Logan Lynn Music » Interviews

Queer Celebrities Need Love, Too: An Interview with Matt Alber, Bruce LaBruce, Daniela Sea, Danny Roberts, Jackie Beat, Holcombe Waller, and Matthew Zink

Logan — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:45:20 +0000

(Originally Published on The Huffington Post – 1/17/2012)

In keeping with the theme of love, family, and relationship from my last post, I reached out to some famous friends to see what their thoughts were on the subject.

Singer/songwriter Matt Alber, filmmaker and photographer Bruce LaBruce, actor and musician Daniela Sea (from Showtime‘s The L Word), TV personality and activist Danny Roberts (from MTV‘s Real World: New Orleans), drag superstar and electrosleeze pioneer Jackie Beat, composer and singer Holcombe Waller, and “Charlie” Swimwear designer Matthew Zink all weighed in on the same five questions:

1. If you could sum up your concept of “relationships” in one word, what would it be?

2. What is your favorite love song of all time?

3. If you could choose any actor to play you in the movie version of your life, who would it be? What about them is you?

4. How has the relationship between your mother and father influenced your ideas about love and relationships?

5. What three qualities do you look for in a partner?

Here come their answers! (Drum roll please…)

Matt Alber

Matt is a singer/songwriter and all-around pop phenom. Dude’s cover of Madonna’s “Take a Bow” from his new record Constant Crows will make you cry. So will his “End of the World” video.

1. I guess it would be “listen.” My first answer was “summer sausage,” but then I realized that is two words.

2. Hands down, it’s gotta be “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, 1) because we have the same birthday, and 2) because I got to sing it with a live band at the Playboy Mansion when I used to make my living as a singer in Los Angeles’ top cover band.

3. Ryan Gosling is my first choice, but mostly because of those sweet, dreamy eyes. Of course, if Jake Gyllenhaal is free, please ask his agent if he would consider the role. You can tell them that the “losing his virginity” scene will be a hell of a lot more comfortable than Brokeback.

4. My parents spent the better part of their young adult lives at war with one another. I’m very close with both of them, and they’d agree with that statement. Their relationship was founded on a lot of hope, but also on a lot of control. I think true love means you speak up lovingly when your lover crosses a personal line, and that every conversation comes back to “I want this to work” more than “I want to be right.”

5. His masculine playfulness, his handsome face I can’t stop staring at, and his chili.

* * * * *

Bruce LaBruce

Over the years, Bruce has been called everything from pornographer to genre genius, but one thing is undeniable: he is authentically himself, and I love that. Watch the trailer for his latest film, L.A. Zombie.

1. “Love,” “love,” and “love.”

2. “Sara Smile” by Hall & Oates.

3. Lindsay Lohan, because she’s ginger like me, a brat with criminal tendencies like me, and I think if she played it a bit more feminine than she usually does, she could nail me. Plus, she needs a good comeback role.

4. My parents will have been married 60 years in February, so I guess I’ve learned about stability and longevity from them.

5. Topness, unrehearsed masculinity, and gentleness.

* * * * *

Daniela Sea

Daniela is a filmmaker, musician, and actor, and is best known for her role as Moira/Max on Showtime’s The L Word.

1. Unique in each incarnation: on Valentine’s Day, “relationship with a lover” comes to mind, of course. But “relationship” is a great word for the interconnectivity of all things. My relationship to the Earth is precious to me, as well as to the animals, to my fellow humans, and to the elements that bring life to the planet. My relationship to my family and to the communities that hold me up gives me joy every day. Each spirit is unique and intertwined; being in relation to all beings in all the universes is a truth that sustains me. This is love.

2. There are some great ones, but I’ll go back to my childhood roots, my mom spinning Joni Mitchell on the record player as I swung in the living room hammock: “A Case of You.” She sings, “Part of you pours out of me in these lines from time to time.” I could be much more avant-garde or punk rock, but honestly, that would most likely take the prize.

3. Would I play me? If not myself, than perhaps Agnes Varda would make the film, and play me and herself? She’s my hero.

4. I learned that love can be unconditional and everlasting, however it shifts shape.

5. For me, a good mix of curiosity about the world, kindness, wildness, and a free-spirited soul. A great mind and heart is right up there, as well.

* * * * *

Danny Roberts

Danny first appeared as himself on MTV’s The Real World and has been an outspoken voice from the LGBT community for over a decade.

1. “Unity.” A relationship is a mutually beneficial arrangement where two people uplift each other, encourage each other, and support each other in every way possible. There’s no one way or best way of going about this.

2. “All Is Full of Love” by Björk.

3. Jude Law: he plays an amazing brooding cynic.

4. Well, I certainly learned from them that it’s give-and-take and that it’s important to compromise and give a person room, but at some point you have to put your foot down and bring them back to center, and it’s always a two-way road. I also learned that two people can work through a tremendous amount of adversity and continue to love each other.

5. Must be down-to-Earth and centered, must love to continue to explore and learn in life and have a natural sense of curiosity, and must have a sense of humor and never take this short life too seriously.

* * * * *

Jackie Beat

Jackie is a star of stage, screen, and sound. Her band Dirty Sanchez might as well have owned the rights to the electroclash movement a few years ago.

1. “Friends.”

2. “How Beautiful You Are” by The Cure.

3. Miss Piggy, for all the obvious reasons.

4. Listen to the song mentioned in the second question and you tell me!

5. Kindness, a sense of humor, and a deep-seated lack of self-esteem.

* * * * *

Matthew Zink

Matthew makes the beautiful people more beautiful through swimwear. Check out his new collection.

1. “Partner.”

2. “I Really Got the Feeling” by Dolly Parton.

3. That is a hard question! Maybe Ryan Gosling… I am such a fan of him as an actor. He’s so talented and carries himself like a gentlemen. (Perhaps a bit too handsome to play me.)

4. My parents showed me that love is patient and you constantly have to work at it, but it’s worth all the hard work.

5. Kindness, intimacy, and passion.

* * * * *

Holcombe Waller

Holcombe has the voice of an angel. Watch his “Hardliners” video.

1. My definition of an amorous relationship in one word would probably be “grace,” both in terms of how it describes elegance and beauty, as well as the sense of mercy and clemency implied. All people should bring beauty and forgiveness into the world around them. In a relationship, this duty is amplified and focused between partners.

2. I have too many favorite love songs to really pick just one, but the first that came to mind is Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” particularly because of the way it portrays a kind of ambivalent masculine love born in fascination with this mysterious otherly female dream character. It’s so fabulous, it’s honorifically gay.

3. Well, of course it would be Meryl Streep. I mean, what about Meryl isn’t me? That’s the question! I would only worry about what Nora Ephron once said about the travails of having been portrayed in film by Meryl Streep: she simply will play you better than you do, and this could be the cause of deep existential anguish for one’s own ego. I should be careful what I wish for.

4. Through thick and thin, my parents are deeply committed to each other till death do they part. I’ve seen them go through things that seem to push the limits of the phrase “for better or for worse,” and I think I’ve internalized that sense of commitment from them. It’s not just applied towards romantic partnership; I feel this way about my closest friends. I don’t want anything but death to get in the way.

5. Given that I’m partnered, let me share the three things I always tell my single friends that they should be looking for in their prospective dates and potential significant others. The first and most important quality in a person in a relationship is that they want to be in the relationship. This seems so basic, but I’ve had terrible problems with this in the past — being with someone (or with people, if they are poly) who profess ambivalence about whether or not they want to be in a relationship — and I’ve seen it a lot in my friends’ romantic trials. My attitude is that if someone is indicating ambivalence, end it. You can’t work through problems if there isn’t a reason to, and relationship ambivalence is a deal breaker. It’s one thing for another person not to know if they should or shouldn’t be in a relationship, but to know that you are ambivalent means the relationship is not good for now. The second quality I recommend is ease. People always say “relationships take work,” but they get confused and think that the relationship itself is the problem you have to work to surmount. What’s that about? The relationship should be the easy joyful wonderful thing that gets pummeled by the real and unavoidable troubles of being alive. Sure, these can make a relationship hard, if someone is going through a rough patch, but if a relationship is like hard sailing on a smooth and beautiful ocean, ditch it and look for a boat that’s easier to be on. Lastly, I highly recommend finding a partner you’re in love with who is also in love with you. I actually think this is more rare than people think, but steps 1 and 2 are a good start.

* * * * *

LOGAN LYNN FEATURED IN PHOTOGRAPHER JEFFREY HORVITZ’S QUEER APERTURE PROJECT!

Logan — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:50:37 +0000

Portland/San Francisco-based photographer Jeffrey Horvitz has an ongoing photo series called Queer Aperture which features the diversity of the LGBTQ community in even more diverse scenarios, pairing the photos with subject interviews. I was asked to participate and ended up having a shoot with him last week. The result was a sort-of Satanic goat priest experience. It’s super creepy. ha ha ha – You can check out my favorite shot below. The people in the photo were just passing by and called themselves “God-Fearing” just before the pic was taken. It was perfection. To see the rest of the photos as they are posted, CLICK HERE. To redirect to the Queer Aperture website to see more of Jeffrey Horvitz’s work, CLICK HERE.

QUEER APERTURE FEATURES LOGAN LYNN (August 2011)

QA: What is your name?

LL: Logan Lynn

QA: How long have you lived in Portland?

LL: I originally moved here in ’96 but have had tragic attempts at other cities sprinkled throughout. I always come back. Portland is home.

QA: What is the first time you noticed that Gayness existed?

LL: I was raised in a notoriously anti-gay fundamentalist Christian cult in Nebraska so I knew about gayness very early on…mostly as a way to get sent straight to hell, though. When I was a child my dentist had a poster of Magnum P.I. hanging on the ceiling above the chair so I stared at Tom Selleck’s chest hair for an hour every 6 months while I was getting my teeth cleaned growing up. I’m pretty sure that’s what did it.

QA: What would you consider a guilty pleasure?

LL: The Real Housewives of ANYWHERE. Gimme.

QA: Your having a dinner party of 6 , whom would you invite?

LL: My boyfriend, mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and best friend. I prefer having dinner with people who actually know me and still love me over dinners with famous strangers who don’t give a shit.

QA: What would you consider a perfect meal?

