CULTURE
Jay Day
As Jay Brannan prepares to play his first Dublin gig ever, we shoot the breeze with him in an exclusive Irish interview.
Anyone who caught John Cameron Mitchell's 2006 indie comedy Shortbus knows that Jay Brannan can give a good gay Sex and the City turn. His role as Ceth, the sweet-tempered third wheel taken in by a struggling gay couple looking to re-ignite passions, was his most high-profile role yet (he currently stars in the new indie drama "Holding Trevor"), but the New Yorker's work as a folk-inclined singer-songwriter (with a new album, Goddamned, out now) looks set to eclipse it.
We spoke to him as he gears up to play in TriPod on September 2, and he’s looking forward to coming to Dublin for two very special reasons – Dolores O’Riordan and Sinéad O’Connor. Having said that, he wouldn’t mind meeting an Irish guy along the way…
GCN.ie: Have you played in Europe before?
Jay: I went over there last November and played two shows in London, one show in Paris, and one in Tel Aviv. I’ve never been to Ireland though; I’m kind of excited about that.
I’m really lucky; I get great audiences wherever I go. They’re really supportive and attentive. I guess each culture is different too, particularly when you are in a country where the native language isn’t English. I always talk a lot between songs to make myself a little less nervous and I wonder if they can understand anything I’m saying and I probably look like a fool.
Like in France they were completely silent throughout the show and I was thinking, ‘Oh, no, they’re really bored!’ But at the end they gave me this huge reception, a standing ovation for ages. They just wouldn’t leave the room and it was this really small venue, so I had nowhere to go. They just stood there and I just stood there for about five minutes – it was strange but good.
Tell me a bit about the process of making the album. What were you thinking about when you were recording it?
This is my first full album. I started playing shows about two years ago. Acting in the film Shortbus helped build my on-line community a lot. I had a song in the film and so when it went across the world it brought a lot of traffic to my myspace page and my youtube page. I’ve tried to maintain activity in those places and with that I was able to build a bit of interest on-line.
I didn’t have any recorded music so I borrowed some money to go into a studio for about two hours. I pretty much recorded live acoustic sessions - just me with my guitar. I put those up on iTunes and then I took the money I made from those and from live gigs I did on and off, and instead of quitting my day-job, I saved the money to make an album. So, I paid for the whole thing myself. I found a producer I liked and I went to LA to record it with him.
I wanted to maintain the same feel as what I’ve been doing, which up to this point is just me with my guitar, and add a little more texture in with some other raw, acoustic, string instruments and some light percussion. I’m pretty happy with the results.
For your Dublin gig are you doing an acoustic session or are you bringing a band?
It’s just going to be and my guitar. My friend, Bitch is coming along to open the shows in Europe. She plays violin and she has joined me on stage in the past, so maybe I can convince her to come on stage with me for a couple of songs.
You’re a gay man and you’ve acted in gay movies and you sing songs with gay lyrics. Do you have any fears about being pigeonholed as your career develops?
A little bit, yeah, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that hiding it is an option for me. I do what I do to express myself and I need to be myself to do that. My artistry is very much tied to honesty and I just try to write accurately about experiences.
It does become a little frustrating, though, when my being gay is the focus. It’s more frustrating within the gay media, because that’s almost more limiting than the mainstream world because that’s the thing they’re most interested in – me as a gay performer. So there is a balance to be struck, because I just want to be a musician. Gay has become an industry and people are making lots of money off it, and that’s fine for them but that’s not the be all and end all for me.
Have you been interviewed much outside the gay press?
Yeah, definitely. Shortbus had a very wide following. Sure, it had a lot of gay fans, but it went to a lot of mainstream festivals and had a big heterosexual following too. The main character in the film is a straight woman. So, I’ve been lucky to have the same kind of interest, and I really try to balance it up.
Shortbus was relegated to the adult only search engine on imdb.com. What is your response to that?
I thought it was silly and frustrating. If they want to put an adult label on something, that’s fine, but the fact is that when they do that, they take it out of their public databases and you then have to actually be a member of imdb to access information on it. I thought that was really stupid and sad, that something that discusses or explores sex on a public level is hidden away like that.
