Underground Gay Music Series Exclusive: A Short Q&A w/ T.W.i.N.S.

When it comes to witty, quirky, charming dance pop, you will find no bigger fan than me. Comprised of two dashingly handsome gents, Laurence and Hugo, T.W.i.N.S. is perhaps one of the smartest, most lyrically clever bands to come around in a good long while. They take frustrating everyday situations and turn them into genius songs that will have you uncontrollably dancing in no time flat. There is no pretension. The goal of the music is to have fun. When asked about the formation of T.W.i.N.S. Laurence recalls, "We just wanted to get back to why we wanted to make music in the first place, to do something outrageous."

When not playing in T.W.i.N.S, Laurence moonlights as a club DJ, and something of this spirit feeds into the band: a mission to entertain whatever the cost. "If you're a band and you come onstage at a club at 1am, you don't want to interrupt everyone from having a good time. So we want to do something visual, raucous and unpredictable". The pair have been selective about gigs so far, but a show supporting the Scissor Sisters at London club institution The Cock's 10th birthday celebration at XOYO was a highlight.

T.W.i.N.S. has a brand new 5 track E.P. due out March 3rd. Despite being busy with all the craziness surrounding a new release, we were thankfully able to corner Laurence in a bathroom stall and force him to answer a handful of highly dubious questions!

Q: Rumor has it you gents started your musical collaboration composing music for a gay porn series called "Indie Boys." How much research did you have to put in to make sure you were properly capturing the essence of the subject matter? 
Laurence: We are both aggressive tops so it was actually a challenge to write slow jams for the Indie boy. Indie boys like to be whimsical, and they are in the bed too. One of us may know better than the other about this.

Q: I have watched the "What's the Time?" video like a dozen times now. Did you guys argue over who got to be the one to receive all the abuse? And, how long does it take to get red paint out of chest hair? 
Laurence: Watch it a dozen more times please. It seems to have been overshadowed in the hits stakes by our 'Republic of Banana' video. There was no way Hugo was going to take the abuse. I'm more versatile than him so I suffered for our art. Some of that slapping hurt. I was pissed off that I was going to have my chest waxed as I'm proud of my fur, the paint I wasn't worried about. How long did it take to wash out? Too long. I was ginger for a day.

Q: Your live show seems like a fantastical, wondrous party dependent on all your electronic gizmos functioning properly. Has your gear ever betrayed you on stage? 
Laurence: Plenty of times but I like the unpredictability of a live show. The worst thing you can see is a perfect live band. I once saw Linkin Park at Reading and it was like listening to a CD, not that I own any of their CDs. Yeah we've had stuff cut out on us but the bonus of being a new band is that nobody knows our music enough anyway to know it has gone wrong. I just dance harder.

Q: What's up with you Brits' tradition of crazy walks in music videos? It must take you guys forever to get down the street. 
Laurence: Hey where are you from? I didn't realise we were going international with this interview! Can we play in your country? The 'Found a Flat' walk was inspired by the Gondry video of 'Around the World' by Daft Punk. French, I'll have you know, but yeah I see the Madness thing going on, too. John Travolta knows the power of a good walk. We're tapping into that too. The best moment so far for me being in this band was having seen some kids at one of our shows doing that walk. It blew me away.

Q: Unicorns or Narwhals? Who would win in a fight? 
Laurence: Depends what territory. If the unicorn tried tackling a narwhal on its own turf it would probably drown. Likewise if the narwhal hit the land to tackle the unicorn it would resemble one of those slugs when people cruelly throw salt on them. I'm going for narwhal as unicorn is overdone. Especially on the T-shirts of East London homosexuals.

*Some quotes taken from their bio for the Found A Flat release on Split Records in 2013.

Underground Gay Music Series Exclusive: A Short Q&A w Future Bible Heroes

I don't even know where to begin to talk about beloved band Future Bible Heroes. So, I guess I will just start with the basics. Future Bible Heroes is comprised of the musical geniuses and life long friends Stephin Merritt, Claudia Gonson, and electronic music wizard Chris Ewen. You may recognize Merritt and Gonson as long time collaborators in one of the most famous indie rock bands of all time, The Magnetic Fields. However, Future Bible Heroes have been around almost as long, with a career that has spanned the better part of two decades.

Earlier this year Future Bible Heroes added to their resume with two amazing releases - a full-length LP on Merge Records called Partygoing and a 3 LP or 4 CD box set of all FBH releases including all 3 full length albums (Memories of Love, Eternal Youth, and Partygoing), songs from the numerous EPs, and some of the tracks they added to soundtracks and compilations over the years, including "O! What a Dream It Was" from the Welcome to the Dollhouse soundtrack! This was all accompanied by a whirlwind Summer tour across the US.

Now that some of the insanity has died down, I was thankfully able to get up with Future Bible Heroes' Claudia Gonson and she was kind enough to answer a few of our highly unusual questions.


