| From: jools (Original Message) | Sent: 22/03/2003 07:45 |
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Hi, I said I'd start looking through some mags to find interesting
interviews/articles to put on here and this is the first. It's an interview from an Australian magazine called
'Blue' and this was issued in August 1995. It's an oldie but kind of interesting.
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After coming out, and heading home to canada in the wake of the media frenzy, kd
lang is stepping out with a new album and world tour. philippe cahill talks to her about her muse, her music and the madness that is the music
industry.
"You know, it's kind of weird having your schedule already pencilled in for like a
year and a half in advance. I mean, being a little bit scared of commitment.... " kd lang pauses to laugh somewhat ironically about the
daunting prospect of a new album and world tour (which she promises will include concerts in Australia) scheduled for later this year.
It's early June, and lang is on the phone from Vancouver, where work on the
as-yet-untitled album is nearing completion. She's been writing and recording new material with long-time collaborator, Ben Mink, since
September last year. It's a ten-year professional and personal relationship that lang describes as so comfortable it's almost
symbiotic. And, yes, she's happy with what they're producing although she warns that it's very different from previous offerings.
"The new album is as personal as Ingenue, but it's... less... vulnerable. It's more direct and happy-go-lucky, and
it's not so tender. It's more outgoing, brash and fun, like a pesky teenager." Unfortunately lang is loathe to reveal much
more.
Content with her recent work, lang is now faced by a rather more frightening challenge. She
must soon leave the sanctuary of her Canadian farm hideaway to mix the new album in Los Angeles, before hurling herself into the jaws of the
music industry's global publicity machine as the album's October 10 release date looms closer.
The long lead-time allows for plenty of photo-shoots and interviews, although as things stand
this is only the second interview lang has given in two years. Apart from a relatively minor promotional jaunt downunder last year for the
Even Cowgirls Get The Blues soundtrack, she happily admits that she's been "laying low" in light of the media circus
surrounding Ingenue and her public coming out. "I've spent the last year living full-time in Vancouver, being around friends
I've had for like 15 years - pre-fame friends. It has definitely got me refocused on who I am and what I feel. It's kind of settled
me down, which has been really great. I feel refreshed and rejuvenated."
lang maintains she doesn't read what is written about her. But her alleged 'fear of
commitment' is a perfect example of the many kd lang 'facts' that abound in her press clippings. In that context, lang's subtly
ironic laugh takes on a burden of significance: a way of semaphoring her great distaste, not just at being booked up for the next 18 months,
but at the thought of opening herself to further journalistic scrutiny and invention. After all, lang has always maintained that she is
primarily interested in representing herself as an artist rather than as an icon, lesbian or otherwise. But the media has consistently had
other ideas. Consequently, she remains uneasy about the interview process.
"That also has a lot to do with me. As a young artist you hear all the horror stories,
and I used to think everyone was after me. I used to be really defensive. Then, finally, it kind of occurred to me that everyone's just
doing their job. When I realised that, I relaxed a lot."
It also helps that lang is more comfortable with herself these days, facing the media from a
self-assured position of benevolent power rather than as a cornered, potential victim. "I'm unharried at the moment but that could
change. It depends on what you ask me," she says, a subtle cue for me to watch my plodding journalist feet.
For one thing, these days she's reluctant to discuss her experience with therapy except to
icily say that, "I'm in a better position that I was. Actually, I find therapy very interesting but I'm kind of over artists
talking about it in interviews". Having bared so much in the past, lang obviously doesn't want to precipitate yet another
media-feeding frenzy.
"It makes me queasy a bit, but at the same time I'm really excited to get back on the
road. And I'm excited by what I'm doing in the studio. So, I guess, you just sort of have to take a deep breath.... " she says,
rationalising away the burdensome mechanics of a successful music career.
"I'm kind of sad about leaving here because the West Coast has a similar vibe to
Australia. It's very laid-back, you know, unlike Los Angeles which is a bit of a scene. I find Vancouver very conducive to the initial
writing of the music. But we're mixing in LA because I also find the pressure of the industry and the presence of other artists, the buzz
and the vibe of what's happening there, helps me be a little more competitive. You know, a little more edgy in terms of laying down the
final touches on a record."
Still, lang considers herself "one of the lucky people who can leave LA when I need to,
which is essential". I suggest to her that it is actually a matter of personal choice, which is significant in terms of what it implies
about who she doesn't want to be as a person and career professional. But she's loathe to comment on the problematic lack of
differentiation between the public and private faces of artists such as Boy George, Michael Jackson or Roseanne.
"It's not something I would want to perpetuate myself. I would feel completely out of
control with stuff like that. I always try to keep my art pretty reigned in, direct, deliberate, real, attainable and containable. That way,
I'm in control of it. I know exactly how I feel about it, and if it fails or succeeds, I can understand why. But it also depends. I
actually sometimes admire people like that because thay have no qualms about drawing the line [between private and public, fantasy and
reality]. You know, there's no line, so they don't feel a loss because they don't know the barrier."
