THEGAYUK

Category: Interview

  • INTERVIEW: DAVID TAYLOR: Say Hello To The New Balans

    Have you seen the new Balans? Well, it’s not strictly called Balans anymore. We delve into the world of Balans Soho Society and why it’s all change at London’s most famous gay eatery.

    For those in the know, Balans Soho Society is a stalwart fixture on the Soho scene. Every king, queen and fairy has walked through its doors to be waited on by some of the most beautiful people in the business, to lap up its gloriously transitory environment and to be served the best salmon on toast at 5AM in the morning after a heavy night of Heaven. We speak with the owner, DAVID TAYLOR to see what’s new, what’s changing and if the hot waiters will still be a permanent fixture.

    JH: When Balans began life, Soho was at its heart and, in particular, the gay community. Is this the new guise of Balans and will the gay community play an important role or still be considered an important consumer?

    DT: Nothing will change and we will be as gay friendly as ever. Our simple mission and instruction (as it has always been) is to indulge and enjoy oneself in the company of fellow bon vivants. We are a café, a restaurant, a bar and definitely a place where rules are made to be broken – a place to go when you feel like doing things you probably shouldn’t.

    Balans has always acted as a refuge for outsiders: minorities, eccentrics, bohemians, dreamers… people drawn together by a shared conviction that normal rules don’t apply to them and this could never be more relevant than to the gay community.

    Nothing communicates what Balans Soho Society now stands for quite like the design of its façades and interiors, curated by the outrageous Simon Costin (who first made his name creating fashion shows for Alexander McQueen and now his work can be seen at The Met in New York and London’s V&A). Every detail is specifically designed to start conversations such as the genius illustrations detailed on the cutlery and plates of the eye symbolising awareness, tolerance and inclusiveness whilst the key logo represents freedom where a world of pleasure opens up…

    We even have match boxes cleverly give some serving suggestions ‘For whatever sparks you up’ which capture the heart, soul and spirit of Soho.

    JH: Many famous faces have passed through the doors of Balans. Who has been your favourite and who do you want to see come in for a slap up nosh?

    DT: We’ve entertained everyone from ageing rock stars to the likes of Barbara Windsor and Gok Wan who actually worked for us as a waiter.

    We’ve also enjoyed the camp company of Dale Winton when he was looking for work as a young man (and when he made it) as well as Davina McCall and all the reality show and soap actors. Two of my favourites of all time would be Amy Winehouse and Adele. This week we had drag queen and gay rights activist, Panti Bliss coming in to eat before her show.

    Since opening the restaurant in the early 90s we’ve probably had most of the great and good pass through at some point but we’ve never made it our business to broadcast this as we want people to feel safe and relaxed without the glare from the outside world. The lock logo featured on the new Balans Soho Society branding symbolises just this – in other words – what happens in Balans Soho Society stays in Balans Soho Society.

    JH: Tell us why this rebrand is important?

    DT: When we opened the Soho restaurant in 1993 we shocked and thrilled many. The first design was described in the press as “a launderette on acid”. We were the first openly gay friendly venue on Old Compton St and, in fact, in London. There were many known gay pubs and one or two restaurants but they were all hid away or behind dark shop fronts. We literally opened the doors with a sliding full height glass shop front and the party spilt onto the street. The Village, Yard etc. quickly followed. Having bought out my partner from the English Balans, I’m now more determined than ever to bring back some sparkle and excitement to the restaurants and invite the outsiders in.

    JH: What is the key to being a successful restaurateur?

    DT: Masochistic tendencies of course.

    JH: What’s your favourite cocktail on the menu?

    DT: Having had more than my allotted share for this lifetime I am no longer allowed to drink them BUT, if I did, it would have to be the Pornstar Martini – although we are proud to present the Ode To Madame Jo Jo on our new cocktail menu.

    JH: The gay scene in Soho seems diminishing by the day. What’s going on? High rates and rents, difficult trading economy or less gay people out on the scene?

    DT: In the early 1990s there was no social media, Grindr or Scruff and so the only way to meet was to go out but now the dynamics of ‘socialising’ have changed. I also believe that whereas before there were only a few areas with a collection of gay venues, now there are many places in London where one can go out, especially in the East of London, and so the gay scene has become more dispersed.

    JH: Which celebrity chef would you give a job to in the Balans’ kitchens?

    DT: Skye Gyngell.

    JH: Will there continue to be a bevvy of gorgeous waiters at Balans Soho?

    DT: Is the Queen Madonna?

    Kensington High Street has also just relaunched (187 Kensington High Street, London W8 6SH)

     

  • INTERVIEW: Aaron Frew, His First Gay Press Interview

    This summer’s Big Brother has been exploding Time-Bombs onto our screens left right and centre from the first night eviction, twisted nominations to mass replacements of housemates. The contestants are certainly being kept on their toes this year, as are the audience. However, one housemate who was removed from the house for his naked antics has been the biggest loss of the series so far. Hot out of the BB house I get a chance to natter with Aaron Frew to find out about his journey in the house, his relationship with Joel and of course why he’s such a naked person.

     

    GD: Have you had a chance to relax yet?

    AF: Yeah. When I got removed from the Big Brother house I went straight home to see my Mum. I thought I was gonna go back to my flat but I felt the decision to go see my Mum was best and I had a few days rest to gather my thoughts and everything. I came back to London yesterday and I’m thinking roll on now, don’t dwell on the past look forward to the future.

     

    GD: Whilst in the Big Brother House what did you miss the most from the outside world?

    AF: I think watching Big Brother from my TV. I’m a massive fan of Big Brother and when you’re in there you’re like “Oh My God I’m in Big Brother”, you know what I mean? It’s like really strange, and obviously I missed my phone because there are so many things you can capture. I said to Big Brother you need to get a camera in there because we could literally rule social media with the pictures we could do in there. I missed my phone and my Instagram.

     

    GD: So did you hand over your accounts?

    AF: Yeah, I love social media and Instagram and Twitter and everything.

     

    GD: You’re obviously quite a naked person – did you realise this about yourself?

    AF: Yeah, I do a lot of nude selfies and stuff like that. If you’ve got it flaunt it sort of thing. But I know for a fact that in that house I didn’t have the best body to show off. But I know I’m confident in my skin so I’ll show what I have and people like it so it is what it is but obviously it backfired and I offended somebody and got removed, so I just gotta take that on board in the future.

     

    GD: You did spend a lot of time flirting with Joel, was there a connection there?

    AF: Me and Joel, we had banter and people called us Jaaron all the time because we’re literally always sat down or in a bath together, but obviously I’ve watched it and they never showed all the conversations. He would ask me all kinds of questions about my life, my upbringing, my sexuality, because where he’s from, he comes from the countryside and I think it’s like Heartbeat it’s very small and not a lot’s really going on so meeting someone like me he’s like “what the hell is this”. I mean obviously I tried to break it down for him so he could understand it all but me and Joel had amazing banter and I feel I’ve gained a friend in there. Obviously me and him have different opinions on things but I think that’s what made us Jaaron. Opposites attract and I hope when he comes out we can go for a coffee or a burger or something, I know he loves his burgers.

     

    GD: Did Big Brother, in your opinion, make the right decision then in removing you?

