from all his contemporaries."
It was the kind of description that prompted Wolf to later post to his Twitter account that he's changing his name to "please use a thesaurus or a brain to find another word for flamboyant patrick wolf."
Of course, this wasn't the worst of the indignities that the baroque, bombastic, brilliant, camp, colorful, dazzling, flaming, flashy, florid, gaudy, glamorous, ostentatious, peacockish, showy, swashbuckling pop star has suffered in recent months. During a recent Madonna concert, Wolf says, he was roughed up, handcuffed and arrested.
"A journalist had seen the whole thing happen and now everyone seems to be asking about it," he laments. "We were in the VIP area and there were lots of straight couples kissing and holding hands around us."
Wolf did the same, leading to a complaint and security intervention.
"What was most shocking was that we were told that the stadium was a family-oriented venue and that we weren't allowed to do what we were doing, which was me having my arm around the waist of the man that I love. And this was at a fucking Madonna concert!"
While dismayed that British police are, in his estimation, "living in 1960," Wolf would prefer to put the incident behind him.
"I don't believe in promoting myself as a victim," he says, noting that his politics and persona are generally well-received. "There are a lot of places where it really goes down well, and you feel like there's a bit of a revolution going on."
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:55 | Сообщение # 27 |
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the childcatcher
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| A cold afternoon in Berlin Mitte, in a separrée of the romantic Hotel Honigmond i meet Patrick Wolf, he is in good spirits, aroused and amorous. He wears knickebocker pants and is soo big, this makes him look like an outsized school boy. A well-behaved conversational partner who cannot wait to call his new lover as soon as we are finished..smitten..
Sophia: You are a big friend of metaphors, you use them a lot, so is there one big metaphor or picture on your inner eye to describe your new album?
Patrick Wolf: The whole album has a theme and with the title “The Bachelor“ it’s mostly about a man or a woman, can be both, for whom love is out of reach or not a part of their lives.They have the feeling that it might be better to draw the curtain and don’t go on a date ever again..
And those feelings when you have been single for a long time and you haven’t had sex for two years, you become aggressive and for example more political and…radical in a way…
You remember times when you had been in love and you think: maybe it’s never gonna happen again..that was really the state of mind I was in at the time, so this documents my “bachelor years“!
S: What kind of person are you while working on an album? As this one will be followed by a “second part“ soon, it seems as if you are into concepts and structured producing, or is it more like ideas, one comes to another and in the end you get the results?
P.W.: I think my first album had very abstract and deep images in it, the one after that, “wind in the wires“, was more about the feeling of beeing at sea, rain and storms, radio frequencies, first I have these abstract ideas, that I try to bring together, I guess the structure comes a lot later on..
S.: So in the end you can see it. “The Bachelor“ seems to be more about traditional music, old instruments? What is it?
P.W.: I went on tour with my band, and it was great to have them cause we had such a good alliance, so i wanted them all to be on the album. In the “old days“ I was alone with my violin and my computer, now I work with a great string arranger, I have an orchestra coming, it’s a different way of working but I think I have explored to do it one way, doing everything by myself, but it’s important to grow…
S: So this is the better way now?
P.W.: I find it a lot more liberating, yeah, when it’s all with yourself, you use a lot of energy fighting with yourself, it can just be lonely – no, I really liked it that way, you have to move on. I really liked it right now!
S: So that brings me to my next question. In your self-written press info about the new album you wrote that you tried out the celebrity lifestyle and found out that it’s no good for you, so you had to quit it. But on the other hands, do you need this “cameras on me“-feeling?
P.W.: Yes, I am kind of an exhibitionist, it’s a bad habit, like with Paparazzis following you, you think : Oh, it’s so funny, and then you think: Fuck off! It’s this duality, I guess everybody has it.
Some people love it and it becomes the focus of their lives, but my focus is trying to return to honest places, somewhere that’s not showbusiness.
It’s always been kind of a Joni-Mitchell-Thing, some people thought I would become a Britney-Spears-Type-exhebitionistic, but my focus is always on my head, my work, my art, my music and fortunately over the years that work’s started to attract different spotlights, that you weren’t aware you ever gonna have, to be destructing but not gonna let them destruct you.
S: You always showed your dark sides in your lyrics, in your sounds, deep thoughts and phantasies, are you sometimes afraid of yourself or of those thoughts?
P.W.: No, I don’t think so, I feel comfortable with it, I wanna feel like - this is the best thing I’ve done. You can stick on the line of safety when things appear on your mind that feel unsafe or you can make a progression, that’s what I do and I like that.
S.: Did you ever get goosebumps from your own singing?
P.W.: No, not through singing, but from arrangements I do I can get really excited. For example with “Blackdown“, when I first heard the final version, what hit me-I was feeling exactly like at the time of those experiences, I absolutely wanted to document them.
S: “Blackdown“ is about the relationship between you and your father? You questioned that he is proud of you but I guess he is in the meantime?
P.W.: Yes, it was an aim to communicate with him when he had cancer. When you get older you try to bond this relationship with your parents, change it to a grown-up relationship.
S.: There’s also one song about a friend’s suicide ( The Sun Is Often Out), you question it, but always take the optimistic view on life and sing about moving on, is self-therapy the key?
P.W.: Yes, when this album was finished I had a smile on my face the whole time. I felt so light and free, it’s been amazing, it’s been a great changing experience, this album. It helped me to get rid of my negative views on the world, being confronted with suicide and stuff like this, so it’s like a growing-up-album.
S.: I’d like to know more about this change. Was there one moment or one situation when you realised something was changing? Sometimes this happens from one second to another…
P.W.: I guess it was at the time I wrote “Blackdown“, when my dad got cancer and my friend Stephen killed himself. That matched my self-destruction at that time, drinking too much, not looking after myself, rotting away in my house, trying to kill off the results of touring, I was failing on a human level. Everybody worried about me, wanted me to come around for dinner, to talk, but I didn’t want to pick up the phone.
Then I was at my parents’, I was just walking with my father, on the hills, and I had this moment, my mother was worried, my father was very ill and I just had the feeling I had to grow up and stop upsetting everyone, not only for them but for myself. I realised that there are people waiting for my music and to see me live, so I have to wake up and look after myself.
S.: The album, how much is it about love? And what kind of love?
P.W.: I think it’s the lack of love in a way, or the loss of love…
S.: But you mentioned something about finding a new love in your press information?
P.W.: This was before finding a new love. More like: I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I don’t feel it.
There is only one song where I even mention the word, “Damaris“. It’s a story from the village where my family comes from, a true story of a boy who chose religion over love. So I thought about people who chose their carreer over love or a drug habit. So it’s a metaphor…again.
S.: But you haven’t decided against love?
P.W.: No,no,no! What made me very motivated to finish this album that at that time I looked back to this collection of songs that all contained the same message, that love conquers the world, there’s no doubt about that!
S.: A recurring motif on “The Bachelor“ is the idea to “wake people up“, mobilize them, what exactly do you expect from us listeners?
P.W.: (laughs) I think it’s the idea of hearing the word “revolution“ and what my idea of a revolution is is maybe not so important, it’s mostly what it inspires in somebody else, perhaps it’s only about changing little things in everyday life. I guess there are many things, I want to arouse them against apathy and ignorance, these are my two worst enemies. Apathy is lazyness and ignorance, too, cause its lazyness of having knowledge about the people around you makes you agressive and provokes hate crimes, so my aim is more about a social revolution.
S.: What about dreams? Are you dreaming?
P.W.:Yes, I dream a lot.
S.: Are your dreams good for inspiration sometimes?
P.W.: When I was young- a lot more, maybe it’s just temporar. I try to write about reality a bit more now, the metaphors and the beautiful things I dream about are like reading a book but with a lot more phantasy, I guess my lyrics are now more awaking ones. Maybe my dreams are my holidays from songwriting by now.
S.: What’s your favorite place in the whole world?
P.W.: If I picked anywhere that’s not my home, I would say: Cleopatra’s Needle, an old Egyptian obelisk in London, near Victoria Embankment. Sometimes you have “time travellers“ around, they think they can time travel from there, but it’s in a very peaceful surrounding, near the river Thames. I can see where I was born from there, I just feel total peace, I just sit there and come back down.
S.: What is the first music you remember listening to?
P.W.: It’s the song „la mer“ by the french singer Charles Trenet, my mum, a real hippie, singing along in our mini, with the roof open, driving through the cornfields in the countryside. My mum, appearing totally free, turning up that song, I was about five years old, such an idyll, then she drove into a ditch and the car broke! That’s why I can remember this very well!
S.: Do you have a fetish?
P.W.: I guess I am obsessed with the rarest instruments in the world. Last night I had a dream about that. I was on a ship and on the ship there was a big antique shop and it had all these keyboards that were attached to different pipes and wires and I discovered all these new instruments. They were like 50 000 pounds but I just touched them and woke up very sad..(laughs) I remember one, a tiny keyboard, it had the artificial head of an Arabian on it, like a statue, and the mouth was singing along with the tunes I played. Very funny. My sexual fetish is only between me and my boyfriend…
S: Last question: What’s your favorite meal?
P.W.: Greek food. Everything greek, i love it. And fish, seafood, oysters. Octopus is my favorite. It is also my favorite animal of the sea, so it’s quite bad I love eating it!
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 02:56 | Сообщение # 28 |
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the childcatcher
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| It doesn’t work the first time. AU ends up interviewing the Vodafone Voicemail service. It’s alright. Theremins do funny things to Nokias. Take two, the next day, provides a real person, albeit a surprised one. Patrick’s been doing interviews for two days straight, and he wasn’t expecting this one. Sorry. The child of bohemian parents, Wolf’s back-story is now almost myth. Originally named Patrick Apps, he began recording music at 12 and joined Leigh Bowery’s music/performance art collective- Minty- at 14, although at this stage he tires of talking about his “difficult” teenage years. “To tell the truth, I’ve been talking about this since I was 19, so at 25 I’d just rather talk about the present tense, if that’s ok?” The present tense it is.
