Queer Revolution.

Walter Beck about how performance poetry is an electric force that is returning the art form “to the bars and the gutters”.

“Everybody has something to say and a story to tell, we all have passions, dreams, heartbreaks. Poetry is the tool that allows everybody to speak.<"

Queer Spaces.

In the third of a series on queer performance poets, Keith Jarrett talks about performance poetry as social commentary and the importance of safe queer spaces.

“There are places I feel less comfortable, where I feel less represented. Queer spaces redress that balance a little.”

All My Love In Half Light.

Lady Lazarus, aka Melissa Sweat, talks about her fascination with composition and the healing that music has given her.

“I admired a good many solo artists like Cat Power, Smog, and Mount Eerie, who went under these poetic pseudonyms or project names. It conveys that the music is far bigger than just the individual.”

Genderqueer.

CN Lester talks about activism, what it’s like to be openly genderqueer in the music industry, and the issues facing the trans population today.

“Any industry where the goal is to shift product – ticket sales, album sales, product placement – struggles when the ‘brand’ you’re selling goes against cultural norms..”

Speaking Queer.

In the first of a series on queer performance poets, Laura Macdougall talks to Nick Field about blending physical theatre, music and spoken word.

“Think of all the parts of the world where we couldn’t do something like Queer’Say; why would we not make use of that opportunity when we’re lucky enough to live in a society that allows us to? Out of politeness?.”

Queer Words.

In the first of a series on queer performance poets, Laura Macdougall talks to Nick Field about blending physical theatre, music and spoken word.

“For queer artists in spoken word and performance poetry there are still challenges in getting heard and featured, even if the work is not necessarily queer focussed.”

In Cold Blood.

Morgan Kibby, M83 collaborator, is the force behind White Sea. She talks about what it was like to write, record and produce her own album.

“If I hadn’t learned how to use ProTools my music would ultimately have been shaped by another producer instead of myself. I make beats, layer vocals, play with synth sounds and so my music is very much defined by my ability and flexibility with technology.”

Dangerous Writing.

Tom Spanbauer talks about how he uses confessional writing and graphic sex scenes on his search for truth.

“If my father could have owned slaves he would. He was a brutal man who beat me, you know? There’s still some part of me who’s trying to get that little boy out of that space of doom and fear and bring him back up to the light.”

We Can Change.

Laura Macdougall talks to actress and musician Heather Peace about her new album, The Thin Line, and what it means to be an out musician and actor.

“The anthem is a gay anthem for me, but it’s an anthem for any minority really. We’re all trying to make the world a better place and then that terrible right wing tries to pull us all back.”

Super Electric Party Machine.

Larry Tee waxes lyrical about his quest for tomorrow’s sound, and what rock’n’roll is right now.

“I’ve had my biggest hits by doing things that I really shouldn’t do. In 1992, when I wrote ‘Supermodel’, it wasn’t the consensual wisdom that betting on a black transvestite would really make money. And it wasn’t something I did because I thought it would make a lot of money.”