and i’ve moved this stuff and a whole lot more to www.getyourqueeron.com

yay

Michelle Breeze has a sublime voice – hopefully something that my fellow Sarf Efricans remember from Fetish days. What I love even more about Darkpop though, is the lyrics. My favourite song is still “40 hours,” where, as a working woman in London, she sings that she can’t believe they want, “40 hours and not my voice.” Me neither. “Night Bus” reminds me of some very sad, strange and surreal journeys – and not just the ones I spent on London’s night buses, back in the proverbial day. Her pure voice rises above the discord-grunge of “Kill This Love” and I defy anyone not to identify with that song. I get a sense of alienation from the album; a tale of somebody living in a foreign place, of an artist living at disparate levels. “Every day I become something else for someone …” – now that’s a statement I reckon most of us can relate to. “Dreams are heavy sometimes” haunts me so much I’d have it tattooed if I could afford it.

It’s the kind of album to lose yourself in and not care about being found again. Michelle on lead and backing vocals is also a very good idea indeed, It’s like being surrounded by something celestial and immensely soothing.

She must have metaphorical balls of titanium to be able to move from magazine covers here, to work in a shop in London and start all over again. The music hasn’t suffered at all. If anything, it’s soaring now.

You can hear Darkpop at their website and on Facebook – where you can also download “Fool” as a free mp3. “Wash away my dirty mind …” ahhh … please love it.

One with Richard Renaldi (photographer) here.

Sheer Music Label Manager Melissa Conradie is also the lead singer of up and coming SA band Holly & the Woods.  I caught up with her online …

So the album is doing well, you must be stoked!
Yeah, the album has been doing really well, so stoked with the reaction!  We’ve put a lot of hard work into writing the songs and recording the album, so it’s great to see people love it.

What was it like supporting Eagle Eye Cherry? Did you meet him?
Supporting an international artist is always amazing. We did get to meet him and he’s the nicest guy! The one thing we always learn from the international artists, just like when we supported Shaun Morgan from Seether and Sarah Bettens from K’s Choice, is that no matter how much success you achieve, always stay humble and level-headed. Too many SA bands seem to get that “high and mighty” attitude when they achieve some level of success and it doesn’t leave a good impression with the fans who try to get an autograph or just say hi.

On a more queer note … what was it like playing Pride?
There’s nothing better than playing in front of over 8000 people who are waiting to start the march and are ready to have a big party! The vibe was awesome when we were on stage, especially being on just before the march started. It was also in a way special that we were the only band performing on the day.

In your opinion, should celebrities come out or are they entitled to their privacy?
I think that’s all personal preference. Some want to be private about their sexuality, while others are fine with having everyone know about it. I don’t think anyone should be pressured to make their sexuality known, just because they’re a public figure and are forced to now become a role model for the gay community. It’s a big responsibility to take on.

What differences do you think it makes to you i.e. being an openly queer performer?
It took me a while before I could openly admit that I am gay. I was always concerned about what people would think of me and how I would be treated by straight people. You also don’t want people to not like the band, just because the lead singer is gay. Growing older and becoming more comfortable in my skin, I have learned that what matters the most in life are the people who love you and the friends who are there for you. What other people think is their concern and should not affect my life. I will never hide who I am and I’m comfortable with people knowing that I am gay.

Have you run into any homophobia as a singer/performer?
I have been fortunate that I haven’t had any and I think it’s because of how society’s perception of the gay community has changed. It’s definitely easier being gay now than 10 years ago.

Do you have any crazy obsessed fans yet?
No, well not yet.

Any hot lesbian groupies?
HOLLY & THE WOODS have got THE hottest lesbian groupies! We have some good looking fans with a great taste in music :-)

What’s your fan-base like?
Our fan-base is a nice mixture of 50% gay girls and 50% straight peeps. We have fans between the ages of 16 and 35 at our gigs, so we seem to appeal to a nice big audience.

If you had to recommend one song to someone who hasn’t heard you yet, which would you pick and why?
Seems that the one song that has grabbed everyone, is our ballad “NOT LIKE ME”, which has won over numerous fans, so I’ll recommend HOLLY & THE WOODS virgins to listen it. But it’s tough to only recommend one song, so for a more rocking vibe “SAVE ME” and “GET OUT” are great tracks!

I love the cartoons on your Myspace – how did that come about?
When we first started out we didn’t have the budget for a photoshoot and we didn’t want to do one of those

photo: ulla kelly

low budget Digital camera photoshoots, so I had a friend at Kablooey Studios in Durban design cartoons for us. The cartoons had to be the “HOLLYWOOD” version of us, so if all of us had the perfect bodies, but still keeping our features, that’s what we’d look like. We love them and I wouldn’t mind having my cartoon character’s bust!

Any plans to head overseas?
Not yet. Still loads to do in SA, before we can cross the shores.

