interview on digitalspay !

[arcenciel]

hi there ! I found this great interview, where he says he loves RufusW, and where he talks about bodies without organs and about big brother ! It think it's cool !

here's the link => http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a37640/mika.html

 

here are quotes :

 

if you listen to a mixtape of mine it'll have Shostakovich and then some Hot Chip, or something. It goes really well together, it's different forms of the same thing.

 

What's your USP? Do you think you have one?

"I think that I've definitely stuck to my guns all my life in terms of what my interpretation of what pop music should be. I've never thought of selling points - if I had, I'd probably not even have a chance at a career. I'd probably try and go onto Pop Idol or something."

 

I've always felt slightly different, but I've come to embrace that and use it to my advantage. When you're not part of a club you have to find another way of surviving.

 

"It's quite funny,[gracekelly] it's the most arrogant pop song you could ever imagine writing, but at the same time it's the most approachable and endearing thing.

 

"You know, I never thought of 'Relax' as being commercial, it was kind of like - how do you introduce yourself to people? A lot of it came from me, not the record company."

 

Most artists don't get the freedom to make the records that I make, with the support that I got, and very few artists get to do their own album art and illustrations on their website. I do them with my sister and a company called Airisde. So from the art to the records and the way that they sound, it's organic and it hasn't been overthought. Money has been spent on it, but we are the anti-X-Factor.

 

"Imagine one thing, right? Imagine if I got up in front of Sharon Osbourne and started singing 'Grace Kelly' to her face. That would be excruciating and it would probably be a horrific thing. But you know what, if they didn't say the most horrific things I would be disappointed in myself! Let's put Prince in front of them, see what they see, if they didn't know who Prince was, or Cyndi Lauper or something. It's karaoke-style!"

 

I kind of enjoy Big Brother, actually, and I look at Pop Idol in the same way. It's kind of cruel and I always feel slightly guilty, because I feel like I'm getting pleasure out of someone else's dreams. They should do another Pop Idol show like Pop Idol: The Breakdown, and they should follow these people around, the fall after they rise so quickly. I always wondered if those people were aware of what they were going into."

 

 

 

"Queen - it's almost like a lot of the melodies that Freddie Mercury wrote were in me when I was born. That kind of melodic sensitivity, maybe it's just a problem, a disease or something I was born with. So, when I heard it, it was like BING, that was exactly what I'd been hearing in my head, you know, I couldn't imagine there being anything else, you know, it was quite incredible! It gave me confidence that you could make huge sounding pop records, rock records, whatever, I call everything pop, to me The Fratellis is pop - if it's played on Radio 1 it's pop - it was great. You could make huge sounding pop-rock records that would fill stadiums and still stick to this intense way of writing melody. That was really great, it was quite empowering.

 

That's where I came up with the album title - Life In Cartoon Motion, because Homer Simpson can talk about anything he wants, from homosexuality to his problems with George Bush, and it's in a cartoon and everyone can relate to it and it's funny! It's loosely attached to reality, but it also has a serious point to make, and to me that's kind of empowering."

 

Let's talk about artists like Rufus Wainwright. He's had to work hard for his success - is that the way you see your career going?

"Do you think I'm stealing it? Haha. I've followed his career very closely, and I'm a huge Rufus Wainwright fan. His record is one of the records I've bought most times, simply because I want everyone to own them, so I just buy the record again and again and again and give away copies. Do I see my career going the same way as his? Quite frankly, no. I've worked really hard, resisted a lot of things already, over so many years, that potentially other people would have accepted, gone into music and made records I really shouldn't have made, so I was strong about that. I do relate to him as a writer, I don't relate to him as a performer. I don't see myself anchored at the piano. It's a different ballgame, although musically and specially in our writing, I really feel like I can relate to him. He's one of the best songwriters, whatever you want to call him, around at the moment. He really is genius - and the thing is, I think he really knows it. But he should know it!"

 

There's an arrogance there that keeps him going, I think.

"It's weird, firstly, I don't come from a lineage like his, so I've always been the one who's never been cool. At the same time, I really have this fascination about pop music through the ages, and I wanted to give myself a debut record that really, really tried to mix the elements of pop to mass market levels and American hip-hop levels, with real songwriting. I think the one thing that's enabled me to do that is the way that I write, sitting at my white piano. I don't know if he always wanted to make pop records, specially towards the beginning of his career. I think they're pop records, but most people don't. It's just different."

 

You said you're really into Rufus Wainwright. Who else do you like around at the moment?