    AF: At the end of the day I broke the rules and I have to come to terms with that. When I was in the moment of doing my naked running around the room I never realised I was breaking the rules but obviously when they’ve broken it down for me, and they’ve shown me what I’ve done, I have to take that on board. I really appreciate what Big Brother have done. I’m not gonna be, “ahh they’re in the wrong”, because they’re not. The rules are there for a reason and I broke them and got removed. Obviously I was upset and devastated but I can’t be angry or anything can I? It’s my own doing and lesson learnt on that one? Don’t run around a room naked! (laughs)

     

    GD: How are things with your mother?

    AF: Oh my God, I only just come out to my mum a couple years ago and it’s still like a weird topic for us, so when I came out and went home straight away I was really scared but yeah she’s been really supportive. The last thing she said to me before I left was, “Aaron you’ll always be a winner in my eyes”. She’s been really supportive and I’m really blessed with that.

     

    GD: So she hasn’t told you off for any of your naked antics yet?

    AF: No she just said, “can future Aaron please cover up? I don’t want to see your meat and two veg” (laughs).

     

    GD: You were recently quoted as saying you’ve wanted love for many years and need to make yourself happy first as no one wants you. Did you find your happiness in the house?

    AF: Yeah. I watched all the footage from day one until the last one I was in, obviously I was very upset at times but there were a lot of emotions going through my head. As the days went on I became a stronger person and overcome so many fears I had – to go in the haunted room for 12 hours, for nothing, and I had to eat beetles and I hate insects so I literally have started to realise that I’m a strong person. I do need to start living myself a little bit more, but I feel it’s an everyday learning process and it’ll come day by day. So I’ll get there one day (laughs).

     

    GD:…and has there been any romantic offers yet since leaving the BB house?

    AF: No not really. Well on Twitter there’s a lot of people saying, “I love you Aaron” and “can you be my prom date” and stuff like that. It’s been very few but no one’s ever asked me to go to a prom.

     

    GD: You’re going to have a busy summer then!

    AF: (Laughs) Well let’s see what happens. A lot of young girls say they love me for my energy and character and stuff like that. I’m just blessed that anyone would want to watch me. I really am blessed with this whole opportunity and I genuinely did feel sorry for all the supporters that I had when I came out because I let them down in a way. But, as I say, I can’t dwell on that now. They still love me for me so it is what it is and I have to move on from that now.

     

    GD: If you were in Jack’s shoes would you have taken the car he won and driven off?

    AF: No mate because first of all, although it was a very nice present, I was in there for a learning experience for myself and to show my mum what I was about and secondly that car, as much as it was nice, I don’t do white cars mate, they take forever to keep clean.

     

    GD: You could always have spray painted it…

    AF: Yeah but I don’t think of that. I’d have definitely declined it. It’s not worth it and even though Jack was very upset about the situation I said to him, “no matter what Jack when you get out this house you’re gonna get bigger and better things than a BMW car.”

     

    GD: Now that ‘Showbiz’ Simon is back in the house do you think you would have gotten on together or clashed?

    AF: It’s funny you say that because ever since he was in the house at the beginning and he got evicted everyone said, “Aaron you’re quite lucky he got removed because he has a big personality and you two would have clashed”. Every day, even though it never got shown, everyone was saying “Aaron he’s returning” and “are you scared”, but obviously they were speculating and speculating right because he did return. But people obviously see two big personalities and think were going to clash and that may have been the case but watching his VT going into the house he’s done a lot of things and I probably would have learnt a lot from him as well. So I like to see it as a negative and a positive but I will never know until I get a chance to meet the guy, but from watching on TV he does say Showbiz a lot, like mate chill out on that one.
    GD: Who would you like to see win BB?

    AF: Chloe and Jack. With Jack I’ve never really met anyone like that and he’s such a humble guy and he makes my heart melt he really does. I really hope that he wins it. If it’s a girl then Chloe because Chloe represents a kinda girl that’s from my town, even though she lives up north, she reminds me of my sisters, so I’d want to see my sister win it ideally.

     

    GD: What are your hopes for the future?

    AF: Always waving the flag of being a Big Brother housemate, I think that’s an absolute achievement, but hopefully continue working in fashion and I’d really really love a job in TV, so if any opportunities come that way I’d take it by the horns and go down that road. I feel my personality comes across best on TV.

     

    GD: Apart from THEGAYUK magazine who would you most like to model for?

    AF: I’m one of those people that loves fashion and I’d love to work with Adidas. I love that brand so much and they send me free stuff all the time so I’d love to support them and be a representative of the brand. Whatever brands come forward I’d analyse them and see if they’re suitable for me because I don’t do everything. Like if someone said, “Aaron model our suit”, I don’t really think I suit suit-suits, I suit tracksuits, you know what I mean?

  • Meet Scott Turner Schofield, America’s First Transgender Soap Star

    In 1998, Julie Hesmondhalgh made history playing Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper, the world’s first regular transgender character on a soap opera. 17 years later, an American soap finally broke that same barrier when The Bold and the Beautiful’s Maya, played by Karla Mosley, was revealed as a trans woman. A couple months later, the soap introduced another trans character, Nick, played by the actor Scott Turner Schofield.

    What makes Schofield’s casting historic is that he is the first openly transgender actor cast in a US soap. Shows such as Loving and All My Children have featured transgender characters, but they were fleeting storylines featuring minor characters played by cis actors.
    The Bold and the Beautiful—seen daily by 35 million people in 100 countries—has taken it to a whole new level. “It’s being told in a way that I have wanted trans stories to be told for over a decade. It is telling a love story, it is telling a family story, it is telling our stories right,” Schofield says. He credits the show’s writers and producers, led by head writer and executive producer Bradley Bell, for consulting with GLAAD and getting the story right. “I can’t tell you how happy I am with the writers and being able to deliver text that is so smart… It’s taking a transgender woman of colour and taking a white transgender man and… opening that whole world up in an inclusive, intelligent, and correct way.”

    Schofield’s character, Nick, debuted in May as a close friend of Maya, whom Schofield describes as the show’s “leading lady.” Since then, he has shared screen time with some of daytime television’s biggest stars, including Thorsten Kaye and Jacob Young, calling them “lovely, lovely men.” Kaye, he says, helped calm his nerves on set, while Young took to Twitter to defend the “love story” being told between his character, Rick, and Maya. “What an ally,” he says of Young.

    But he saves some of his deepest praise for Mosley. Before meeting her, he said she was “of the opinion that only transgender people should play transgender roles.” He asked the producers what Mosley’s reaction had been, to which he says they responded with “how can I possibly do this justice? I have to do this justice,” saying she has researched the role and talked to trans women, including Janet Mock, in an effort to get it right.

    “I have full respect for Karla,” he adds. “She’s a wonderful person, her heart is in the right place, and she knows what she’s doing.”

    Still, he does hope his casting will open the doors for other trans actors on television. “There is a slew” of other trans actors just ready for the big break, he says. “The floodgates are about to open.”

    It’s been an uphill battle for trans actors, including Schofield. Despite the emergence of icons such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner, and Schofield’s on praise for his co-star Mosley, the bulk of trans roles still go to cis actors. For Schofield, The Bold and the Beautiful marks his television debut, something he’s been working a decade toward. “I always wanted to be an actor,” he says. “I was the kid who got in front of the TV and pissed off my parents by trying to perform all the time.”

