This post was submitted by Sara Giarratana.

One of my favorite perks of being queer is how it connects me to really awesome folks. Political activists, provoking authors, philosophers, stirring visual artists, and bad ass musicians all huddle under the ever-expanding LGBT umbrella. In embracing our diversity, we enrich our unique voices as we strive for honest self-expression. Queer musicians Melissa Livaudais and Busy Gangnes are the two components of club/dance/electro group Telepathe (tə-lĕp’ə-thē). Since the group’s formation in 2004, they have undergone several transformations, strengthening their sound and impact with each evolution. Dance Mother is their premier studio album, and was released earlier this year before the girls set off on an international tour. Telepathe is admirably defined by their music, continuously breaking conventions and redefining expectations. Their syncopated bass lines and hot beats are not only an inspiration to dancing feet, but also to queer artists trying to stay true to themselves—no matter what that entails. I had the pleasure of chatting with Melissa last weekend.  Enjoy her thoughts below:

The New Gay: First of all, congratulations. I feel like you guys really took the time and energy to make the whole album an honest expression.

Melissa Livaudais: Thanks for noticing!

TNG: It must be pretty cool seeing it all come to fruition. How does it feel to have your hard work take you so far?

ML: Awesome. Really, really exciting, you know?

TNG: Yeah.

ML: I mean, I can’t believe it. It’s pretty fucking exciting!

TNG: Was it easy to stay motivated and focused when you were working on the album, or did you ever feel unsure about where it was taking you?

ML: No, it was really easy. We kind of just spent, like, a year and a half recording the record. We were really serious about writing. We kind of put everything else that was serious in our lives away and just like totally worked on it. I don’t know how it happened, we just got crazy.

TNG: Did you always want to make music?

ML: Yeah. I mean, Busy, her mom is an opera singer. She grew up playing the piano. We both studied music. I played the piano for a little while, and then we were in a band together before this band. We kind of just decided that we wanted to do something totally our way, you know. But there were two other people in the band and , I don’t know, it gets so complicated! It’s way better to negotiate ideas with just one person. It’s easier to play off of things and inspire each other.

TNG: It’s nice to have a partner that you can trust and communicate with.

ML: Yeah, it’s pretty rare.

TNG: I’ve talked to a lot of young, queer artists who are hesitant to put it all on the line after dealing with such ridicule for their sexual or gender identity. Has being queer impacted your art?

ML: I mean definitely. I mean, I’m not an activist, but it’s definitely there. Not to give any disrespect for people where it’s, like, more present and it’s definitely more about their voice. I mean, I’m not trying to disrespect that. It’s not my first instinct, but it’s definitely there.

TNG: A lot of people, too, wear their gay heart on their sleeve…

ML: Yeah.

TNG: And it definitely ties into someone’s identity, but at the same time, it’s like, yeah we’re queer, but we’re also musicians, artists, writers. We’re also all of these other things…

ML: Exactly, exactly.

TNG: What does it mean to you to be queer?

ML: I deal with it every day in different situations. I mean, It’s kind of crazy, because I’m not making myself first a queer artist or, what you said, wearing the queer heart on my sleeve. You know there’s a lot of straight men in our audience, maybe if I had taken a different approach it wouldn’t be like that necessarily. There have been some negative things that I’ve dealt with, but basically I’m not going to fucking change who I am.

TNG: Negative things you’ve dealt with through the music?

ML: Negative remarks, people saying like, “Oh, I thought that was a dude until she talked.” Just, like, really stupid fucking straight man shit, happens over and over again. Like, Busy and I used to go out with each other. We made it a rule that we were not going to discuss that unless it was a queer publication. We’re not going to discuss it with Pitchfork. But basically this guy reviewed our album and then like totally said something about a line in our song and was like, “Oh maybe it’s about each other, you know they used to go out,” or whatever. And I just think, do they mention that about straight people?

TNG: Yeah!

ML: It’s happening over and over again and it’s pissing me off. But also, like talk about motivational! Because all of a sudden I’m like, wait a minute… I’m not going to fucking start, like, changing my art to defend myself. You know what I’m saying? I just have to kind of take it day by day. I don’t know…

TNG: No, I follow. It’s important to be true to whatever your expression is.

ML: Yeah, totally.

TNG: In other interviews you guys have talked about how much you like jit, ghettotech, bounce and other locally inspired styles of music. How do you think society and community influence music?

ML: How do I think society and community influence music? Let me think of a good example… I grew up in New Orleans. New Orleans is the home of bounce, y’know. And, like, I just think that community, starting with this one DJ—who’s DJ Jubilee, the godfather of bounce—started this crazy phenomenon. Like in this city, there were crazy parties. It was a tight-knit bounce community. And then on the weekends it dominated the radio. It was just people calling in, requesting songs. That kind of stuff, I don’t know, it gives me goose bumps. I feel like it’s cool, it’s cultural. It’s happening. It’s not just like top 40 (sigh) whatever you’re being fed. It’s like local… vibe… shit. And that’s beautiful, you know? I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it. I mean, I love it.