“I really liked it when I had really long blonde hair extensions, like Britney. I felt the most feminine then.” Currently, his hair is short and suicide blonde, and his outfits more Gareth Pugh than the Pollyanna ribbons of 2007. Wolf’s image changes rapidly, from a 12 year old who built his own theremin and attended the Royal Academy of Music, to the sulky rangy teen on the cover of his debut- ‘Lycanthropy’- culminating in fey flame-haired sprite who sits on a carousel for his previous record-‘The Magic Position’. Does he feel a need to constantly re-invent his image? “I don’t really feel the need to always constantly create. I guess I’m naturally doing that all the time anyway. I think it’s about adding a visual dimension to the work.” Wolf’s visual presence isn’t hard to miss. A former constant member of the young London party scene, his daily life and friendships are chronicled by the paparazzi, from his friendship with Miquita Oliver, to dinners at the Hoxton Bar and Grill. “I feel really irresponsible to just go out of the house in my pyjamas, if there are photographers around. I need to perform as I would on stage. I know it’s a cliché, but all the world’s a stage, and I try and live my life like a work of art. If not I’d feel very boring.” He’s not alone in trying to re-imagine pop music as ‘art’, as it were. Though he recently djed at a Wonky Pop night in Matter in London, Wolf doesn’t recognise the term, and doesn’t see other Wonky Pop artists, such as VV Brown, as his contemporaries. He is, however, a fan of Lady Gaga. The similarities between the two are evident. Both came from a performing arts school background (Wolf studied composition at Trinity College in London, Gaga at the Tisch in New York), and both explore the links between self-expression and pop music. Wolf agrees- “I’m really glad Lady Gaga has come along. I think we really need her in England to shake us out of this boring R’n’B mentality that’s all about fast cars and really boring production and masculine misogyny. I think she’s brilliant. I’ve met her a couple of times and I think she’s a really interesting person.” Like Gaga, Wolf has been compared to similar exuberant, flamboyant male solo artists, most notably Mika. Wolf smartly quashed these comparisons with the swift, though not pithy, denouncement that “Mika is a twat”. Also like Gaga, Wolf has also courted trouble about the amount of skin he shows on stage. After Perez Hilton mocked Wolf for performing a striptease at a gig, Wolf wrote with vitriol on his Myspace blog, citing works of art as his reference, and not public sentiment: “Has nobody seen “Orlando” by Sally Potter? Read the Leigh Bowery biography? Watched “Jubilee” by Derek Jarman? I come from these worlds, these are my heroes, heroines, a naked body does not offend me in any way, it can be used as a communication device, a performance piece. It need not be perfect and there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to the body.”
While Wolf cultivates an image of a sybarite, a free spirit, he’s fundamentally split down the middle- whether he’ll acknowledge it or not. He simultaneously tries to distance himself from his past, while at the same time reconnecting with it. Even in terms of nationality, he sways between Celtic and Anglo-Saxon. ‘Wind in the Wires’ was an effort to embrace his “Cornish roots”, and Wolf explains that “I feel kind of half-English half-Irish. I was born in London and spent a lot of time in Cork, going backwards and forwards between the two during the summer. So, I grew up with a big Irish heritage. My family on my mother’s side is from Clonakilty.” In a way, the new record – ‘The Bachelor’- is a search for a solid ground, a return home. His family play on the record, and the instrumentation nods to his Irish heritage. “My mum plays spoons on the record, and there’s Irish fiddle and Irish whistle on the album. I’ve done so much travelling, in America and Australia. I just needed to make an album where I was re-establishing my roots again.” Detailing Wolf’s time on tour, heartbreak, and “whole thing of party, drugs, drink, silliness”, ‘The Bachelor’ is, without a doubt, quite “a dark album”. There was enough material to make a double album, which was the original plan, but Wolf decided that it would be “too heavy”. Instead, part two “The Conqueror” will be released around January 2010. “‘The Conqueror’ should come out early next year, either January or February. There are so many things that you want to do, that sometimes you have to add 6 months onto it. I don’t know if I’ll tour the two together, I’ll find out when I get there.” Thematically, ‘The Bachelor’ is quite heavy. It’s about domination and submission, about finding a balance. Yet, it doesn’t sound that way. The album is uncluttered by back-story or concept, even though they’re there. ‘The Sun is Often Out’ is a song about the suicide of a friend, but instead of gloom and navel gazing, it’s a lucid Brian Wilson. ‘Vulture’’s depiction of sexy satanic night-time hijinks in LA is immediately followed by ‘Blacknown’, an ode to domesticity and familial fidelity. There’s an over-arching feeling of a search for stability, one for a guiding light. That’s where the White Witch comes in. Guesting on three of the fourteen tracks, actress Tilda Swinton hovers over the record, working as, in Wolf’s own words, “the voice of reason”- “Tilda Swinton is on it because I wanted a narrator on the album. I wanted a voice of hope, because I suppose in a way it’s quite a dark album. I needed somebody to come in and be a maternal influence, a maternal voice. Tilda was just the perfect person.”
Hope is the main theme, in fact; or, if not hope, then ‘propulsion’, a drive towards a constant new, unimagined and yet-to-be-experienced sublime. This isn’t anything new. As long ago as his first album, ‘Lycanthropy’, Wolf faced constantly onward and outward, remoulding himself into who he wanted to become. The liner notes to ‘Lycanthropy’ read: “Lycanthropy for me is a survival instinct. In the face of a full moon, barriers, bullies, intellectuals, boogiemen fear and failure you grow.” Is that statement, made six years ago by a 19 year old, still relevant to the same 25 year old? Yes. “That album was very much about recreating yourself to be less of a victim and more of a hero. That’s an album statement that I’ll stand by.” ‘To the Lighthouse’, one of the tracks from ‘Lycanthropy’ exhibits Wolf’s credo in song form. Detailing Wolf’s relationship to the novel by another Woolf (Virginia, this time), it’s “about going to the lighthouse, going to a place of hope”. Wolf doesn’t identify with the Ramsay family in the novel, close-knit and childish, or Lily Briscoe, the stubborn, uncertain painter. Instead he equates himself with the lighthouse keeper- aloof yet central to the plot, isolated but integral. The book, he explains “got me through a lot when I was younger. I think it’s a message of hope.”
It can’t be easy, surely, to constantly display one’s emotions, like a plumage, to all and sundry. Though Wolf offers the obligatory “you can only really write what you know about” he neatly sidesteps a question about how the other participants in his private life feel about being included in his music. Upon further inquiry, he insists that- “I enjoy exposure, and exposing my emotions. There’s no point really writing songs unless you’re exposing parts of yourself, divulging information from your private life”- but still won’t reveal how the subjects of his songs feel when they hear their own relationships being lauded (if lucky) and deconstructed (if unfortunate). Wolf’s heart has basically been the main font of inspiration for his past two records. Surprisingly, he doesn’t fall in love easily. “Relationships”, says Patrick, “are hard work, but you treat them with respect and you protect them. You work to cherish a bond between two people. I fall into fascination with a lot of things in the world, but love is something that needs to be worked on.” The contrast between “fascination” and “love” neatly sums up the differences between Wolf then, and Wolf now. ‘The Magic Position’ was an outburst of joy, chronicling the first flushes of blossoming infatuation, while ‘The Bachelor’ sings of a new, more mature love. Wolf compares the two by saying ‘The Magic Position’ was a “Boney M kind of love, while this is a Bob Dylan kind of love”. Despite singing of promiscuity and loneliness, and of sitting “in this flat in Kensington looking at my harpsichord and my piano and my instruments and my empire, my farm my pigs, all my albums and the success I’d had in America and realising there was no one to share it with, no one”, Wolf remains uncynical and unjaded. Love remains the most important thing for him. It is the embodiment of hope, the thing he propels himself toward. It is the light that shines from the lighthouse, over the bay, watching each and every participant weave their tangled way homeward. “Of course I believe in true love. Of course. Maybe you meet the right person for you when you’re 14, or maybe when you’re 80. The idea of true love is what makes the world go round. My parents have been together for many years now, and it’s not something that came easily, but true love is a real thing. For sure.” Ailbhe Malone
Patrick on Parenting…
“I think that as a parent it’s very important to allow your child to make their own decisions, and to make their own choices. If I had a child, and they wanted to have a sex change, or they wanted to work in a bank, or they wanted to be a mass murderer, then that’s their choice.”
Patrick on Chart Pop…
“I find both Girls Aloud and Sugababes hilarious. Sugababes are a lot rawer, a lot darker. Girls Aloud are a lot slicker, Sugababes are more like rude girls. I’ve been stuck in a lift with Mutya, before, actually. Her nails were hardcore. I like that first song that they did, and ‘Ugly’ is a good one.”
Patrick on Baking…
“If I was to make a dish that reminded me of being young, I think I’d make bread and butter pudding- that’s the dish I make as my party piece every year. With Bailey’s in it. I’d give Bailey’s to my child, but then I wouldn’t make a good father. It would shut them up anyway.”
Patrick on Major Record Labels…
“Bandstocks is a good way of financing my album, and a good way of not having to work with an A&R person. I get complete creative freedom. It’s good to establish a relationship with my fans again after working with Universal, which was more fragmented. It wasn’t difficult to set up at all. It was really simple. The album was almost finished; I just needed some finances to get it finished and to get on the road and moving. It was the perfect thing to hand at the time.”
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 10:59 | Сообщение # 29 |
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| Patrick Wolf is Happy..
“ I am touched (moved) that I still have a place in people’s hearts”…
At first Patrick Wolf didn’t want to be photographed. “ At least, not like this! ..Come back just before the show – then I’ll look a bit better”. But that was without reckoning with the magic of the 3VOOR12 trampoline. After the interview he jumped on the trampoline and let us photograph him – without make up or glittery costume.
“ At the moment I’m in an aggressive metal phase (???)……… Strange, because I am a total pacifist and I’m very happy at the moment and am a peace loving person. So probably this phase won’t last too long”. An insight into the confusing life of Patrick Wolf.
Who or what do you miss most when you are on tour?
“Cycling! When I’m home I cycle for two hours a day – on a Dutch bike with a ghetto blaster. Fantastic. I just cycle and think about songs and things like that. Recently I have been looking after myself somewhat better than before. Fewer parties, less crazy things. Still, I always miss London and all that there is to do there when I’m on tour. Two days ago we had, (at last), another disco (party), with all that goes with it. My boyfriend ended up dancing naked on the dance floor (pretty wild). That was a great party. However, the highpoint of the summer is still to come…soon I will be on holiday (at last)..I’m really ready for it. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do. Probably put up a tent in my mother’s garden. Be free. Enjoy life. I’ll see what comes along”.
Who would you like to play with in a superband and what would the band’s name be?
“Bjork, to start with. She plays the organ. Klaus Nomi would also have to be there. He was really brilliant. I’d have Joni Mitchell on guitar and as lyricist. Will.i.am and Fergie van Black Eyed Peas would complete the band. The name? The Tapas Five would be a good name”.
What is the most beautiful place you have ever played in?
“We’ve played many strange and many beautiful places. The most beautiful that I can remember was a concert around midnight, just above Venice. There was a full moon and in the distance you could see a church spire and there was a group of nuns watching us from someway off. A magical evening”.
The most absurd or embarrassing moment at a festival.
“That was definitely this month at a festival in Cologne. There was a heavy negative energy and I pretty much freaked out. There was fall-out…[Wolf hurled the …..across the stage – ed.] and afterwards the media got themselves totally embroiled in it all. Difficult for everyone. Especially for the audience, that did not understand what was going on and it was not their fault. Negative energy is a real killer”.
Lowlands is very clear where it stands. What are your guidelines?