    The pressures of living in a society that often ostracises trans people took a toll, though. “You can become an excellent actor (as a trans person) because you’ve been training your entire life” by being misgendered at birth, “or you can go into a place where you are never yourself,” he says.

    “Because I was transgender, I couldn’t get any roles. I was doing great in my classes. My teachers all said I was a good actor.” But, he adds, casting directors could tell he wasn’t completely being himself. “Coming out as trans and really living my life… is what enabled me to get this role on The Bold and the Beautiful.”

    Though the show is his biggest role to date, it’s not the first time Schofield has been in the limelight. He has produced and starred in two internationally touring one-man shows and given a well-received Ted Talk, each focusing on gender identity and trans experiences. “I like to try to elevate the narrative,” he says, explaining that for him “transition (wasn’t) about me. I knew who I was. I had to transition the world.”
    “I was walking in a world where people were calling me a she when I knew I was a he, and that wasn’t about me. It was about everybody else.”

    His aim is to challenge not only assumptions and misconceptions about trans people but also the social construction of what it means to be a man. “We need to talk about masculinity,” he says. “Coming up there and being a white guy, yet being a white guy that you really need to think about—I think if we thought about being white guys more, if we thought about being men and what that means, that would push us further in society.”

    While his duration on The Bold and the Beautiful is uncertain (Schofield is not under contract), he’s already busy working on his next project. Ze Said/She Said, a web series he created and stars in with his fiancé, Jessica Lynn Johnson, debuted on YouTube last month. Though scripted, he describes it as “the bastard child of reality television and comedy.” Based around their own lives, it’s a romantic comedy featuring a trans Yogi (Schofield) and a cisgender Christian (Johnson).

    Regardless of whether acting for the stage, television, or the internet, Schofield hopes to have a positive influence. With not only his own burgeoning profile but a growing understanding and acceptance of trans people, he has high hopes for the future.

    “I think that people who are kids now won’t have to come out as trans. They will just live into that.”

  • INTERVIEW | Sir Ian and Sir Derek… Will they say I DO?

    The new 6 part series returns viewers back into the boisterous world of Freddie Thornhill (played by Ian McKellen) and Stuart Bixby (played by Derek Jacobi) as we follow more of their adventures and mishaps.

    The loving (and bickering) couple of over 50 years soon discover it’s all change amongst their close circle of friends. Violet (played by Frances de la Tour) has married a mystery man who now seems to have gone AWOL. Ash (played by Iwan Rheon) is all loved up with new girlfriend Jess (played by guest star Georgia King). And ditzy Penelope (played by Marcia Warren) and no nonsense Mason (played by Philip Voss) continue to be baffled by everyone around them.

    We catch up with Sirs Ian and Derek to talk about changing perceptions of gay people on TV and saying I Love You to another man.

    TGUK: Was it a very easy decision for you to come back for a second series?
    IM: Yes, although I can’t remember how it happened, really! There was talk about it and you wonder, “Oh, do I want to get on with something else?”, but then the moment arrives and it was so obvious that we had to do it. No question. If there was a third series, I expect we’d be ready to say “yes” again. It’s a very fun show to do.

    TGUK: What difference does it make to film in front of a live studio audience?
    IM: With the live audience, and all the actors acting out to the audience a little bit, there’s something rather theatrical about it.

    TGUK: How would you describe the tone of Vicious?
    IM: It’s deliberately old-fashioned as part of the joke. It reminds you very much of sitcoms like I Love Lucy.
    Our writer Gary JaneB knows the tradition of sitcoms very well. He has been involved in Will & Grace, which is one of the later versions of that. So yes, it’s old fashioned and it’s meant to be.

    It’s about some old people for a start, so isn’t that rather suitable? But on the other hand, the fun of it is that the characters you’ve got in this are not characters you normally see in a standard sitcom.
    Two of them are gay, there is a woman whose juices are still flowing, and a young man who loves hanging around with gay men, although he’s straight himself. These are original ideas, so in that sense it’s actually not old fashioned at all.

    TGUK: What reaction did you have from the first series?
    IM: Very good and in my experience, I think the audience is quite young, but also middle aged and older people – gay and straight people too. I think it’s quite wide ranging and it’s a family show. There are people who absolutely adore it with a passion.

    TGUK: Do you think Vicious can change homophobic stereotypes?
    IM: For Freddie and Stuart to say, “I love you” to each other, which they do quite seriously is a complete breakthrough. But I don’t think you know at the time if something’s really breaking through. It’s only years later and you look back and say “That broke though the walls”.

    It’s not the prime function of Vicious to change the world. Our first duty is to make people chuckle, giggle and laugh out loud. And tune in because they’ve enjoyed it and want more next week.
    But there are those of us to whom it’s important that we know there’s something a bit subversive going on that is perhaps changing people’s attitudes a little bit. Or at least recognising that attitudes are changing around the world.

    TGUK: What difference does it make to you as an actor, to film in front of a live studio audience?
    DJ: Well, it’s the first time Ian and I have done it, and I think at first we weren’t sure who to play to: the audience, or the camera?

    But I think we have solved that now, and the answer is a bit of both.

    It’s lovely to have the audience there. We are aware that they have to sit there for three hours.

    It’s a bit of a marathon for the studio audience but they have been very, very good and stayed and responded wonderfully, we’ve been very lucky.

    TGUK: Is that an extra pressure, to keep them entertained as well as making a show?
    DJ: Yes, it is really. It’s a combination of that fear that you get at the theatre, as well as the thought of millions who are watching at home through the camera.

    Fortunately, though, we are allowed to make mistakes, and sometimes the mistakes are better than the show!

    The audience feels part of the creativity of the evening when we say, “You know how you laughed the first time? We have to do it again, so please laugh again”.

    And thankfully they do.

    TGUK: Was it an easy decision to come back for a second series?
    DJ: Oh yes, completely easy, I loved doing the first series. Right from the moment they first phoned me to tell me the idea for the sitcom a few years ago I loved it.
    Neither Ian or I had done sitcom before and nobody had to talk us into it. We both wanted to do it.

    And this is one step beyond comedy; this is farcical.

    TGUK: Are there any funny scenes that stand out for you from this series, that you can tell us about?
    DJ: Well, there is one where we go to the gym and look absolutely ridiculous. And another scene in the ballroom where we are even more so.

    I had this beautiful sequinned waistcoat, it was very lovely, and Ian comes on in a costume from CATS with a huge tail and looks wonderful.

    We leave the house a little more open in this series also.

    TGUK: Do you think Freddie and Stuart will ever marry?
    DJ: That will certainly be an option for them now that the law has changed. We’ll have to see!

    Certainly there is talk of weddings in this series but I won’t say anymore than that. Whether anything actually takes place you’ll have to wait and see.

    Funnily enough when the series goes out in America on the PBS channel, it goes out on a Sunday night, the same night that Last Tango in Halifax goes out. So at 8 o’clock I am married to Anne Reid, and at 10 o’clock I am nearly married to Ian McKellen, which is nice.

    TGUK: Would you like a wedding to happen between them, to normalise gay marriage on television?
    DJ: Yes, it would be a very potent symbol. Marriage is not for all couples, and I’m not married, but for Freddie and Stuart I think that could potentially be very important, and it would also be a symbol of progress made.