TNG: It reminds me of that movie Rize. Have you seen that?

ML: Oh yeah! Of course. That movie’s amazing. I think Busy and I saw that in the movie theater.

TNG: I was totally blown away. It was amazing, the way they dance, it has such an indigenous feel to it. It’s so cool to see that alive in these communities.

ML: Yeah! It’s fucking cool. Really really cool. I feel like that stuff happens all over. It’s in urban places. It’s juke. Chicago, home of juke. Detroit. Techno, but also there’s jit dancing. That stuff makes me so excited and I don’t know… Do you watch many YouTube videos of that stuff?

TNG: Yeah I have. There’s some really really crazy stuff out there. How do you feel about the Brooklyn scene? Of course not dissing your fans; I think every type of music has a natural style of dancing it invokes. But I feel like it’s different when I go out in Brooklyn from what I see in those videos.

ML: (laughs) Yeah, It’s not there. I mean, the thing is, I haven’t experienced that in Brooklyn. We have a community, you know. It’s kinda weird because for a long time we were on this Brooklyn label—Social Registry, with Gang Gang Dance, Psychic Ills and all those bands, and we were kind of grouped in with that whole scene. But actually those people are awesome and they’re our friends. I mean, Bunny Rabbit and Black Cracker, I mean there’s other people. We have a tight community that we’ve collaborated with. But it feels kind of crazy, going overseas in Europe, people have a crazy idea about the Brooklyn music scene, the experimental scene. And we’re always like, “Sorry we don’t know much about it, because it’s not our scene.” But in Brooklyn for us right now, we’re ready to do something new. Like, I had a blast being here and making that record and living here and making lifelong friends but—(a loud booom)—Whoa did you hear that?

TNG: I don’t know, what was that?

ML: I don’t know… Whoa. Either a really loud firework or a gunshot… (car alarms)

TNG: Oh god, now I hear an ice cream truck.

ML: It’s all the car alarms.

TNG: Oh, right.

ML: But yeah, I’m ready for a change. I’m ready for warm weather.

TNG: How has travelling been? What cities are your favorites?

ML: Berlin. Fucking incredible, my favorite one of the tour. Berlin is always really really cool. Paris is amazing. These girls actually took us out to this lesbian party, which doesn’t happen very often I guess. It was epic and awesome. In this huge club. There were these girls DJing called Sick Girls and I hadn’t met them, but we were actually playing with them like two nights later in Berlin. It was just a bunch of ladies dancing their asses off!

TNG: Sounds awesome.

ML: It was really awesome. And Berlin was so much fun… There was the Sick Girls party—those Djs, and we played and then Kim Ann Foxman DJed after us. She is from Hercules and Love Affair, she’s an amazing DJ. All around amazing. And she’s an old Brooklyn friend. We’ve known her for five years. She’s awesome. But I was like, “Oh my god!” I hadn’t seen her in probably like six months, you know. The last time I saw her was in Montreal, and we had a night off and Hercules and Love Affair were playing. And I got to see her, and I saw her for like five seconds and was like, “Oh that was so amazing!” and gave hugs. But then Berlin was amazing. We actually used to have a huge, huge queer party here, predominantly lesbians. At this place called The Hole. It was like the best party in New York City. It ended about three and a half years ago, but it went on for about a year and a half every Friday night. And it was amazing. Nothing has touched it.

TNG: No, there’s nothing!

ML: I mean I know people, like, do stuff… but this was amazing. I don’t know if you know about it, or heard about it, but it was her party, and it was awesome. Oh man! Have you heard of Lauren Flax? She’s a good friend of mine; she’s a really good DJ. She is actually supposed to be starting a party with JD Samson… It’s in the making. And she’s awesome. She’s like the sickest DJ. I think she could bring it on, I have faith.

TNG: All of us who are dissatisfied just need to come together and change some shit!

ML: Yeah! Yeah!

TNG: So do you prefer being in the studio, or being on tour?

ML: Tour has been getting more and more fun, but my favorite place is the studio. I mean, it’s hard to say that, because we got our live show to a point where we feel good about playing it and we’re psyched and it’s a lot of fun. And we’re going to Moscow! But, I still, like, would trade it. If I could write all of the time, be creative. It’s totally meditative; it’s the best feeling in the world. (laughs) You’ve got to do something with that.

TNG: Do you have a philosophy for making music?

ML: Well it’s probably boring for anyone to hear it… But we’ll start with a beat, and then build a melody and try to write a hook. And when it feels good, we just keep working on it. It’s not really a philosophy thing, it’s just a feeling. You get addicted to it. I don’t know if you ever played video games, but you know they are addictive. People won’t leave their house for days. That’s what happens to Busy and me, we just get stuck. It’s like a vortex. It’s so much fun. You come out with something at the end and, you know, it’s very rewarding.

TNG: Well that’s all I have, anything you want to add?

ML: I don’t think so. I’m excited about the 4th of July in Brooklyn.TNG