It's odd that seeing a same-sex kiss in a music video is a political statement in 2016. You say you realised you could just 'do it' now, but did it feel like this would be possible at the beginning of your music career?
Well, being in the band has been a political awakening in one sense, because I've gained confidence as the band has received so much support. So now I'm responding to that support - I really care about these things, and I know now I should be implementing them in the work I create. But when you first start, well for me anyway, I was just very overwhelmed and didn't know what the **** I was doing, so I didn't think about it in the same way.
Does that mean what you do is sort of defined by being an 'LGBT musician'?
Probably, but it doesn't bother me. People often ask me, "Are you worried you'll be seen as a gay artist?" and
I think, "No, I want to be seen as a gay artist." As long as your creative output is the best it can be, then that's all that matters.
Were there any untraditional videos that inspired you when you were younger?
Well collectively a lot of music videos had an effect on me as a kid, I was always watching The Box and Smash Hits.
The Spice Girls, Billie Piper, Madonna - all these female artists were inhabiting their sexuality in their videos, and that was very inspiring for me.
But a specific video that resonated with me was The Knife's Pass This On. It's set in a cabin, and this drag queen is dancing to the song. I just remember there's a really cute young boy, in a room full of very typically straight looking aggressive looking men, who gets up and dances, and has this amazing sexual chemistry with the woman. It had a really big impact on me.
There's a big conversation around gay male musicians and, as demonstrated, there's been a relative degree of acceptance. But it feels like there hasn't been the same for degree of mainstream acceptance for gay women. How do you feel about that?
I have this struggle with it because I'm like, am I just perpetuating this white male dominance in the LGBT community? Which I think isn't helpful all the time. It's a difficult thing to talk about because we need more representation, but at the same time I would never want to devalue other artists whose work is really brilliant. Getting peoples' voices heard is really difficult, and there's this engrained systemic problem that denies opportunity to women and people of colour. It's so engrained, but I think there are slow signs of improvement. The media's reception to Jess Glynne talking about being with a woman seemed very positive.
Read more:
http://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/ol...ime=1458144276
He's just incredible