    The immediate image that comes to mind when you talk about a wedding is, dare, I say, not a suit but a dress.

    That is getting better because homosexuality is now so much part of everybody’s lives.

    But this sitcom is not just about being gay, it’s about age, it’s about relationships.
    It’s about friendship and it is about acceptance and devotion.

    So whether they do or don’t, there is still a good message at its heart.

  • WHAT WE LEARNT | #AskBilliePiper

    Gays of a certain age will know Billie Piper as the 17-year-old pop starlet that racked up hit after hit in the late 90s and early 00s.

    Billie Piper
    CREDIT: S Bukley

     

    Pop smashes such as “Girlfriend”, “Because We Want To” and “Day and Night” filled the dance floors of G-A-Y et al. Then she retired from music and became a legit actress wowing people in The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl and then later as the Doctor’s assistant, Rose, in Doctor Who.Well here’s what we learnt from her latest #askBillie.

    Her go to film is The Dictator, It never fails to get a laugh out of her.

    If she was stuck on a desert island and could only bring one thing she would use a Tardis to get off it. Right on brand message. (She’s in Doctor who in case you didn’t know!)

    She likes her ears most about herself. This is because she doesn’t have to see them.

    If she could be one age forever she’d be 26. Apparently it was a “brilliant age”.

    She’s a period dress fanatic. Working on Penny Dreadful turned her on to all those busty dresses.

    Her worst fear is Jelly fish. They can ruin holidays.

    If she could choose her own name it would be Vinny, because she knew someone who was amazing with that name.

    Read more What We Learnt profiles

  • INTERVIEW | Eric Schaeffer

    Once in a while we come across a new small movie that is unafraid to tackle important issues with a very big heart, and Boy Meets Girl is certainly one such film. It is a tender, human, sex-positive romantic comedy that explores what it means to be “real”: to live and love authentically to the truth of one’s heart, regardless of the sex or small town you’re born into. We were so moved by the refreshing and sensitive way that writer/director Eric Schaeffer told this story that stars a transgender girl but is so much more about all the other people in her life who learn to embrace their own identities. It also challenges us to suspend our preconceived views on gender labels and be as open to what happens as these lovelorn kids are.

    We were not the first to give this movie a 5 Star review, but THEGAYUK is the first UK gay publication to sit down with ERIC SHAEFFER to find out more about his remarkable new film, Boy Meets Girl.

    RWD: Where did the story come from?
    ES: It’s dramatically very similar to all my other eight movies. Everyone I know has a very colourful myriad of sexual and emotional feelings and interests that really don’t fit into the narrow boxes that society puts us in, and what I like to write about is breaking out of the confines of these boxes. I came up with this idea of writing about a transgender girl in a small town in the South and challenging the boy meets girl cliché, and so this is, in fact, a broad simplistic kind of romance but with a twist that middle America and the rest of the world can relate.

    I am a straight man and I date women and I have dated transgender women as well in the past. Getting to intimately know some transgender women and also meeting transgendered men gave me the idea of wanting to write about them. The idea that a cisgender straight man who had always dated cisgender women started to be interested in dating transgendered women at a certain point of his life was very interesting to me. Opening up his heart and his eyes to dating these women I thought was a fascinating story especially as it had some real life correlation with me. However, quite honestly, the real driving force was much more abut making a story about people who at the core want to be loved for who they are, as that essentially is what all my films are about.

    Without giving too much away, what surprises so many people who have seen the movie is that Ricky the transgender girl had the smallest arc and the smallest transition emotionally of any of the characters.

    Everyone around her was having much more dramatic profound emotional realisations and that was very exactly what I planned. I wanted the character of Ricky the transgender girl to be ‘normal’ as possible in terms of her life goals, her challenges, her joys, her family and her friends. In a lot of movies, transgender characters are too often being portrayed as people who have all kinds of challenges that are different from cisgender people and that is not really the case in a lot of my own experience and from the research that I did. Most of my trans friends have very wonderful lives that are replete with all the same challenges and joys of cisgender people.

    The other young leads Robbie, Francesca and David are characters who slowly realise that they are being challenged by having the courage to lead lives that they want to live, and with convictions that they feel are right regardless of what society tells them, they should feel and how they should live. This is really what this movie is all about.

    BUY ERIC’S BOOK: I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved … Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who’ll Let Me Watch Football.

    RWD: How did you find the wonderful Michelle Hendley, and how important was it to you that you cast a transgender actress in this part?
    ES: Besides Laverne Cox, there is a very very small list of transgender actors and actresses who are successful enough to be represented by agents, and so they are hard to find. I Googled both ‘transgendered women’ and ‘transgendered actress’, and by a stroke of luck, I found Michelle’s YouTube channel. On all her Vlogs she was talking about her life and her boyfriends and the fashions she liked and she clearly had a performance bone in her body because she was not afraid to be on the net and do these very impressive videos. She looked the part and is young and very pretty and had the right personality. When I got in touch with her she was understandably dubious because she didn’t know my work so she wasn’t sure if my offer of an audition was legit or not. I also had my concerns as she had never acted before and it is a far cry from having the charisma to make a Vlog to being in a feature film. Not only that, she was going to be the star in my movie, which was going to live or die on the performance of her alone. So I rehearsed and auditioned her over Skype and then flew her to NY and had her workshop with other actors. It was a six-month process before I gave her the part and over that time she worked harder and harder and got better and better.

    I had a lot of latitudes because this was an indie movie with a small budget so I could cast anyone I wanted in that part. Had it been a bigger film with a lot more money behind it I would have been answerable to both investors and a studio and I would probably have been under a great deal of pressure to cast a famous cisgender actress in that role. While every actor can portray all sort of characters who they aren’t in real life, no one can argue with the fact that a transgender woman would have the absolute organic profound experience of being transgender. I also thought it an important element of this whole project that I give this unique opportunity to a transgender girl.

    RWD: Was the YouTube plot line in the movie then taken from the Vlogs in her own life?
    ES: No, not at all. I thought it would be unrealistic to have a movie where everything was just so completely fantastic in her life, so I wanted to ground her and show her exposing her more troubled and challenging part of her youth with her making these online videos. I got the idea when I was actually looking around on the Internet trying to find an actress to play the part. I don’t know how I ended up on this video of this young 13-year-old edgy Goth tough-looking girl who was doing this cue card video about being bullied. At the end of this video, she broke into a smile, which was so disarming and completely charming as it made her look so childlike and sweet and adorable. It literally broke my heart when I later found out that this particular girl’s life ended tragically as she either killed herself or was killed.

    Although Ricky’s story has a much happier and positive outcome with such a supportive community, I still wanted people to understand that she didn’t always have a perfect life. So the cue card video sequence is to show that she had struggled with things that we all struggle with in her youth.

    I always wanted it to be very realistic and in fact, it is on the edge of being a fable, but it was also a very crucial element to me to ensure that there is a lot of positivity in the story.

    RWD: You very surprisingly gave her a completely supportive father and a loving kid brother. Why was that important to you?
    ES: Again in the world of wanting to paint this transgender character as being realistic, I thought it important that she have a supportive family life. Like most people, I had suffered from the delusion that is born out of what the media tells us, which portrays transgender women as being victims of a system that denies them the same experiences as cisgender women and not having loving support in their world. In my research, I found that was simply not accurate and many of the transgender women I spoke with came from small communities in the South and were not bullied and had fully supportive families.

