“
I’ve realised that I don’t always have to be the centre of attention or blurt out the first thing on my mind to journalists. I’m now a beacon of sanity!
36-37 Feature 7.indd 36
”
For a full list of George’s UK tour dates this month, see page 11
24/9/08 12:24:56
BACK ON THE ROAD:
BOY GEORGE You’ve had an extraordinary career that’s now lasted for more than a quarter of a century. How do you think you, and your music, has evolved since you first started? Well, right now I seem to be consumed with the desire to convey a more spiritual vibe. I’ve just written a new song called Yes We Can, inspired by the Barack Obama speech, which I have used as a metaphor for personal change. I’ve always tried to be true to myself and to express myself as honestly as possible what I feel in my heart. My desire to be honest has been the major evolution. To stay true to whatever emotion I am feeling, even if in hindsight it turns out to be the wrong emotion.
Other than Barack Obama, we hear that you’re a big fan of Amy Winehouse… Oh, I’ve been hooked on the soul strains of Amy Winehouse for quite some time. It’s rare these days to hear a young artist referencing stuff like Ray Charles, Donnie Hathaway and with Winehouse you get great style too. She could have stepped out of a John Waters art flick with that skyscraper beehive. I love Mercy Now by Mary Gauthier and I just started exploring Rufus Wainwright and I love his version of Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows and I play Antony and the Johnsons with alarming regularity.
Talking of Antony, isn’t it right that he credits you for his entire career, influence and inspiration? Antony was obviously touched by what I was doing in the eighties and it’s wonderful that I can also be touched greatly by the magic of his music. Antony is certainly one of today’s true soul voices. We are all teachers or master in our own way.
BOY GEORGE’S BIG MOUTH: How to slag off your fellow celebrities... ON AMY WINEHOUSE: “I love Amy Winehouse – but she’s a right mouthy cow.” ON MADONNA: “Madonna... I just think she’s a vile, hideous, horrible human being with no redeeming qualities. There’s nothing nice about her. I’ve never heard anyone say anything nice
When Culture Club released White Boy as the band’s first single in April 1982, singer Boy George was a complete unknown outside the confines of a few selected London clubs (Blitz and Heaven are two examples); now, a little more than twenty-five years on, George – who truthfully never went away – is on the comeback trail, with a new single, Yes We Can, and a national tour, which runs through October and into November (though no longer in the massive venues in which Culture Club played in their heyday; this time it’s more intimate). Peter Burton and Torsten Højer catch up with the star on the eve of his UK tour.
You’ve had a lot of ups and downs in your career and in your personal life and for a time it seemed as though you were making headlines because of your private life rather than your music. To what extent did that worry you? Well, despite my many mistakes and the wealth of disturbing headlines I am very upbeat and I know the difference between right and wrong and I am much more than a soundbite. There have been monumental changes in my life in the past year or so and I am keen to remind people that I am first and foremost a musician and artist and that however bad things may get the human spirit is remarkable and it is possible to change. I am definitely operating with greater integrity and I intend to remind people that I am not only a great artist but a serious one too! As you’ve grown older – and perhaps more reckless – do you feel that you’ve grown into yourself and that you’re now less concerned than once you might have been what others, particularly the media, might think or say about you? I feel more like myself every day! Do you have people advising you on how to handle the media? I learn all the time. I was once told to shut up by a speaker at a self awareness convention I as attending. At the time I reacted quite badly to the comment but after I calmed down and spoke calmly with the person in question I was quite relieved to learn that I didn’t have to always be the centre of attention. I used to just blurt out the first thing on my mind and not doing that was advice that took years to register. Now, I’ve become a beacon of sanity!
about her at all. And anyone that’s ever met her she’s been vile to. Vile, full of herself - so unspiritual. How has this woman got away with it for so long?” ON ROBBIE WILLIAMS: “He could use my help; the last album was terrible. He’s at that point now where he’s just throwing anything out - he needs another Angels or something really classy. That new thing he’s got out, it makes Ronan Keating look like a genius.” ON ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: “[People] always go on about ‘theatre is a dying
What’s your opinion of the current crop of performers who come out at the outset of their career almost as if they think that telling the world that they’re gay is a passport to instant success? I gave them the freedom to be who they are. Who do you admire now? I love all kinds of music as long as it has heart and honesty. Congratulations on the new single and tour. Are the live performances a return to Boy George the singer? Well, I’ve been doing mainly DJ work for the past ten years and I now feel the time is right to start creating music and playing live again. I retreated from music when all the boy bands and manufactured music started to become popular because I felt what I was doing was out of place. It’s hard to be expressive when the culture is only interested in superficial music but now there is a bit of soul and emotion with the likes of Amy Winehouse and Duffy and it feels like a good time to be involved again. I’m really looking forward to the tour; to performing many of my classic songs – lots of Culture Club stuff and some solo material, a few newer songs and some unusual cover versions. My show is very eclectic and we switch between styles – sometimes a bit glam rock, the pop style, gospel, jazz. We threw it all in. I want my show to bring a smile to the audience. I am bringing joy with me! So, you’re happy with the way your life is going? Yes. I believed, back in the eighties, that fame would create a problem free life for me, that it would remove my insecurities. I have much more realistic expectations of fame these days. I have learned to be in the moment and enjoy what I do without worrying too much about the past or the future. I am lucky to do something I love and make a living from it and so I try now to really focus on how fortunate I am.
art form and we must save it’, and then we just put on another Andrew Lloyd Webber re-run. It’s tragic.” ON ELTON JOHN: “If you’re a common or garden homosexual then maybe [Elton is a gay role model], but not if you’re a fag like I am. I’m not an Elton John type of gay. I’m not vanilla. ” ON ELTON JOHN (again): “He’s an arsehole, and I think every gay person with a
brain cell found it hideously offensive to see Elton performing with Eminem.”
ON SIMPLY RED’S MICK HUCKNALL: “He looks like a sack of Kiwi Fruit.” ON GEORGE MICHAEL: “He’s a no-neck dingleberry.”
*J@OKP s *.
36-37 Feature 7.indd 37
23/9/08 09:13:43