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Gig Preview: Mika, HMV Picture House

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Gig Preview: Mika, HMV Picture House

By Gary Flockhart

Published: 20/8/2010

 

LIKE Marmite, John Gibson's column and swingers clubs, Mika is an acquired taste.

 

To some, he's a pauper's Prince; goofily camp, theatrically flamboyant, and irritating as hell. For others, he is a musical genius; a natural born pop star, with an innate gift for writing melodies that lodge themselves in the brain.

 

You either love or loathe him - and that's just the way the Anglo-Lebanese singer wants it.

 

"If you don't understand my music it's obviously not meant for you," says the 26-year-old, speaking ahead of his Edge Festival gig at the HMV Picture House on Monday. "My music is not calculated. It is a product of circumstance.

 

"It might appeal to you because of the life you've had,' he continues, 'or because you relate to the stories. But my music is not fashion. It's not sound. It's not scene. I was never accepted into a scene. I tried! And I would have liked it! But I can't and I just don't know how to do it. I don't know how to make any other type of music than the music I make."

 

Born in Beirut, Mika and his family fled the war-torn city when he was just a toddler to Paris. He spent almost a decade in the French capital before relocating for a second time.

 

"We came over to London then, so I went to this French school, (the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in Kensington) but got kicked out," he states matter-of-factly.

 

For a while afterwards, Mika - or Michael Holbrook Penniman, as he was known then - was schooled by his mother at home "She didn't tell the council I wasn't going to school. So for nine or 10 months I studied music at home, and then I started getting jobs, and then when I got good, and I got good quite quickly as I had nothing else to do, I thought 'Ooooh, this is good'," he laughs.

 

Having honed his musical skills at home, Mika returned to the classroom; first attending St Phillip's in south west London, and later Westminster School, one of the leading independent schools in the country.

 

"I was having quite a nice time at school before, but then when you become a teenager people are meaner to each other, less accepting and people start to judge you," he reflects. "People who were my friends started to not be my friends anymore, and started to call me a 'fag' and things like that, so I quickly realised the landscape was changing."

 

When Mika was 14 he decided to get in the faces of those who had labelled him a freak. "If I was going to write insults to people who were mean to me, I was going to do it in a pop song because then it'd be stuck in their head," he says. "Writing songs was all about empowerment."

 

His six million-selling debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, showed that Mika certainly has the ability to pen songs that lodge themselves in people's brains. He repeated the trick with sophomore effort The Boy Who Knew Too Much, a record that centres on his unhappy teenage years, the dreams and ambitions that drove him to become such a success, and the realisation of that grand plan.

 

"I wanted to write from the perspective of where I first started writing songs from," he says. "I wanted to go into it and embrace the darkness and the toughness of that period of my life, too.

 

"It's so hard being 16. Or 15 even," he continues. "It's hard looking at yourself naked in the mirror and thinking 'Who the hell's ever going to want to sleep with this?' But that's the truth.

 

"It's hard not having money, it's hard wondering what you're going to do with your life. It's hard being picked on, it's hard being screamed at for a million different reasons. All those things are terrible.

 

"But then there's so much joy in realising it all, coming home when you're 14 from that first night out when you've snuck out and it's like 'Oh my God! I have potential and power'.

 

"Back then," he adds, "my music was me saying to the world 'I know you laugh at me, but I can do something you can't do. I'm making my home-made bomb and I'm going to launch it in your face one day'."

 

A quick look at his press reviews and it's clear that Mika divides opinion right down the middle; a glowing five-star review here, a damning attack on his over-the-top pop there.

 

"People have such polarised opinions of what I do," he says, with the carefree tone of someone who couldn't care less. "It kind of fuels my attitude... I've got nothing to lose." Looking ahead to Monday's gig, the guy who gave us songs like Grace Kelly, Lollipop and We Are Golden says he's been wanting to visit Edinburgh in August for years, and can't wait to arrive in the city.

 

"I've wanted to come to the Fringe for about ten years now," he says. "I've never had a chance because I've been busy doing other things. So I'm really looking forward to coming, it's a cool show for me to do."

 

After the gig he will spend a day or two in the Capital, soaking up the festival atmosphere and hopefully catching a few shows. "I've been invited onto this comedy show where these two girls from LA pretend to be on a talk show, and they invite different people on.

 

"We kind of become victims of their roasting, but it should be a lot of fun." The multi-million selling pop star, whose flamboyant vocal style has been likened to Queen's Freddie Mercury, is known to put on lavish live shows - and Monday's gig will be no exception.

 

"The gig is going to be a big, theatrical show for the size of venue that it is," he says. "I've created a show that's a kind of collective chaos. It's different from what most artistes do, I think.

 

"I just did a tour where the setup was based on the Mexican Day Of The Dead festival. So it's like a huge funeral, with the puppets and masks and a big killing scene. It's kind of gory, but a comic-book gory.

 

"There's the contrast between sadness and joy but in the same way like a circus would. It's a carnival for two hours and we curate this carnival and we get people to join us. About 50 per cent of the energy comes from the audience."

 

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eloise.shaw

eloise.shaw

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"It's so hard being 16. Or 15 even," he continues. "It's hard looking at yourself naked in the mirror and thinking 'Who the hell's ever going to want to sleep with this?' But that's the truth.

 

Holy Moly. He was soo wrong.

OOOh, I hope i spot him around Edinburgh when I am there.

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Droopsy

Droopsy

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But I remember reading that quote not so long ago. I think I read it in the 'seven' magazine.:blink:

 

Yeah, I think they cut up bits and pieces from different interviews :thumb_yello: I think the only things I haven't seen yet are from the gig itself. It's nice tho that they do a preview :teehee:

 

or maybe he just repeats everything 20 times :lmfao:

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eloise.shaw

eloise.shaw

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Yeah, I think they cut up bits and pieces from different interviews :thumb_yello: I think the only things I haven't seen yet are from the gig itself. It's nice tho that they do a preview :teehee:

 

or maybe he just repeats everything 20 times :lmfao:

 

Probably:aah:

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Gatagordinha

Gatagordinha

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Does anyone know the tv-show he's talking about? I like to look it up at YT.

 

I don't think he is talking about a TV show. At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival there are lots and lots of live shows (music, comedy, performance art) going on in venues all over the city. I think he means a live show somewhere.

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MissPie

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Nice, t4p! :biggrin2:

 

"...and then when I got good, and I got good quite quickly as I had nothing else to do, I thought 'Ooooh, this is good'," he laughs.

:naughty: I like that quote!

"It's hard looking at yourself naked in the mirror and thinking 'Who the hell's ever going to want to sleep with this?'.."

LOL I've heard that before somewhere...

 

 

I kind of love what he says about being a teenager, because it's SO true. Being shouted at by your parents, wondering about what you're gonna do later and all ... but also the feeling when you've done something sneaky. Tricking parents is much more fun than it should be :roftl:

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Helli

Helli

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"It's so hard being 16. Or 15 even," he continues. "It's hard looking at yourself naked in the mirror and thinking 'Who the hell's ever going to want to sleep with this?'

 

ok who's first :naughty:

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Louiza

Louiza

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It seems like they've got quotes from many different interview to make this but it's a lovely article anyway.

 

Love this quote: "my music was me saying to the world 'I know you laugh at me, but I can do something you can't do. I'm making my home-made bomb and I'm going to launch it in your face one day'."

and this one: "People have such polarised opinions of what I do. It kind of fuels my attitude... I've got nothing to lose."

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