| From almost the beginning, rock music has flirted with notions of queer identity. Be it camp performances by The Kinks (infamously popular with drag queens and the Andy Warhol set), David Bowie in a dress (not to mention in bed with Mick Jagger, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop), the mighty Velvet Underground, Queen (and most of glam before them), or Michael Stipe’s coy maybe/maybe not backtalk, queer rockers have long held positions of influence.
Yet, while all of the aforementioned (minus slippery ol’ Stipey) have renounced their earlier flirtations with gay lifestyles, either marrying models or plucky fellow artists – in either case, women who spend a lot of time away from home – a new breed of proud queer performers has come up through the underground.
The Magnetic Fields play in churches throughout Europe and large theatres in the U.S., while Canada’s own The Hidden Cameras fill ballrooms worldwide with singalongs about pee and finding "splendour in the harshness of bum." Based on sonic achievement alone, the albums of Rufus Wainwright are definite gems – as a queer artifact, "Gay Messiah" on Want Two is indispensable – and every hack critic is currently foaming at the mouth for the transsexual Antony and the Johnsons.
Sure, k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge may be packing soft-seaters the world over while Sir Elton John sings his financially troubled heart out in Vegas – backed by the gayest stage set ever designed (giant erect bananas, pairs of cherries on either side) – but all that’s either boring or downright offensive. More importantly, that lot settled into their sexuality gradually – in one case hiding it with a fake straight marriage. But the likes of Mirah, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart and Gentleman Reg play it honest. Using a standard line of questioning, seven artists let us in on their thoughts on the myth of the queer rock renaissance.
THE PLAYERS
· Jon Ginoli of punkers Pansy Division has taken his group’s queercore power-pop odes through 14 years of countless club tours and stadium gigs. Highlights of an infamous discography include Wish I’d Taken Pictures and Manada.
· JD Samson of Le Tigre, one of queer rock’s most visible players – electro-punk activism you can dance to.
· Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart blurs the lines of melody and song structure the same way he plays with his gender and bisexuality – at times tender and fragile, at others brutal and frightening.
· Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, part of Calvin Johnson’s K Records team, has released a scattershot of EPs and collaborations with the likes of The Microphones, as well as five stunning solo albums of characteristic Olympia, Washington pop.
· Edmonton two-piece The Vertical Struts ape everyone from The Kinks to Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion through a queer lens. Drummer Trevor Anderson likes the fact that such subject matter gets him dates.
· The prodigal Owen Pallett has appeared with everyone from The Hidden Cameras to The Constantines, currently touring as a member of The Arcade Fire, but his finest work has been through his own projects – the art-punk Les Mouches and his solo-violin-and -sampler driven Final Fantasy.
· As Gentleman Reg, Reginald Vermue has released three albums’ worth of whisper-soft romanticism – part Nick Drake, part Rufus Wainwright – and acted as an integral part of the Hidden Cameras from the beginning.
ON THE QUEER ROCK RENAISSANCE
Pallet: It’s important to understand the difference between gay art and queer art. Queer art has historically existed in opposition to the norm, in strange places, in strange ways. It is by definition counter-traditional, and thus, is non-progressive. There is no school of queer art. Gay art, however, does have a tradition, a location, a language. It can undergo a renaissance. Queer art will always be fringe, otherwise it will cease to be queer.
Samson: I definitely feel like right now it’s a really exciting time. There’s bands gaining a lot of popularity with gay and out members and it’s not just in the queer world – bands like Bloc Party, Le Tigre, Sigur Ros, and things like that. It’s very exciting to me to be both queer and involved in the regular rock scene.
Anderson: The ’70s were pretty cryptic, weren’t they? Bowie, Reed, Bolan. It was chi-chi to reek of bisexuality, and I guess that’s true again. Did you know the Islamic Republic of Iran just allowed Queen’s Greatest Hits to be sold legally, making it the first rock album to be authorized by that government? There’s your queer rock renaissance.
Mirah: If it should exist, I can only imagine how great the costumes would be.
Reg: If it helps bring attention to the music, that’s fine, as long as it doesn’t become a ghettoized thing like "Women in rock" on the cover of Rolling Stone.
ON PERFORMING AS AN OPENLY GAY ARTIST
Reg: I think that audiences are definitely more ready for that and accepting of it. There are certainly lots of us who appreciate it, so it’s not as hard as it was in the past.
