Your new album „High Fidelity“ has just been released. What can we expect this time?
You can expect a record of Electronica and Dark Pop.
Your music is strongly inspired by the 80s. What in particular do you like about the 80s sound?
Actually, the sound is not quite 80s, as I work with contemporary producers and the style comes from the UK and Los Angeles at the moment. My vocal timbre is 80s, it actually is rather an extinct timbre and pitch. This is why I am so often counted to the 80s.
Generally, it is extremely rare that there are male singers of electronic pop music. Unfortunately, the powerful heterosexual record label bosses prefer women – and then match them with a fitted sound. I’m no fan of Beyonce and the like. They are great performers and good singers, but they don’t have much to do with real art and real music. It all sounds the same, they no longer write the lyrics to the songs themselves. The singing of these ladies sounds like that of good backing vocalists.
Are there musicians and bands who inspire you? What sound apart from your own do you like to listen to?
At home I actually listen to any kind of music, apart from R’n’B and club/house music. As I have been in the music business for more than a decade, people always send me interesting tracks. I also like to listen to Goldfrapp or great timeless artists. I’m a huge fan of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Scott Walker as well as Blondie or David Bowie.
It seems, a personal style does not only play a major role in your music videos? How would you define your personal style?
As dandy goth or goth dandy. I look at the whole thing with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. It also is based on my characteristic face and is inspired by the time of the silent films and their male roles which were extremely exaggerated with that certain chic. The video for „Dangerous Cat“ also plays in the 1940s, the model for the two girls was Ava Gardner. The outfits were provided by Louis Vuitton, the collection reminded oft hat era. For „Follow Me“, I adopted the classic silent film goth dandy with black-edged eyes. The look is an interplay between the designer Dexter Wong (Michael Jackson) and the Belgian Xavier Delcour as well as Tom Rebl for the „Follow Me“ single cover. The video for „Play My Drum“ is based on black circus, a reference to burlesque nightclubbing and revue bars in the 1950s. It is, in a way, the continuation of the „Follow Me“ goth dandy who heroically sings alone on stage and now dives into the „Play My Drum“ nightclub world.
You are openly gay. In your music videos and your performance, you like to play with sexuality and gender roles. Is there a message beind this or do you think Vienna has reached a point where sexuality does no longer matter?
Unfortunately, there are still many people who cannot be open about their sexuality due to religious, professional or family reasons – or just due to the fear of sexuality. Furthermore, I would not like to see gays being categorised. I think it is terrible to stick a label to someone and to say: because you’re gay, you need to behave a certain way – or because you behave a certain way, you must be gay. Gay people have created a ghetto for themselves. Often, gay men exclude other gay men if they do not fit into their scheme of attractivity or simply do not match their stereotype. In a fringe group, it is totally ridiculous to point the finge rat somebody else in the same fringe group. In our modern world, everybody has the right to behave the way they want. I mean: also a heterosexual man can dress in a feminine way if he likes this kind of dressing style. Or you can be a soldier and be gay – I also included this in my video of „Play My Drum“, which shows two androgynous soldiers to my lyrics line 'there is something going on down below'.
Not everyone has to express their sexuality to the outside. You can also be a gay butcher or a gay mechanic who doesn’t like to dance on the table at the gay club. You can be bisexual and live it – as long as you practice safe sex and don’t secretly cheat on your wife at home.
I would like to tell people: f*ck stereotypes, be the way you are. Just because you’re gay, nobody forces you to live a certain predefined lifestyle. After all, we are not in some kind of sect! And if you’re a masculine guy and you feel like wearing make-up and going to the cinema with your girlfriend, then do that. It is what distinguises us from monkeys: we can walk upright and choose how we want to dress and express ourselves individually.
After quite a while in London, you are living in Vienna now. What are the advantages and disadvantages of an artist in Vienna?
The advantage: it is significantly more compact here in Vienna and quality of life is higher. Easier ways of getting around the city on the streets and on the tube. Here, I can reach the studio or the shooting faster than I would in London. Also, transport expenses, rents, etc. are much less here than in London; healthcare and the doctors are better here. I love the inner city as the small pearl it is.
The disadvantage: unfortunately, there is often a village-like thinking and small-town mentality in Vienna. Sometimes, people are in the media or in leading positions who would never have made it in London or Paris. And the only reason for this is the fact that they have the necessary money or contacts. Also, innovation is only accepted slowly in this city – or copied one-to-one. And, as in any small town, often spat on in the beginning. Many things here work according to the motto 'it has alsways been this way and will always stay this way'. I have never counted myself to this society and will continue to do my thing.
Where do you like to spend your free evenings in Vienna?
At a nice restaurant or cosy at home.
What are your next plans after the album „High Fidelity“ and the new video for „Play My Drum“?
The Eurovision Song Contest.
Your message to the world?
Be yourself, be open for new things – and if you once should not feel like it, that’s okay!
check it out: http://www.martinmeister.com/
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