I have to fight for the music I make. To do this the way I want to… it’s an eternal battle for independence and the preservation of my own creativity. I’ve been doing this for a while now and I’m touched (moved) that I still have a place in people’s hearts. Sometimes things don’t go well and not everything happens as it should but I’m still here – I’ve made a place for myself ".
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 11:09 | Сообщение # 30 |
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| Last time we spoke, you seemed very depressed and tired. What was going on at the time?
PW: Especially during touring periods, people can catch you at a really bad time. You’re getting ready to go on stage, you have to do press, you’ve got like 6 things to worry about at the same time. I’m feeling better now though.
Part of that undoubtedly has to do with you leaving the big record company and setting up your own independent label, how is that working out for you?
PW: It’s really liberating! At first it was quite terrifying to do. There is always a lot of mystery behind the way an album is made; what the costs are, who is funding it, and by giving fans the opportunity to invest in the project, people know a lot more about it. And I’m not scared of that, it’s fine. So far it has been really positive and it has given me a lot of freedom to go back to my original roots, to do exactly what I want without really caring about the consequences. When I was with a big record label, everything had to go through mutual consent. Things that were really spontaneous, intuitive, that felt like really natural things to do, would have to be justified to three businessmen. Nothing ever happened over that year that I wasn’t happy with, but to get to that point was so exhausting. All that friction is gone now. It has made me so much more positive about everything.
The cover of your new album, The Bachelor, is very similar to the cover of your debut album, Lycanthropy. How did that happen?
PW: Yeah, that really happened by accident. We didn’t go into the photoshoot to recreate the cover photo of Lycanthopy. But we went through all the photos that had been taken during those 2 really long days of shooting, with many costume changes and set design pieces, and all the stuff was so wonderful. When we saw the last couple of shots I said ‘what? That is so weird!’. My body was in the same position as the Lycanthropy cover, and there were some other similarities as well. I guess it was some kind of bizarre fate photograph, they match perfectly. In a way I feel like this album is almost like a return to the confidence and braveness of what I was like in the beginning. I took out 2008 to work through a lot of personal issues and some negative energy, and that’s what I was doing on the first album as well. So the two albums are really partners. The first was made when I was 18 and this new album is me looking back at the age of 25, it’s about the growth of the person I was and who I am now.
Originally the album was going to be a double album, Battle, consisting of The Bachelor and The Conqueror. What made you decide to split those two albums up, and do you feel that The Bachelor is missing anything in its current state?
PW: It’s defitely missing the conclusion, and all the answers to the questions that were raised. But the plan is to stop manufacturing The Bachelor seperately in a year and a half, and have both albums come together as one double album again. The problem was that it seemed like a financially insane thing to finish off two albums at the same time. I could have exhausted myself to try and make two things perfect, but I thought it would be better to just focus on one album for the moment, then take a month off and finish the second album. I just knew that if I attempted to do them both at the same time, the level of perfection would have gone down and down. And I also felt like I hadn’t concluded the story of The Conqueror yet. I hadn’t had enough perspective. It wasn’t until I finished The Bachelor that I realized what the lowpoint was at that time in my life, and what the answer could be in the recovery process. So now that I’ve got some distance form The Bachelor, three of four songs have come while I’ve been travelling around the world with my boyfriend William. I had so many different versions of the story. But I did the last recordings of The Conqueror in July, and then it was finished.
Can you tell me about your collaboration with Tilda Swinton?
PW: I guess I was a bit terrified that it was going to sound really random and not sit well. If I had asked a big Hollywood/LA person, it would have just sounded really ridiculous, because it’s not of the same spirit. But Tilda’s accent is extremely like mine, very English. She had her Hollywood-period, but I understand what her background is. I just knew it was going to work. When I was recording The Bachelor, I realized how negative a lot of the lyrics were, and I felt like I needed to inject some hope somewhere. Some kind of oracle or something. I was doing the vocals myself, but it just sounded so schizofrenic. I would be really confidently negative and suddenly I’d come in and say something totally different. My engineer asked me who I would like to bring in do those vocals instead, and I said Tilda Swinton. Everyone just started laughing. It’s like asking someone incredibly famous to cook you dinner – never gonna happen. Bizarrely enough, I was recording the vocals in Brixton, we only had two days to go. I was just going to delete all the narration off the album. I was walking down the street and there was a Q&A with Tilda Swinton at the cinema next door. So I bought a ticket and went up with a cd of the song, and gave it to her. Luckily she was already familiar with my music, and her manager was very enthusiastic and said ‘Patrick, what are you doing here?’ You never know who might know your music and who has absolutely no idea. I always try to approach it as if no one has any idea of what I do, I think it’s better. She e-mailed the next morning and we were in the studio soon after that. I didn’t need to explain the idea to her; at one point I wanted her to be quite maternal, and then on another point some kind of oracle, an angelic voice of hope. It was a very multi-dimensional character. And there’s more to come, Tilda is on The Conqueror as well.
I remember you being a lot more evasive about your sexuality, yet you’ve already mentioned your boyfriend during this interview. How did that change come about?
PW: As I get older and experienced and become more aware that there’s still a huge conservatism in England. Equal rights were established by great campaginers, people really sticking up for their rights, legally everything was established throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. But the rights weren’t protected. There’s still Section 28, which says homosexuality cannot be discussed during sex education in schools. Racist bullying is not condoned at all, but homosexual bullying and homophobia are almost an accepted thing. I realized after my first three albums, that I was no longer interested in beating around the bush. If you go on Wikipedia, and look up a list of LGBT-musicians, there’s about four of them listed under the letter W. That’s rubbish. I just find it really crazy. I know so many people in the entertainment industry who are in the closet. I just woke up one day and thought, no more bullshit, I’m going to fight for my right to be respected on the same page as straight musicians, to fight for the respect I think I reserve, for the work that I’ve done in my life. I still think there’s a slight fear of an outspoken gay musician. That whole ‘You can be gay, but not in my backyard’ kind of thing. I get that from a lot of music press.
Can you name an example?
PW: During a red carpet situation, you can walk down and be next to a girl, one of your friends, and the tabloids will publish that you’re dating her. But if you walk down with your boyfriend, they just won’t print that anywhere. I want to be more of a vigilante, I want to fight and re-establish bigger respect between the heterosexual and homosexual world. I think it has a lot to do with the power that religion has over society. I think it has indoctrinated some really dangerous conservative beliefs, which just need to be shaken up again. In a way I feel a lot more confident and a lot more pissed-off about things. I won’t tolerate seeing someone beaten up in the street, and I won’t be called a faggot when I walk down the street. I’m bored of it now, after ten years. It’s just not funny anymore. I’m not compromising my own look anymore. I think we should rub it in people’s faces as much as possible to try and get a reaction, or evoke some kind of thought process. I do feel real responsibility toward the younger audience, to try and educate open-mindedness and tolerance. I refuse to be called a minority – I’m just a human being, I’m not a minority because I’m in love with another man. That’s a way of marginalizing somebody.
In your video for Vulture your bum is prominently shown, and your new song Who Will starts with the line ‘Who will penetrate the tightening muscle?’. What is this newfound obsession with your rectum?
PW: [laughs] I won’t beat around the bush… When I sing that line, I thought it could be about a vagina or an anus. It’s this idea of when you close yourself off from love or you’re this bachelor person and you’re sleeping around a lot, or you’re waiting and holding back, you don’t have sex for 2 years, everything becomes tight in your body and in your heart. The great thing about good sex is that you feel liberated and beautiful afterwards, and all your energy and chemicals are flowing in the right place, and you’re not so tight-arsed. I had no fear about doing that lyric at all. And I understand a lot of people think that I like bumsex, but you know what, I’m gay, so of course I like it! It’s fine. And with the video, I’m really enjoying male nudity at the moment. I think it’s still quite a shocking thing for a lot of people to see a display of male vulnerability and nudity. It’s fine for a woman to do that, because there’s a whole heterosexual pornography thing that is very well excepted. But when men do it, especially when I’m playing a very submissive role in that video, people got very uncomfertable with that. And I’m happy to explore that with people. Only by displaying these things, people will eventually digest them. But you should have seen the first edit of the video! [laughs] There was a full-on bumhole shot, where I was thrusting and spreading my legs. It was right on time, I thought it was really good. It might get released one day.
How does your boyfriend handle being with someone like Patrick Wolf?
PW: He sees through my madness. He’s extremely dominant and can just snap me out of a fit. He’s very tolerant and patient with me. He came into my life at the end of 2007. I never went on dates, because I wasn’t getting any real communication. People got on their Blackberry, looked me up on Wikipedia before they would start a conversation. They knew more about me than I did, in a way. It must be weird to go out on a date with somebody, where you can look at 60 YouTube clips of drunken interviews and stuff like that. William came into my life on a human level, and changed it. He wasn’t afraid to say the way I was living and thinking was bullshit. Get out of bed, clean your house, call your mum, wash your clothes, he’d say. He saw a human being deep inside of me and restored that. And we did it for each other, too. It has been a wonderful time. We moved in together about 10 months ago. Of course there were some problems in the beginning, but most relationships should be worked for. Not everything comes naturally.
So in your life, he basically played the part that Tilda plays on the album?
PW: Yeah, definitely. And I think it will become clearer on The Conquerer. There’s the idea of a solid, more adult relationship. With a solid base to live in and work in, more domestic. When we first met we never looked at the kitchen. We were the most undomesticated people in the whole world. But we helped each other out, and now we’re cooking chicken dinners. Super domestic.
So you guys sit on the couch and watch TV together?
PW: Yeah! And I’m happy to discuss it as well, because I still find that there is this misunderstandig that, to be gay you have to be cruising the whole time, or sleeping around with 6 people while having a boyfriend. I’m sure that has existed for a long time, but I think people are starting to celebrate more traditional marital values between two people. I’m sure there are some 13-year old gay boys, who think their life will consist of logging onto GayDar. And it doesn’t have to be that way, you know?
So you’ve pretty much turned into a big advocate of Gay Pride issues?
PW: I worked out my opinion on this in London, last year. There were all these cool fashion kids who did this anti-Pride gay club. They were like ‘”Fuck pride, it’s bullshit, why ram it down people’s throats?” I just thought… One of your friends, this boy Ollie, is now a paraplegic because he got stabbed by a gang of Pakistani boys. In their culture they still preach intolerance towards homosexuality. It happens in every day life, you are bullied in school. So it’s absolutely ridiculous to say ‘fuck pride’, because if you have no pride of your sexuality, then how are you going to command respect form other people, and preach tolerance? So I think, now more than ever, that it’s a really valid way of communicating to the world that you’re not going to be marginalized and put in the position where everything has to be secret. Maybe a gay pride celebration can be backed up with queer rights history, a good political discussion, petitions and campaigns to get things back on track. I think any public display of identity helps. So I’m very pro-pride.