Pallett: I am not gay-identified. I have gay sex and a gay relationship with my gay boyfriend, but nothing about me is gay. In fact, I’m anti-gay. "Gay" is a religion and all religions must be stopped. I use the word "gay" in a derogatory way, the same way I’d use the words "right-wing" or "straight." The fact that I deal with homosexual themes in my music puts some people off – it’s hard to mention homosexual anything without people thinking you’re doing it for shock value. Generally, I wouldn’t say anything in my music that I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying to my grandmother.
Samson: I don’t think I could’ve performed any other way. My performance is about my gender expression and my identity. To stay the same person that I am and perform my way in a lot of different new venues, that’s really exciting and even kind of makes me feel like an activist.
Mirah: As unpopular as this sounds, I believe it’s more important to not have your queerness unknown than to have it known. This distinction is as subtle as it is crucial. I’m not saying that I support don’t-ask-don’t-tell or other such patronizing policies, which only accept groups like queers in a narrow way, compelling us to assimilate and hide. On the contrary, I simply envision a world where I am loved, period – neither because of nor in spite of my sexuality.
Stewart: It has kept me from feeling like I was full of shit.
Ginoli: It made us bolder. It was our goal from the outset – to be as far out of the closet as we could.
ON GAY ARTISTS IN THE MAINSTREAM:
Reg: Is Michael Stipe gay? Wow… I don’t think there will ever be someone open like that from the get-go in the mainstream. There will never be some gay male Madonna. I just don’t think there will be enough people that will be comfortable enough with it that they’ll actually purchase the art to get somebody up to that level.
Pallett: Homo artists have always been working in the mainstream, always. Nobody makes better mainstream art than homos.
Samson: I think it’s happening. It’s very exciting to see songs like "Viz" on our record about butch lesbian visibility, and to have that happening on a major label. The queer bands we take on tour with us, like Lesbians on Ecstasy, Tracy and the Plastics, and Gravy Train are totally loved by the audience. Why can’t this be the beginning of something and just get bigger and bigger?
Anderson: k.d. lang’s 2004 symphony tour was sponsored by Audi and in Calgary, the audience applauded her mother. That’s pretty mainstream and I loved every second of it.
Mirah: I was reading a People magazine the other week and there was a full-page spread about Ellen (Degeneres) and her breakup with her ex as well as her newfound love with her current girlfriend. I was both proud and disturbed. On the one hand, I was looking at proof of how far we’ve come. I mean, People magazine – how much more mainstream can you get? On the other hand, I sarcastically congratulate all of us and our allies for tipping the acceptance scale far enough to let the paparazzi get a good enough foothold to go snapping pictures of Ellen’s private personal love life. If this is the mainstream, do we want it?
Stewart: At this very moment the people who can do it are either total camp à la Elton John, or making a joke of being queer on TV. Sometimes I feel like, "Fuck them if they can’t hang – why should I give a shit about trying to convince bigots that queer people exist and are A-OK?" Then, of course, I think, "So queer people don’t get killed or fired," …. People are not born bigots, but are made bigots and everyone has the possibility of an open heart inside of them. Yes, I am a hippie.
Ginoli: Fifteen years ago, none of the people you can point to as openly gay musicians (were) out. None! It’s one of the reasons we started Pansy Division in 1991, so there’s definable progress.
ON QUEERNESS AS A MARKETING TOOL
Reg: Tatu did pretty well with it, but now that they’re straight nobody cares anymore.
Pallett: Sex is interesting, sexuality is soporific. The only reason people care about, say, Colin Farrell’s sexuality is because he’s super cute, not the other way around. I think Michael Stipe and I would probably get along – it sounds like we’re afraid of the same things.
Samson: When people realized that gay people do buy things, there was this sudden visibility – primarily through really lame TV shows like Queer as Folk and The L Word. At least it’s helping some people come to their own terms with things.
Anderson: Sexuality isn’t a hip marketing tool, it’s a hip’s marketing tool. Just ask Elvis the Pelvis. Rock ’n’ roll isn’t rocket surgery, it’s sex pure and simple. Don’t knock Michael Stipe – he did a lot to open straight boys’ minds in the ’90s. He wouldn’t have gotten into their heads without being coy, and I wouldn’t have gotten into their pants without him.
