Going back to your Blitz Kids era, what would you have thought of a fairly pedestrian rock band wanting to call themselves the same name, 30 years on? Well I don’t know, really. Usually when a band takes on a name like that, it’s because they want to associate themselves with that era, or that sound. And there’s another Blitz Kids – they’re German, I think – they really sound like an 80s band, so you should check them out. But no, it doesn’t bother me what people want to call themselves. As long as they’re happy, doesn’t bother me [laughs]!


I’m excited to hear you’ve rewritten part of Taboo. Is it just part of it? No, we’ve rewritten all of it. I mean, it’s still essentially the same story, because it’s the story of me growing up, but I think this version is the best one we’ve done. I think it’s darker and it’s more truthful; you know, since we first did Taboo, everyone we’ve worked with has put their stamp on it, but not necessarily in a way that we were happy with it. I always had a problem with the storyline; I always thought it should be much more about what actually happened, and I think we’re closer to that now. Tere’s always interest in Taboo – it’s this weird little show that’s kinda got a life of its own. I always felt that it was important for us to nail the narrative and we have now.


Do you think Taboo is going to be a little bit more taboo this time? Yeah, well it’s called Taboo, so it has to kind of touch on those things! But yeah, there’s a bit more of a moral tale to it now. You’ll have to see though, ‘cause you might disagree [laughs]!


You have given British culture so much. You may have had all these characters feeding you, like Leigh Bowery and David Bowie, but you were like a mama bird, regurgitating all these influences for a mainstream


market. Well you’re right about David Bowie, but Leigh came after me. Leigh came much later, but a lot of people get that confused. Leigh was living in Australia when the whole New Romantic thing was happening and he arrived here in the early 80s, so we’d already kinda done quite a lot. But the reason I always really championed Leigh was because he did something quite extraordinary, ‘cause when he came to London, there was so much that’d already been done that it was almost like, ‘ooh, don’t bovver’. But actually, he really, really took it somewhere different. We were using clothes and make-up to kind of hide what we didn’t like about ourselves, but Leigh took it in a completely different direction, and used what was different about him as his art. I remember once being at this club in Brixton and Leigh was literally naked, apart from a merkin, which I actually have – I have that very merkin in a frame – lick-me boots, a bra and a sort of bobble on his head.


At that point, did you feel intrinsically British? Too British for a merkin? Oh yeah, I always felt incredibly British.


I’m very much enjoying you on Twitter, George. I was thinking about the difference between ‘followers’ 30 years ago, who actually put a fair bit of effort into following you, with clothes and make-up, and then those of today, who just press a button. Yeah, and I don’t know if you can even call them fans really because they don’t actually buy your records [laughs]. If all the people on Twitter and on my Facebook bought my records, I’d be very happy! It’s a good record – I don’t know why they don’t! But it’s a weird one; you do often think, ‘who are you, and what do you want?’ Why are you following me? People are famous for so many different reasons now that it’s almost like being a musician just isn’t enough. I know there are people who love what you do, of course I do,


Leigh was literally naked, mapart from a merkin, lick-


e boots, a bra and a sort of bobble on his head.


outlineonline.co.uk / April 2014 / 13


and I know who those people are, but generally, I think more people are interested in having a photograph with someone famous. Tey don’t even have to like them!


I saw on Twitter you were talking about asparagus, you run now, in ‘King of Everything’, you sing about having “dropped your gloves to the ground.” Is this a new, mature, passive George? [Laughs] You know what, I’ve always eaten asparagus! [Laughs] Over the years, I’ve done every kind of fad there is, in terms of exercise – aerobics classes in clubs, I’ve done everything! But as I’ve got older and a bit smarter, I’ve worked out what I was doing wrong, basically. It’s taken me a while to click.


I like to imagine you like one of those paper cut out dolls that you fold the different clothes over – you have so many different parts of your musical persona. Take your Mixcloud monthly DJ podcasts and then a track like ‘It’s Easy’ from your latest album – the difference is astounding. What, for you, really ties it all together? For me, I’m a Gemini, so there’s always two people. I’ve always had really conflicting tastes and ideas about things and I just feel kinda lucky to do all the different things that I do. I don’t feel like I have to kind of nail my flag to any particular kind of mast. Going back to the 70s, you had punk and disco going at the same time, so you could go to a punk gig, then a gay club and hear Donna Summer. Tat makes perfect sense. We live in an age now where people are so much more rigid about what they can like. When I was a kid, I was listening to jazz music from the ‘30s and ‘40s. I wasn’t going around going, ‘ooh, but it’s not my era.’ I just like the difference, you know. I think that’s what I do as a DJ; I’m very random, I don’t plan what I’m gonna play, I very much think on my feet, which is kind of what’s exciting about it and why I started doing it in the first


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64