    RWD: I read recently that someone wrote about your movies/TV shows: “They all tend to centre around love, or lovin’ and losin’. Usually involving sexual taboos at some point “which are a huge fascination of his”. How true is that, and where does Boy Meets Girl fit into that spectrum as a cursory glance at your resume, this seems quite a leap.
    ES: I don’t think that this is a large leap at all. If one looks at my body of work you would see tremendous similarities with the themes that are running through this film with those in all my other films. However, I don’t mind people thinking it is a change because there are three big departures from my norm. Firstly I chose not to star in this film like I usually do, and secondly, I abandoned my usual setting of New York and placed the action in the deep South, and thirdly I was writing for the first time about people in their early 20s. However quite honestly to me, it dramatically talks about things that I have always talked about.

    RWD: You swept the board at the San Diego Film Festival winning 11 awards, and amongst the many others you have been awarded is the prestigious Iris Prize in Cardiff. Do you think that will help you get the movie beyond gay film festival audiences?
    ES: We opened in New York movie theatres two weeks ago and did extremely well and Wolfe Video who have the world rights are now rolling it out theatrically right across the US before releasing it on VOD/DVD later on.

    RWD: Has it been marketed as a romantic comedy or specifically as an LGBT film?
    ES: Marketing people hate it when I insist that it is simply a movie for people who like good movies. I love the fact that my audiences cut right across a radical age range and sexual orientation and gender race. All my films, especially this one, are heart films, and hearts speak to hearts, and everyone has one. We marketed the film not as straight or LGBT but as a smart edgy sexy romantic comedy.

    RWD: You have a reputation for putting a great deal of your own story in your movies, is that a fair observation?
    ES: People often say that, and I will admit that some of my stuff is autobiographical but quite a lot is not. Wirey Spindell which I wrote, directed and starred in, is totally from my life, and he is a character who I am very closely connected too. However, unlike him, I never made a death pact to kill myself at 30 (laughs).

    The characters that I play in my own movies are very similar to me so in that respect they have the same personality traits, albeit thinly veiled. After Fall Winter, a movie I set in Paris, has a BDSM backdrop and the leading character that I play is interested in a lot of physical and emotional abuse. So much so that some of my friends who know I write about my life expressed their concerned and said, “Eric should we be worried about you?” I told them not to panic; I do have an imagination too (laughs).

    RWD: Let’s talk a little about Eric Schaeffer. You have one of the longest and funniest titles for a blog ever which you parlayed into a book and then a TV reality series I Can’t Believe You Are Single. How do you like living your life out loud and so publicly?
    ES: Whilst I would agree that it would appear that I lead my life very publicly in terms of some of my work, what may come as a total surprise is that I am also fiercely private too. In my book, I am certainly very open about aspects of my life and in my series, you can see me in some very compromising situations. Having said that I am a performer and I am a director and I do understand that there is a bit of me in every character that I play. I did that TV series 7/8 years ago and I really enjoyed it as it was fun to do, but that chapter of my life is definitely closed. I think going forward creatively that less personal projects may be more interesting to me now.

    Our world is very fractured and there is still a tremendous amount of bigotry and suffering borne out of the delusion of separateness and I really want my work to unite people. I think that I’m just a regular old dude but the big difference between me and other old dudes is that I accept who I am and I talk about it.

    RWD: What gives you the most satisfaction?
    ES: I really enjoy creating TV shows and movies and being part of a community of people experiencing a TV show or movie that I have made. I was at a screening of Boy Meets Girl in New York last week and I saw two men who had their heads on each other’s shoulders as they watched the movie. When it ended they looked at each other and had a really sweet love heart kiss, and that brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the bond these two lovers had that in some way my film had helped them create, was just priceless to me. That’s why I do what I do.

    RWD: What’s next for you Eric?
    ES: I’m spending the next 6 months making sure that Boy Meets Girl gets in front of as many people as possible as it can. Unlike bigger budget films where the filmmaker’s job is done once the movie is in the can, the life of an independent filmmaker like me is completely different. It’s just like having a child but whereas well-funded filmmakers have nannies to raise them, as an independent director you are more like a single parent dad. Once I have given my child the best upbringing I can then I will start writing my next project that I have already had ideas for.

  • Everything you wanted to know about escorting but were too afraid to ask

    Everything you wanted to know about escorting but were too afraid to ask

    There are many professions that involve selling products, goods and services, but how hard can it be when the product you’re selling is yourself? We ask the winner of this year’s Hookie Awards (A more adult version of Britain’s Got “Talent”) all the things you wanted to know about being an escort but were too afraid to ask.

    We put your burning questions to Adam Dacre…

    What age did you start escorting?

    I did it once for a month when I was 23, but I made it a full-time profession at 27.

    You’ve just been crowned the UK’s winner of the Hookies. Was there a lot of, ahem, Stiff competition?

    There was quite a lot of “stiffness” going on back stage. The competition was very friendly. Even though I was going against big American names, we all became very good friends.

    How is the winner declared, do you have to go out with the judges, one night each? 

    Mostly it’s through online voting. But the regional London contest was also judged by a panel of industry judges and the cheering of the bar audience.

    What do you charge for a night and has this changed since winning?

    I’m afraid I have to keep this information to myself. Suffice to say this, I haven’t changed my fees since the competition. They are mostly based on my self-worth.

    What’s the most bizarre request you’ve had with a client?

    I don’t classify anything as bizarre anymore. But I do get a lot of total domination requests: from trampling, scatting, pissing, humiliation, etc.

    Do you have age limits you wouldn’t escort for?

    Nothing beyond 100 years old.

    Do you have a boyfriend and does he ever get involved with the escorting?

    Yes, we often get duo requests and really enjoy working together.

    What’s been the most embarrassing experience you’ve ever had?

    As a professional escort, I don’t really get embarrassed by anything. Some situations might be more uncomfortable than others, but never embarrassing.

    Do you ever escort groups and if so what’s been the largest party?

    Yes, I do. The largest would’ve been around 10 people at the time, but with many coming and going.

    Have clients ever asked for gifts at the end of the evening? 

    I did leave a pair of my underwear behind once or twice.

    Have you ever escorted anyone famous and if so would you give us a sneaky hint? 

    One of my clients was a Hollywood producer of a very popular movie series.

    What was your first and last client and what did they make you do? 

    Maybe I am lucky, but both of them were very nice experiences, that I would’ve enjoyed it even if I wasn’t hired. The first one even became a good friend.

    How do you prepare between each client? 

    Depends on what the job requires. Sometimes I have to look immaculate, sometimes I need to be more “au natural”. Whatever the requirements, I always put my mojo on.

    Do you ever bottom for clients and if so how do you keep yourself clean?

    In my case, it’s very easy, as I am a total top.

    Have you ever turned up and refused a client on meeting them?

    It happens very rarely, but if a client doesn’t treat you with respect, they are not worth having an experience with you.

    You can see more of Adam at: twitter.com/AdamDacreXXX

  • INTERVIEW | Mark Christopher: Making Studio 54 Gayer

    Not many filmmakers are as lucky as writer/director Mark Christopher who managed to fulfil a long cherished dream when he got to finally make a Director’s Cut of one of his movies seventeen years after the original was released.

