It’s been one helluva year for Antony Hegarty. Within 12 months, the British born, New York-based songwriter has literally gone from being an underground secret to the next big thing. Earlier this year, the readers of Mojo nominated him for Best Newcomer Award and in September he scooped the Mercury Music Prize with his sublime second album, I Am A Bird Now. Patti Smith personally invited him to perform at her recent Meltdown festival at the Royal Festival Hall and his increasing fan base includes legends like Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave and Tori Amos. Endearingly, none of this seems to have gone to his head; he refers to himself as ‘the cleaning lady’ and makes self-depreciating remarks about his ‘dodgy voice’. A friendly, six-foot-four angel dressed in black jeans and T-shirt, he’s more handsome than his press shots suggest and extremely easy company. Sarah-Jane met up with him on a recent trip to London and grilled him about his life-transforming music.

DIVA: Your album sales are going from strength to strength and your forthcoming tour sold out within days. Have you been pleasantly surprised by your success?

Antony Hegarty: I have, yeah. I’d hoped there’d be an audience for my work, but I didn’t expect there to be such positive interest from such a wide variety of people. As you can probably tell, I still find it quite shocking and exciting.

DIVA: Why do you think people have embraced your music so passionately?

AH: I think it’s a matter of timing. I think we’re at this particular window of time where people want something that feels authentic and heartfelt. We live in such an accelerated, consumer-based world, that a lot of the time those things seem absent. I’m not saying everyone that buys my record or sees me live will think my work is heartfelt and truthful, but I think that’s one of the reasons people relate to it. The only other reason I can think of is it’s quite slow, sad music and a lot of people might find that quite comforting. It doesn’t matter what mood I’m in, I always gravitate towards music that speaks to me and makes me feel better.

DIVA: Diamanda Galas once said emotion and intensity is more important than hitting the right notes – would you agree?

AH: She says that, but she’s probably never hit the wrong note. She’s at least the greatest singer in America, if not the world. I’m an enormous fan of her work and her voice. Compared to Diamanda, I’m as wobbly as a pair of old knees. I definitely agree with where she’s coming from, though. If you look at Nina Simone or Billie Holiday, they only sang two or three notes. The thing that made them special was the emotion and intensity in their voices and the fact they were telling the truth.

DIVA: There are a lot of interesting reference points in your work, from your record sleeves to the artists you cover live. Is it important people decipher these?

AH: I can’t underestimate the importance that people like Candy Darling and Velvet Underground have had on me, but it doesn’t bother me if other people don’t like them or know who they are. If anything, I like the idea of the references being there for certain people to discover or acknowledge, the same way I discovered and acknowledged people like Leigh Bowery and Klaus Nomi through Marc Almond and Boy George.

DIVA: Singing with Marc at the Royal Festival Hall last year must have been a special moment for you.

AH: It was like watching a movie. I look back and still don’t know how it happened or how I managed to get through it. He was my idol for so many years, I honestly don’t know how I didn’t fall to pieces. I remember sitting in my bedroom night after night, playing his records and studying his photo, and somehow he always managed to draw me towards the light. He was my entire focus throughout my teens and I feel honoured to have met him and shared a stage with him.

DIVA: Have you become friends with him and Boy George since you’ve collaborated?

AH: Yeah. We’ve kept in touch on and off since our initial meetings, and to my shock and horror they’ve been very gracious about me and my music. They might decide to disown me if they hate the next record, but I feel very lucky I’ve got to meet and hang out with them both. It’s been a long circle to get to this point and there’s still part of me that looks at them through the eyes of a 12-year-old. I remember reading a quote from Marc Almond that said: ‘Never meet your heroes’, but I’ve found the opposite to be true. I’ve met most of mine now and it’s been nothing short of brilliant.

DIVA: Devendra Banhart and Rufus Wainwright both sing backing vocals on I Am A Bird Now and you’ve just collaborated with Cocorosie on Beautiful Boyz. How did you hook up with them all?

AH: A mutual friend introduced me to Rufus and I met Devendra and Cocorosie a few years ago. Some people might say their view of the world is a bit innocent and naïve, but I think it’s incredibly wise and beautiful. I really believe in them and their visions; they’re complete originals and they’ve been a tremendous influence on me.

DIVA: The chorus to Beautiful Boyz‚ with its kings and queens and queer criminals, sounds like a hymn to Jean Genet.

AH: Yeah, I love those girls so much. They’re only in their 20s, but their reference points are really interesting subcultural writers and film-makers. The 90s was such a rotten time for self-expression and queer culture that it felt like all the interesting people had been run over and left rotting in the hospital. The one good thing that came out of 9/11 is it seemed to make people in New York wake up and start creating again.
Suddenly, all these ghosts of queens and queers from Christmas past started resurfacing, and people started joining the dots and expressing themselves again. I’ve spoken to curators all over the world and a lot of them say they’ve witnessed a similar thing.