Mirah: Openly queer artists are lauded by other queers for being openly queer, not by the mainstream. If you really wanted to make it big – and making it big was a higher priority than utilizing your queer identity to create higher awareness and love for you and your people – then for the time being I would recommend keeping it under the covers.
Stewart: Sexuality as marketing matters if the artist wants it to mean something. If it is about a person’s life and feelings then it is good art. Maybe Stipe’s being coy to be hot.
Ginoli: Mainstream-rock radio in the U.S., which caters to a straight white male demographic and is ruled by conservative corporations like Clear Channel and Trinity Broadcasting, are afraid of anything that goes against or might disrupt their marketing schemes. Mainstream-rock radio is how hits are made.
ON POLITICS
Reg: I think being openly gay in itself is definitely political. I support gay marriage – it’s important to a lot of people, even if I may never get married. The Hidden Cameras have the song "Ban Marriage," and I think that’s in some ways an amazing idea – instead of legalizing gay marriage, why not get rid of marriage altogether?
Pallett: I save my political statements for interviews like this one. Give up gay marriage. Marriage reminds me of cocaine. It seems glamorous and like a great party, but it’s actually really self-absorbed and ends up pissing off all your friends.
Samson: In terms of writing political music, it’s something that Le Tigre does anyways. I’m an artist, feminist, queer person, and all these things are there waiting for me when I wake up in the morning. We try to make statements onstage, especially in the more oppressed places in which we play. The faces of the kids get so excited when you’re in some little town where they don’t get to see gay people that much and they all come and find a sense of community and safety. It’s rad to have that.
Mirah: I was political before I knew I was queer. I protested nuclear proliferation at age 12, but have yet to make it to Pride in San Francisco. I feel an obligation to bring politics to the table not because of my queerness, but as a concerned member of the human race.
Stewart: I think at a show that we’re playing, it would be preaching to the choir. I also think that any band that is open and playing is already making a political statement.
Ginoli: Political with a small "p," please. Though I am a very political person, addressing topical themes in songs is usually a recipe for music with a short sell date. I want my music to outlast fads and political events that soon get forgotten.
ON QUEER INFLUENCES
Reg: I’m just in awe of Rufus Wainwright and the way his career is unfolding. He’s been a pioneer in just being gay from the get-go – one of the first.
Pallett: Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu is the big one for me. He’s bisexual and describes himself as a quarter gay. I like the fact that his narrative stance is very malleable – he can be a girl, a fag, an old woman, Suha Arafat, whoever he wants. He’s a far cry from the plaintive boredom of Rufus Wainwright – who’s also brilliant, but entirely not my thing.
Samson: I grew up in Ohio and wasn’t privy to a lot of bands happening at that time. I discovered some San Francisco punk groups like Lynn Breedlove and Tribait’s "Butch in the Streets, Femme in the Sheets" and was totally excited that there was actually a band that plays good music for lesbians.
Stewart: I am bi and found artists that were androgynous hit me hard – Peter Murphy, David Bowie, Morrissey. But there was a drag queen named Vaginal Davis that changed my life. I had no idea you could be punk and a drag queen and ultra intense and insane and hot and brilliant all at the same time.
Ginoli: Seeing a performance by the lesbian rock-folk band Two Nice Girls helped get me moving towards doing Pansy Division, because I thought, "why aren’t guys doing this?"
ON DEVELOPING A STRAIGHT AUDIENCE
Reg: Indie rock circles are what I travel in, and I think just as a default the audience is generally straight to begin with. The gay audience catches on later, as they usually do – gay press is just so behind and brutally out of it. Even when I play pride festivals I never feel completely in place – like people are always just waiting for the drag queens.
Pallett: Irrelevant. I’m more interested in developing a cute audience. Humiliating yourself onstage is far easier when the audience is nice to look at.
Samson: I don’t think it’s something that applies to us, especially given that Kathleen (Hanna, fellow Le Tigre member) had so many fans from the past. The three of us all bring different people to the shows and that makes for a really interesting mix of people and I like that.
Anderson: We had our straight audience first and it was only after we started beaking off in the press that some homos sought us out. We may be queer punk, but we’re punk first and queer second.
Mirah: For me that’s not been an issue. I’m interested in making music, not conquering a demographic.
Stewart: I don’t really care. We are just trying to play from our hearts and hope that anyone is touched by it.
Ginoli: We have more straight fans than gay ones because there happen to be a lot more straight people. |
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