LL: Some sort of Mexican fiesta.

QA: What would be a perfect day off?

LL: Sleep in late, watch TV in bed until I get hungry, eat things, play with the dog, play with the man, watch more TV, eat more things, get back in bed, play with the man some more, go to sleep.

QA: Favorite book?

LL: “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey.

QA: Favorite movie?

LL: “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”

QA: Favorite word?

LL: Dude

QA: Least favorite word?

LL: Church

QA: Favorite swear word?

LL: Jesus

QA: What is your profession?

LL: Pop Musician/Activist

QA: If you could with a snap of a finger what would be another profession you would like to do?

LL: If I could snap my finger and get something I would snap myself into independent wealth and never work again.

QA: Whom would you like to meet dead or alive?

LL: My grandmother. We never met. I hear she was pretty cool. She gave Jonny Cash singing and piano lessons on the piano I learned on.

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEW ON THE ACCIDENTAL BEAR THIS WEEK!

Logan — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:26:10 +0000

I was interviewed for The Accidental Bear about music, activism and a bunch of other stuff this week. You can check it out on their site HERE (complete with photos of me and my boyfriend) or just keep reading below for the full transcript.

From The Accidental Bear: (6/2/2011)

While hiking through a creek the other day I lifted up a rock and found a gem. Ok, no that’s a story, I just really enjoy analogies. Nonetheless, the gem that was brought to my attention is singer-song-writer-ginger-beard-acitivist Logan Lynn. When I found him, it just happens, he is on a little hiatus, charging up for whatever the future holds.

AB: I read that you are coming back from a break you took to work full-time for LGBTQ equal rights at Portland’s Q Center? Are you back in the swing of things musically?

LL: I’m still on hiatus from playing shows. It’s been a year since I announced I was taking the break and I still feel like I’m in break mode with the touring or whatever. I really just quit doing the parts I was hating. I was surrounded by a bunch of people who I needed to get away from and the only way I could think to do it was to sink the boat. Looking back (and reading the press around this time last year) I probably could have taken a less public, less dramatic approach…but at the time I was fed up with the whole thing. At the end of the day, it worked. I got rid of all the parts that were making me insane and released that last record “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” myself. I’ve been making videos and releasing singles on my own schedule without anyone telling me what I need to do musically or how to do it…and without anyone telling me what I should or shouldn’t look like. It’s lovely, actually. I work full-time still with Q Center and am going to keep doing that for now. I’m happy for the 1st time in a really long time so I figure I had better not fuck it all up by changing the course. It’s been hard to turn things down lately, though. I won’t lie and say that there are not parts that I miss. I’ve been working on new songs this whole time, too…so there hasn’t been much of a break with that part at all.

AB: What is going on with the Portland Q Center these days? I see you have an upcoming event on June 17th. “Hip to be Q”

LL: Yeah! That’s the Portland Pride kick-off party I’m throwing for Q Center and is the 2nd edition of my queer concert series there. I’ve been bringing national queer acts into the center for these really intimate shows this year. I like the idea that people can party for a good cause around good queer music. It’s a new kind of activism…the super loud, fun, sparkly kind.

AB: In the last few days there has been numerous report about the two men attacked on the Hawthorn Bridge. What is the buzz around town?

LL: I’m kind-of on the frontline at Q Center in the aftermath of these types of community events and tragedies. People turn to Q Center for support and they look to us for what the collective “we” are supposed to do next. It’s time for people to wake up and help others when they are in need. This is not the kind of thing that should be happening anywhere. These were people we know. I think the very real feeling of “This could happen to me and my boyfriend” spread like wildfire throughout the city and our allies came out in droves for the “Hands Across Hawthorne” event we just threw this past weekend. There were thousands of people there. It was really touching.

AB: Tell me about “Hands Across Hawthorne” Rally Against Violence (2011)? The photographs were powerful.

LL: It was amazing to see the nearly 5,000 people come out to hold hands at the scene of where the attacks had taken place. There were people for miles. It was hard not to cry just at the sheer magnitude of people who were willing to stand out in the freezing cold rainy weather on a bridge to hold hands with one another and send the message to these men who attacked our friends that we are not afraid, that we will not stand for this in our city. It was beyond exhilarating.

AB: It seems like activism and music many times goes hand in hand. Does your music contain a lot of political content?

LL: No. My music is always about love. The pursuit, the loss, the memory of said lost love…Not because I try for it to be, though. That’s just what has come out so far. I think if I ever tried to be political it would come out all jacked up and I would feel embarrassed for myself. I’m political in my life in that I work and give to things I feel strongly about. I am active in my citizenship but I leave songs like that to bands that aren’t so self-involved.

AB: Is the local Portland queer music scene flourishing?

LL: Yes. The queer music scene here (and the music scene in Portland in general) is flourishing. Local queer bands like Gossip have basically taken over the world. What happened to me in 2007 is happening to all of my friends. Everybody’s famous here now. It’s like LA in that way.

AB: Do you have a fan club for your red beard? Beard fan clubs are out there, really.

LL: Uh-Oh…

AB: What are your thoughts on the rapture we just survived?

LL: Worst. Rapture. Ever.

AB: Does music and religion mix? Your thoughts on religion in a nut shell.

LL: Fuck religion. Jesus can sit on it.

AB: How do you think your hometown Portland, Oregon is doing compared to the rest of the US with the acceptance of the LGBT community?

LL: In general I think we are a very progressive town. That doesn’t mean we aren’t still susceptible to violence and bigotry. We have a long way still to go for ourselves and we have the opportunity to lead the way for other folks around the country (and world, for that matter). Change takes time. We’re still working on it…

AB: If there were something you could change about the music industry, what would it be?

LL: I wish people still bought records.

AB: Do you have a release of “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” that is slated for 2011 where 100% of the profits go to benefit Portland’s Q Center coming up?

LL: That already happened last year. It was released August 31st, 2010 as a fundraiser for Q Center. It’s available in the store on my website here: http://loganlynnmusic.com/music/

AB: Where can we expect to see you in the next 12 months?

LL: On Logo again here shortly. My new video is premiering sometime later this month. The rest is going to unfold however it decides to unfold. I have a day job, dog and boyfriend. Life is simple and good. I’ve gone inward for the time being.

JUST OUT NEWSWEEKLY INTERVIEWS LOGAN LYNN ABOUT “QUICKLY AS WE PASS” + HIATUSES!

Logan — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:52:49 +0000

The kids over at Portland Newsweekly Just Out ran a mini-interview with me this week about a whole mess of messy stuff and posted my new video on their site! You can check it out by clicking the current issue cover below or keep reading under that for the transcript…

From Just Out: (4/4/2011)

“Unless you’ve been living under rocks and/or endlessly napping the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard/read about Logan Lynn‘s excellent new video, the visually intriguing (stunning, even) “Quickly As We Pass.” A nostalgic blend of live action people and more two-dimensional, still cut-out counterparts (oh, how art mirrors life) make their way through cityscapes, streets, buildings, living rooms, bedrooms–and even get naked. Fitting for a song that talks about waking up “clothed in our right minds and nothing else.” As usual, Lynn takes the ordinary, the banal, mixes it all up, and turns out five minutes of salacious sensory overload. Like us, you’ll probably have to watch the video a few times before catching everything that’s happening–and even then you’ll be hard-pressed to soak up every bit, every quirk.

Just Out caught up with Logan and talked briefly about retirements and MTV. On his much-discussed hiatus, Lynn, who now helps lead the gay crusade at Q Center, opines: “I think people were always cynical about my motives for going on hiatus–like it was a big publicity stunt a la Cher where I was planning to pop out of a cake in 6 months with a new band and a world tour. I really did take the break because I needed to, and always said I was planning on turning music back into a hobby rather than my job. This is what that looks like. I got rid of the parts (and people) that were making me miserable a year ago and have spent the time since cultivating a personal life and rediscovering the parts which were enjoyable to me.”

On the fruitful video collaboration: “The director, Jeffrey McHale, and I had worked together on my ‘Bottom Your Way To The Top’ video in 2009, so the collaboration was a no-brainer. He’s a visionary.” Regarding wanting our MTV, and altering content a bit for MTV’s audiences: “These days MTV means Logo, VH1, & MTV2, but I have an artist page on MTV.com where I’m sure it will end up as well. They have always been very supportive of me and continue to be. I will say we are having a lot of edits from standards and practices this time around though. Evidently life-size cardboard cutout porn is a no-no for mainstream America. Who knew?”

The video and song, both vintage Logan Lynn–you’ll recognize the first beat and lyrical declaration, “no good deed will go unpunished”–are refreshing returns to electronic-pop form and the visual stylings fans know and love. (Read: there’s no band this time around.) So, dear readers, grab your best headphones and cozy up for awhile with “Quickly As We Pass.” Pay attention to the lyrics. You’ll be surprised by how well Logan Lynn gets you. And although we’re super sad he didn’t pop out of any cakes–we’re glad he’s “back.”

-Daniel Borgen, Just Out Newsweekly

LIVE RADIO INTERVIEW WITH LOGAN LYNN ON WINNIE COOPER’S “THE INTERVIEW SHOW WITH SCOTT WOOD” THIS WEEK!

Logan — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:11:32 +0000

I was interviewed by Scott Wood for “The Interview Show” this week in Canada. Have a listen over at Winnie Cooper by clicking HERE.

Happy listening, folks!

xo
LL

LOGAN LYNN’S PROMO FOR Q CENTER’S WEB SERIES “WE ARE Q CENTER” PREMIERED TODAY!

Logan — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:46:10 +0000

As most of you probably already know, I spend most of my time working for LGBT rights at Portland’s Q Center. If you have ever wondered why, you can watch the video below. To get involved in Portland, CLICK HERE. For everyone else, to find the LGBT center closest to you CLICK HERE.

To watch the rest of the videos in the “We Are Q Center” web series, CLICK HERE.

LOGAN LYNN FEATURED ON THE “BORN THIS WAY” BLOG!

Logan — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:17:51 +0000

You may have heard about Paul V’s “Born This Way” blog in recent days as it has been featured on TV and all over the place in the media. My short essay was one of the 1st included when the site when live a couple months ago. You can check out the post HERE. They ended up using only one of the two photos talked about in the essay so I have included the other one as the main header image of this post. Good, gay times.