Bonus questions, that won't be published for sure:
What happened to Teratology, the album that was going to be released about a year ago?
PW: I was going to release that on my own label. It’s funny you mention that, because when I started to put Teratology together, it was meant to be a collection of… You know, I started making music when I was 12 or 13, and went through many different periods of music making, from trying to be a composer to the noise music I made with my first band. I know it’s a bit stupid as a third album- but a lot of artists release a Greatest Hits, or a retrospect or a collection of B-sides and rarities. I never really released a single for the first album, so there were all these b-sides that never got heard, and I thought it would be really lovely to make a smakk collection of oddities and rarities. But making that, I realized that there were so many sounds that I had explored but I never really used. That inspired me so much. It was all from a time when I was quite fearless and raw, experimental and had no thought of an audience or any form of criticism. I wanted to get back to these noises and not be so scared. So I brought a lot of the things I found by uncovering all these songs into this album and the next. So rather than people to hear those things, I’d almost reinterpet those noises for this album. The song Count Of Casuality is actually an instrumental I did on an Atari when I was 14. So I wrote new lyrics over the top of that. It was important to make Teratology, but I knew it was better to transform it into a new work instead of focusing on the past.
So we’ll never get to hear those rarities?
PW: Maybe in another 5 or 6 years I’ll get the urge to uncover things again, but I’ve got a lot of hard drives and mini discs full of work. I’m not sure whether it’s important for people to hear it. Maybe it’s better that I just keep on creating right now. And people can pick up the pieces when I’ve left the planet, or something.
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 11:09 | Сообщение # 31 |
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| Patrick Wolf goes it alone
Patrick Wolf puts down his cider and absent-mindedly picks the glitter from under his fingernails. “I have a huge instinct to destroy any label that’s put on me,” he says softly. “Maybe people thought I was difficult when I was 18. I’d make electronic music and get labelled electroclash and then suddenly change to make folk music, shave my head, get back to nature, then change again into a Technicolor pop thing.”
This prodigiously talented and restless young performer has accumulated more labels than should be possible in his 25 years: a veteran of London’s performance art scene, an accomplished singer/songwriter, violinist, pianist, guitarist, producer, video director, stylist, model (his elfin features were captured by Mario Testino for a Burberry campaign) and party-boy tabloid fodder. Now he is a record label manager and internet entrepreneur, having raised £100,000 through the website Bandstock from fans keen to ensure that they get more of his music and that he retains control over it. His music is experimental, deeply emotional, intimate yet brilliantly overblown and constantly surprising.
His four critically lauded, original and complex albums feature collaborators such as Marianne Faithfull and Tilda Swinton. While utterly his own, his music would sit comfortably on your shelves alongside Kate Bush, Bat For Lashes and La Roux. His current album The Bachelor is baroque and noir-ish, spawned by the painful end of a relationship. It mixes Celtic and electronic instrumentation with piano, strings, beats and Wolf’s rich, masculine baritone. It features a beautiful piano ballad, a love song to his father, from whom he had been estranged but later reconciled when his father had cancer ( he has recovered).
This month he will be playing an acoustic gig as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Gay Icons exhibition, with a performance of The Bachelor in its entirety to follow at the London Palladium in November featuring a string section, gospel choir and guest performances.
His mother is an artist, his father a musician who encouraged and nurtured his creativity. His face lights up at the memory of his mother taking him to a windswept Dungeness to find the director Derek Jarman’s famous hut. “We peered through the windows and could see him sitting in there, writing.” he says. He cites Orlando, the film of shifting historical and gender identities by Jarman’s collaborator Sally Potter as a profound influence. “I saw it when I was 16 and it changed my life. It gave me such a sense of identity, left me feeling confident in my sexuality and my ability to change and evolve as an artist.”
“When I was 10 I stopped making friends at school and started to go to car boot sales to buy instruments,” he says. When he was 14 he began to work with the pop art collective Minty: “They gave me an awakening as an artist; never dilute yourself to be accepted or to be more understood. To be misunderstood was almost the goal. It was my Sylvia Young time.”
Indeed, the only time he seemed at all diluted was on his third album, The Magic Position which, while still eccentric and individual, was crammed with shinier, seemingly more commercial, pop stylings and a million miles from the folk and electro of his earlier offerings. Major-label life did not suit him. He is fiercely protective of his music and had unusually strong creative control clauses on his contract. “I was experimenting with new music and they were terrified about a new direction.” It can’t have helped the relationship that when label representatives visited him in the studio to see how work was coming along, rather than show them what he was up to he let off a siren for three minutes.
The label dropped him, his fans put their money where their mouths were and he has released his finest, most polished record yet. “People took a big leap of faith and I ended up with more than the marketing budget on a major. And I’ve got no one coming in and telling me ‘Patrick, this is the market right now, La Roux are at No 4; can you do something a bit more like Erasure?’ I’m not having the conversations I did two years ago and which drove me mad. It’s why I’ve still got a BlackBerry this month, because I used to just throw it at people.”
As well as playing the major label game, Wolf experimented with the other side of fame. There was a period in 2007 when he was in the papers playing the paparazzi party boy, falling out of nightclubs and into the tabloids. “I thought it would be funny; I could be the male Paris Hilton and make techno music on the side, but you cannot have one and the other — you lose your ... I lost sight of my integrity for a while.”
At the time his flat was, by his own admission, squalid. He was drinking too much, not taking care of himself and lost. “It was terrifying. I needed to clean up. The journalists know when you put your rubbish out. And for someone like me, well, you should see what I wear to buy a pint of milk; like a walking car crash in hot pants,” he laughs.
In 2008 he calmed down his lifestyle and now shares his home and life with his boyfriend William (for whom his next album The Conqueror is named). Last year, Wolf says, “I returned to my roots, to my folk music, to my intimacy with a partner, to cooking and learning how to get rid of the fruit flies in the flat rather than worry about how drunk I was last night.” William tours with Wolf and works on the merchandise stall so that they can be together.
The Bachelor and The Conqueror were conceived as a double album, representing both sides of the same coin. “The Bachelor focused on the lonely and depressed — ‘Leave me alone, I’ve lost hope in love’ — a solipsistic, aggressive character with the romance of the hermit. It portrayed a masturbatory way of living,” he says.
The new album came from the start of a happier life. “The lyrics are very erotic and romantic. I’m more interested in sensuality. This is going to be filled with a waking-up and making love three times on a rainy day kind of love.” But then he also describes it as “gay, bum-faced music. You know, like too much Botox, plucked eyebrows and a perma-tan”.
To achieve this he’s working with some big dance producers — Groove Armada and some of Britney Spears’s team — and is trying to produce three-minute ecstatic pop songs of love and domesticity referencing Motown and disco. “It’s not cheese, it’s happy, pornographic music. You can be quite experimental but produce anthems that people want to get married to, you know, have that first dance at a wedding thing. Music for your first kiss.”
Like his music and image, conversation with Wolf twists and turns breathlessly. We are discussing icons and, when asked for his take on Michael Jackson’s life and death, he tells a story about trying to meet Jackson by gatecrashing the Dorchester. Accompanied by the photographer Nan Goldin’s assistant, he blagged his way into the bar. “But it was Margaret Thatcher’s husband Denis’s birthday, and I ended up at the piano, singing My Funny Valentine to him.” They were asked to leave.
He continues with a discussion that involves Daniella Westbrook, Jackson’s nose, a toilet attendant, mortician’s wax and how he suspects that perhaps Jackson isn’t dead but had had enough and fled to a monastery. Given the arc of his career and life, perhaps Wolf too will experiment with monastic living at some point?
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 11:09 | Сообщение # 32 |
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the childcatcher
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| When I retire, I’ll grow the beard and become a bear,” folk-pop star Patrick Wolf muses. “But right now, I still like wearing Vivienne Westwood hot pants to the local pub.” The 26-year-old British singer is famous for his flamboyant live shows, which include Kabuki-esque makeup, seizure-inducing lighting, and scads of costume changes. But offstage, Wolf is just as committed to the theater of his persona. “When I was 15, I imagined Björk going to Tesco in a swan dress,” he remembers. “If I found her in Juicy Couture, I’d have been really disappointed. It’s my duty to be Patrick Wolf even in the countryside. What if a kid who knows my work meets me unshaven in a tracksuit? It would be like meeting Santa Claus eating at McDonald’s or seeing him beat up his wife.”
Though Wolf also sculpts and paints, music was always the major creative force in his life. As a boy in London, he sang and played the violin; by 12 he was making his own four-track recordings; and by 14 he had joined his first band. Wolf’s innate eccentricity made every day at school social war, but the experience taught him to revel in attention, even the negative kind. “My uniform was my armor,” he says. “I’d go into school with bright red hair wearing homemade clothes and makeup. I was made to feel like a freak, so I figured I’d fight back by freaking people out even more than they expected.”
At 16, Wolf dropped out of school and went busking around Europe. Eventually, a few small labels noticed his complex but melodic songs, and two albums followed: 2003’s Lycanthropy and 2005’s Wind in the Wires. But it was on the musician’s third record, The Magic Position, that he honed his sound, a blend of brawny orchestral arrangements and electronic fireworks. Finally in possession of his voice and connected to a worshiping audience, Wolf transformed into a rock ’n’ roll personality. The tour that followed was a haze of furry outfits, glittery crowds, and lonely hotel rooms. The ensuing emotional hangover was brutal. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to do another album until I developed a real human relationship with someone,” he says. “And then I fell in love.” Wolf’s boyfriend now tours with him.
Of course, Wolf is at his best when he’s an ostentatious free agent. Thankfully, his new record couldn’t be stranger -- in the best possible way. The two-part concept album consists of The Bachelor (available now on Nylon) and The Conqueror, out in 2010. “The Bachelor is about the absence of love, and The Conqueror is about giving emotion,” Wolf explains. “It’s like Harry Potter parts one and two. The first album finishes like ‘Oh, my God! What’s going to happen!?’ Then [the protagonist] comes back, and the heart goes on.”
Wolf remains so committed to being an art-damaged glamour boy in part because he realizes it won’t last forever. He knows his creative life will have a natural progression, and he doesn’t plan to push his decadent youth stage past its sell-by date. “I’m not going to get liposuction and a face-lift just to battle nature and still be a performer,” Wolf says. “While I’m doing pop music, I want to do it 100%, but I don’t see myself in a catsuit at 50. That’s the time to get back to the piano and start composing again.”
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 11:10 | Сообщение # 33 |
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the childcatcher
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| His music being accompanied by violins, his at times eccentric behaviour and his dramatic costumes make Patrick Wolf the most flamboyant personality of Indie music. motor.de met him for an interview.