Can you describe what it feels like to be on stage when the crowd loves you?
I think you have to be on stage with us when people sing back your songs and go mad, to know what we’re going through! It’s an adrenaline rush and wave of excitement that you can’t describe properly to anyone.

What does the future hold for Holly & the Woods?
We just want to get our music out to the SA audience and go as far as we possibly can in our own country and then start taking on other  countries.

Where can we see and hear you next?
Our next gig is 8 November at Cool Runnings in Melville, but you can go to our myspace for the complete up-to-date gig listing.

You’ve been working with a film camera for a good while – apart from the obvious mechanical differences, what’s the impact on your art, as opposed to going digital?

There is a lot of sentimentality in film for me, I love emulsion and I love the feel of using 35mm film.  One of the biggest impacts of course is cost; never having alot of money often impacts how much work I can put out or print at any one time. It has become a lot easier since I started being able to scan work with a film scanner.

Another impact on my art is the ability to turn out prints quickly, as I lack my own darkroom facilities at home I either have to scan my negs or use somebody else’s darkroom. When I have some extra cash lying around, I’m planning to get an enlarger set-up in a dark corner of my bathroom, this should hopefully solve alot of my current problems.

I could go on and on, but right now the only reason I haven’t gone digital is because I’m flat broke, and for me to get a camera that provides the same abilities that my current film SLRs have would require me to outlay a couple of thousand dollars that I just do not have. Also adoration of my older cameras makes me want to use them alot more.

Damn sentimentality.

How would you describe your style of photography?

This question is a hard one to answer, as most of my shots come from the way I see the world as somebody who is not only queer but has Aspergers Syndrome.  (For the laymen, it means its like being autistic but I can speak, interact and have a social life. Except that I’m better than you at everything else. Also this is the part where my constant sarcasm doesn’t mean to offend).

Noticing the details in life is really important and we tend to forget them easily, that is what I enjoy in photos. Nice big scenes are important. But what is more important than that for me is taking shots with interesting details.  Putting a twist (preferably queer) on the everyday, or showing parts of everyday urban life that we generally miss because we’re too busy with everything else.

Also i’m a huge city kid and spent most of my life growing up in and around large cities, so nearly all of my shots are in very central very overrun, urbanised environments, because that’s what I adore.  Every city has a story, everyone who passes through it leaves a little piece of themselves behind. So every brick, every bit of mortar has a little bit of somebody’s soul in it. Somebody’s story.  And that is what you could call my muse.

"What Love Looks Like"

How did you end up, as a dyke yourself, with a photo of two women kissing, in a govt sponsored exhibition?

Actually that is quite a long story.  It starts with me being supported by a Youth Worker and support agency for homeless or at risk of being homeless young queer people.  Now they receive most of what little funding they have (and they should have ten times more, grr) from a government funded organisation.

My youth worker mentioned to me that they need a few talented young people to work with some government photographers for an exhibition themed ‘home is where the heart is‘ on the youth homelessness issue.

As somebody who was formerly at risk of being homeless (the only thing that stopped it was weekly consultations and family therapy between this organisation myself and my parents) I was totally excited and it was an opportunity to help promote an organisation that I adore for helping me.

I met with this young photographer who is the same age as I for the shoot, and we got on like a house on fire. When she heard that I was a photographer as well we just started collaborating, explored the city, talked had tea, hung out got to know each other.  I suggested that we take a shot of me and my partner, because that is what I consider to be my home. (Wherever people you love are, there you are etc)

We stood in a back alley; I got her to stand in for me, decided on angles and everything else, then swapped places and she pushed the shoot button.

Then that and a series of other photos I took ended up touring with the exhibition around my state.
The photo of two women kissing? It now hangs permanently at the entrance to the Youth-link building (which is Western Australia’s main government funded counselling, support and homeless youth service)

Tell us about the Punk Princess shoot and that exhibition?

"Urban Princess"

Hah, that was actually a thing that came about just by chance.  I was chatting to a photographer friend in the city about this urban princess competition for a very cool gallery here. (Gingers Garage)  So we talked, called a friend. Found an outfit. we both went home grabbed out gear and then all met up in the city, where it promptly started raining and so my poor friend kit being dragged around by two photographers in a tiny red dress in the pouring rain.  As we snapped photo after photo of her in and around disused areas behind shops and large department stores.  We actually all had a ball. Then the rained stopped and the sun came out and she warmed up and we took more shots.  Then all ran off to grab a bite to eat.

Two weeks later after prints, and framing were done we had the exhibition, which went like a charm.

And now for something completely trivial; you’re planning a party, using only queer artists, performers etc, who do you get to decorate the place and entertain your glamorously queer guests?