Here’s hoping we can all learn to love ourselves and be kind to one another. Now…spend a few hours getting to know this fantastic blog. It’s pretty special.

Love you all,

Logan

VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH LOGAN LYNN & DANNY D. FROM THE HUGS ON PIRATE SATELLITE TELEVISION THIS WEEK! WATCH HERE.

Logan — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:23:19 +0000

Earlier this month Danny D. (from Portland indie supergroup The Hugs) invaded my house with bright lights and cameras to interview me for Pirate Satellite TV. You can watch the video below or by clicking HERE. It’s pretty funny.

2010 IS OVER. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?

Logan — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:11:05 +0000

It’s sometimes hard for me to wrap my head around all the change that 2010 brought into my life. Nothing is as it was a year ago (Thank GAWD!) Time is amazing. I feel like the last 3 years in particular have changed me at my core, molding me into who I could and should have been years before had I just been brave enough to open my eyes. Forgiveness around this previous internal blindness is part of my journey as well but that’s a whole separate issue that isn’t ready for the world to hear about just yet. Rest assured: Daddy’s workin’ on it…

In July I made the decision to take a break from touring and proceeded to blow my musical career to bits and released what will be my final word (for now) with my record “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday“. In retrospect I might have been able to handle things differently but at the time I felt like I needed to break everything in order to get away…so that’s what I did. All in all it was quite the spectacle. I have no regrets about making the decision I made but it’s funny to go back and read how upset I was at the time, knowing that less than half a year later it would all matter very little to me. The only regret I have is not taking steps to fix what was wrong sooner (which, as you can probably tell from the paragraph before this one, is a running theme these days).

When all is said and done I am thankful for this past year. In addition to the professional changes which occurred I was single and lived alone the entire year. For the 1st time since I was a 23 year old moron I took time to be by myself, with myself…to figure out what the hell I was doing and what I needed to do to get to where I ultimately want to be. I’m not sure where this next year will take me but I know it will be on my terms. I figured out what kind of people I’m looking to have in my life and what kind of people I am not. I let painful things go and I did not follow them where they went. They left and I waved at them instead. I sat still in the discomfort of change and let it take over, let it do its thing. Now on the other side I am finding new people, new experiences, new ways of looking at the world. I am closer to free than I have ever been though I am, as ever, a work in progress.

I hope you all have a happy new year! Be who you are and don’t worry about what the world thinks. The world is most likely wrong about you anyhow.

xxLL

P.S. – Speaking of progress, below is a photo of my bald ass without a hat. That’s right. I’m coming out as a 31 year old bald man. Eat it up, popworld. Also: DUH. Why else would I have been wearing a hat in every photo and video ever taken of me since 2000???!!! I’ve been wearing a hat since I was 21 and have been bald this whole fucking time. Deal with it, gays. The shit’s real.

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEWED BY GERMAN QUEER MUSIC + POLITICS BLOG, CATCH FIRE! FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD!

Logan — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 06:26:17 +0000

The reaction to my new record in the press has been really great so far. Lots of love from Europe again this time around! The latest installment is an interview I did with German Queer music and politics blog CATCH FIRE! They went live with it today alongside a free MP3 download of “Smoke Rings” (song 2 on “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday“). You can read it via their site HERE or just keep reading below for the full transcript.

From CATCH FIRE: (11/2/2010)

“After going on US tour this summer, Logan Lynn, the winner of last year’s Queer Video Music Award, has announced in August that he would be taking an extended break from the music industry and leave “Beat The World Records”, a label founded and led by the Dandy Warhols. Instead he released his fourth record “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday”, the follow-up to “From Pillar To Post” independently in August, donating 100% of his profits to Portland’s Q Center where he is currently working. What led the songwriter to all these decisions and how they influenced his life he explains in an interview I did with him via email during the last two weeks. I also posted “Smoke Rings”, another track from “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” right below this introduction – the track is the perfect background music for the following text. A second free song from the album called “Things Are Looking Up” can be found in one of October’s Music Tickers.

(DOWNLOAD “SMOKE RINGS” FREE BY CLICKING HERE!)

Catch Fire: What interests me first of all is the question if you’d consider your new album “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” a “conceptual album”. To me especially compared to the stuff you’ve done before it seems very consistent, as if the decision to do this kind of eighties-pop-influenced dance music may have been a very concious decision.

Logan Lynn: Yes, both the producer Bryan Cecil and I wanted to make a dance record. We had worked together on my cover of “The Last High” by The Dandy Warhols from January of this year. The idea of doing some vintage disco dancepop take on that song was deliberate and we wrote “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” at the same time so we were already planted in 80’s dance party mode. Obviously I’m a child of the 80’s and 90’s and that comes out in what I listen to and what I create. Bryan wanted it to be authentic, like a time machine and I wanted it to sound like what I grew up imagining my records would sound like someday.

We ended up doing exactly that so it seemed like a perfect time to step away for awhile. The record is about me being totally disillusioned and leaving. Not sure if life imitated art or vice versa…but I’m much, MUCH happier ever since I did the whole career suicide bit in August. The overall concept was to have a big, spectacular going away party. “Fall Into New Arms” was chosen as the last track just in case it was literally the last song I ever put out. I’m not saying that it will be…but I could live with that.

Catch Fire: What exactly does “career suicide“ mean? What happend in August?

Logan Lynn: I spent the last 3 years signed to The Dandy Warhols owned and operated “Beat The World” records label and it ended up not really going as anyone had hoped. Here is a quote from Dandy frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor if you want his take on the whole thing:
(From The Dandy Warhols’ Website):
“We’re terrible at business, terrible. We don’t know what we’re doing. It’s like trying to have children run a household. We need to hook up with some indie label. The new stuff is sounding good. It’s a little less dirty so far.”

So…yeah. That pretty much sums it up. I love the Warhols and everybody had really great intentions going in but the label fizzled and my last record fell victim to that. No radio, no real distribution, no licensing, no PR. Without those things in place artists fail and, well…that’s what I did.

Being determined to fulfill my obligations to them and everyone I had working for me, I embarked on a US tour over the Summer and paid for everything out of pocket myself. By July I had reached a breaking point with waiting for things to get better and, in the meantime, had written a record about being disillusioned and not really wanting what I thought I had wanted for so long…so I started poking holes in the boat to sink it and began lining up a new life for myself in the non-profit world. By August I was done. You can read more about that here if you like. The Portland gay paper interviewed me shortly after I announced that I was going to call it quits for awhile (instead of continuing to tour, etc.)

My new record is a charity for Q Center and I’ve thrown myself into working full time for their organization in the months since. My unhappiness went away almost as soon as I announced how unhappy I was. I just needed to take control of my life, my future, my career…instead of letting other people dictate it all for me.

Catch Fire: I must say that it impresses me how openly you talk about all this. I mean it’s sort of a taboo in the cultural field to talk about failing, even if it is just a commercial problem. I guess it’s because a lot of people still like to think that if you aren’t successful it is because you “haven’t earned” it, because you haven’t really put your shoulder to the wheel or aren’t creative enough or stuff like that…

Logan Lynn: Yeah, tell me about it. You wouldn’t believe how very unpopular my decision to strip away the facade has been. I kinda feel like I’m one of those rat magicians that goes on TV and exposes how all their tricks are performed, but I couldn’t deal with everybody thinking everything was awesome when it wasn’t. It made me feel fucking gross. I’ve always been honest in my songs. Regretfully so, at times … so the whole pop thing started to feel weird. Like … people got weird in 2007 and the longer I was away from the world the weirder they got. This summer’s tour was the turning point. I just couldn’t deal with being on the road. It got really lonely and I just wasn’t enjoying it. I got to a point where I was just sick of people screwing me over, using me, talking about my body in gay magazines … just all of that started to creep me out in a way where I really felt like I had no future.

I’m about 10 weeks into my “break” (which isn’t a break at all, but more of a full time gear shift) and suddenly feel like that’s all been fixed. A little bit of purpose goes a long way. I’m around nice people every day now. Nobody’s trying to fuck me over. Nobody’s judging me for what I look like. Nobody’s trying to market me to anyone. I’m just alive. I go to work. I help people. It’s great.

In retrospect I would take a stage name but when that 1st record was being recorded I was 17 so … nothing that has happened since was expected. It was all just one freak occurrence after another. Now that things have slowed down I’m realizing how completely isolated I was before. Like, for years and years.

Catch Fire: Do you see a way for you to work in that business again in a more healthy way?

Logan Lynn: I am already working in the business in a healthier way. I love writing songs, I love sharing songs, I love interacting with my fans and folks in my networks, I love making videos … I just didn’t like the pressure that came along with my former situation. Having broken that, all appears to be well again. My plan is to enjoy the break, catch my breath, and play things by ear. For now, I am perfectly happy working for equal rights for the LGBTQ community full time at Q Center. It’s enough for me.

Catch Fire: Will there still be videos for songs on “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday”?

Logan Lynn: There are definitely going to be videos. The first is for “Quickly As We Pass” and is being directed by Jeffrey McHale (who directed my “Bottom Your Way To The Top” video from 2009). It comes out the beginning of December (just before the CD is released on 12/28). I believe we are going to make videos for “Velocity” and “Smoke Rings” as well over the course of 2011.

Catch Fire: Logan Lynn’s album “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” can be downloaded via Itunes. The physical release is slated for December 28th.”

BELGIAN PRODUCER & INDIE ELECTROPOP GOD STYROFOAM TALKS ABOUT LOGAN LYNN IN MINT MALE MAGAZINE THIS MONTH!

Logan — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 05:36:45 +0000

One of my favorite records of all time was made by Belgian one-man-band Styrofoam (aka Arne Van Petegem). I won’t tell you which one (because they are all good) and you should buy them all and then find your own favorites amongst them. I love every record this guy has ever put out but one of them changed my life (that’s a little over the top, actually…but you catch my drift.)

I realize this is a little bit creepy fanboy of me (ok, fine—it’s TOTALLY creepy fanboy of me) but he gave me a shout-out in this month’s issue of Mint Male Magazine that made me smile and I feel compelled to brag about it.

You can read the full interview with Arne HERE but pay close attention to question #4.