At his gig at this year's c / o pop festival, he freaked out because he was not allowed to finish his set. Just hours before, Patrick Wolf showed, however, his well-adjusted side and was very talkative with motor.de talking about the impact of Web 2.0. the music world, his new lifestyle and his surprising affection for Blümchen (German pop singer).
motor.de: You're already the second time part of the c / o pop lineup. Do you like it here?
Yes, a few years ago I already played here. In the past I spent a lot of time in Cologne because my first label Tomlab has its headquarters here.
motor.de: The motto of this year c / o pop is "Pop Culture 2.0.“ What effect do you think does the Web 2.0 have on music?
Web 2.0 has a tremendous impact on the music industry and on every kind of musical development. The artists have even adopted a different way of thinking. An artist is aware of the fact that if you make an album your songs are being downloaded (illegally) nowadays. This circumstance destroys the concept of the album and that's a disgrace. For my part I see myself as an album artist, before all other things I’m making an album. By now an artist has to think of way of how to make money. Due to the rapid developments of the internet, everthing has changed by 180 degrees in only a few years. I think of the internet as a monster which is out of control.
motor.de: You have managed to solve the problem of earning money with music successfully. Your latest album "The Bachelor" was financed by shares which were could be purchased by your fans.
I financed the album by using Bandstocks.com. The concept of this website is that fans can invest in an artist an his/her music by acquiring shares. With this money I was then able to record and release my album, to pay for the marketing and to shoot videos. For all these things one needs strong financial reserves, especially if one has to, like me, fend for themselves. At the same time my fans will also get back a lot, for example, they can attend free acoustic shows, or have a prerogative on concert tickets. It allows me a close relationship with my audience, which to me is very important. Currently, everyone is looking for new ways to keep his/her head over water. This concept is an interesting way to finance my work and I am very happy with it.
motor.de. After your last tour you took a break for a while because you are said to have suffered from real depressions towards the end.
I'm actually a homebody and I prefer to lead a more relaxed life. Iwhen you release an album it all gets very turbulent and unstable. You’re touring throughout the year from country to country. Your whole home life hides away. For about five years it went like that and I didn’t want to spend the following year notin the same way. It just was no longer healthy for me. I was stressed out, lonely and it drove me crazy. I wanted to experience how it is to be human, have human skills, be romantic and just lead an ordinary life. For a year I din’t want to be a pop star, give no autographs, do no shows, give no interviews, don‘t shoot videos, I simply wanted to write and be an artist and musician. I had given up show business at that time, but nor the music.
motor.de: This year you have once again released an album, shot videos and are on tour. How do you now cope with this situation?
During this leave of absence I took the most important thing wa to create a base, a home. Previously, I was more or less homeless. I lived in different houses while trying to earn my living and to establish myself as an artist. The whole time I just thought of writing new music, playing shows and stayed up all night. I am very ambitious – and being too ambitious can destroy you. You forget that you must eat and sleep. By now I have become a little less restless. So that's probably what happens when you’re getting older. I'm 26 now, when I started making music I was 18. At that time I didn’t really look after myself. Now I even go to the gym, which feels very strange to me. But I do it to stay healthy. Just like Madonna. She spends half the day doing sports and can then be the Queen of Pop in the evening.
motor.de: "The Bachelor" was originally supposed to be a political album. What political issues do concern you?
I think a lot about employ socio-political issues, especially regarding the question of what role minority groups and outsiders have in a society. Since my school days I have lived what it's like to be an outsider and be referred to as a freak. Also later, especially after the release of "The Magic Position" I got a lot of attention, but also a lot of ignorance. I suddenly became the target of homophobia. For example if I went for a walk holding hands with my boyfriend I was told that this was something for a man and a woman. From this perspective political action does not mean being agry to me, but rather trying to find my place in the world. Many songs on "The Bachelor" deal with this issue. I think some of my listeners need songs that bring them through this time, just like it was the case for me with the Sex Pistols and Blondie.
motor.de: "The Bachelor" is one half of your two-album project "The Battle", which will be completed with the release of "The Conqueror" next year. What is the relationship between these two albums?
"The Bachelor" represents mainly the negative aspects of life. I am talking about loneliness, heartsickness and anger. "The Conqueror", however, tells about love, magic and eroticism and enjoying life. Between the two albums there is a balance similar to the ying and yang.
motor.de: In your music you combine electronic sounds with classical instruments. What do you think is fascinating about this mix?
For me there is no big difference between these two genres of music. For me it is normal to listen to Whigfield and the Vengaboys one day, and the next day to Gregorian chant. You should feel the music and experience the emotions and messages it carries without wondering whether what you hear is electronic or folk music. I think this idea is also reflected in my music. For some this may be the reason why they find it difficult to access, but at the same time many listen to my music for the very same reason.
motor.de: What bands and artists are you listening to at the moment? Do you have any recommendations?
I am a big fan of Micachu. She makes this kind of music you should listen to through headphones with your eyes closed. Rowdy Superstar is a talented spoken word artists. He is a good friend of mine and he is also an excellent dancer. We often do shows together. Then there's Craig Template who also comes from London. He is the next Madonna and a true superstar. Otherwise, I listen a lot to Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, as well as to classical music. The UK Top 40, however, I avoid as much as possible. That is a bad place.
motor.de: The German charts are even worse.
There is this German singer that I like - Blümchen! I always listened to her song "Boomerang" when I was in Berlin for recording. Who knows, maybe this influence will be found on my next album. (laughs)
NB: Listening to Blümchen right now. This interview somehow inspired me. You should really youtube her if you don't know her.
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:10 | Сообщение # 34 |
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the childcatcher
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| Patrick Wolf's first three albums painted him as a man apart from most singer-songwriters doing the rounds, as did his outspoken comments about pop rivals La Roux, Mika and the rest. He left Polydor subsidiary Loog under something of a cloud after 2007's The Magic Position, but managed to raise enough cash from fans to release his fourth LP, this year's The Bachelor. Ahead of his one-off concert at the London Palladium this Sunday, we picked Patrick's formidable brain about everything from Lady GaGa to Jan Moir.
What can you tell us about your London Palladium show?
"It's kind of like a retrospective - like when a painter has a retrospective of their work. It's a little bit of every album from the last seven or eight years. It's a totally one-off extravaganza for two hours with costume changes. It's what I want all my shows to be like in a couple of years when I'm hopefully doing arenas."
Alec Empire from Atari Teenage Riot worked on your album and he's going to be joining you onstage. How did your collaboration come about?
"I met Alec about three years ago when I was in Berlin. He was at a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion concert, got a bit bored and came to my show next door. He was like my mentor - like on The X Factor - and he really encouraged me to be brave and experiment and be myself. He guided me through my time with Polydor - a time when I was getting a lot of shit for experimenting."
Did Polydor really want Mark Ronson to produce your album?
"Mark is a friend and that came from me actually. I thought it would be interesting to get a different ear on the work I was making, because it was the opposite of what Mark usually does. He came into the studio and told me there was nothing he could do because he loved it and thought it was perfect. That was very kind of him."
So what were the problems with Polydor?
"The issues with Polydor are numerous, endless, countless... but Mark wasn't one of them. They wanted me to be the new Mika. When I got a boyfriend, they suddenly went, 'How are we going to market you as a gay artist?' But I'm not a straight or gay artist. I'm just a musician. It was a bit of a boring time and there was a lot of typical record company bullshit."
Did Jan Moir's Gately article show the media's homophobia towards gay popstars?
"It's quite a subtle and dangerous thing. It's the same struggle that women have had. You don't get a lot of respect because people marginalise your identity. I still find it very strange that mentions of me in the tabloids always have the prefix 'flamboyant' or 'gay'. I'm still seen as something different and I see myself as somebody who's as normal as the rest of the world. I didn't read the Jan Moir thing because I've experienced that in my everyday life enough. I don't really want to read it in the Daily Mail because it just depresses me."
'Hard Times' from your album is a protest song - what are you protesting against?
"I don't see my opinions as controversial. I'm just being honest about the way I feel. I don't really want to get known for being a protester. There's this idea of 'demographics' with artists and I don't get it. It's like, 'I can't say this or I'll lose 10% of my audience'. I don't give a shit about that, but I do speak about things that lots of us discuss down the pub. The difference is, I do it on the internet or in interviews."
How are you different from other artists?
"Lots of them are still on the first part of their journey. I've been going for quite a while now and I've explored many different ways of making music. I have an international following and I make my own music videos. I do my own artwork and I run my own record label. I'm not saying I'm superior - I'm just a different kind of musician. I have nothing against any of those musicians, but it'll be interesting to see if we're still talking about them next year. I don't think we will be. I don't mean La Roux. I think she's really great and I love her pop songs. I think she's a good popstar."
Do you think you could be an arena-filling musician in the future?
"It depends on the work that I decide to put out. I decided with The Bachelor that I wasn't really interested in being in the top ten. I think Lady GaGa is a total genius for writing those kind of songs. I don't think it's some subconscious thing. I think it's a conscious decision to bring in all the hooks and the choruses. There's a real craft to writing pop music like that. It's just deciding whether I want to do it next year or if I want to do it five years down the line. I've got to get it in before the face-lift!"
Finally, is it true that you created your own theremin when you were 11?
"It is indeed. It's still in the attic of my parents' house. I used to be obsessed by the theremin. I really, really wanted to play it in an orchestra and compose for that instrument. Theremins weren't really manufactured around that time - you're talking about 1995 or something like that - so I had to make my own!"
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:11 | Сообщение # 35 |
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the childcatcher
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| Good morning Patrick, how's your day been so far?
Well in a typical day I wake up very early, I usually have about 3 hours sleep every night. I have my record label to run, editing videos and rehearsing my band and doing international press which normally last until 4 o'clock in the morning. So I make the most of the 3 hours sleep I have and I guess that's the life of an international musician. And running my own label gives me a lot of things to do.
Has running your own label given you any empathy for major labels?
Yes definitely. I currently have a big day of people coming to my studio to listen to my new work. There's a lot of offers being made at the moment. I've been major before, I've been a few years independent. I have no set way of how I particularly like to work.
Is that independence and inability to bow down necessary for you to work?
Yeah I never have done, that's the thing. In a lot of the struggles that came with working with Polydor and Universal records and the whole machine, I always got what I wanted, it just took a lot of foot stamping and saying I'm not putting up with this, this is not how I want it which drains your energy a lot because you have to constantly stick up for yourself.
Were you a bratty child?
Um yeah, I think so. When I was eight and my mum tried to give me piano lessons I would hide in the loo because I wanted to play the violin. I went on strike until I got to play the violin, so I'm very good at getting what i want, but i suppose it takes a lot of arguing.
Can you describe your studio?
It's been different things over the years. It depends on the house I'm living in right now. Right now I'm running a record label form the house and that's taking most of the space and I run the merch company from there. It's half filled with boxes, I've got two filled with costumes. I've got my walk in wardrobe transformed into a studio. I kind of lock the door and I've got my instruments in there. I don't have the space right now to bring out my harpsichords, they're all underneath the bed so I don't have the space I like but I make the most of what i have.