    Christopher’s love letter to the New York disco scene in the late 70s about the infamous Studio 54 is a vibrant wonderful movie told from the viewpoint of some of impressionable young employees who were the heart and soul of the place.

    For a few short years in the late 1970s this was the Club in Manhattan where all the celebrities hung out and partied whilst all the desperate would-bes were kept outside behind the velvet ropes begging Steve Rubell, the very creepy co-owner and ringmaster, to be let in.

    Their efforts were all in vain as you had to have either a certain look or a gorgeous body for him to relent and admit you in to mingle with the stars.

    Shane a rather gormless New Jersey boy who was as cute as hell was in the latter group. This is his story, which starts off when Rubell tells him to remove his shirt and after he strips to his waist he’s invited into more than just the Club, and he stayed until the party ended.

    A very youthful and then unknown Ryan Phillippe puts in an unforgettable performance as the young innocent who got swept away in a drug and sex-fuelled world in an era that defined the whole disco explosion. Nightlife would never be the same, and Christopher’s new cut restores all the boldness and sheer vitality of what went down then in what will now become a new gay cult classic. I defy anyone to find anything hotter than watching Phillippe and Breckin Mayer, his best friend in real life, locking lips together.

    Roger Walker-Dack caught up with a very happy Mark Christopher after the movie had opened to rave reviews at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, and just before the movie had its UK premiere at the BFI Flare Festival in London.

    RWD: So why Studio 54, and where did the story come from?
    MC: I had been there in the 1980s when it had been resurrected after it had closed when its colourful owner Steve Rubell had been jailed for tax avoidance. Paul Schrader, the writer of Raging Bull & Taxi Driver, was my professor at Columbia when I was in Graduate school. and he introduced me to a lot of the people who were involved in the heydey of 54 which was 1977 to 1979. I started meeting everyone, one by one and interviewed everybody that I could. Whether they were the entertainers, but more especially the bartenders, cloak-check girls and the busboys because as you know that is what the story is really all about.

    RWD: You were a real newbie director at the time so how did you get a big studio to give you the green-light?
    MC: Well I wrote the script, that took a total of five years, and they liked it. I had made some short films at school that were well received and that Miramax liked very much, and they said that they wanted me to direct. So that part was unusually kind of easy.

    RWD: Ryan Philippe went from acting on a TV Daytime Soap and then leapfrogged to be your star. Why and how did that happen?
    MC: The producers and I wanted to discover a kid as this part called out for it, so once we had cast Salma Hayek, Mike Myers, & Neve Campbell then I was allowed to get my discovery. The movie took a year to cast so when I first auditioned him he was a real teenager, but by the time the process ended and he came back for his second audition after doing the movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer he was a young man, and we all loved him.

    RWD: Did the fact that he was playing an openly gay character on Days of Our Lives make a difference to you?
    MC: I actually had no idea at the time he was even playing that as he only told me later. I think his character was the first openly gay teenage character on a daytime soap on US TV.

    RWD: Several of your actors were then on the cusp of stardom so is that why the original movie was made more mainstream?
    MC: When I cast everyone they were all very promising and the only real established stars then were Mike Myers and Neve Campbell then. As we were shooting they were all becoming more and more well known which was exciting for everybody.

    RWD: How did you get all those major celebrities like Michael York, Cindy Crawford, Morgan Freeman etc. to do those walk-on parts as themselves?
    MC: Once Mike Myers signed on (and by the way he reached out to us to play what was one of his first dramatic roles) the movie became THE project in town to do. We became a hot subject, and so all these stars were practically lining up to join in.

    RWD: Who was your favourite one?
    MC: Lauren Hutton was wonderful, although she, in fact, had a couple of lines too, and I loved working with her. I also loved hanging out with Sheryl Crow in her limo on the set because she was so non-disco and so cool. Another person who had a very small part was Mark Ruffalo as Rico who is Shane’s best friend from his New Jersey days. This was one of his very first movie roles ever.

    RWD: What are the best parts that you got to restore in this Director’s Cut?
    MC: Well the story. It really is a love triangle between the characters played by Ryan, Salma & Breckin and it was so very important to me to restore that story. Secondly, restoring the look of the film that we had shot to be very dark. Shooting a film on film negative in a dark club is very hard to light. My DP (Director of Photography) Alexander Gruszynski did a marvellous job as we worked very hard on figuring out how to light it in a way that I experience a nightclub, which is very dark with flashes of light. I have never really seen a film that has done that to this day and the when the movie came out in 1998, unfortunately, they put a lot of light into it and it did not look like the movie that I had shot. Now we are back to the original look of the movie, which I think is gorgeous and makes me very happy.

    RWD: Do you know if Ryan, or Mike Myers or any of the others have seen your Director’s Cut, and if so what their reaction is?
    MC: All the actors are very excited and very supportive. Neve Campbell came out to Guadalajara for the screening at the Festival there, which was quite wonderful.

    RWD: What are you proudest about this movie now?
    MC: Just the fact that it exists and is out there and that Miramax are supporting it. It truly is like a dream come true for me.

    RWD: Looking back on that period in time, what memories does it bring back to you personally?
    MC: The whole concept of the film is that it is about the worker bees who were the backbone of this fabulous nightclub, so it brings back two things. Firstly reminds me of when I was waiting tables and serving people and all the craziness around that. The other thing it brings back is remembering how very exciting it all was. Even though I wasn’t in NY at the time in the disco era, even in Chicago where I was living I remember how every week an incredible new song would come out and that they all became immediate classics. It was a very exciting wild time and I loved it all. If we can just draw you back into that world for an hour and forty minutes with this movie, I would be totally thrilled.

    It was, after all, this one iconic Club that really gave birth to what all clubs are like now, and which is the main reason why that this subject of Studio 54 will live forever.

    RWD: There is one line in the movie that had me in hysterics and I have to know if someone really said to you personally “it ain’t the size of the ship, it’s the motion of the ocean”?
    MC: (Laughs) That’s a cliché. What I wrote was the response “Who told you that? your lover?” “No, his father!” (laughs).

    RWD: I laughed because it sounded so like you (laughs). Anyway, what’s next for you?
    MC: I’m working on script for a drama for Warner Brothers called Berlin which is set in 1941. I also have a couple of other TV deals, because working in television is exciting for me now as that’s where I get to do dark character work that I have wanted to do my whole life. I am also looking at other feature scripts but haven’t found the right one yet. I still teach too at Columbia, Drexel and Carnegie Miller.

    RWD: Now I always finish my interviews with the same question. If there was a movie made of your life, who would play you?
    That’s pretty obvious right?

    RWD: Well no, as I wouldn’t have asked if I knew.
    MC: Wouldn’t it be Ryan Philippe? (laughs). Don’t tell Miramax, but I already have his entire wardrobe (Laughs).

    RWD: Ryan Philippe then or now?
    MC: The younger version of me would be Ryan as he has already played me in this movie, and Denis Quaid would play the older version of me. Who would play me now? I guess Madonna!

    RWD: (Laughs) You always leave me speechless MC.