…and I quote:

“Mint Male Magazine: What are your favorite songs you’ve remixed?

Styrofoam: There are so many it would do the others injustice to pick out just a single one. One of my favorite recent ones is the Logan Lynn remix. I’d never heard his stuff before he got in touch with me and then I went and listened to it and I was just so blown away.”

HA! Uhhh… Are. You. Kidding. Me??? This is totally fucking amazeballz.

READ PART TWO OF LOGAN LYNN’S INTERVIEW WITH JUST OUT NEWSWEEKLY HERE!

Logan — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:04:53 +0000

In preparation for my big farewell show tomorrow (Friday, August 20th, 2010) at Mississippi Studios in Portland (where this whole crazy music thing began for me) Just Out Newsweekly ran a follow-up story today on their blog as part 2 to the interview they ran in this week’s paper. Check out today’s story HERE. You can also read the interview which ran in print in this past week’s paper HERE if ya wanna.

I really hope to see you at tomorrow’s show, friends! It’s going to be quite the spectacle. Tickets and info HERE. One last dance before I go…

For those of you who don’t like redirecting to other sites, you can read part 2 of my interview with Just Out below:

“In the current issue of Just Out, we sat down with Portland’s own Logan Lynn to discuss the recent announcement of his self-proclaimed “career suicide,” an indefinite hiatus from the music business. After a string of dates on the Pride circuit, tomorrow night’s show at Mississippi Studios marks the “farewell” performance for Lynn and his band, The Gentry, for the foreseeable future.

Since Lynn’s announcement July 29 on his website, he’s been busy committing himself to his newest project — getting involved at Q Center. “The fund-raiser is still in full effect and will be through the end of the month, though we will be keeping it where 100% of the proceeds from [downloads of new album] I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday go to Q Center even after the August push to raise funds is through,” Lynn told Just Out in an update earlier this week, adding,

‘I will be raising money for [Q Center] on Friday night as well and actually start working there this Wednesday officially so things are definitely moving forward in a direction that feels right. I tend to think that if things fall together painlessly like this then I’m where I need to be, doing what I’m supposed to be doing, etc. I’m really excited for the show … even more excited that my plan to help Q Center is working! YAY. My producer Bryan Cecil (who equally gave up his portion of the proceeds from the new record to the center) is … a superhero. It touched me that a straight male who has been working on this record with me for over a year would be just as down for the cause as his gay musical counterpart. He rules. We’ve both been frustrated with the industry for months and it has felt really punk rock to say fuck all and give the money to charity.

It’s a nice change of pace to go into the Q Center and have them be so excited about how well the record “release” is going so far instead of being worried about units sold, promotions, etc. One thing we are finding out the past 2 weeks is that people will still buy music in this day and age if the money goes to a charity they believe in. It makes me feel so proud of my fans, friends and family for coming through and being as awesome as I fancy them to be.

HELL YES, PEOPLE!! I love me some do-gooders.’
Lynn had more to say about the music business, and his decision to leave it, a couple of weeks ago. What follows is more of our interview that didn’t make the page, including the realizations that have hit “30-year-old Logan, not 5-year-old Logan, who needs to have everybody clap for him,” he explained. “I would rather have people hug me when I look sad than be like, ‘You better look happier, we’re all clapping for you.’”

Logan Lynn: That’s really what it has been so hard to deal with is that… [reconciling] my little boy self perspective of like, “You’re a huge success, buddy, good job, you got out of Nebraska,” but comparing it to my 2007 perspective of [being] freshly signed [to the Beat the World label] and “What’s gonna happen? The world is my oyster.” There’s been a lot of reality since then and it also just happened to be a recession right when I was starting and so anybody that might’ve been buying music kinda stopped.

Just Out: It could be considered a luxury, definitely.

Lynn: It really is, and I love making songs. I’ll probably still do it in some context. … And I may make videos. I mean, my relationship with Logo is still great. I have really good relationships … I think that’s what so weird, my relationships with people and the press, whoever that I work with, it’s all good. I feel like I can step back and feel good about where things are at right now.

JO: So this marks a positive point to leave it at.

Lynn: And nobody can say that it’s ‘cause I can’t think of anything else to sing about. Cause that record’s there. I’m just like, it’s there, I’m just not gonna finish.

JO: It sounds like most of your frustration stems from the business aspect of music.

Lynn: I’ve gotten my head up my ass with the business. And it’s so far up my ass that I can’t pull it out without quitting, you know?

JO: It sounds like the live, touring aspect factored prominently in your decision, too.

Lynn: Yeah. I mean, it’d be great if I could go and do a couple of shows but to understand now fully what it means to have to go on tour in order to make it happen, it’s a lot of being gone and I’m already lonely. So to just seal the deal on that seems really irresponsible for my emotional state.

But then at the same time, the flip side of that is, okay, well you take my friends … Whoever’s in my life, you put ‘em all on a board — I actually did this. And you divide it into columns. I lost some people when I quit the drugs. … So get rid of those people first. Those people are out. Then I started telling the truth, let’s get rid of those people, they don’t wanna hear the truth. I get divorced so I lose all of his people. I lose my money, so I lose my money friends. And then I’m left with the core group of people and all these people that like me cause they think they’re gonna get something from me with this music thing. So why not get rid of this music thing, be left with the people that like me, that love me, and then kinda build it from there?

JO: You really did that?

Lynn: [nodding] I have a giant dry erase board. I just put everybody that’s up there. I have a lot of people around me, I do. But I have a very few people that I call and very few people that have called me this week to see how I’m doing. That’s always interesting. …

I actually feel better just having the bullshit off, just to finally be over it, like ahhhhgggg I hate it, I hate what’s happening. Instead of being like “Everything’s so fucking great, look at the crowd.” You can’t tell that they’re 20 feet away from the stage. I’m just sick of cropping my life where it looks how I want it to instead …. because everybody who’s around me in my real life knows how it really is. I am really actually not that stoked, so to continue to crop out my frown seems silly.

JO: Hearing the new songs on I Killed Tomorrow… then, looking back on them, there certainly would appear to be telltale signs.

Lynn: It’s all about being unhappy and wanting to leave. And getting, like, that “Velocity” song is, I mean, this has been in the works for a while. I’ve just not known how to do it. … I have been mental forever. When I was little I was like, “If I could just get out of Nebraska and get to San Francisco, I’ll be happy, and I get there and I’m totally unhappy. In fact, worse. I ruin my life even, come back here and I’m like, “Well maybe I’ll go for the real dream, I’ll be successful and I’ll be able to be like, ‘Ha ha, high school kids. I told you! I’m so fucking famous, I’m on your TV.’ I mean, [the video for] ‘Feed me to the Wolves’ was On Demand in York, Nebraska and my Aunt Judy called my mom and there’s been these magical, cool moments but that still weren’t… I’m still feeling very much the same after they happened. I mean it’s great, I’m appreciative, [but] they didn’t fix the problem so that’s been the case in my career too, ever since I realized this is not going how I want it to, or it is and I’m not going how it wants me to.

I’ve had these little moments like, “Oh my god, well I’ll just get signed and then I’ll be happy,” and then I get signed and obviously I’m not happy and then I’m like, “Oh my god, my record will come out and then I’ll be happy, I’ll be in stores, I’ll see it in stores,” no. I go on tour, “tour’s gonna make me happy,” no, and so I’ve just hit a point where all those little things are gone. And I’ve gotta get happy myself, I’ve gotta figure it out because I think it’s not a smart move to try and be miserable forever, even if you can write songs about it. It’s not conducive to long-term success and the path I’m trying to go on.

JO: You think if you get happy you’ll write songs about it?

Lynn: Oh my god, wouldn’t that be neat? I did have a dream that I came [back], that I went away. In my dream I had no beard, but it seemed like I was older. But I came back with like a folk record, I spent a few years living in the mountains. I’m trying to listen to that voice like, “You gotta go, go far.” But come back with like a Holcombe Waller folk record or something… no beats… like “Ha, ha, sorry Holcombe, I stole your style.” [laughing]

I do like the idea of doing different stuff. That’s why I did this thing with the Gentry ‘cause I was so bored… [thinking to myself] “Maybe if I change this sound I’ll be happy.”

JO: So what’s next, aside from plans at Q Center and in the community?

Lynn: I’m 30. I don’t wanna look at the next 10 years like I am looking back at these last 10 years — which is almost as if they didn’t happen, where I’m like, “I don’t have much to show for it that means a lot to me aside from this music thing.” I was able to do this and fulfill my idea of what I wanted but I do not have the love in my life that I’m wanting, I do not have the free time that I’m needing and I have way more stress than I want. … I need to be feeling good about getting up and doing stuff and feeling like where I go and put my time, I’m not gonna be judged for my pants or whatever.

JO: [laughing] There’s gotta be more to life than pants.

Lynn: I’ve gotten glimpses of that. I think that what’s funny is that my music isn’t really about fluffy stuff, so to be immersed in this fluffy world is just so silly. It’s like, “Sorry we wear black and I scream. We left our boas at home, I have no idea what to tell you. I can put a wig on if you want.”

Logan Lynn and the Gentry will perform — in all likelihood sans boas or wigs — their “farewell” show on Friday night, August 20 at Mississippi Studios (3939 N. Mississippi). Show starts at 10 p.m. Matrimony and DJ Girlfriends support. Tickets are $9.50. Visit loganlynnmusic.com for more information and details on donating to Q Center in exchange for Lynn’s new, unfinished album, I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday.”

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEWED ABOUT HIS DEPARTURE FROM MUSIC IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF JUST OUT — DIGITAL VERSION HERE!

Logan — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 05:29:45 +0000

Last week I sat down with the editor of Portland Newsweekly Just Out (Amanda Schurr) to chat about my announced departure from my current life in Musicworld. A man has his reasons. If you care to know more, pick up a copy or keep reading below. To read the online version CLICK HERE or to download the PDF version of the 2 page ordeal, click the following two links: Page 34 – Page 35

I love how Just Out never twists my words or calls me fat and ugly. BEST. GAY. PAPER. EVER.