But lang has long known such qualms, and as consciously moved away from the sort of
high-profiile music career madness which threatened to engulf her at the height of her lesbian/Ingenue fame, just as it engulfed Boy
George in the '80s. "Boy George sold 18 million with his first record, which is a little severe. I mean, for me it's been much
more gradual. He was also super, super pop so there were like major, major marketing concerns at work. I have nothing but empathy and
compassion for him." But she also admires the reconstructed '90s Boy George and his latest post-therapy, post-infamy work.
Thankfully, all of lang's anti-media angst appears to have paid off for her as well.
"I feel lighter, stronger, in that I'm not so focused on stuff like that. I suppose
I've kind of accomplished some of the things that I set out to do. So, now it's more about enjoying myself."
lang attributes a number of reasons to this attitude change. One factor was exorcising the
all-encompassing desire for professional success. "I mean, we're talking superficial goals, right? Because I don't think I will
ever attain my deepest personal goals, they're a little unattainable as a human. But having a hit, a successful record, has slowed me down
a lot. Which is a good thing, getting that out of my system."
Another factor for lang was leaving behind the mind-set which inspired the lush, melancholic
genius of Ingenue. That album will forever be etched in the popular psyche as the product of lang's self-confessed unrequited
love for a married woman. However, more recently, the ever-evolving lang has allowed herself the right to claim the work as more profoundly her
own, so that she could let go of it and move on artistically.
"I don't feel like I need or want to repeat myself. Life is completely changing at
every moment; growing and shifting. Every time I turn on the tv, watch the video channel, listen to new music or see a new film, I've
changed forever, so I could never formulate myself that way."
What hasn't changed, lang says, are her concerns as a singer/songwriter of the heart.
"I tend to write exclusively about love, and human relationships, the self and the mind. I just think the difference is where I an
emotionally at the time of the writing process. with Ingenue, I was in the middle of a mess, so the record tended to reflect that
mess."
The third factor in her evolutionary process was the spate of high-profile celebrities who
followed lang's lead in coming out, such as Melissa Etheridge and Janis Ian, and who relieved a lot of the pressure initially focused on
her. But she pooh-poohs the idea that not much has really changed at a societal level, depsite the superficial nature of the gains of lesbian
chic.
"It's a slow process, but I think things have eased up a lot. Before, in Canada, you
would never even hear the words lesbian or gay. I mean, you come from the most advanced country in the world about these issues. In other parts
of the world it's pretty slow but things are changing, ever since Clinton talked lesbian and gay issues in the last American
election."
But increased acceptance, says lang, as proved to be wanting as solely an end in itself.
"I think we all got caught up in the momentum of mainstreaming. When we achieved it, in some ways, it made us reflect on what we actually
wanted. It's like you fight so hard for something simply because you don't have it, but you don't necessarily want it either.
It's one of the downfalls of reaching acceptance because part of gay culture has always thrived on oppression, being unique and
alternative."
On a personal level, this change as at least given lang the space to get more comfortable with
her sexuality. "I think coming out was the best thing I ever did, for myself. It just feels so right, so comfortable and so...
nothing. Of course, the record companies have started trying to sign up lesbians and gays now because we sell records. You know what I mean?
There's a little bit of a trend towards that now but, you know, they'll work anything to death."
If the niggling fear of how much being a media superstar can corrode one's sense of self
and lifestyle is a recurring theme in our conversation, lang's not particularly worried. "Let me put it this way: I go through a
cycle of increased fame and then I'm screwed up. Then I have to stop, pick up the pieces, put them back together and then I'm okay. But
if you talk to me in about a year, I'll probably be a little scattered."
Underneath that fear, however, lies the realisation that a new album and tour offers a myriad
of opportunities for lang to reconstruct herself in the public arena. "I'm scared, as you always are when you're about to release
a baby into the world for the wolves to eat up, but I'm feeling good about it too."
Pressed further on new directions and influences in her current work, lang cites a combination
of cutting-edge women artists and new-wave British bands - particularly PJ Harvey, Oasis, Blur and Radiohead. "It's their
unadulterated disregard for seriousness. There's something about the pop aspect of that which really turns me on," she
enthuses.
lang seems to have lost, however, her enthusiasm for acting since the critical disaster of her
first major film Salmonberries. "I enjoyed the experience very much. Whether the movie was bad or good, it was great for me. But
I'm a musician, and musicians are completely different to actors. I've spent my whole life trying to hone in on who I am through my
art, so it just strikes me as incredibly ridiculous to now be taking up an art form where the point is to try and be things other than
yourself."
Although as an avowed loner lang has found the search for a fulfilling personal relationship
difficult, she still doesn't imagine it to be impossible. "It's a matter of being with the right person, where you both understand
each other explicitly, as well as the need for independence. I think being comfortable enough to allow someone space and being honest enough to
take space is very important. But I think that's something you have to earn and learn."
Beyond that, the one-time "prairie rose" maintains that ultimately she's found
contentment. "I'm happy. Happy with knowing that I have improved as a friend and as a person and hopefully as a musician. I also know
that I have a lot of work to do on all of my levels: spiritual, personal and musical. But, yes, I'm satisfied that I'm moving ahead and
doing my best."
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