    For news of future screenings and DVD release https://www.facebook.com/54Movie?fref=ts

  • INTERVIEW | Tom Goss

    Google Tom Goss, I dare you. The guy is prodigious and will keep you online, amused, toe-tapping, for days! He’s been likened to Jack Johnson – they share the same penchant for flip-flops and casual chic, and guitars!

    His a renaissance man in that he writes his own materials, covers some tracks in a quirky and unique way, writes and acts in his videos, and has now dipped a toe into the world of straight acting with the imminent DVD release of the movie “Out to Kill” and 2, yes 2 of his music releases.

    I had the chance recently to pick his brains about his work, his love of bears, and his penchant for getting his kit off

    How would you describe what you do? What’s your “job description”?
    I describe myself as a singer, songwriter and video maker. Obviously it’s more than that but I try to keep it simple. I work hard to create meaningful and fun art. Like many independent artists, my productions often cross genres musically and visually. I try to push the boundaries and do things new and interesting. Most of all, I just want to touch people. If I make them smile or feel something they didn’t before they listened or watched, I did my job.

    You’re known for your original songs, but also for your cover versions. Which do you prefer doing?
    I prefer doing my own material, and I have a lot of it. My live shows are 95% original material. Luckily for me, that’s what most my listeners respond to most often. That said, the internet loves cover songs! That means I make fun cover videos. Similarly to above, I try to keep it interesting and different, you won’t catch me sitting in a chair just plucking my guitar. It’ll usually involve household items as instruments, loop pedals or crazy green screen antics.

    Your videos are well known for being quirky and slightly off the wall, who originates the ideas? Describe the process.
    I think about videos all the time. It’s how the world consumes media. It’s how the world consumes new music. Think about it, when was the last time someone posted an amazing song on their Facebook wall? It doesn’t happen. Now, if that amazing song is in YouTube format, it might just get posted. Sadly, an amazing song is nothing these days without an amazing video.

    That means I think about videos all the time. I come up with lots of ideas, not all of them are feasible (too expensive, too technically difficult, too silly), but some are. I’m churning over in my head how to make 3 different videos right now, hahahaha

    The process of creation usually starts by me convincing people that it’ll be fun, cool and possible. I’m very lucky, I have a number of great collaborators that embrace my ideas and help make them possible rather than dismiss them as too off the wall. That said, they’re not always my ideas. Every day people tell me what I should be doing. Usually they’re not up my alley, but every now and again people have amazing ideas (the music video for Lover was not my idea). I’m always willing to abandon an idea if someone comes along with a better one.

    In your recent All About that Bass, you semi-drag up with the wig and make-up – any plans to go all the way? And how do you “recruit” your co-stars?
    That video was an idea I pitched a couple days before shooting the music video for Wait (soon to be released). I saw we had a light shoot schedule so said, ‘hey, while we have the green screen up let’s make another video!’ There was some hemming and hawing (it turned our chill 2 day shoot into a frantic 2 day shoot) but everyone loves that song so we thought it would be funny.

    How we recruited? That goes back to me being lucky to have such fun folks around me. The folks in the video were my crew and a couple folks that had parts in Wait (the other video we were filming) that we convinced to dance in front of a green screen. It was really that simple. ‘MDQ’ is actually our on set makeup artist, he’s been doing makeup since Lover (2010). I knew he could sing so I asked if he ever performed in drag. Lucky me, he had some experience and we were off!

    You aren’t ashamed of showing off that body where does the confidence come from?
    I don’t know. To be honest, I’m not sure it’s confidence, I think it’s necessity more than anything. Sometimes my videos require some skin, so I show it. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with it over the years. I definitely would not have done it early in my career. These days I see it as fun and campy, I’m embracing my body more as a tool that can be used as sexy or funny or dramatic. Additionally, if we’re being blunt, my audience is gay men, gay men love videos with half naked men. So… there’s that too.

    Illuminate the Dark is one of our favourite tracks ever – what inspired it? And the appearance of Alex Minsky in your video was inspired – how did that come about?
    Thank you! It’s one of mine too. The director (Michael Serrato) and I were just talking about the song and it’s message of beauty and acceptance. We started seeing it as a literal illumination of that which makes us the most beautiful. I see beauty in places that most people don’t, I don’t know if that makes me lucky or odd, it just is. We started talking about people that were untraditionally beautiful, and we wanted to show them in a way where their beauty shone brightest.

    Alex Minsky is amazing and inspirational. He was one of the first people that came to my mind once we settled on a storyline for Illuminate the Dark. How did we link up? Honestly, I just sent him a message. I was shocked when he responded immediately. Obviously he’s beautiful physically, but his real beauty shines in his positive attitude and charming personality. It was a pleasure working with him.

    Now let’s chat about Bears? I love this song and its accompanying video – seems to be a message of acceptance and whatever your size, who cares? Love it – and wondered what the back story was? And for our British bears out there….any truth on your preference for bears?
    I love that people still ask me that question. I mean, I wrote a song and made a huge production about how ‘bears got the best of me’ and ‘bears are my fantasy’ but people still think it’s a put on, hahahaha. Of course I love bears! I’m married to a bear. In fact, he’s the big, bald, bearded, adorably dancing guy in All About That Bass and also the man I wake up to in bed at the end of Bears, in our actual bed mind you. I think that answers the back story too. In short, I LOVE BEARS!

    What other projects are you working on? What can your YouTube and Facebook fans look forward to next?
    Working on a holiday song right now (way quirkier than you’re thinking most likely) and finishing up a remix EP, both slated for a December release. I was in a movie last year ‘Out To Kill’ that releases on DVD 12/9. Other than that I’m writing a lot. Working on a couple bigger, still hush hush projects. Oh, and of course I’m performing. I’ll be back out on the road in 2015, singing, dancing and meeting awesome new folks.

    Keep up to date with all the news fit to print by going to:

    www.tomgossmusic.net

  • INTERVIEW | 8 BIT, The Man Who Discovered Lady Gaga

    If I said the name Rob Fusari, most people might not know who that was, but he has worked with some of the biggest names in the music world (Beyonce, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston) behind some of the biggest hits (Destiny’s Child’s No No No and Bootylicious, Whitney Houston’s Love That Man, Will Smith’s Wild Wild West and Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi) and is the man credited with discovering shy and retiring pop star Lady Gaga.

    Now going by the name 8Bit we had a little chat over the phone about the current music scene, the past music scene, Macy Gray, what he is up-to and what it was like to discover, work and fall out with Lady Gaga.

    Hey 8, Can you give us a little bio about yourself?
    Been making music for 15 yrs now, started as producer, songwriter, my first cut was with a group called Destiny’s Child, my first song I ever had published and recorded was No No No and that got to No.1

    That’s a pretty amazing thing to happen for your first ever attempt, that obviously laid out your path for the next 15 years, but what made you take the leap from behind the scenes to in front of the cameras?
    I guess the whole transition happened after Gaga in 2006/07, I did a bunch of songs for her 1st album, it was a blessing and a curse, it was definitely a pinnacle for me as a producer & song writer and as someone who developed artists. I had a lot of people all over the world reaching out to me looking for development who wanted to be the “next big thing” and I looked at a lot of artists but nobody really came to me and said “superstar” I didn’t get that feeling that I got with Gaga after meeting her for the first time.