Have you collected any more instruments recently?
I have more than enough, and probably more than I'll need for a lifetime. So no, I try and stop myself. I was in Vienna the other day on tour and there was this amazing instrument, it was a huge harp with 12 different panels that was like a big sound tunnel. It was 3000 pounds so of course I would be homeless if I bought it. But those are the kind of things I want, but I've kind of got every instrument I'd need for the next five or ten years.
What's your most treasured instrument?
My violin. I never take it out of the case now because it's so special to me. It was the first ever instrument I've ever owned and its stayed with me for 16 years now, so it's my most precious precious thing, so I try not to take it out ever (laughs).
Let's talk about the album. You recorded enough music for a double under the bachelor and the conqueror...do they represent two sides of your psyche?
It's about the past two years of experience with lessons in love and life. But I'm constantly developing as a person and I'd hate to define myself as a person in my record. I'm like everybody in the world, I'm quite complicated. I would say my biography when I'm like a hundred would define who I am, but for now my records are just defining who I am in that particular point in time.
You also collaborated with a lot of people on this album...was that refreshing considering you're used to writing introspectively and on your own?
Yeah I think I'm used to writing on my own I always will do, but I'm opening up more to working in the studio with other people. I was the executive producer, programmer and arranger for the last few records so this was the first time I thought "well I've done three records like that, I don't really feel I need to explore that way of working anymore, I want to work with other people". Not all the way through the records, but just enough to feel like I'm progressing as a musician and a person instead of just making things on my own. I liked inviting people in to enjoy the experience with.
Who would be your dream collaborator?
I'd really like to work with Fergie, of the Black Eyed Peas. I think it'd be really fun. I think it would be very unexpected and no-one would think that of me. But I'd rather work with somebody that comes from a totally different way of working than somebody that's very close to my way of working. If there's something I feel I can do myself than I like to do it. But if i have the opportunity to work with someone who's totally on the other side of the scale then I'm really, really gonna want to do that.
What was it like working with Tilda Swinton who comes from an acting background? And how did you guys meet?
She was doing a performance, a kind of question and answer thing, at this ritzy cinema while I was in the studio just around the corner, so I had this wonderful opportunity to go meet her. I had already written a song for her, so I went to my engineer and got it mixed and just gave it to her on the night. So I was very lucky to work with her, it was wonderful. She came to the studio in London and stayed when she was meant to be going to Brazil or something, so I was extremely happy about that.
Did you have to direct her much?
Tilda's worked with some of the greatest directors ever so I was extremely happy with that. I think people like to work with her because she has a sixth sense about what a character should be. You only need to mention a few kind of key phrases etc and she's off on one. She totally follows the character. I could of sat there saying more of this or less of that, but I didn't need to. It was a quite complicated character really because it's an album basically about negativity and depression and when she was brought in I didn't really need to describe much which was wonderful.
Would you ever consider flipping the script and going into acting or something like that?
Yeah of course. I've been offered lots of film roles, even to make a book and to write for a Disney film. I only have so many hours in the day though. Even right now my life is just full of promotion and recording the next album. I've got lots of things on my plate and I'd like to think there's down time in the future to explore these offers but I don't like to do things halfheartedly if you understand. I like to make sure when I do things I can do them really well.
You funded your last album partly through Bandstocks...do you think your fan base is more fanatical than most musicians because they're willing to invest in you and your art?
I don't know how it's happened over the years but it's just about people relating to me more as a musician and human being rather than me...How do I put it? I'm not interested in being a famous person I'm just in making sure my audience is always inspired and that they feel close to me and close to my music. I don't want the feeling of alienation. That's what made me feel uncomfortable about working with Universal because it was so much about "please give your email and phone number and your date of birth and your credit card number" and I just don't get that way of working. I like to get my music out to people. If they like to pay for it that's wonderful because it means I get to eat. But it's more about your stake in the hearts of people who like to listen to music. I've known lots of
musicians who have done the opposite thing wanting to be famous since day one, but people can smell that easily. And that's when you don't get an audience because at the end of the day people don't like careerists.
Do you have weird fan moments as a result of that?
(laughs) Yeah I do but I've been obsessed with musicians myself in the past, it's a very human trait and i don't really criticize people for being obsessed with me.
You've mentioned that your 2007 tour of America was like dodgy satanic sex games what was all that about?
Yeah that's why I don't like having too much spare time, because potentially I get up to lots of naughty things. I was in Los Angeles and I had a week off, which is very rare for me, and I ended up in the company of a satanist. There are a lot of satanists in California anyway, it's not that unusual. So yeah I ended up taking very bad drugs.
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:11 | Сообщение # 36 |
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the childcatcher
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| There’s a mega-star, albeit one kept in check, inside Patrick Wolf. Even as he riffles through charity shop racks looking for interesting clothing to tailor to his unique tastes, he’s also hunting for a cape to match his crown. Yet his ambition to please himself musically has thankfully outweighed his ambition to be an award-winning pop icon. The singer/composer acknowledges that holding back on the darker elements in his work would probably forge an easier path for him, but he simply doesn’t know how to sugar coat his – let’s say - peripheral fascinations.
Tonight Patrick, at home in London, protected from the freezing winter just outside his window, curls up in his bed with the phone he has rarely been off all day. He softly vocalizes his comfortable state in a voice that is all self-reassurance. All he has to do before sleep is answer a few questions. “It’s almost midnight now, and although I’ve been up since four this morning, I feel like I can do this. You will be kind, won’t you?” His thick London accent is offset by the dreaded sniffles foretelling of a cold. I respond by telling Wolf, he needs to rest and shouldn’t be doing promo at this hour. (Laughs) “Well it’s just one of those things I know I have to do, and to be honest I usually don’t mind doing interviews.” He continues, “I’ve learned to have a bit of fun with them but, occasionally it can get a little demoralizing when I have to answer questions about my hair or how tall I am. I do actually have other things to talk about rather than the colour of my hair, or what I had for breakfast.” Patrick then confesses, “I mean I do play along if an interview is going that way, but I don’t even talk about those sorts of things with my friends, so it feels very strange.”
It would seem by his response that Wolf encounters a lot of people in the media who don’t know what to make of him. Perhaps like the bunyip of legend he appears differently to all who see him? Some will see his boy-band good looks and stop at that. Others will take an interest in his exotic wardrobe, while a few might even work at finding a box to place him in based on the “boy lost and confused: approach with caution” lyrics often found in his work. Despite some wide-of-the-mark categorizing, Patrick sees himself as very much an open book. “I am probably honest to a fault.” He elaborates, “But then it depends how you ask the question, and who’s asking. Right now I’m very tired and so that is affecting what you’re getting from me, but if I was out on my bicycle zipping around, I would give a very different impression I’m sure.” He laughs, “I know for a lot of artists, there is a wall between themselves and the press but for me it’s like an extension of my work as an artist, as someone who wants to express something hopefully worthwhile. I’m nothing if not honest.”
Wolf’s fourth album The Bachelor was released earlier this year on his own newly launched label, Bloody Chamber Music. Following 2007’s one-off major label release Magic Position, Patrick reflects on his brush with the “big-time”; “They (Universal) didn’t know how to market me at all. I think they would have been happier if I was a straight up pop artist.” The partnership failed the first test, and both Wolf and Universal ‘agreed on a separation’. “It feels like I’ve done the dress rehearsal and now I’m ready for my big show.” He is talking about the unglamorous times spent scratching around desperately to fund his first two independent albums - then being offered major label support, only to turn his back on them in favour of running his own label.
“I’ve always believed in independence for musicians and I’ve been in talks with many different types of record labels where nobody knew what to do with me, so now I’m back to the relative safety of my own independent set up.” It was his major debut that gained him attention in Australia, and The Bachelor has continued that success enough to warrant a full-scale tour. His shows are famously elaborate orgies of colour and costume. Patrick enigmatically explains what to expect, or rather what he envisions; “I would really like to do the shows as I see them deep in my heart, you know, with a huge band, amazing lighting and revolving platforms, trapdoors and people flying on ropes and everything that I see in my imagination, but really the shows are still going on a journey and they’re not at that stage yet… they’re just happily evolving.” He ads; “All I can tell you is we’re a very close family, the band and crew who I tour with, and we always try and make the shows fun and interesting and really make the most of whatever we have.”
As Patrick talks of evolving his live show, the subject of his childhood interest in the Theremin has him mentally redesigning the stage; “I like the idea of having dancers using the movement of their bodies to create the sounds as they dance around the instrument. Only I don’t know yet how I could possibly amplify or record that in concert.” His visions coming to fruition are the blood and bones of Wolf’s work, no matter how confronting. Take the video to Bachelor single, Vulture for example. An erotic one-man performance inspired by the Nazi-era German bondage & discipline films, which has sadly been misplaced along side Madonna’s watered down ‘liberation-and-leather’ Justify My Love outing. “Well I think my video was quite the opposite of what Madonna was doing.” He explains, “Everybody thought I was trying to be sort of sexy or provocative but in fact I was really addressing this male awkwardness in expressing sexuality. When I put that out, I was really interested in how people would define what it was I was saying.” Not disappointed then, Patrick instead is curious what, if any, bench marks his video might set; “Who knows, it might start a whole wave of boy-bands in bondage gear clips.” He laughs, adding “I just realised, this interview is starting to sound like In Bed With Madonna.”
On his website, you can view candid clips of Patrick at his home working on songs. The footage reveals his flat to be - as your mum might say - “a bomb sight”. “I’m definitely a hoarder.” He says proudly, “It takes me ages just to move house and I’ve often though it’d be fun to hire a TV crew to film me moving for comedy value.” He laughs, “It’s like Mary Poppins handbag, where she opens a compartment and out pops a harpsichord and in another one there’s a statue.” He continues, “I really like the idea of living in a museum like Michael Jackson’s house. He was one of us, a hoarder so I can definitely understand how he ended up living like that.”
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:12 | Сообщение # 37 |
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the childcatcher
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| Hi Patrick, nice to meet you!
Hi, what's up? Come on, let's sit down on the sofa, I need to rest for a while...
How are you doing?
Very very good.
This is my very first interview, I feel nervous...
Don't worry about a thing, you will be great!
You are here (in Milan) to introduce your last effort "The Bachelor". I've found it emotional, complete, lively. It is very different from the previous one "TMP".
What did it bring you to such change?
Well, when making an album, I explore the concept I'm willing to explain untill it is exhausted, until it's dead. In a certain sense I kill the album and all the emotion in it. I simply try to document the situation I'm living, Both at the sentimental, emotional or phisical level. But then life goes on and we pass through. And if you make a joyful album and you sing it everyday, then it's clear you'll get bored and start needing to go ahead and change a thing. And I felt so when I created "The Bachelor".
