O REGO N S LESBIAN/GAY/BI/TRANS/QUE ER NEWSMAGAZINE
2010 PRIDE
love Portland. I drive down all the time to see
shows cause I think they’re better in Pordand.
The fans are more receptive to music, it’s just
more unified.
JO: How would you describe the second
record— and given this much time after Ido ft
BL: This album is just my years as a club
guy and a raver coming out. ... I just love
electronic music, anything with a beat, you
know, as a beat boxer. Growing up with it,
I wanted to emulate every single sound. ...
Com ing off American Idol, it was more of a
pop stance. I got off the show and I had that
major label money and I was like, “Okay, I ’m
gonna make more [of] my Michael Jackson
Bad record.” I wanted to make a pop record
[2007’s Audio Day Dream] that every song
was different, but with this album it was
more cohesive.
JO : H ow so?
BL: This one is actually a personal record.
I’d just broken up with a big part o f my life,
I was in love with this girl for five years— on
again, off again— and one o f my first songs I
ever wrote was about her. A good portion of
this record was definitely about my situation
that I was in and where I was at that point.
... M y first record was fun but this one is
like having a bunch o f kids and seeing them
go off to school and grow, and [the single]
“Heartbreak on Vinyl” is doing that now ....
I ’m just blessed that people respond to this
record so well because it comes from a place
closer to my heart.
JO : W h a t’s your process like? Do the
music or the beats come first, or is it a sym
biotic thing?
BL: For me, it’s always been about the
music first. I’m more of a melodic producer
and songwriter. I can pretty much write and
arrange a song, sonically, have it done and
then the hip-hop in me, jazz improviser
that I am, pretty much every single song is a
freestyle, especially if I have arranging done.
I ’ll go in the vocal booth and I’ll just spit out
some random words and melodies and cut
and paste and see what I like.
JO : Speaking of “Heartbreak on Vinyl,“
w hat’s the story behind that track?
BL: I was walking through [New York’s]
Union Square, the park there, and I usually
stop at the Virgin Megastore, and it was
closing down. I just thought about Seattle
and what would I do if Easy Street and
Silver Platters and Sonic Boom— all these
amazing stores that I buy my vinyl and all
these crazy imports from Europe, all the
dance music I ever bought—what would I
do if these went under cause [in] Seattle and
towns like Portland, the indie record stores
survive, unlike anywhere else in America. So
my single is pretty much about the N orth
west. ... You find your inspiration in weird
places and you just roll with it.
JO: The song poses an odd aural contra
diction. I t’s so electronic, polished, but about
something so organic, crunchy. How do you
reconcile the two conceits?
BL: Yeah, it’s a very produced pop song,
but luckily when I work with [producers]
JUNE <. 2010
|5
ENTERTAINMENT
S*A*M* and Sluggo [Panic at the Disco,
Fall O ut Boy] ... they don’t do a lot to my
voice, they don’t auto-tune it. They just might
compress it to make it sound clearer. I t’s got
the both worlds in there. It’s got the guitar
and drums and some auxiliary stuff that I do
with my mouth on that track and that’s what
I want, a blend o f analog and digital on all
my music.
JO: W h at’s th e ' significance for you of
performing at Portland Pride— and at other
Pride events, for that matter?
BL: My thing has always been about
unity and uniting people together as one.
My best friend is gay and is also a musician
and some o f the favorite people in my life
are homosexual and to me, it’s just a help
ing out of a friend. The community has been
amazing and receptive to my music. ... And
me being a straight man performing at gay
shows, it raises a lot of questions but not ac
tually so much now. You have these amazing
shows like Glee and that’s kind of a good air
right now. I just played the Human Rights
Campaign [event in Los Angeles] and there
were so many amazing people there and I was
just so inspired.... I’m just fortunate enough
to have amazing fans, whether they’re gay or
straight.
JO: It’s great to see allies of the com
munity, like yourself, Jason Mraz and others,
being so vocal with their support.
BL: It’s a new age. It’s a good thing. ...
There’s a little bit of change. It’s not a big
change for America, but Americans have to
have everything in baby steps and it seems like
we’re getting closer and closer to that country
that we’ve always talked about being. A
Taking Pride
in our Com m unity
At U.S. Bank, we are committed to our communities. It’s where
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U S. Bank is proud to support the Pordand Pride Festival.
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