Oh gods what a hard question so many, Well I’m thinking we’d call Chicks on Speed, get them to do the clothing, The Dresden Dolls can organise a punk cabaret show to end all. Followed by spoken word performances from Alix Olson and Julia Serano.  All the decorations will by anyone who’s willing to pick up a sharpie marker and bottle of spray paint.

Do you think visual artists such as yourself should interpret it, or let the art stand alone?

Art tends to be quite speculative when it comes to opinions and interpretations. As an artist I generally tend to interpret my own work in such a way, or shoot it in a certain location because I want the right feel, look and ideas behind it. But as a rule I think its nice to have both. The freedom to express one’s own opinion and to say something for yourself is an important concept. So people should be entitled to their own opinions and ideas, while i’ll let mine be silent or perhaps just as a little background.

In life the biggest achievement you can get is to make somebody think for themselves. So i’d like people to be able to do that.

What are your goals and dreams as a photographer?

To make a billion dollars. Presented in the form of a 90 foot high solid platinum phallus.

No in all seriousness now.

Have my photos change somebody else’s way of thinking. Or the world.

Fill some space on a wall where everybody drinks out of crystal glasses and talks about the rising bourgeoisie.

Or work as a photographer for Curve magazine. That’d be pretty amazing.

With the accelaration of digital camera technology, photography seems to be becoming more widely accessible – what does the true artist need to do to stand out?

I’ve seen alot of people who just go out and buy a high end digital SLR, and start to shoot just for fun or take photos on holiday, often with no training or understanding of basic camera theory.

I would not see myself capable of defining what a ‘true artist’ is or whether such a person even exists.

A sense of ingenuity, a passionate love for their art form. (i.e if you love your art less than your partner, then you might not have what it takes.)   Intuitive understanding of framing and the way light works.  But most importantly of all, the ability to bring your own unique viewpoint to everyone else and have the guts to say ‘this is my opinion’ and then stand by it.

You’re something of a geek too … how do art and science connect for you?

Science brought us alot of things.  The internet gives artists all over the world exposure, who normally would never be able to get out there, a whole new and wonderful way to connect to each other and everyone else.

The topic of doing photo editing and post production on computers has been discussed over and over again of course so I won’t really bring that up.

Science gives us an understanding of the way the world actually works. How everything is held together.
From the smallest atom to that horrible dress your friends made you wear that one time.

Science and art collide for me a lot in terms of how I shoot, I tend to be quiet exacting and precise. Taking my time for each shot instead of just blowing away rolls. Applying exactness to bring out the unusual in the everyday world.  And then refining my own techniques and observation skills again and again till I’m confident I know what I’m doing without thinking.

You label yourself dyke and queer; how do those identities influence your art?

Queer is a wonderful label with all sorts of connotations to all sorts of people. To me it means different, strange odd, reflects a lot on gender identity and sense of the world.

I love the sense of strength implied by the word Dyke and reclaimed language is one of the most amazing things a sub-culture can create, so the sense of purpose and power behind the word is fantastic.

I like to try to pass on some of those concepts the ideas behind those words into my shots to help create depth, meaning and power behind each piece.

What’s the function of street art in the contemporary art scene?

Where i live the arts scene was pretty stagnant, so here alot of people came together to create a way to pass on messages. Often at small independent galleries you can find messages, paste-ups, tags or whole pieces on the back of the gallery especially around Northbridge (the area I live in). Plus we’ve had a huge government crackdown on graffiti and street art here which is absolutely terrible. So alot of the work in and around the city has had its quality increase instead of just random acts of tagging.

The government tells artists to stop making art because conservatives can’t see the style and fun in it.
Yet for some reason they keep telling street artists to stop.

It brings art into your face, in a fun manner that is cool and unique in style.  Its fun to create and too look at and it puts it in a public space where anyone can see, plus the sense of danger involved bring only greater meaning.

So everyone out there grab some spray or even a box of pens and go scrawl your opinion on your nearest Gucci retail store!

Know or know of any queer street artists?

Yes, one in particular who influenced me and encouraged me to start shooting more when I first started thanks M0ther your ‘zine and and cool paste-ups really helped me get inspired to create my art!

Describe the feeling you get when you’ve taken a damn good photograph.

You know when you have one of those leg shaking, deep down multiple orgasms?

Well its nothing like that.

Generally each photo is a learning experience.  I tend to be my own worst critic and always feel I could do better or change this or have used a different lens etc.  Sometime I have a sense of pride where I know I’ll always be able to say that I created something that will last forever, or that might be remembered by somebody.  The biggest of all?  Knowing I’ve changed somebody’s way of thinking, if only for a moment.

What does the future hold for you and your camera?

Nothing specific planned at the moment, just out of hospital so right now I’m busy focusing on getting better, but while I was in I had a lot of inspiration from the sterile environments around me.  So i’m thinking of going along with that idea in some way….