Another change was when you decided to leave your old label and work with your own indie label...
Yes, decision went at work done, actually. They can't understand what I was trying to do, they wanted "the magic position 2". And I didn't agree. So that's way I was almost obliged to take this decision. They didn't respect me and I didn't respect them anymore in return. It was impossible to keep working together.
You funded the album using bandstock, a website where fans are allow to give their contribute and become shareholder of the album. I think it's a revolutionary and incredile way to fund an album and it could really be the future of independent music. What is your opinion about it?
I really hope so. I've been maybe the only crazy person who really did it, in order to see if it worked. Many other people were scared by the perspective to do that: scared by being leave at their own. I felt good indeed, I had to put my trust on my fans, and that's was cool. By now we're deciding to fund the next one, The Conquer, with the same way or not.
Did you enjoy the collaboration with Tilda Swinton?
Of course, damn yes! One day I gave to her some of my demos, telling her I want duet with her in certain songs... And then it was everything so intuitive, instinctive. We spent many hours at studio, talking about Jarman, about his work, about how he created his image and about how he inspired me. We felt like twins!
Do you personally look after your cover album?
Ehm, yes! I suggest the theme and then I work with the photographer in order to reach exactly what I aim. All my covers are criptic, so maybe one day there will come a scientist or an art-ologist that put them all together and take off my ancient story and my entire life.
Do you think you art can be extended at cinema? have you ever think about acting in a movie?
I would say yes yes yesyesyes... But, whether it happens or not... it's another matter.
Now, I want to understand who is actually PW! What's your typical day?
(laughs) So, I woke up in the morning... well, you know, I have a very bossy boyfriend, so he check if I get up. He makes coffee for me. It's like he's my personal trainer. And then he says: "Ok, let's go market to buy vegetables", and that's my life, fantastic, in a way that is my life as Patrick, as person in a couple.
When i'm alone i'm just a mess, I wake up at noon, I stay up all night writing, I write write write until I can't anymore take my eyes open; I aim at having no plan, I'm the kind of person who at 4 in the morning if he doesn't be sleepy, ok, he rides up on his bicyle and goes around random with no destination until he's done. The right word is: spontaneity. For exemple also tonight, after the show, with lake so close, I would say that the question is if I will go bathing or not... it depends of how i will feel.
But on the other side... i'm becoming a little bit domestic, as I'm living a relationship, sharing my life with someone else.
But sometimes I have those night that I have that unfinished story, that unwirtten album and so I catch up my independence. I think my relationship with my work it's so important for me and it's where the Patrick Wolf artist is, who feels free, who feels he must stay free, who feels he must go biking untill 4, who has to be spontaneus.
So it's obvious that the real PW it's a compromise between real life and author life. So, if this involves to take a bottle of vodka and pull out all my emotions and not going sleeping for two days... well, that's important too. I want to hold this part of me, because that's what makes my music so spontaneus.
So, when you write, do words come first than music?
Yes, lyrics are very important. They suggest melody. I aim not to create a melody from nothing. Generally lyrics came first, or they come together with music. So, yes, they're so important.
Making "The Bachelor" I create like 12 or 13 lyrics, forming a one family of short stories. all the lyrics talking about love pain and loneliness.
Loneliness is the key word, even if there's hope ("some revolution is needed, the battle will be won - hard times")
Yes, come on, there is always some hope! I'm not like Morrisey, even if I admire him a lot. He used to celebrete the whole solitude state of mind. While I more long for solitude with a hope. So, from this point of view, I feel closer to Joni Mitchell, or something like that. I'm for a kind of romantic loneliness. I like loneliness but not depression...
Aahhh, damn, it's gonna start pouring in a while!
Yeah, thunder and lightining for you tonight! You couldn't come visit Milan without tasting our typical storm!
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:20 | Сообщение # 38 |
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the childcatcher
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| Patrick Wolf
"Björk's always been a big source of inspiration for me"
It's August. The livesummer of 2009 is going towards its end. Patrick Wolf is in Sweden and kids wearing lots of makeup are in line to take part in something that just as well might have been a myth.
The artist, model and painter talks to Fredrik Thorén about his relation to Björk, why records beat mp3s and are "like a good relationship or a good fuck", and how he really felt while recording The Bachelor.
- I wasn't in a positive frame of mind. I was scared of making an album that was too depressing or negative.
When the gates open for the last day of the Way Out West festival in Göteborg, around fifty kids wearing black makeup run as fast as they can, to the scene where Patrick Wolf will be playing an hour later. When he steps onto the stage he's wearing black knee-high boots and a designer made black/white/grey jumpsuit. Most of Patrick's fashionable youthhood years are represented in the crowd, with emphasis on hair: blonde/white hair, pink fringe, stylish post punk.
Before the show, he's sitting in a small room talking to journalists. He's not wearing makeup and reddish roots are visible in his tousled blonde hair. Photography prohibited, of course.
Patrick Wolf is one of the most modern artists to emerge during the 00s. The British multi-talented art musician mixes all kinds of different things in his visual expressions. Folk music with techno and modelling for Burberry alongside Agyness Deyn and Lily Donaldson. He keeps himself up-to-date with new collections by, among others, Comme des Garçons, Alexander McQueen and Kokon to Zai - as inspiration, then he creates his own outfits from that. Somehow, all of it comes down to one thing: to enhance the musical experience.
- I think it's been like this since the birth of rock & roll. It signifies good pop music, when people put such a strong visual imprint on the music. I've always loved artists like that, even ones who weren't so popular for their music. Like Klaus Nomi, Nina Haagen or underground punk artists. Björk's always had a big influence on me. With the music she's made, of course, but she's also been working with the world's most famous designers. It goes hand in hand.
Do you see yourself as a musician or, for example, a model?
- Musician, of course. But in my work I take the opportunity to communicate differently, that's why I get the privilege to work with good designers and photographers who I think are geniuses. It takes my work as a musician to a new level.
It's just as hard to put a label on Wolf's artistry as it is to define the music itself. A potpourri of a multitude of traditional folk instruments, soft and hard electro and guitars. Patrick Wolf thinks for a while and explains:
- I re-define myself often, but I'd say.. Pop music. It's for everybody. Pop music is also popular music in a way, I'm not so popular everywhere, but I'd like to think that it's for everybody. Pop music is a good term to use to make people open-minded about the music. Instead of hearing only the folk music or the electronics, they hear a pop song.
During work with his latest album, The Bachelor, he ran out of money and helped giving birth to an innovative marketing idea: Bandstocks. The fans themselves invest money in stocks. Money that goes to making an album and marketing it - both digitally and on vinyl and cd. As a stock holder you get the album digitally, some extra material and other benefits that are decided along with the artist. For example cheaper merch or guest list entry to shows.
- Bandstocks is a well established marketing model that my manager, Andrew Lewis, started. We were discussing new ideas at Universal (Wolf's old record label) and I had never heard about this before. I thought it was a pretty scary idea at first, but it has proved to be one of the best things in my career so far.
Do you have plans for any other business models in the future?
- It will probably only get bigger and better. I've planned on using Bandstocks again for my next album, the Conqueror. Every album I've made has been released by a different label and that's not because I'm hard to work with. It's because they get scared when I want to do something new, when I want to change myself. They're not following. I don't know what will happen in the future, I just hope that I can always record albums, change and not have anybody who tells me what to do.
To put out records is a very traditional way of distributing music these days.
- Yeah, I meet a lot of people who don't own albums because we have internet now, and all that. But to me an album is a work of art when you get everything just right. I don't think I'll ever oppose the album format because I think it's so beautiful. You get thirteen songs in 40-45 minutes.
- I mean, when you disappear into that world you can put a record on and disappear into a work of art. Like a nice painting. Something that takes you to another place. It's hard for people in general, I think. To survive, to work for somebody, in and out of relationships - people have a lot of problems, you know, and I think music can help people's minds. Like a good psychologist, like a good strong drink at the end of the day. Like a good relationship or a good fuck. That's what music's for and I think the album format... What do you want? Do you want to have sex with somebody for three minutes or do you want 45 minutes of good sex? You want 45 minutes. The album format is a fantastic thing.
After releasing his first two albums, Lycanthropy (2004) and Wind In The Wires (2005) in less than a year, Patrick Wolf realised that something was happening to the general appreciation. When he says that he wants to "redefine" and "change" himself and his artistry, it doesn't always have to be in a positive direction. Many were disappointed when third album The Magic Position (2007) was released, where there were bits of heavy, not recognisable rock music that didn't have much in common with his appraised and multi-faceted earlier work. Had we put too much faith in him? When The Bachelor was released, I shrugged it off. This was dark music made the wrong way.
What emotional frame of mind were you in when you recorded The Bachelor?
- I wasn't in a positive frame of mind. I was scared of making an album that was too depressing or negative, Patrick says while fingering a note with the words "tack så mycket" (= thank you very much), in preparation of the show.
Time to put on his makeup, have a Bloody Mary and await the screams and cell phone flashes.
Big rock poses mix with androgynous, well rehearsed choreography. It turns out to be a fantastic experience - and in a slightly ironic way - everything slides into place this time as well. The most of what's being experienced during the, little over an hour, set is from the two latest albums and is given new life while being explained. When he during Damaris, the best song off the new album, falls on his knees while repeating the words "rise up" and stategically raises his hands in the air, I too understand how the music can help people's minds and make you disappear into a work of art.
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:21 | Сообщение # 39 |
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the childcatcher
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| -You’ve come to Japan twice in July and November, 2007. Do you remember anything about it?
Yes, I remember it very well. My mental condition at that time was very different from now and schedule was hard. I think I become an adult now and am endowed with love from my friends and family. I also get used to do touring and am really enjoying it.
-The show in July was short and your schedule was so hard, so that I was wondering if you didn’t have a good image of Japan…
No way, I’ve loved Japan since I was a little boy! Especially Japanese street fashion, it is so inspiring and had a huge influence on my fashion. In Japan people accept any kind of fashion even if it’s bizarre, and it gave me a confidence. It’s really amazing. Last time it was pity that I was busy doing interview and pressing while other members of my band went out to the city and were enjoying sightseeing. However this time my manager gave me an enough free time. He seems to understand not only an importance of feeling inspired, but also the fact that I am not a robot. (Laughs)
-At the next show in November at Shibuya DUO, the distance between you and the audience was close. You were singing and jumping to the back of the floor, your hair was red, and your costume was so so cute… and I was like “Wow, there is an Elf!”
Really?! (laughs)
-(Laughs). But this time the costume was based with black colour and the atmosphere was dark, the image was completely different from that of two years ago.
Yes, I change my visual style depending on musical image of each album. Once the album is complete, I start to think of its visual image. I consider my shows as the 3-D version of its image. So it means various kinds of dimensions such as visual style, music, costume, music video, and artwork are combined, and they express the world / atmosphere of the album.