From Just Out: (8/6/2010)

“Will Work for Good : Portland pop dynamo Logan Lynn quits music, for now…

Logan Lynn just wants a new hoodie. Sitting outside a North Portland cafe, blue hood yanked over a navy baseball hat, he points to a missing zipper pull—and later, more tellingly, to letters on the hoodie’s front, “F-R-E-D.”

“It just needs to say ‘not what I thought it was gonna be,’” he says, half joking.

It’s been that kind of decade for the Portland musician, who took to his website Thursday, July 29 to announce his self-proclaimed “career suicide,” an indefinite hiatus from the music business. With characteristic candor, Lynn wrote: “As I near the 10-year-anniversary of my debut record,… I have come to some conclusions not only about the journey I’ve been on since then musically and in my personal life, but also the journey I intend to be on moving forward with both.

One thing that is painfully clear to me and everyone who knows me in real life is that I AM MISERABLE. I have been for some time. I’m sick of being broke, mismanaged, overworked, screwed over by the folks who are supposed to be looking out for me … you know, all the hits.”

A few days later over iced coffee, Lynn pulls even fewer punches, with himself and others. “The more time I have to think it over, the more comfortable I am with the whole idea,” he says, in what begins a conversation about demons, downloads and the decision to withdraw from what he admits is an enviable, even courted spotlight—at least from the outside.

“I’m sure there’s at least a thousand bands in this town that I know that would be like, ‘Dude, you’re super blowing it. I have no idea what you’re talking about,’” concedes Lynn, fresh off a West Coast Pride tour with his band The Gentry, and fresh out of a single-album contract with the Dandy Warhols’ Beat the World label. “And I feel that way too. I get that.”

What he hasn’t gotten, however, has been time to deal with issues a decade in the making, from the end of a long-term relationship to the “slimy” clingers-on to his well-publicized battle with substance abuse. “I just really don’t see myself being in a good place a year from now if I keep on this path,” Lynn shares. “This might be me being a fucking dramatic Libra, but I do have a tendency to be all or nothing about stuff. I feel like the only way to stop it at this point is to just break it. Break everything, stop doing the whole thing, kinda come clean.”

Lynn has been clean of cocaine and alcohol since 2007, about the time he signed with Beat the World and began production on his third full-length solo record, From Pillar to Post, a polished electro-pop confessional. The disc debuted to critical acclaim—the video for his single “Feed Me to the Wolves” landed among the Logo Network’s “Top 10 of 2008”—and by Lynn’s online tallies, 18,000 downloads. “For a while, I was able to see that as dollar signs,” he says. “If Billboard cared about that, if my label cared about that, then I’m a huge success. But that’s not how the industry is set up. … It’s still very much record sales. Something’s going to have to change there eventually or else everybody’s going to quit doing it, professionally at least.”

Life on the road didn’t help the financial, or psychological, bottom line. Lynn says the tipping point came earlier this year “when I was selling my furniture to pay for the van to go on tour.” Reaction to his louder, aggressive Gentry-fied sound was mixed (“There’s some video out there of this summer that’s not pretty,” he says), especially as a gay artist on the Pride circuit and in contrast with his solo, more upbeat fare. “Everybody’s dancing and they don’t necessarily want me to get up there and be sad,” he says. “And I don’t like do Shakira covers!”

Lynn considers his time with the Gentry, with whom he joined forces in December 2009, among the highlights of his career. Still, he adds, they’re not his “babysitters,” and he’s all-too-aware of the temptations—“torture,” he calls it—the road presents. “I am going to have a relapse,” he says. “Unless I can get myself to a place where it’s safe for me to be in bars and hotel rooms and away from everyone that knows me, I can’t be doing that.”

In retrospect, Lynn admits he may not have done himself any favors by being so forthcoming with his personal struggles. “I don’t think people start out by going, ‘I just got out of rehab, I’m a huge junkie, you would not believe what happened.’ That in and of itself wasn’t me intentionally poking holes in the boat, but I do think it did poke holes in it,” he says. “It is my history, and I own it.”

Nor does he want to sound ungrateful. For Lynn, his retreat from the music business is more a “mental health” decision than anything. “The good part about it is that I really have made a connection with people and I do have the feeling that I’m not really alone, which I have had that for forever. … I’ll still have that connection with people but I’ve gotta figure out a way to do that in my life where there’s not this other oppressive side. I think right now my plan, my loose plan, is to help the queers—not to sing for the queers.”

Lynn says the desire to “do something that matters”—“some good for the world”—is leading him directly to volunteer work at Q Center. (“My heart belongs to queer Portland full-time at the center,” he emails later.) “I’ve gotta stop talking about my feelings all the time, stop having everything and everyone around me revolving around me,” he laughs. “I know that people everywhere are probably like, ‘Yeah, right,’ ‘cause I’m notoriously attention-seeking, but the motivation for that has changed.”

That’s not to say music doesn’t matter anymore to Lynn. “I’m just going to turn it into a hobby. … I was happier when it was a hobby,” he says, adding that, short of plans for the proverbial day job, the only plans he has in place are what he’s choosing not to do. “I’ve never lived a normal life without being a junkie, so I’m kind of excited for that.

“I’ve gotta step back for a minute and assess how weird it is and how weird I am and whether I can deal with the weirdness,” shrugs Lynn, fiddling with that pull-less zipper. “Is that weird?”

Logan Lynn and The Gentry give their “farewell” performance at 9 p.m. Friday, August 20 at Mississippi Studios (3939 N. Mississippi). Matrimony and DJ Girlfriends support. Tickets are $8. To listen to Lynn’s new, unfinished album, I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday, visit loganlynnmusic.com. Visit blogout.justout.com for the full interview with Just Out.”

CHECK OUT LOGAN LYNN’S INTERVIEW IN CURRENT (AUGUST 2010) ISSUE OF ‘Q TOWN MAGAZINE’! READ IT HERE NOW!!!

Logan — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:42:48 +0000

Q Town Magazine interviewed me for this month’s issue (on stands now in Virginia, online HERE. Check out the full transcript below! I talk about the usual things people talk about in interviews: cocaine, butt sex, being a jerk, fucking my life up, Jesus, etc.

From Q TOWN Magazine (August 2010 Issue):

It’s been quite a trip for Portland electronica artist Logan Lynn. From his first studio album, This Is Folk Techno in 1998 to his latest From Pillar To Post, Lynn transports us away to his buzzing trance-like world. Famous for edgy lyrics and playful beats, Lynn creates excitement on MTV, Logo, VH1, Spike and in the pulsating indie music scene.

Q town recently caught up with Logan to chat about hooking up with The Dandy Warhols, his connection to his fans, and how queer culture influences the mainstream.

QT: Your style has been called electro-house mixed with folk, which is a really interesting combination. How did these two come together for you?

LL: I was always really interested in both genres separately growing up and coming into my own musically as a songwriter. At some point in the late 90′s I started blending the two together. Back then nobody really understood what I was doing. I would have shows and people would just stand there and scratch their heads. I could tell they were like “What the hell is this guy doing?”, but that was mostly because they just had no reference point. That was WAY before The Postal Service or some of those groups that came along in the mid 2000′s. Once that all started getting big is when people really started to gravitate to my music. I repackaged and re-released the same record in 2005 that I had released in 2000 and the reaction was amazing so I immediately recorded all the songs I had been writing during that 5 year hiatus from making records and got the ball rolling for my self-titled record in 2006. I’m glad people get it now.

QT: How did you hook up with the indie-rock band The Dandy Warhols and what has that experience been like for you?

LL: I was working on an ad campaign for a company in Los Angeles in 2005 & we hired a photographer from Portland named Ray Gordon who I ended up partying with for days in LA. He fell in love with some of the new material I played him and just happened to be really good friends with Courtney Taylor-Taylor (the Dandys’ frontman). He knew they were starting a label, Courtney and I met, he got really into my record, they signed me in 2007 and released my last record “From Pillar To Post” on their Beat The World label in 2009. It has been really great to have access to their studio and to be able to learn from them. It has been quite the journey from there to here.

QT: Can you tell us the inspiration to the lyrics behind your sharply-titled single, “Bottom your way to the top”?

LL: Well, I was in a very long-term relationship that started ending in 2007, but eluded finality until a little over a year ago. At one point, as our 6 years together were dissolving, the words “Just go and bottom your way to the top, then” was yelled my way….so I wrote a song about it. That whole record (“From Pillar To Post”) is about that time in my life. I was immersed in cocaine partyworld and was losing my love. I didn’t react very well to the breakup initially. I acted out in ways that were, well…song-worthy.

QT: We really love the video for “Bottom your way to the top”. In addition to being a musician you’re also a visual artist. Did you help contribute to the concept behind the video?

LL: Nice one! Thanks. I am always involved in some aspect of everything, but I think much of my success has been found in letting the people I work with do their jobs (be it on songs or videos). I have yet to drink my own Kool-Aid to the point where I think I know how to do everything better than everyone else. That’s bullshit. Anyway, the director Jeffrey McHale (from Chicago) had a very clear vision. I came to him because I felt like he and I had a similar point of view. It turned out that we did. He introduced me to an illustrator named John Parot who came on board to illustrate the video which Jeff then animated. Interestingly enough, John Parot is a contestant on Bravo’s “Work Of Art: The Search For The Next Great Artist” this season. He does amazing work. I love that we got him on that video. His drawings are really what next-leveled that one.

QT: What would you say is the best part of being a performer?

LL: I love the connections I make with people. I think because my songs are so personal they tend to find people that are similar to me. That’s been the case thusfar at least. That connection, that shrinking of the world to a size I can deal with, has been the best part of all of this so far. I like feeling like my crazy is understandable my hundreds of thousands of people. Like…other people aren’t running away from my ugly parts on display so maybe I’m not such a fucking psycho after all?

QT: You’ve been a fixture on MTV, VH1, Spike TV and Logo Online and you’ve got a huge following. How did it feel to break into the biz?

LL: It felt different than I thought it was going to. It is amazing that I get to live out my lifelong dreams and have been able to get to the point I’m at currently with this whole thing…but I’ll be honest and say that I always had it in my mind that I would get here and suddenly be happy, suddenly feel like I belong. Unfortunately, that is not the case so I’ve had to mourn the loss of that delusional notion as it has become clear that there just simply is no golden ticket. I love singing, I love writing, I love that there are so many people who feel a connection with me and my songs…but it’s isolating, too. That’s sort-of the nature of the beast I guess…but I wasn’t prepared for that part. It gets lonely on the island, ya know?

