Interview: Rufus Wainwright

In the pantheon of openly gay and lesbian pop and rock musicians, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is one of the brightest stars. More importantly, he is also one of the most talented.

The son of folk music royalty (his father is the acclaimed American folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, his mother the Canadian singer-songwriter Kate McGarigle), Wainwright came out as gay when he was a teenager. Consequently, unlike some of peers, he has explored same-sex romance and desire from the earliest days of his career; such as his former habit of falling in love with straight men, or as Wainwright once put it, “guys I would occasionally have sex with, maybe only make out with, but never be allowed to say they were my boyfriend.”

It’s a situation many a gay man pining over a heterosexual friend can identify with; and many a lesbian too.

“For me, after a brief therapeutic period, it was apparently revealed that it was a fear of abandonment,” Wainwright explains. “At the end of the day you’re not going to get dumped, because you never started anything to begin with.”

Nonetheless, love has always been important to him.

“I’ve always worshipped at the temple of Eros, shall we say. Sex and emotion and romance are vital to my existence, maybe even to a fault sometimes,” Wainwright says with a self-depreciating laugh.

Certainly love, its pursuit and its loss are integral to Wainwright’s richly textured album, Release the Stars, which was released in Australia earlier this year. On songs such as the tender ‘Not Ready To Love’, and the life-affirming and upbeat ‘Between My Legs’, Wainwright deftly skewers his own foibles and flaws though insightful lyrics paired with lushly textured musical arrangements.

Ironically, Wainwright says, he had originally envisaged the album, which he recorded in Berlin, as being sparse and stripped-back.

“I had every intention of paring down and hipping up, getting a straight hair-do and then hanging with the kids in the basement, but that’s not what happened,” he says wryly.

“I blame a lot of it, as people do, on Germany.”

Surrounded by the restored grandeur of Berlin and refreshed by a rich diet of European art and culture, Wainwright’s romantic soul responded with an album that many critics have described as his best yet.

“In hindsight I was a bit of a fool to think that I, Rufus Wainwright, great lover of opera and romantic sensibilities and grand gestures could go to Germany, which is kind of the home of all of that, and all of a sudden become a kind of heterosexual minimalist,” he laughs.

While Wainwright’s deep, dramatic voice is as striking as it’s always been, there’s a more hopeful tone to many of the songs on Release the Stars than was evident on its predecessors. Even as he castigates himself for his much-publicised crystal meth addiction (which at one point was so extreme that it caused him to become temporarily blind) for instance, on the track ‘Sanssouci’, the song sparkles.

There are a number of reasons for such optimism, Wainwright explains with his usual candour.

“One of them was my boyfriend, who at that time I was courting, really. It subsequently worked out, but he was working at the Staatsoper, the main opera house there, and we spent a lot of time going to a lot of operas, which was fabulous. As was falling in love.”

While some might find the notion of courting a trifle old-fashioned, Wainwright’s telling use of the word says much about his outlook on life, and his timeless sensibilities.

“I’ve never been one to put much faith in the need to be current,” he says.

Nonetheless, his own music has especial currency at present. Following the success of Release the Stars, Wainwright is poised for an Australian tour in January. He has also released a new album; a live recording of his concert dedicated to the music and memory of the late Judy Garland, whose death in 1969 was one of the events which sparked the Stonewall Riots and the modern gay rights movement.

“I think I definitely share a love of gay men with Judy,” he laughs, “and I share her tragic idolisation of the unattainable, although for me it’s become much more of a kind of hobby rather than a reality lately. When I was younger I was in that net, and with drugs and drinking and stuff that really kind of kept me there. Since I’ve had more of an emancipation, it’s been easier to put that in perspective.”

Such frankness is typical of Wainwright, who has never shied away from publicly discussing his personal life, including his tumultuous relationships with his family.

“I’ve always had a strange, missing component in my personality dedicated to the private,” he says slowly.

“I mean, I’m okay at keeping secrets about other people; but when it comes to myself, I don’t see the need for protection. On one hand it’s kind of treacherous, but I really also think that all those experiences and views, once talked about, then eventually it dissipates you know? It’s no longer as harmful and you can deal with it. I’ve never had a strong need for privacy.”

Rufus Wainwright and band play The Arts Centre, Hamer Hall on Friday February 1 and Saturday February 2. Tickets through Ticketmaster: 136 100.

This interview originally appears in MCV issue #363, Thursday December 20.