    So I went a good solid 2 years maybe more in this kind of limbo stage of where I was supposed to be with this, I was losing sense of the music, I wasn’t inspired, and one day I woke up and just thought I gotta do music just for the sake of doing music, I just need one day to myself. So I wrote a song, I sang it and it just hit me and the clouds had lifted, I could feel the music again and that moment I just knew, I was the artist I was looking for, It head me over the head like a tonne of bricks and it just kinda grew from there. I wanted to incorporate my sense of fashion with my sense of 80’s music, Depeche Mode, Bowie kind of thing.

    I started playing a lot of shows, people were digging it and it turned into a bit more of a dance, EDM, pop kind of thing and it just keeps building and morphing from there.

    Well, I was gonna ask you what your influences where for your sound, because it’s quite kind of rock, dance, glam and theatrical isn’t it?
    Theatrical yeah and yeah that’s the right way to describe, I guess part of it came from growing up with a mother who was very glamorous, who was very Hollywood, she would take me to these shows, her home was decorated in a very Liberace way and she lived this glamorous, glamorous life, so I guess it has trickled down to me, and that’s kinda spilled over into the shows.

    You don’t really get that style of music in pop anymore, it’s more sexual, it’s kind of nice to see that come back a little bit!
    Totally, and part of that is what inspired me to take this role on, I was doing a session in New York about 2 years back and someone came in and we were talking, he said this one line and it hit me so hard, he goes “back when New York had a pulse” I went “Oh Shit.”

    So New York is dead! (laughs) Do you really think that’s true?
    I think from certain standpoints, creatively, music speaking it’s pretty dry, it’s all the same, it’s all very hipster, a lot of it feels similar and that’s not what New York ever was. You had your Rock on the Lower East Side, you had Studio 54 and all these different musical cultures.

    America seems to really have caught onto the EDM trend, you seem to have finally caught up with dance music, is that a good thing?
    I mean yeah, we’re just following you guys now (laughs) we follow now (laughs) but there (UK) everything is the same not many chances are taken, it’s like the record labels out here, they run, crunch the numbers and that’s it now. How many shows, how much did you sell, it’s a business now.

    Speaking of shows, I hear you’re touring with Macy Gray?
    Yeah man, it’s going to great, it’s going to be an interesting experience. (laughs).

    Your sounds are quite different, how do you think the audiences are going to react?
    I know! (laughs) It reminds me of when Prince opened for The Stones and yeah the reaction wasn’t great (laughs). He got booed off the stage, people were throwing cans of fruit at him. So yeah quite an odd pairing (laughs).

    To be fair, she is quite “out there” her self as a personality, so it kinda matches?
    Well she checked the project out, she’s a fan, she personally asked for us, so that’s cool.

    Have you met her?
    Yeah, she’s awesome, she’s the real deal man.

    Onto your name, where did you get 8Bit from?
    It came from the audio resolution when I was creating songs, it distorts it, it makes it grainy, it creates an analogue element, I started doing this early on, and kept doing it so it’s just one of my little tricks you know. So I feel like 8Bit, a bit grainy (laughs) Most people just call me 8 now anyway, which I love.

    It also sounds like a 90s sitcom name
    (Laughter) yeah yeah totally…

    Out of everything you produced what is the one thing that you’re most proud of?
    It’s something I did with Gaga, called Brown Eyes I just feel like we really captured the moment, when I listen to it, it puts me back into that place, the energy, the creativity and the excitement with her. It feels so 1970’s Beatles, I feel like I nailed it, It doesn’t feel like it was produced, felt like it just came from Gaga herself, which I love.

    On the subject of Gaga, what happened?
    You know it’s strange, I don’t know when the “breakdown” happened, I’m not ever sure I know, it’s kinda like two people were set on this path to go so far together, and I think in life when we try to fight that, it’s when (you) come into probs and conflict… I guess for me I didn’t want to face that. I wanted to be on that ride for as long as possible.

    When she went to Interscope (record label, part of the Universal family), it’s like setting a bird free, and you can’t expect it to fly back, it’s free and it soars. (Gaga) It just happened so big, so fast, it was mayhem, you try to hold on and it just wasn’t meant to be. I feel like we were put on this earth for that brief moment, it was like I’m supposed to find her, find her sound to develop her as much as I could.

    So now on the flipside, She was me, she, 8Bit and I was happy with that, but now I’m telling myself to do this for me, I want you eating this, I want you singing this – you know…

    It’s good that you seem settled with it now, and it’s good you’ve both made peace.
    It’s true, I’m glad I got to meet her, share the project with her, and she is a massive influence on me as an artist, I learned a lot from her, in terms of her personality, stage presence, how she writes and the way she thinks. I would never have gotten here to 8Bit if none of that took place. I would thank her today, I wouldn’t change a thing! 

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  • INTERVIEW | Simon Gross

    Mr Showbiz is back in the house. We caught up with him shortly before he went in!

    What have you been doing since you were evicted?
    It’s been mad. The eviction was a shock and the initial feeling was, “Why me?” Then I went into performing mode and said, “Well, I’ve had my five minutes of fame!” But I was gutted. I felt cheated. It was like being dragged away from your family even though I had only known those people for two hours. It was a horrible feeling. The Timebomb was a good idea but it was brutal.

    You were only in for a very short time but did you have any favourites?
    I’m a good judge of character and I really took to the twins. I love Chloe. Harriet I really like. I like the real people in the House, because a lot of them are not being real.

    Have you kept watching?
    Oh yes, I watch it avidly. I’m not sour!

    Who have you suspected of playing a game?
    Cristian, Kieran, Danny and Sarah, they’re not my sort of people. I think that they are plastic and boring. They’re not entertaining to watch and they are just arrogant and vain.

    You’re coming back in having seen it all. How will you use your knowledge?
    I don’t do fake and I’ll bring them back down to earth. There is no strength in that House and that is what I bring. It’s like a cake with no substance. I’m the icing on the cake, darling!

    What will you bring to the house this time?
    Entertainment…Electricity!

    Will you change your approach from the way you went in first time round?
    I was nervous, I had a few drinks and I went into Showbiz mode! I was very loud and I watched it back and thought, “Urgh!” but I made an impression and I will just go in there with a bang. That is the only way I can do it, but this time, I want people to see the real Simon who is a listener, a friend and a leader. Not just somebody who is flamboyant and loud all the time because there is more to me than that.

    Were you surprised to get the call asking you back?
    I was crying. I still can’t believe it. I was so emotional and I felt like I had won the lottery and now I have been given another chance.

    Now you’re a Timebomb yourself, can you live up to it?
    Yes! I’m just Simon. I’m big, I’m in your face but I’m real as well. No one got to see it last time but they are going to see it this time. The recognition I have had from the public has been tremendous just from that two hour stint. I was standing in Tesco on Sunday and there were people chanting “Showbiz” at me in the middle of the store! I will go in with a bang and live up to the Timebomb in my second, well-deserved, place.

    Will they be pleased to see you?
    Yes. I hope so. Why not? They seemed pretty shocked when I left, but if I walk in and there are long faces then I’ll just make my mark and say, “Well, I am back bitch” and get on with it.

    Is it an advantage to go out and come back in?
    Yes, of course! I have got to know the people more. I know what I am walking into. It feels like you’re bringing a new flavour to it and I feel privileged to be part of it.

    Are you nervous?
    I feel like you could do anything to me now and I would just bounce straight back.