QT: Do you think the queer community has more of a cutting-edge taste in music?

LL: I think it’s possible, but I tend to think of the queer community as equally diverse as the rest of the world which means that statement only applies to SOME queers. There has always been a queer underground that has influenced the mainstream, though. That part is safe to say with total assurance. I’m hesitant to say that we are more cutting-edge as a community after playing all these gay pride shows this Summer though. There are just as many lame fags with bad taste as there are lame straight people with bad taste. Being stupid is universal.

QT: Growing up in the Midwest, you were really influenced by the rave scene – where did the folk influence come from?

LL: I blame The Innocence Mission, The Sundays, Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, Liz Phair and all the other folky singer-songwriter-y alterna-ladies I grew up listening to. Emotional songs have always been a part of my life. I listen to the same shit now that I listened to 20 years ago. I am just as inspired by The Innocence Mission’s music today as I have ever been. There is much of me that doesn’t change as time goes by. I listen to new stuff as well, but I have my roots planted firmly in old Sundays and Innocence Mission records from the 90′s. It’s real.

QT: Not many people have performed in front of a crowd of 400,000, let alone for their first time performing live. Did that totally freak you out or did it just come naturally?

LL: It totally freaked me out, as has every performance since. (Laughs) It’s gotten a lot better in recent years but I have had to deal with working through some pretty crippling stage fright. It’s still with me, but I am so many years in at this point that the fear has left except for a split second before I go on stage. Once I’m out there I am good to go…it’s the getting me on stage that’s the hard part. I had to kinda relearn how to be vulnerable in front of a crowd when I got clean in 2007. It was suddenly scary again…but having done this sober for so long now I honestly can’t imagine trying to do it wasted. Progress…

QT: Do you find it easier to write music and lyrics now after getting clean?

LL: It’s definitely easier to feel things now, so yeah. I think so. It’s different for sure. I think this new record I just finished recording sounds smarter…like I have my words back or something. When I listen to these new songs I hear someone who is much more sure of himself than on records past. I’m not so lost, the lyrics aren’t hopeless anymore. It’s more confused now than hopeless which seems like a step in the right direction…for my mind, at least. I was worried about cleaning up, like that I would lose my outlook, or like that maybe the drugs were my link to the creative world but that all turned out to be junkie bullshit I was feeding myself to authorize otherwise completely unacceptable behavior. If anything my career took off and my writing got better when I quit killing myself. Go figure.

QT: Are you seeing anyone special right now?

LL: No. I’m finally at a place where I would be open to someone’s specialness, though. Bring it on, universe!

QT: What kind of guys are you into?

LL: I like nice guys who tell the truth and don’t give a shit about being famous.

QT: What was it like coming out to your fundamentalist Christian family?

LL: It was hard back then, but I was like 14 years old and it was before “Will and Grace” had won over the hearts of middle America so…it would have been hard no matter who I was telling. In the end, we have all grown together as a family and I’m glad that things went down the way they did. I am very close to my parents now. None of us are who we used to be. It’s great.

QT: From your experience, what’s your advice to someone who wants to come out to a religious

LL: Don’t listen to them. They are ALL wrong about you and they are ALL wrong about the world.

QT: Where can people find your music?

LL: It’s pretty much everywhere these days. I always tell people that if they buy stuff directly from the store on my site the chances that I will see some of the money go up and the evil middlemen stand to make less…but my music is available on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Target.com, Barnes & Noble, Tower Records, etc. if you prefer to give the evil middlemen a cut. I’m also on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, DList, Last.Fm, iLike, and a bunch of other sites online where you can stream my tunes.

LOGAN LYNN TAKING AN EXTENDED BREAK FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TO COMMIT CAREER SUICIDE – FULL STORY HERE.

Logan — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:58:09 +0000

Hey everybody. As I near the 10 year anniversary of my debut record, “GLEE” (which was originally released in October of 2000) I’ve been thinking a lot about all the years from there to here. I have come to some conclusions not only about the journey I’ve been on since then musically and in my personal life, but also the journey I intend to be on moving forward with both.

One thing that is painfully clear to me and everyone who knows me in real life is that I AM MISERABLE. I have been for some time. I’m sick of being broke, mismanaged, overworked, screwed over by the folks who are supposed to be looking out for me…you know, all the hits. Ever since I overcame my paralyzing stage fright, playing shows has been great and I’ve had a wonderful time on tour this Summer with The Gentry but the abnormalities that come along with being a working musician in the digital era without the proper, traditional support of a label are too much for me to just keep absorbing. I can’t be gone all the time like this. I don’t want to spend my life on the road with strangers in bars and hotel rooms. It’s not healthy. I’m homesick for a home that does not exist because I have been too busy to create it for myself, no other reason. I need something real in my life. I can no longer pretend that things are going to suddenly feel better like magic when I know that they are not. These things I’m putting all my energy into obtaining are not making me happy. They are not ever going to because fame and money and attention is not what I want anymore. It’s time that I take control of my own happiness, something I have been dreading and avoiding for years now because of the terrible consequences and pressures attached to doing so. I am finally brave enough and there is just no stopping me. My humanity is in need of repair. These are someone else’s dreams I’m killing myself to fulfill. It is time for me to chase the light to happiness, not acceptance by the masses.

I am going to take some time completely off far away from the business of being myself professionally, then we’ll see where life has led me. These final shows next month with The Gentry in Salem, on August 6th & in Portland on the 20th are going to be the last shows I play for at least a year or two so I hope you can make it. They are going to be very special nights. Please, PLEASE come to the final show at Mississippi Studios on Friday, August 20th and wish me farewell on my new journey.

I don’t know what I am going to be doing from here but I fulfilled my contract with Beat The World (so I know what I’m not going to be doing, which is a very clear start…or finish, as it were). I am Free, an unsigned independent artist once again, not bound to any contracts, people or associations. I find myself in a moment where I can do one of two things; and I gotta choose the peaceful road, you guys. Think I’m gonna go help people for awhile, do something that actually matters—that isn’t so self-serving and based in phony, superficial publicity opportunities. I am leaving the door open for me to change my mind later on so I’m not saying I’m done forever by any means but it honestly does feel that way at the moment. I just finished that new record with Bryan Cecil and have been leaking the demos all week, freeing myself of the rules and regulations that come with being a brand instead of just some stoner dude who makes funny sounding synthpop songs about death and darkness on his keyboard. If another label comes along and picks me up to release it I’d be down to mix it properly and put it out, otherwise it will most likely just stay as-is for the time being. I would consider coming back for the right label opportunity for sure and I love these new songs. I honestly think they are my best work but I’m in no shape to start this process over again with the way things are set up currently so it seems like a perfect time to press pause, catch my breath, regroup.

Before I get into all of that, let me say how wonderful I think each and every one of you are and how much it means to me that you have found a connection with me and my songs and I with you. It’s truly an honor for you to have let me fill the silent spaces in your life with my small, silly thoughts and melodies for the past 10 years of me releasing music. The magnitude of this access into your world is not lost on me. I really hope you believe me when I say that my dissatisfaction with this life I’ve made for myself has absolutely nothing to do with the part you play in it. I have only the warmest feelings for every single one of you. The ironic part is that some of you are just discovering me now and must be thinking “What? 10 years? He’s brand new!” but that’s not actually the case. It’s true that I got signed and have been on TV and in the press a shitload in recent years—I have found most of my success since 2006, I’d say…but that doesn’t make me any less tired from all the fighting years that came before that “lucky break” came along. To those people who helped me fight, who lent their talents to my songs throughout the years, who opened doors for me to walk through, THANK YOU. I could never have gotten this far without you.

The connection I’ve made with all of you new folks and all the people who have stood by me from day 1 has been one of the most magical things I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing my whole life so far and I have no doubt that it will be one of the things I think about during my final moments as I am leaving this Earth. Out of all the drugs I have ever tried (and I have tried them all at least 800 times individually as well as in combination with each other) the rush of not feeling alone in the world anymore is better that any high ever was. It fixed something that was broken in me and is something that will be with me forever. I hold all of your kind words and shared sorrows close to my heart in ways that you will never fully be able to understand. You people actually saved my life. My mother thanks you for that. I thank you for that. I mean it when I say that I love you.

Growing up the gay son of a preacher man in the Church of Christ in York, Nebraska was hard. It did not leave me with very good feelings about myself. To have had this sort of healing experience with all of that gay guilt bullshit as well—where the thing that I was literally tortured for my entire childhood and adolescence suddenly overnight became a selling point, became the thing that set me apart, that got the attention of MTV, that propelled me forward…that shit was fucking amazing. Thank you to Perry Turcotte at MTV (and now, Vevo) who for whatever reason hand-picked my gay wannabe ass from an endless sea of gay wannabe popstars and pushed my face and music into another dimension overnight.

It is a very strange thing to have all of my emotional growing pains documented so extensively from the time that I was 17 up through the present day. There is really no hiding from the truth about who I have been and what it took to get me to be who I am now with the audio blueprints so widely available in such a permanent way, spanning the years of my life I would otherwise most likely be happy to forget. This has been a very good thing for me in many ways, horribly tragic in others.

If I knew then at 17 what I know now at 30 about what it really means to put yourself out there like this, to allow so many people to see you in such a personal way, I might have chosen a stage name or something to protect myself emotionally a bit more. Back in 1998 when I was first recording songs it did not even occur to me that anyone would ever be interested in what I had to say enough to actually listen. It was unfathomable to me, in fact. I was gay, I was a drug addict, I was singing about God and violence and my horrible stolen childhood and said “Fuck” something like a hundred times on that first album. I mean, let’s face it: Everyone back then thought my music was psychotic and they did not know what to do with me. In many ways it still is psychotic; and in many ways they still don’t know what to do with me. I actually love that part. The being a weirdo factor has been so thoroughly satisfying. Yay.