In Shortbus you were part of an infamous rimming scene. How was that for you? Did it make you feel vulnerable?
It was definitely a personal challenge; it wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever done. John [Cameron], the director was very careful to make it feel as comfortable as possible. There was only a skeleton crew on the set at the time and they were checking in with the actors all the time to see if there was anything we needed.
We developed the film over a period of two and a half years before we made it, so we had a hand in developing the characters and story and had all become very close by then in an artistic and collaborative sense.
The hardest part is trying to be aroused in what feels like a very non-sexual environment. It’s like start and stop under very bright lights and we weren’t even in a bed. We were in the middle of this room using, like, the furniture and it was a really hot day during the summer and we had to turn of the air conditioner when we were filming because of the noise from it. If you’re going to be on film, you want to look your best, so that was kind of an added pressure.
How did it feel to see yourself projected large?
I’m okay with it. I can handle it, I guess. Knowing that people have seen me naked in a movie doesn’t make me as uncomfortable as, like, filming the scene with a camera on you and eyes on you. When people are watching the movie, their focus isn’t really on you in the same way.
Did your parents see it?
I’m not sure. If they did see it, I’m not sure they would tell me.
Tell me about Holding Trevor?
It’s a film that my best friend wrote. It’s the first script he ever wrote and he did it as kind of an experiment about two years ago. We sent it back and forth between us – he would write a draft of it and I would give him feedback. He wrote it for us to make together but I don’t know if we ever dreamed how it would get made. So, when we came to the time when the script felt finished, it kind of evolved on its own.
Obviously he had a lot of ambition in getting it made, and we found a director in LA who was into doing it, and eventually we made it for like no budget at all. It’s made its way around the world in festivals and has distribution so it’s like the little film that could, something we never dreamed would happen.
We haven’t seen it here yet, so can you tell me what it’s about?
It’s always a hard question. My friend, Brent Gorski stars in it and he plays Trevor. It’s about his personal journey at a certain time in his life. It’s about him being an existential twentysomething and he’s sort of getting out of a relationship with a drug addict. He meet someone else and he has to decide if he’s ready for something to happen, or if he should figure himself out before he gets involved.
What’s more important to you, acting or singing?
I want to do both. I’m very interested in doing more film and possibly TV, and I’m obviously very much into the music thing too. I think they play off each other, especially in this age when the entertainment industry is falling apart in a sense, so people have to use the Internet. Creatively I would like to do both. It’s easier to pursue music because I can do it on my own. To do film, you have to have a whole industry around you, but I can just create music at home in my living room and put it up on the Internet, or go out and play live mike gigs.
You have made very strong use of the Internet. Do you attract stalkers or strange people?
Not really. People are people, you know, and the people on the Internet are all real people. A lot of people have that feat that everyone on the Internet is not who they say they are, like they’re pretending to be a 21 year-old girl and they’re really a 60 year-old man. That’s a very antiquated view of the Internet. We all use it and it’s something that’s tied people together across really long distances.
They’re all pretty sane. Certainly there are people who are a bit more aggressive than others and I am getting a little bit more funny situations coming up.
Do you want to tell me about a funny situation going on?
There’s this one guy who emails me quite a bit who is apparently telling people that he’s my Dad. But when people seem a little bit crazy, all you have to do is ignore the email. It’s not like they’re showing up at my house. It’s pretty safe.
So, tell me, who are your musical influences?
I like mostly sad, angry women –’90s women like Tori Amos, Ani DeFranco, Bjork, Fiona Apple. Some of the new albums I like are by Regina Spektor and Meoko. Bald Irish women are some of my biggest influences. Sinéad O’Connor and Dolores O’Riordan – that’s why I pushed for a show in Dublin. The Cranberries’ No Need To Argue is like in my top five albums of all time.
Do you really wanna be a housewife?
Pretty much. When I wrote it I was 19 and to me it’s a song about wanting to be in a relationship and not having to have a job.
What’s your relationship status?
Single, I’m afraid.
You could meet a nice Irish man and end up living in the land of Sinéad and Dolores.
Do you have free health insurance there?
Jay Brannan plays Crawdaddy in Dublin on September 2, get tickets here