Rufus Wainwright – Interview

What do you want? A Rufus Wainwright interview you say? Well you get your wish.

So how did you end up recording two albums at the same time?

It was very unintentional. I just started recording and ended up with two records. We got about 30 tracks in 6 months all with production, edits, vocals and stuff. I was definitely on the rebound from something. Originally I was going to release it all at once as a double record. Because of my work and the human brain I thought I would release it in increments.

Did you have them all written?

A lot of them were written and some I had recorded a while ago that I was itching to release, that was about five songs. A lot of it was just newly written stuff.

Do you take raw ideas to the studio and it grows into this giant production?

A lot of this has to do with Marius deVries (producer). We just had this large, symbiotic relationship from the get-go. Maybe it was my WASPy background and his British background and became these imperialists. We became these conquistadors in the studio. The times were pretty intense. I went in the studio a few weeks before the Iraq war and our engineer was really a conspiracy theorist. I didn’t think I could make this record because of the worldly climate. The tenor of the time was to get it out while I could.

I was reading the bio about the two records being different, was it one styles-

No we didn’t record them like that. I didn’t want Want Two to knock Want One down. There is a 9 minute song and a Latin song on Want Two, it’s the weirder stuff. I want the first one to at least land in Wal-Mart.

Want One flows.

There was that element. The next record, I’m not as concerned with the flow. Each piece is a record in itself. I wanted this one to be, I wanted to kill a lot of birds, we’ll see if I kill them or not. I want the first one to be seamless.

I felt you really took it up a notch.

Thank you.

It’s striking from the first track until the end. I didn’t even know there was a Want Two until this morning, so what is left I wasn’t sure of the plan.

I do believe in a divine plan and I think the ones I left off belong together. The best thing about this record was that not much thought went into it. It came really off the cuff and whatever worked at the time. I think that is the key to a great record.

Being natural?

Yes, being natural and being quick. I was trying not to be too ponderous. I have in the past worked where I toiled over things for years and have cracked the whip. I don’t think I could be where I am now without the knowledge of what I want.

“Oh What A World” is wonderful and at the same time you make it sound effortless. I couldn’t write it, but you make it sound effortless.

(Laughs) I’ve been doing this for a long time.

The lyrics hold up to the sound too.

Whether I become a millionaire or sing at the Holiday Inn, I did set out on a path that a song has to have a type of perfection to it. No matter what perfection is. I do try to polish it up real nice. I’m so critical of them that I put myself through the ringer.

Without sounding wishy washy, we get twelve records a week, it was nice to have this record and get something where I can listen to it on my personal time.

All of this stuff seems so obvious to me. I wanted to make something different with good lyrics. Musicality is fun. Oddly enough it is very against the grain now.

It restores my hope that there is good music still being made.

And you shouldn’t have to hope for a good record, you deserve a good record! (We both laugh)

“Oh What A World”, is life that good or is it tongue in cheek?

It is kind of cheery. I don’t know, in order to make this record I had to put my own personal house in order. Especially after 9/11. I really think the year after 9/11 was a shock and don’t remember much of it. I suffered a real emotional breakdown. I had to put everything on hold for a good three or four month before I went into the studio. I had to curb my habits too. Then I hit 30, which I was lucky to do. I had the time, money and support from my friends and family. It is good times, but it wasn’t. After Poses, Poses was me thinking I was writing about someone else. I was the one who was drunk wearing flip flops. It was me.

So that was an after the storm song?

Yeah, that was the first song I wrote. As much as Poses was the centerpiece of the record, to me it was a masterpiece, and I can’t finish it when I perform it and fuck up because of the tension. Want, is a simple tune with comedy to be the center of my simple life. Things can change with a blink of an eye. I made this record completely sober so that I can make my drug record later.

Your Sgt. Pepper.

Yeah. (We both laugh)

The tracks really build and build and takes time to climax, that seems really against the grain because today everyone seems to want to hit the chorus within 30 seconds. What is the construction of a song like for you?

They want to hit you with the chorus right away and continue to rape you. (Laughs) I have a different musical sensibility. I like to withhold the evidence.

You like to tease them.

Yeah. I come from the Hitchcock school rather than the Freddy Vs. Jason. (We both laugh) Maybe I’m a snob. (We laugh)

Are you always working on songs?

I always have three or four songs on the burner. I think as a songwriter you have to be working on songs, and you do need time off, with the intention of going back. That’s how I approach it. I’m really happy that I’m on my third record and that this one is two albums. I think we really have to get the music out there. Time is of the essence. People need to hear music. I would like to make some kind of rally call. We are musically constipated.

When is I Want Two coming out?

Six months. That is what the label is saying, and I’m going with that. But you never know. I’m pretty sure. We just have to mix it.

Is there anything you buy musically?

I’m still lost in opera land. I had my head measured yesterday for horns. (sarcasm – which makes us both laugh)

Have you seen anyone lately that you liked?

Ween was amazing. I saw my friend Beth Orton and Radiohead. But I have this on going addiction to classical chords. I’m a chord addict. You people really like how these songs sound solo and acoustic. I think this record production enhances the songs a lot. I wrote them with a lot of production in mind. I didn’t have a piano or guitar part and just song them to a guitar player. I think this record is more precise. I think they are songs that stand up on their own. There was a real wedding between the production and song.

Is the production experimental or well planned?

Experimental. I’ll get a classical attack, but this time around Marius was all for it. Sometimes it worked and other times it wouldn’t. With past producers it would be a battle to get something on it. There was never any disbelief in my vision.

Do you think that listeners might be afraid of your music, like they have to be too artsy, like someone that listens to Adema can’t listen to you?

I’ve had some pretty hostile reviews from people who I think and do believe that what I was doing was destroyed by punk rock. They think that singer songwriters and glitzy production was supposed to end. They have every right to believe that. I think we are down a different fork. A lot of the new punk rock bands like the Strokes, or the Strokes, or the Strokes, are fans of mine. We can hang out. That’s their problem.

+ Charlie Craine