So here’s the thing: I have to stop the stress of it all from continuing to build or I am totally going to snap a twig in the worst way. I need something new. I will still write and record songs because I’m a songwriter and I love music but I am done with this whole mainstream crossover thing, I’m done with the endless work, I’m done with the ratrace. I can’t stand having to pimp myself out and do things I would not otherwise do in order to get ahead. Fuck that. I’m realizing that my priorities have changed somewhere along the way and I’ve missed out on getting some of the things I actually want in this world (family, free time, privacy, normal everyday life, peace of mind, and FOOD mostly) because I’ve been chasing this other dream for so long. I will still keep moving forward with things musically but at a slower, more hobby-like pace…and on my own terms.

Now that I am getting what I wanted and realizing said dreams I am also realizing that i don’t want all of it like I thought I did. “It” is very different than I thought it was going to be. “It” is very isolating and strange. I don’t actually enjoy being looked at all that much. I’m fairly shy when you take the booze and chemical help out of me (which I removed in 2007). I think when I started out on this quest to become whatever I am now it was to fill a void that I no longer have. I can’t keep fighting for this thing that is making me miserable. It’s too much pressure, you guys. I think I might actually hate the mainstream and don’t really wanna be famous at all. I know, I know…roll your eyes. I’m saying that I used to have those intentions and now I don’t. My intentions now are to stop everything dead in their tracks and switch gears…which is just exactly what I am about to do.

Come to these shows in August and watch me commit the most spectacular career suicide this town has ever seen. The big finish is coming right up! To listen to audio from my unreleased record “I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday” click HERE and go to the NEW UNRELEASED DEMOS playlist on the right!

Like I said, I love you. All of you. Always.

xxLL

P.S. (I wrote a song about this whole mess called “Velocity” for the as of now unfinished and unreleased new record. You can listen to and download the MP3 Demo Version for free HERE if you wanna. Also, HERE is another new one called “Things Are Looking Up” for you. This whole bit may as well have a soundtrack, right?)

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEWED BY “DIRTY” MAGAZINE THIS MONTH!!!

Logan — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:32:11 +0000

I was interviewed for the premier issue of Dirty Magazine (available in July) and our chat is currently one of the feature stories on their website! You can check it out HERE or just keep reading below.

From Dirty Magazine: (July 2010)

“LOGAN LYNN’S LAST HIGH: LOGAN LYNN – MUSICIAN, PORTLAND RESIDENT, SELF DESCRIBED “EMO-PROPHET” – TALKS ABOUT HIS STRICT CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING, COCAIN ADDICTION, AND THE JOYS OF JOY BEHAR.

DIRTY: WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

LOGAN LYNN: The Midwest, but we moved around a lot: Nebraska, Michigan, Kansas, Tennessee, Texas. I moved to Portland when I was 16 and, aside from a few failed attempts in larger cities, have basically stayed put.

D: ASIDE FROM SINGING, DO YOU PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS?

LL: If you put quotation marks around the word “play”, then yes. I took just enough piano and guitar lessons as a child to know my way around the basics in both, but I write lyrics and make vocal melodies, mostly. That’s my instrument.

D: HOW PRESENT WAS SINGING IN YOUR CHILDHOOD?

LL: Singing was always very present. I was raised in an A cappella church and my parents were both choir singers. My Dad was a preacher and I was not allowed to listen to secular music. I watched a lot of “Kids, Incorporated” though (so I was heard 80′s pop music), and “The Mickey Mouse Club”. Every now and then CCM Magazine, a Christian music magazine that I subscribed to, would review a record by a secular band. In 1989 they reviewed the self-titled first release of “The Innocence Mission”, because there was an old Catholic song tagged to the end of it. This changed my life for sure. I got really into them and began following their career. I had a real connection with Karen Peris’s lyrics and they would, in time, be what got me through much of the solitude I was faced with growing up, as well as the rehab-laced, drug-fueled solitude of my 20′s. I still listen to her songs still now; they have the same effect on me that they used to.

D: WHAT IS THE FIRST SONG YOU CAN REMEMBER FALLING IN LOVE WITH? HOW OLD WERE YOU?

LL: Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” was the recital song for my tap and jazz dance class when I was eight. It was the first record I destroyed by playing over and over. It was love for sure.

D: HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU WROTE YOUR FIRST SONG? WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?

LL: I was pretty young when I started making up my own lyrics and melodies. Basically, as soon as I could speak I started to sing. There are cassette tapes of me singing original material dating back to when I was two or three. The first proper song that I wrote, recorded, and performed was when I was 12. I had just gotten heavily into drugs and wrote a song about Windowpane [LSD] that I recorded in my cousin’s studio and then performed at a Christian talent show. Needless to say, I didn’t win.

D: WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?

LL: The Innocence Mission, Styrofoam, The Breeders, Simian, Of Montreal, The Sundays, The Cardigans – and a bunch of bad pop and techno from the 80′s and 90′s.

D: WHEN DID YOU JOIN YOUR FIRST BAND? WHAT WAS IT CALLED?

LL: I’d always either been a DJ or a solo artist until 2006, when I started forming bands to perform with me. When I was a kid my brother and I performed after dinner for my parents and whoever else was around. I guess that was kinda like a band.

D: YOUR LATEST ALBUM IS TITLED “FROM PILLAR TO POST”. WHAT IS THE ALBUM ABOUT FOR YOU?

LL: It’s about my life turning from bad to worse; my journey away from a 16-year cocaine addiction; and a six-year relationship with my former partner coming to an end. It’s a snapshot of my life from 2007 to 2008. It journeys through some dark stuff, but out the other end into the light again.

D: DO YOU FIND THE DARKNESS HAS HELPED YOU GROW?

LL: Definitely. The record I’ve been working on for the past few months has taken shape in the light and is turning out to be about what I’m doing to put the pieces back together in my life. I have a much clearer perspective on the subjects addressed in “From Pillar To Post” and feel like I’ve grown a lot. I’m not so heartbroken and confused these days – just a little roughed up from the journey.

D: ANY UPCOMING TOURDATES FOR LOGAN LYNN?

LL: I’m playing some regional shows on the West Coast this summer, then we are planning to add cities in the rest of the country this fall. We are still ironing out the details with tour stuff, but one thing is for sure: The next show is on May 27th at Doug Fir in Portland. (NOTE: THIS ANSWER IS OUT OF DATE. THE INTERVIEW HAPPENED WHEN WE WERE FIRST BOOKING THE TOUR WE ARE CURRENTLY ON ALL SUMMER THROUGH AUGUST!!!)

D: WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

LL: Mainstream pop or Indie pop that sounds mainstream. I’m going through a phase: All La Roux, all the time.

D: YOU’RE GOING ON A LONG TRIP AND YOU CAN ONLY BRING A PLAYLIST OF 10 SONGS WITH YOU. WHAT WOULD THEY BE?

LL:
1. The Vaselines: “You Think You’re A Man”
2. Kings of Convenience: “I’d Rather Dance With You”
3. Simian: “LA Breeze”
4. Jaguar Love: “Up All Night”
5. The Sounds: “Painted By Numbers”
6. Styrofoam: “The Long Wait”
7. The Dandy Warhols: “Mis Amigos”
8. Console: “14 Zero Zero”
9. Liz Phair: “Headache”
10.The Innocence Mission: “July”

D: BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME?

LL: Rickie Lee Jones: “Ghostyhead”

D: IS THERE ANYONE YOU HOPE TO MEET SOMEDAY? WHO & WHY?

LL: For fun, Joy Behar. I wanna be on “The View” in the biggest way.

D: DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE VISUAL ARTIST?

LL: Charlie White. I want my world to look like his photographs.

D: IS THERE A DECADE IN WORLD HISTORY YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ALIVE TO EXPERIENCE?

LL: I’m fascinated by the 1920′s, but I’m into being alive now. It feels right.

D: WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE FILMS EVER?

LL: “The Garbage Pail Kids”, a live-action movie from the 80′s. Oh, and “Showgirls”. That was two. Sorry: I’m historically bad with limitations.

D: WHAT’S SOMETHING THAT NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT YOU.

LL: I’m really very frightened of being in love, of being close with someone. I’m obviously someone who craves closeness; I’ve written and released over a decade of songs about it, for fuck’s sake, but when it comes down to it I have a really hard time being close with anyone. It’s something I’m working on. My guess is it’s something I will always be working on.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF LOGAN LYNN & THE GENTRY PERFORMING "WRITE IT ON MY LEFT ARM" ON KGW NEWSCHANNEL 8 HERE!

admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 03:13:36 +0000

In case you missed us playing the new version of “Write It On My Left Arm” LIVE on KGW Newschannel 8 last night on TV (via the show “Live at 7“) you can watch the video from the broadcast just below. Pretty fun!!!

For more information on “Live at 7“, CLICK HERE.

LOGAN LYNN & THE GENTRY ON KGW NEWSCHANNEL 8 TONIGHT AT 7PM IN PORTLAND!!!

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:27:43 +0000

It’s been a busy week! Tonight at 7pm you can tune in to local Portland NBC affiliate KGW Newschannel 8 to catch me and the boys in my band on your TV on the show “Live at 7“! Channel 8 is coming to Doug Fir to chat with us before the show and maybe shoot some of our soundcheck. I’m pretty sure it’s live TV, so you never know what could happen!

For more info, CLICK HERE.

OREGON MUSIC NEWS STORY TODAY ON LOGAN LYNN & THE GENTRY: "EMOTRONIC GOES POST-PUNK"!

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:27:05 +0000

OMN (Oregon Music News) came to The Odditorium the other night while we were setting up for yesterday’s shoot and interviewed me and The Gentry. They ran a story today, along with the interview and some MP3 LIVE audio from yesterday!!! Click HERE to check it out at their site or keep reading below…

From “Oregon Music News”: (5/26/2010)

“Logan Lynn & The Gentry: Emotronic goes post-punk”

It is 9pm and Logan Lynn and The Gentry are scrambling to sound-check in a cavernous warehouse space in Portland’s NW industrial district. “We’re in the Dandy’s kingdom,” Lynn says of The Odditorium, the sprawling studio of the Dandy Warhols.

The main room has giant murals leaning on almost every surface, a small fleet of motorcycles in the rear. There’s a kitchen outfitted better than most restaurants. The oddly placed nooks, crannies, windows and doors suggest a building cobbled together from several smaller ones.