“The Bachelor” is the album which expresses sadness, suffering, and straggle like winter, while the images of “The Magic Position” were much more fun, brighter, and more colourful like circus. And this time I dyed my hair blond and became a warrior who fights against for my freedom.
-I think the producer of the album Alec Empire played an important role to bring out your darkness inside you. How was it like to work with him?
Actually it was the first time for me to work with the producer. There had been a great pressure from the label, they kept saying like “you are still young so you have to find a producer.” My image of producer before was a person who changes an experimental artist to a commercial artist. But Alec was opposite, he was so experimental and made me challenge a lot of things. His way of progress the work was to sleep at the hotel at daytime, go to the studio at midnight, and start making music with coffee but without any alcohol and drug, which I thought very stoic and amazing. It inspired my creativity a lot.
-The most impressive thing of all songs of the album was the phrase “I’ll work harder, harder for revolution” from the second track “Hard Times.” From that phrase I felt an ideal as a revolution, suffering and sorrow we feel from reality where we have to work hard, and also loneliness. How do you think of my interpretation?
I see… There may be many ways of interpretations in that phrase, but the cause that made me write that song was a suffering in the real world. I’m singing the similar thing in the song called “The Libertine.” When I read a newspaper there are politics, economies, and many other bad news such as environmental problems. I had been thinking I wouldn’t be able to spend a happy life if I didn’t ignore such things. But in 2008 many problems rushed toward me like tsunami, and it became impossible for me to ignore them. So in that song I’m singing about our inevitable sorrow we need to straggle to change the world.
-You are singing about to fight and to face against in the 13th track “Battle.” Why are you so aggressive in this album?
This song is more about reaction than aggression. I attracted a lot of attention for the first time in the previous album “The Magic Position,” both in good ways and bad ways. Since my style of fashion and statements were not usual I took horrible bashings… It was like I went back to my school days when I had been bullied. But one day I realized that the audience got inspiration and felt hope from me treated like that and came to see my shows, especially in South America, Australia, and Tokyo. “I can get love if I fight with my own spirit,” I wanted to send such a message to the audience in this album. So it is not a simple aggression contained in this album, it is a “positive” aggression, because I’m hoping everything is gonna be great.
-Your lyrics are very personal, and they make us feel like we are deeply getting inside your mind. Don’t you feel hesitated or embarrassed to expose your true feeling to the lyrics?
I did when I was younger, and I was worried like “can I be so naked and gouge my life?” But when I was making my first album at the age of 18 or 19, I realized I didn’t have to be so afraid because that nakedness could be one of attractive points as a writer. Nothing can be more amazing if the audience gets inspiration and hope through it, you know. The same thing can be said to my favourite artists, for example Joni Mitchell and Björk, if you track back their albums, you can see everything they’ve gone through. Now I have nothing at all that I feel embarrassed about my life and relationship with people around me, so I don’t have to feel fear and hesitated to anything anymore.
-By the way, you always take your clothes off at almost every show, and is that also from your feeling you’ve just talked about? (Laughs)
(With a shy smile) No no, it’s just because of the heat! And I don’t intend to be sexy! But it is kind of the habit from my childhood to take my clothes off when I get excited… When I take my clothes off at the shows it is often uploaded to YouTube or Flickr, and my mother always scolds me saying like, “Hey Patrick, put on your clothes!” (Laughs)
-(Laughs) Anyway, about your lyrics, they have great qualities as a form of an art, and I think lyric itself can be a great piece of work. The way of rhyming is superb, and the way you use words, it reminds me of early Arthur Rimbaud. I assume it’s more like you spent ages to complete the lyrics than you wrote down the words you’ve just come up with.
Thank you, I’m so glad to hear that. I think art is essential in writing lyrics and making songs. My own ideal as a writer is to write lyrics that strike the right chord of people even after they are published as a book 100 years later. For example, old Madonna’s lyrics are comical and give us a little chuckle, and PJ Harvey’s lyrics are so inspiring even if you only read the words before you start listening to the songs. I’m really a perfectionist so I can’t feel satisfied if all of my lyrics, sound, artwork and mixing are not perfect. So I don’t want other people to hear my demos!
-I see. And you are known for your ability to play various kinds of instruments.
It’s definitely because of my father. There are many kinds of instruments at my house --- guitar, flute, saxophone, clarinet… and I used to play each of them on a daily basis. So the instruments I can play are all playable by my father too. My mother is also an artist so body painting was kind of our daily habit. Such an experimental spirit has definitely been inherited to me.
-There are some kinds of instruments I have never heard before.
I have some special rule in making music… That is, “NEVER make music that someone else has made.” I’m kinda like an environmentalist. It would be amazing if an instrument in danger like Crystal Basche (Sorry I don’t know how to spell it correctly… since I googled this instrument and there were no exact matches ) got an attention and reevaluated by using it in my music.
-Then please tell me about your next album, “The Conqueror.” How is it going?
I thought it was already finished… but I found some things I wanted to add and fix. So it’s almost finished now. Definitely within the year!
-What will it be like?
My schedule last year was very good. I did the touring for 3 weeks, after that I had a 2-week-off to work and charge myself at my house, and then went touring again… I could refresh my mind and body very well. So I’m feeling very peaceful at this moment! I’m sure it will be an album that spreads love to people. Right now 30 songs are finished, and each sound is changing to a good direction every time I go to the studio. In the next album I want to finish “The Bachelor part” and bring a new character. These two are double-albums anyway… I want to make them separate and balance the negative part and the positive part.
-I read your interview, and you were saying there “The Conqueror” was the recovery from “The Bachelor” period. What was an opportunity that made you recover?
Meeting my boyfriend William 2 years ago changed my entire life. The word “conquer” here means him who conquered myself! (Laughs) He found me who was so disappointed and tired, and believed in me. He made me want to “conquer” the world. I’m counting on him not only in a romantic way, but also in a realistic way. These 2 years were really special for me, I could deal with my own problems I’d had since I was a child. So I’m making the next album putting my appreciation into it. I feel so happy being with my wonderful friends, boyfriend and family.
-You surely look so happy right now.
(With a shy smile) That’s also because Japan is so fun! I want to come here privately rather than work next time. I’d love to see around a lot of landscapes. Because I would often see them in magazines when I was a child. There is an old tape I made when I was a child, and there I’m singing Japanese poetry! I had been so much into Japanese poetries then, and my favourite one was “Makura no Soushi” written by… um… someone whose name is like Madam Syou…
-“Makura no Soushi” by Seisyou Nagon?! Wow, that’s wonderful!
And I’m very glad to see audience who is looking forward to my shows. I’m so excited about today’s show.
-Me too. Thank you very much for your interview!
just sing
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| jaqkvade | Дата: Понедельник, 18.07.2011, 15:22 | Сообщение # 40 |
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the childcatcher
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| your performances and costumes don't stick to any gender roles. do you want to break the roles intentionally with it or are you just you?
the male archetype is desolate, aggressive and unromantic - wants to be warrior and militant, testosterone replaces eroticism, sensuality and optimism. when i was younger i was afraid of fighting and was a pacifist. but there's much that's worth fighting for - certainly without aggression and institutions like the army. so there is a lot of battle and agression in my music nowadays, the will to challenge the world. we'll all reach this point in our lives.
you were the boy from the wood, now you're rather a chameleon-like total work of art. how did that change take place?
it happened long ago, but nature is still present in my work. on my first album many of my inspirations are based on folklore and nature metaphors; "wind in the wires" on my time in cornwall, the solitude in the countryside. i'm 26 now, my voice has changed, i travelled the world, i'm a businessman. all those things a boy would never do! a boy is androgynous, i'm more masculine now. i have both female and male traits. i'm more confident as in former times, and you can hear that in my music.
are you a feminist?
absolutely! i've been since i was 11 or 12. it has gone hand in hand with the fight for respect, that i experienced as transgender person in school. i despised the boys and the patriarchal society there. my struggle is also connected with the one of my sister, who wanted to be accepted as musician and had to experience plenty of contempt due to the moronic, male, homophobe society in her everyday life. i was always on the girls' side, because they have also demanded for the equality of my sexuality and my life. i can almost just work with women, i'm known as feminist in the music business. i feel closer to women than men, i'm wearing make-up, and i couldn't care less about soccer.
is this your emancipation from the music industry and the show biz?
definitely! it's been long overdue. pop music is slowly being taken over by women. but you also have to work on that behind the scenes lest only any men keep things firmly under their control, otherwise we're going back to the 50s. there's still a lot of work to do for equal rights and emancipation. power out of the traditional male hierarchies!
which women do you admire?
i have various female influences in my life. musically they are kathleen hanna, pj harvey, björk, kim deal of the pixies, the breeders - strong and fascinating women. but i was also surrounded by many gay performance artists, drag queens of the transgender community. i also admire my mother - and my sister, who does brilliant digital art.
are there female filmmakers or women writers that you value most or were most pertinent to you?
my favourite director of all time is sally potter - a total genius. i've seen her latest film "rage", which is very revolutionary. she is in search of new paths to combat piracy. she does all herself: screenplay, soundtrack, drama, she's a 360 degree artist. in her yet a bit elder film "orlando" the protagonist besomes a woman halfway through the story. i like that. it's a transgender film with a feministic message actually: orlando can find a lucky position in-between the sexes. the women's liberation has also played its part in it. a film that changed my life! virginia woolf, the author of the original novel, is also one of my favourite writers... ever. she was a lesbian, but had a husband and wore men's clothes. a real statement in the 1920s! virginia woolf was something like the female version of quentin crisp, who played elizabeth I in "orlando". the same applies to marlene dietrich, who already wore suits back then and thus put gender stereotypes into question.
do you think you'd be a different person if you were a woman?
i am very happy with myself now. at the age of 12 or 13 i've always said that i'll get a sex change done as fast as possible. i had long pink hair, wore platform shoes and make-up. there are so many different kinds to be a girl ... as a woman i wouldn't probably be a lot different as i am now – i'm changing my image quarterly anyway.
which woman, dead or alive, you'd like to get to now?
queen elizabeth I! i was always fascinated by her. she was a terrorist, but also familiar with auguries, magic and poetry. one of history's most powerful women. i'd rule the world with her from her palace.
you've said that your sister had a rough ride as an artist many times. have you ever been subjected to prejustice as musician?
yes, sure. but i wasn't afflicted with it, because i always knew how i'd like to be and to look. i just suffered from those who were ashamed of me.
what does the term "queer" mean to you?
this term is important, because it's frankly/flexible (?), it's way beyond the established attribution and stands for various theoretical tendencies. the image of gays is governed by many conservative, straight stereotypes. "queer" for that is pansexual. i like the fact that it's not just the determination of sexual orientation but also liberation. in my mind that's why queerness is comparable to punk.
just sing
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