Q: On the latest album Partygoing, you guys give a lot of questionable advice. (IE: "Drink Nothing But Champagne", "Keep Your Children in a Coma", saving money on funeral costs by "Digging My Own Grave") What's the worst suggestion or piece of advice you were ever given?
Claudia: Well this certainly isn't the worst thing, but once when I was 12 or 13, my best friend managed to make her dad stop shouting at her by walking up to him and saying "shhhhh" really quietly in his ear. So I tried it on my dad, once, when he was shouting. It didn't work at all. He went apoplectic.

Q: Where on earth did you get the round vintage phone in the "Living, Loving, Partygoing" video?!! I want it!
Claudia: I believe it was part of the gorgeous items in the Long Island home where we shot the video. These were friends of the director's, Naomi Yang. A very swelligent gay couple.

Q: What is the funniest thing that has happened to you on tour?
Claudia: My memory is dim. but this last FBH tour had a lot of good fun in it. Like, watching my not-yet 3 year old dancing throughout our gig in Philly. That was pretty amazing.

Q: In the Merge promo video for Partygoing, Stephin says this is a party album "...largely about drinking, suicide, aging, death, loss, and despair..." What the hell kind of parties are you guys going to?
Claudia: Very few. Stephin famously hates going to parties. The song "Living Loving Partygoing" does enumerate some of the few parties he actually attended in his life (although he mixed up the details on what happened). But generally he does his best to avoid them. I think the endless party is a sexy metaphor for how we get through life, all the different ages at which we encounter ourselves, all the buzz and whirl and social encounters and heartbreak. Partying at 15 is so different from partying at 45. This is all summarized well by "La Dolce Vita".

Q: Unicorns...or Narwhals. Who would win in a fight?
Claudia: I'm a big fan of creatures of the deep. I'd go for the Narwhal. He'd probably lose.

-Top picture copyright photographer Kimberly Butler
-Join FHB on Facebook!
-For all things Claudia Gonson and Stephin Merritt, check out: The House of Tomorrow.

Underground Gay Music Series Exclusive: A Short Q&A w/ The Hidden Cameras

My love for The Hidden Cameras is hardly a secret. From 2001's lo-fi debut album Ecce Homo to the lush, rich symphonic tones and clever beats of the mid to late 2000s, I have savored it all. For those who are unfamiliar, The Hidden Cameras is the brainchild of musician and songwriter Joel Gibb. He writes all the songs, sings and plays a good bit of the instruments on the records, and even designs the CD covers and stage sets. He also exhibits his art in galleries around the world. Gibb is really a modern day renaissance man, and handsome, to boot.

The Hidden Cameras are back as of January 2014 with the new album AGE. The first single off the album "Gay Goth Scene" is taking the world by storm thanks, in part, to an award winning short film/music video by German director Kai Stänicke (posted below). The song has been part of The Hidden Cameras' live performances since 2002, but was finally recorded and turned into a dark and lovely masterpiece. I cannot wait to hear the other tracks on AGE.

Despite being busy with all the craziness surrounding a new release, we were able to steal Joel away for the briefest of moments and get him to answer a few quick questions.
   

Q: First things first. Fanboy crush complement. You have some of the greatest videos in the history of indie rock.
Joel: Thanks.

Q: Based on your touring experience, how strong is the underground LGBT music scene?

Joel: Hard to say. Not sure if there is a strong LGBT music scene. I certainly don't think about it often nor do I identify with ANY scene. THC are usually playing with straight bands, playing straight festivals so we always feel like the outsider in that respect. For example we don't get asked to play Prides that much; only Toronto, Halifax and Munich Prides have ever has us play their events.

Q: What's the funniest thing that has happened to you on tour?
Joel: Funny weird or funny haha? Hard to say, perhaps watching Team America every day on the bus together for a week straight in 2005/Europe. Creating inside jokes together on tour is always funny. On a long tour the band often starts to create its own language.

Q: Unicorns....or Narwhals? Who would win in a fight?
Joel: Not sure what a Narwhal is so I guess I'll have to say Unicorns.

Visit The Hidden Cameras Facebook!
-Top photo courtesy of Elsa Quarsell.
-Narwhal toon by Scott Mullin.

Underground Gay Music Series: XIU XIU

Xiu Xiu is perhaps on of the most respected, successful avant garde indie rock bands of the last decade or so. Since its inception, band leader Jamie Stewart has been the only constant band member. However, that is all that is necessary for Xiu Xiu to exist as it is Jamie's bold and chaotic vision that creates and maintains the Xiu Xiu sound. Currently the band is only comprised of two members, Stewart, and the wonderful Angela Seo. Over the course of Stewart's career, he has released 11 full length albums (soon to be twelve) and countless singles and collaborations. Prolific seems too mild a descriptor.

Though Xiu Xiu is not a gay band per se, Stewart has never shied away from his homosexuality. In 2003, Xiu Xiu released Fag Patrol which was a beautiful acoustic reworking of songs from his previous albums. Currently, Xiu Xiu is following up 2012's critically acclaimed release Always only Polyvinyl Records with Nina, due out Dec 3rd on Graveface Records. Nina is a collection of songs originally recorded by the legendary jazz singer Nina Simone, but Stuart's interpretation is far from straightforward. Once again proving, that Stewart is one of the most unique and original voices in music.




-Photo by Jeremy M Lange