DIVA: When did you first start experimenting with your identity?

AH: I had a brief flirtation with make-up and different haircuts as a teenager, but it wasn’t until I moved to New York and started performing at the Pyramid Club that I really started to experiment with clothes and ‘drag’. I was in my early 20s at the time and pushing to find my identity and my limits. I have a deeper understand of who I am and how I define myself now, but I still feel quite grey when it comes to certain areas. I definitely have more questions than answers, and I think I Am A Bird Now expresses that quite well.

DIVA: One of the things that makes your records so compelling is the way you write about transgression, transformation and gender ambiguity.

AH: For me, it’s about self-expression and creating a dialogue of creativity. I was talking to a friend about this the other day, and I think it’s fascinating and horrifying that from such an early age we’re taught to identify ourselves and everyone around us in terms of gender. One of the first things we learn at school isn’t how to treat everyone the same, but to act and behave in a masculine or feminine way. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’m really looking forward to the day when all children are encouraged to grow up and not think of themselves as male or female. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

DIVA: It’s amazing to think we’re living in 2005 and there’s still a long list of
things which are considered inappropriate for boys or girls.

AH: It’s unbelievable. In Native America they used to have this ceremony where the boys’ tools were put together in a circle and the girls’ tools were put together in a circle, and each of the children would be encouraged to choose which tools they liked the most. If a boy chose the girls’ tools, he would do a dance around them and that would be seen as a declaration of who he was. I’m not sure if it still happens, but I love the fact that the whole community would gather round and the kids were encouraged to celebrate their duality.

DIVA: What’s interesting in our society is that when we become older, the division about gender becomes transferred to sexual identity and whether people are gay or straight.

AH: Absolutely. I think the fact we’re led to believe we’re different because of our sexuality is a hoax that’s been pulled on us. When you think about how much time you actually spend having sex compared to how much time you spend eating or talking or listening to music, it’s really not that significant or important. I might be an active homosexual for an hour here and there, but I’m myself 24 hours a day. Obviously I have quite a big gay and lesbian fan base, but I’m hopeful that the thing that binds us together isn’t our sexual orientation – it’s the fact that we’re all special in our individual ways.

DIVA: Do you think we’ll ever reach a time when sexual orientation becomes a non-issue?

AH: I’d like to think so. I think it would be much more interesting to look at people in terms of their character and personality, and ask; what else is there about them that makes them different, and what else is there about them that could be celebrated and treasured? I think the whole message behind my story isn’t ‘this child is gay’, it’s ‘this child is different’.

DIVA: Would you say your songs are partly autobiographical and partly fictional?

AH: I’d say there’s an element of truth and experience in all of them. Some of them are my stories, some of them stories about people I care about and am inspired by. Basically, it takes me so long to write and craft each song that I try to write about things which are important and meaningful to me. I would probably sell more records if I sang about other things, but I don’t see the point.

DIVA: Both Fistful of Love and Cripple and The Starfish could be interpreted as an homage to sadomasochism.

AH:That’s not really my thing, but I haven’t got a problem with people interpreting them as that. When I wrote those particular songs, I was at an age when I was questioning the kinds of relationships I’d had and the kind of relationships I wanted to have. I was also looking at how far one person would go for another in terms of emotion and commitment rather than violence.

DIVA: So really they’re songs about personal transgression and the dark side of love?

AH: Exactly. To me, both those songs are part of a long lineage of dark, playful love songs, from Velvet Underground’s Venus In Furs and Millie Jackson’s Hurts So Good to Hole’s Live Through This and The Crystals’ He Hit Me and It Felt Like A Kiss. It’s funny people love them so much because they’re like Rubik’s cubes to me now. Some nights I turn them over and over, and still can’t imagine where they came from.

DIVA: Different aspects of love seems to be a recurring theme in your work – do you fall in love a lot?

AH: I’m not sure how to answer that. I guess I fall in love quite easily and seem to have lots of feelings for people, but I don’t always act on them. There’s a boy I’m meeting tonight who I’m quite keen on. He’s coming to London especially to see me; I’m quite excited about that.

DIVA: What qualities and characteristics do you look for in a man?

AH: Two legs – but one will do one if he’s got a pretty face. I’m not an expert at relationships or picking up men. As for my records, most of the songs on there are about love between friends and families rather than romantic love.


I Am A Bird Now is available on Rough Trade and Cocorosie’s Noah’s Ark is available on Touch & Go. Antony and the Johnsons play York Opera House on November 23rd, Glasgow Academy on November 30th and Shepherds Bush Empire, London, on December 5th. For full tour dates, visit www.antonyandthejohnsons.com