"I like Beck, um, I like so much music, I devour it and I spit it out. It's really hard - I love, there's a little pop band I have an obsession with at the moment. They're called Bodies Without Organs and very few people know about them. They're from Sweden amd they make hilarious pop songs. Next to that, I'll listen to the new Muse record, or My Chemical Romance. The latest single by My Chemical Romance is just f**king genius, it's the biggest thing I've heard in a long time. Who else do I like? I like...this is really hard. I like the indie thing that's coming around. I think it's really fun. I actually did a photoshoot this morning - I had an incredible experience. It was this thing with Mick Rock, the photographer, for GQ, coming out in January. The Fratellis were there, and I went up and introduced myself and they were like 'yeah, hi' and walked away from me."

 

That's the indie snob thing!

"The indie snob thing basically means they treat me like s**t, and I don't really have a problem with that! But, I still enjoy their music, I think it's fun."

 

I know a lot of people who are indie kids, emo kids and think they know a lot about music when really they only know about one genre.

"It really confuses me how you can listen to any kind of music in isolation. That's one of the things that really frustrated the f**k out of me at the Royal College of Music! They listen to their own repertoire and their own classical music in such isolation. It's completely demented. I don't see how you could ever possibly do that. How can you be such a snob? To me, being a classical snob in the highest possible way and being an indie snob is just as bad! I kind of want to devour as much music as I possibly can - it's all there, what's the reason for not at least delving into it, just a little bit? Specially going back into the '60s and '70s, it seems that there was a lot more synergy - someone like Harry Nielsen could co-exist next to Joan Baez, next to the Motown records that were almost fabricated at some points. It really worked then, and I think there's a lot of separation now, but it's actually leaning, especially in this country, towards things working together. I think four years ago you'd never have a music issue of GQ with a band like The Fratellis and The Horrors and me, and a couple of other people being spotlighted together on the same issue. It's quite cool that it's coming together. I feel honoured to be part of that."

 

One musical recommendation?

"Oh god. One recommendation. S**t, this is hard. You should be listening to...argh...go check out Bodies Without Organs, if anything they'll make you smile! There's a song called 'Sunshine In The Rain', which is just pure genius."

[Ocean_Fairy]

Great interview, thanks for posting:thumb_yello:

[Mathou]

yep! This interview is very interesting!

[titania]

Thanks for this. I read this somewhere before, maybe on this forum-can't remember. After this I went and listened to Sunshine in the Rain - it really is funny- but in a good way.

[Steph]

Arcenciel, thanks, a great read, I've also stumbled accross it before , but now I shall take some more time reading it again, it is so good to find interviews that are refreshingly honest and frank

[jengafer]

the fratellis:fish: :gun_bandana: :gun_bandana:

[jengafer]

Fred havent you got 2 of the metioned relax singles!

[arcenciel]

the fratellis:fish: :gun_bandana: :gun_bandana:

 

I like them !! :mf_plasmawhore:

[jengafer]

i like them too:blink: , but they shouldnt be rude to Mika he is too sweet and polite.

[arcenciel]

i like them too:blink: , but they shouldnt be rude to Mika he is too sweet and polite.

 

yep you're right !! They needn't be so rude and snobish ... but i'm sure mika will have his revenge one day ( when he'll be a worldwide star they'll ask him for favours ) !

[mika_lover]

I have since listened to Bodies Without Organs and they are awesome!!

Especially the song Mika said about.

I must listen

to the interview coz I wanna hear him say F***....lol

[Steph]

rude or arrogance? I don't think many artists start out as such, I think their rise (and eventual fall) and the media hype and expectation makes them so, look at the latest Kaiser Cief interview

[ganymede]

LOL! I got this page through a google alert for Rufus Wainwright.

 

(and Rufus' records are pop, of course)

[babspanky]

All roads lead back to MFC.

[Steph]

mhm, I'm working on the interview....(with ref to my posts from earlier on...)

[Linnea]

Bodies without organs? They are swedish... I didnt know they were "none" in any other country. wow:naughty:

[Ms.Mewissa<33]

im listening to Bodies without Organs now

its fun!

im adding them to my space! xD

[Mika_forever]

Bodies Without Organs are great. I have all their CD:s:punk: Last year they where in the swedish outtaks for the eurovision song contest, but they came second...

[Sity]

Bodies Without Organs are great. I have all their CD:s:punk: Last year they where in the swedish outtaks for the eurovision song contest, but they came second...

 

That's where I knew them...

 

Mewissa, me too...

[ziema]

I like that Mika likes BWO. I love BWO Sunshine in the Rain is my favourite song by BWO.

 

The first time I saw a picture of Mika, I thought he looked like a cross between Martin Rolinski(the singer in BWO) and Hugh Dancy (British actor)