This post was submitted by zack

Gay Canadian musician Gentlemen Reg is not an Albino. Let the record show that. But he is many other things: A bastion of the kind of high-voiced, “oohs and aahs in the background,” driving power pop that would make Todd Rungren proud. A veteran of gay pop band The Hidden Cameras, he recently toured with his band as an opener for Cardigan offshoot A Camp. He was nice enough to sit down with me at Kramers, a DC bookstore-cum-cafe, and answer a shit load of my questions about his music. Gentlemen Reg, let the record show, is a very good sport.

(Also, below the interview you can check out a Reg video sampler. Enjoy!)

The New Gay: I’ve been really interested in the Canadian music scene, it seems like its been kicking our ass. There are a lot of good bands coming out of there. Where do you fit into the scene? Do you think there is even a scene to fit into?

Gentleman Reg: To an extent. I think of it more as a West Coast thing. [Record label] Arts and Crafts is based in Toronto. A lot of the bands – if they aren’t on there, they’re friends. There’s tons of bands, but I think that in the last five or so years there’s this international thing that’s happening. We’ve always had that with Celine Dion or Joni Mitchell, but it’s sort of unique for my peers to have this kind of success.

TNG: What does this feel like? Is it like “the secret’s out,” or is it a good thing?

GR: I think it’s a good thing.

TNG: I can tell you in DC that The New Pornographers sell out every time they’ve been here…

GR: They do really well everywhere. So does Neko Case, who’s actually from Chicago. She’s not actually Canadian. I don’t know what it is.

TNG: If you’re all playing in the same circles is it coming to the point where there is a Canadian sound? Like you guys do a good job at power pop, which can be like AC Newman. And yeah, I’ve gotten yelled at for asking question like this before.

GR:I don’t listen to The New Pornographers or AC Newman, I know Arcade Fire, they’re also friends. It’s not like we’re just just ripping off Arcade Fire. We get some comparisons to Final Fantasy, but they’re also friends. I feel like there’s rules. You can take from your friends.

TNG: It’s borrowing. What are your biggest influences?

GR: Early nineties female singers, and female voices in general.

TNG: Is that why your falsetto comes out so often?

GR: It’s funny, most of the singers that I like have deep voices. Like Aimee Mann. The falsetto is just something I can do. It makes you realize you have a little trick with your voice when you use it, but the trick is to not overuse it.

TNG: So you don’t turn into a latter-day Prince?

GR: Exactly.

TNG: How has your sound and style grown between your previous album and your current release Jet Black?

GR: This one was more of a studio record, with a drummer and a producer. That’s the biggest thing: Having songs that you’ve played live and then in the studio, there’s a different vibe.

TNG: Are there any major themes through the new record?

GR: The main thing I did was include more fiction in my writing. It used to be that I’d have some muse or inspiration like a breakup, or a very exciting moment that inspired the song, but for whatever reason I didn’t have that going on. There was definitely a lot more snippets of reality that I embellished with fiction. I was excited to realize that, not that everything before was autobiographical, but it’s nice to know that this gnawing and crazy state of mind helps my writing.

TNG: What is your relationship to The Hidden Cameras these days?

GR: I don’t really have any relationship to that band anymore.The lineup I was a part of has been gone for years.

TNG: How many members were gay?

GR: Probably half of them. Two of them were actually married, they met in the band.

TNG: We actually threw a party in DC once called Ban Marriage after Prop 8. We’ll always have you guys to thank for that. What’s the Canadian marriage situation these days?

GR: It’s legal to get married but I don’t know the terms or anything. I think it’s legal everywhere in Canada. ,

TNG: What are your tours like? Complete bacchanals?

GR: No. Especially on these tours because we’re the opening band and no one knows us. And it’s still a very straight crowd, there’s no insanity.

TNG: Have you ever had any thing really raunchy happen?

GR: Yeah, going through Europe. And once in a while with Hidden Cameras, we were such a party band.

TNG: Anything specific? Anything for Behind The Music: Gentlemen Reg?

GR: No, sorry. No dirt.

TNG: That’s fine, I have to ask. Is there a specific Canadian gay scene? I know that’s very broad…

GR: It varies everywhere. Canada is big, and some parts are very sparsely populated. If you go to Manitoba or the middle of the country, I don’t even know what it’s like. Once in a while I’ll go to see what it’s like, and often you need security so people don’t get beaten up. That seems crazy to me in Toronto. I don’t know, it’s hard to for me to say. I know that Montreal is a very young scene, and they also have longer drinking hours and a younger drinking age,.

TNG: I think it’s really cool, that there a lot of gay musicians running around today that aren’t GAY MUSICIANS like Elton John or Liberace. Do you think you have a gay musical legacy that you need to deal with?

GR: I think I am glad that I’m doing this now when there people who are out in the mainstream being accepted. Keep in mind that Elton John never came out until recently. I just think that it’s good but then you still realize there are different levels of being out and different levels of acceptance. It’s still a tricky thing, it’s not like “Thank god for all those musicians, because now it’s so easy.” You could still be playing a little town and start getting nervous. w

TG: What are your feelings on being called a “gay musician?”

GR: I think it’s a bit strange. You never talk about straight musicians. Sometimes people call me albino, and I’m not. Some people I don’t care what they say. I mean my sexuality is a part of me, but it’s not one hundred percent. I am always aware of it. I guess it’s like [our drummer] Jane is a female drummer. It’s kind of annoying when that happens, but it just happens.

TNG: I think it happens because other women are so excited to see a woman drummer. I think that you get called a gay musician because gay music fans are so excited to see someone out there like them.

GR: I guess so, but from three quarters of my songs you wouldn’t know I was gay. I do use a few pronouns, like “The Boyfriend Song”..

TNG: Does Final Fantasy share these concerns?

GR: We used to play in the Hidden Cameras together. He would be really obnoxious if you asked him this, he would probably tell you he wasn’t gay or something.

TNG: Have you found that its harder to find an audience here in the states than at home?

GR: When you’re the opener you don’t have to worry about finding an audience, or bringing out people. You’re just worried about winning over people that will already be there.

TNG: What’s it like being the opening band?

GR: They don’t know our music, and that’s a challenge. When you’re playing to people who know you its such a different vibe. I really like to interact with the audience and it’s hard when they aren’t giving you back anything

TNG: Any plans for a headlining tour?

GR: Not yet, but we really want to go to Europe. We’re going to try and do that.

TNG: Where do you think you’re headed next?

GR: This is a new label we’re on, with a fairly new release, so we’re just trying to figure out what’s going to happen in the record.

TNG: Any goals?

GR: Touring Europe, opening for a bunch of people.

TNG: Who would be the dream team?

GR: Tegan and Sara, who I love. I would love to do that. And hopefully go other places, and go wherever. TNG