Rufus Wainwright has provided the world with spectacular music that has managed to bring less-conventional genres into the spotlight. While still not completely mainstream, he has huge followings the world over for his theatrical performances and classical/jazz/pop/folk blend of music. He brings a wordy, fun, and very open character to his music, and is pretty candid about his life to anyone curious enough to ask him about it. I caught up with the musician in the middle of a whirlwind of press during the afternoon of a recent Vancouver date of his. Due to so much press coming in from all sides so quickly, Cord only had about ten minutes with him, but he's such a well-spoken man, the short duration was no hindrance to the things he told us (and while we didn't get around officially to the Ten Questions, we managed to touch on a couple of them, and then later in the day, I cornered one of the members of the Orchid Highway to do up the 10Q for us...).

Earlier this year, Wainwright came out with a gorgeous album called Want:One. After discussing if he had any underlying meaning to the title (plays on words etc. - he didn't), he expressed how he came about the idea to release two albums of material relatively close together. Want:Two is slated for indeterminate release, likely early 2005. "… I did just end up with that much material [to release two albums]. It was not a conscious decision at all. I basically went into the studio, you know, after doing some personal maintenance and re-evaluation and R&R, and basically somehow that struck oil. And I just worked every day and it just sort of came gushing out of my mouth."

Politics remain important to him, and, along with the label's wishes, are commandeering the release of further material. "There's about four or five tracks which have to come out before the [US Presidential] election. And so that's definitely happening. I don't think I'll probably get it out before next year at all, I don't feel, with the entire project. Just because there's been so many changes with me in my business relations, you know, changing record companies. And also they really want to work this first album. Want:One is being re-released in England… they gave me Madonna's PR person and I'm touring with Sting for a while, so for me to sort of throw another record out there at this point for me would be a little suicidal. But I do still have to get those four or five songs out before the election because they do very much capture the state, the aura right now, which is pretty dark."

Being that Wainwright has been through a lot in the last while with his health and his mindset, one wonders what his aim might be with writing, whether he uses it to heal himself or just to organize his thoughts. "For me it very much heals me. I mean, oh yes, by far, definitely. I'm very much about being a songwriter and an artist and a… you know, sensitive guy, (smiles) you get kind of… you really can see the world in a very dark tone. And certainly songwriting - it makes me feel more powerful I think. It gives me power, which I really need. And I don't mean… empowerment is maybe a better word. Which I really need to sort of function."

But he's by no means selfish about that. He wants to be able to help other people as well. "Well I hope it empowers other people too to be happy… I'm really one of those romantic people who will see an attractive person and think immediately that I'm the scum of the earth, and, I don't know, I have this way of looking at the world where I'm just sort of the lowest person in it. It just happens. But then when I get into music it just pacifies a lot of that negativity… I think that happens a lot to people who listen to my music where it isn't about what you look like or about what you… how much money you have or how fast you can dance. It's just about being… it's about love."

So being about love, how important is it for him to keep his family, also by and large very accomplished musicians, involved in his tours and recordings? Many of his family members show up on both. "It happens… I don't really have an agenda with it. But the truth of, the fact of the matter is that each member of my family - of my immediate family - is such an incredible artist and we're all so diverse that we can't help but sort of pop up around each other. So it's cool but there's definitely no sort of forcing it. We do shows together sometimes just for fun."

Much of the material he has these days includes huge string arrangements. While he brought a string player on tour with him this time around, I was curious if he'd ever do shows with a full orchestra. "I would love to! I'd love to, I mean, I think it's hard because there's… I mean a lot of people ask me about downloading, what I think about it, and on a moral level, I don't mind it. I think people should get what they can afford and I do know that there's people who just can't afford to buy albums and so forth. But on they other hand… you can't have those big tours anymore, you know. Unless it's Britney [Spears], unless it's Justin Timberlake.They have all the budgets. So therefore, other music which isn't quite as mainstream can't be as lavish. So you kind of pay the price for it in the end."

Breaking away a little bit, we talk about the differences between Montreal, where he was born and grew up, and New York, where he lives now. Being the artistic nerve centers of their respective countries, and him having spent so much time in each, I wondered how he feels about them. "Interesting. New York is very… you know, New York's my town! (laughs) I mean, I own New York. They need me there. I came to New York basically, so I feel very much at home there and very, very appreciated and very hooked in to the artistic milieu and the intellegentia and so forth. Montreal, I go back there and all that is quickly stripped away. (laughs) and I'm ten years old, running around, looking for my mother. So Montreal is very humbling, when I go back to Montreal all the time."

Ending this brief chat on a light note, I ask him what musical era he'd go back to if he could place himself in any point in history. " I would have to say definitely the baroque era. They really were educated then in music. I was thinking yesterday when I was standing around… 'I wish I was as good as Mozart was, but I just don't have the education.' Well, he's a bit later - he's Classical. But they were just so well-trained."

Well, now we know where his heart lies. He has nothing to worry about for lack of musical education with his familial heritage and his obvious talents. He's a rare breed of entertainer these days, and seems to be in finer, definitely healthier shape than he ever has been.

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : rufuswainwright.com
Published : June 7, 2004.