The band is setting up for an early morning video shoot at The Odditorium with local CBS affiliate Koin 6. They’re shooting promo videos too, for a tour they’re kicking off this Thursday, May 27th, at the Doug Fir Lounge with DoublePlusGood and Fleshtone.

Logan Lynn is known for his emotronic, electro-pop, and OMN has profiled him before. In the past he’s mostly performed alone, sometimes bringing along a producer like Cars & Trains, while he stood out front crooning into a mic over layers of soft electronics. But for this Thursday’s show, and this summer’s upcoming tour, he’s brought along a full band: slamming dance-electro rockers The Gentry.

He calls himself a “bad hostess” as the band hurries to set up. He seems anxious, but affable. Will an act that’s gained popularity for soft, emotive electronics sit well with an accustomed fan base after adding a full, raucous band?

“I was scared about what people were gonna do,” Lynn says. But after their first performance at Blow Pony in February, “We had every single ear and eye on us. They were into it. I checked the video just to make sure. It’s real.”

The transition began in December “and we just went full force, we started practicing 30 hours a week.” OMN caught up with Logan Lynn, and Gino Mari (vocals, guitar), Steve Taylor (synthesizers, bass), and Andrew Carrion [A.C.] (drums) of The Gentry between rehearsals to talk about the change. Plus, there’s a new live track of their collaboration below.

(To listen to Logan Lynn and The Gentry rocking out on “Bottom Your Way to the Top” (LIVE at the Dandy Warhol’s Odditorium on 5/25/2010) click HERE.)

OMN: Looking at some old stuff, I noticed that Gino had done a remix for you. Is that where the relationship began?

Logan: Well kinda. The remix relationship had happened because they had played a show with us when we played with Dhalia [at East End]. I was impressed with how they were. It was the first I had sort of seen of electronic rock or something that made me want to dance, but with live instruments. Back then… there were a lot of people trying to do that and [The Gentry] were wild enough to entertain me. When it was time to do the remix record I hollered at them cuz I knew that they would be able to do something good… A couple weeks into doing the remixes I got a weird licensing deal from my label, and it was for some new Cedric the Entertainer show [laughs]. It was for this scene where, they’re like in the car “rollin’ up” and it was supposed to be some sort of hip-hop in the car, and then when they open the door it needed to get really “gay” [everyone laughs]. It was from Dreamworks or something.

Gino: Yeah, I think it was like a cop or something.

Logan: It’s like a cop rolls up there, and then they roll down the window, and it sounds really gay. So I was like if anyone can do something weird… out of the 28 guys I had doing remixes, these guys could do it. None of them are gay, but I knew that they had dirty minds. So I just picked the people that I thought were most perverted on the list.

OMN: Gino qualifies.

Gino: I’m perverted? You think I’m perverted? I’m just a sweet guy, what are you talking about? I am a gentle giant.

Logan: I disagree

[Laughter]

OMN: I’m wondering, where was the approach?

Logan: You came to my listening party.

Gino: Yeah that’s right.

Logan: I had a hell of a time figuring out my live show, from the first time I started playing until now. It has taken a while.

OMN: With your live show before, it was pretty much pre-programmed with you singing?

Logan: Yeah. The idea initially was a “singing DJ” and then somewhere along the line it turned more into like…

OMN: Being the performer versus being the DJ.

Logan: Right, I took the headphones off and stepped up. It just took me a while. I have crippling stage-fright, historically. That was my problem I think. So I was gradually getting more recognition, and feeling less comfortable as more people were looking and having opinions about what I was doing on stage. And it became clear that I needed a band, and I wanted to work with somebody who I respected. And these guys came to my…

Gino: Aww. [laughs]

Logan: Listening party and something clicked, and I was like “What are you guys doing? Are you guys really busy right now?”

OMN: How long was that transition in your career?

Logan: From 2000 when my first record came out.

OMN: So really that long, almost ten years before you decided: “I need to get a band.”

Logan: Yes. But there was like 6 years where I was like in party town, living in an alternate universe. I lost some time to the party wagon. I think I got serious about all this in 2007. Since [then] it’s been one thing after another. It started with my producer from Pillar to Post. I kind of dragged him on stage an said “You HAVE to do this, we’re gonna go and play shows!” And he ended up moving. Then, I worked with Cars & Trains. He’s an indie, electro-pop, one-man show and it was great, I did that for a year. And then it was just time to make it louder and wilder. I needed something to pull me out of my shell, I think, and the loudness has done that. And with Gino, these guys on stage, it’s way less scary, it’s fun instead of being terrifying.

OMN: From seeing past Gentry shows, Gino is a hell of a frontman.

Logan: Totally.

Gino: Aww, guys.

Logan: I’m shy and he’s not.

OMN: But for this project at least, Logan, you’re the actual frontman, so you have to sort of step up, beyond somebody who is used to having that role.

Gino: But what’s good is that I kind of force him to. Because it’s not like I sit back. I’m still me.

Logan: He’s still Gino out there.

Gino: I’m still all about that rock ‘n’ roll, escapist raaaa, crazy.

OMN: So what are your roles now. I mean A.C., he’s quiet in person, but he’s a monster on drums. For Gino, are you playing mostly backup stuff?

Gino: I play guitar, and I sing backup stuff, and I’m gonna do keyboards. But mostly just harmonies and guitar.

OMN: Steve, what’s your role.

Steve: I play mostly synth and electric bass. I don’t really play leads or anything like that now, it’s all bass.

OMN: For The Gentry, as a band, do you have a dedicated bassist right now?

Gino: It’s a machine.

Logan: We like computers.

Steve: After seven of them we replaced them with a machine.

[Laughter]

Logan: The way that the show goes, just to give you an idea, we’ve merged the units. We’re going on tour together as kind of one band, but it’s two bands. The Gentry sort of starts off the set, and plays their set… and they kind of bring me on stage. [Then] we play a whole other set where they don’t really change their position, except that Gino sort of slides over, and I pop out… Once I pop on, they’re still The Gentry, but it’s my songs. But they’ve been totally reworked by these guys.

OMN: And are you gonna do anything by yourself, or is everything formatted for a band?

Logan: No, it’s all brand new.

Steve: There was talk…

Logan: There are some times where its calm, and it’s just me singing. But there’s not really time where I go and clutch the mic in anticipation of something happening.

OMN: Going back and listening to your stuff, Logan, it seems really sensitive. The emo thing gets tagged to you a lot.

Logan: Sure.

OMN: But I think of The Gentry as being really macho. Even though it is dance music and ’80s, there’s a certain machismo to it.

Logan: Its chick bangin-rock.

OMN: Yeah so now its chick-bangin’ rock mixed with dude-bangin’ rock.

[Laughter]

Gino: It’s just an appreciation of sex.

Logan: Just bangin’ all around. I’ve been called the “Ambassador of Bisexuality” before, and I’m not bisexual. But my imagery that I put out in my videos… I had the first gay kiss on MTV, well man-to-man.

OMN: Are you worried about alienating people who came to like your through your softer sound?

Logan: I don’t know, I’m kind of in the business of alienating people. In the beginning, I was making records that I didn’t think anybody was going to listen to. And then when they started listening I changed it up again and then made some weird electro-clash record. I think the common element in all my work is me, and my words, and my songs, and my melodies. That stays the same no matter what the energy behind it is. This is just like a brand new energy that’s been worked into the same songs. People are going to recognize the songs. They just hit heavier and have grown large and epic instead of soft and sweet.

OMN: But do you think it still is dance-y?

Logan: Oh, it’s so dance-y.

Gino: It kind of like [an] electronic Buzzcocks, Stooges. Really primal simple parts.

Steve: We really tapped into ’70s punk for a lot of these songs.

Logan: It’s like dance-punk.

OMN: ’70s punk is the last thing I would ever think when I heard your stuff.

Logan: I am not punk though. That’s the thing, that’s what I’m saying. I haven’t changed the way I’m singing necessarily. It’s them, they’ve brought their Gentry. That’s the thing. I’m still soft. They’re hard, I’m soft and it comes together in this new way. But it’s familiar. I think we’ll hold on to my fans, and [The Gentry] are gonna get some new ones.

OMN: And you’re comfortable now, or even excited.

Logan: I’m so excited, everything rules. And even A.C.’s energy back there… That alone versus some programmed beat it changes the whole fucking scope.

Steve: It changes the whole dynamic entirely.

Gino: Well the three of us have been playing [as The Gentry] for so long we have a natural…

OMN: It’s been like six years.

Gino: Even longer. What’s cool is that we get to try out a lot of things that we’re interested in the moment. And it’s nice to not be the frontman, cuz I’ve always been the frontman. I’ve always had to be the singer. To just be a guitar player… it’s fun, the simplicity of being able to leave [the mic]. I’m not attached to a microphone, though I do sing vocals I can leave, and the song isn’t done [just] because I’m not singing.

Logan: You can jump off the stage.

Gino: Exactly, I can do my crazy thing and it lets me take that exhibition further because I’m not trapped to the center of the stage and singing into my mic [where] if I miss my cue everything is fucked.

Logan: That’s my job.

Gino: It’s cool too, because we’ve been really into dynamics lately and we get to do some experiments with some really soft parts of songs and then big, loud. Just experimenting with playing as a band rather than being an electronic unit. I mean we still use computers and we still…

OMN: So there’s still a lot of programming there, but some of the songs are free form.

Logan: Some have [no programming].

Gino: And they’re totally different from The Gentry.

Logan: Its working, but its been an adjustment.

OMN: Especially as a DJ where you have a record, a program, something else in front of you the whole time.

Logan: Definitely. It’s a new world. It’s a more enjoyable world from what I’ve experienced so far… There’s not one sound within our band or within our set that makes it pinpointable, but it’s all one thing. It’s all hard, fast, rock, dance, wildness.

OMN: Are you working on any new material that you’ve only just started with the band, or is this all old material?

Logan: No, no. Yea, I finished making a new record, which we’re mixing now. So I’d say half the set is stuff from this new record that nobody has ever heard before. They’re gonna hear it the first time as The Gentry’s version of it.

OMN: Is there anything from that you’d be willing to share with OMN?

Logan: Sure, yeah definitely, but I have to check with some people on that [laughs]. I’m not in charge of me anymore.

Logan Lynn seems anxious but confident about the new sound. “I’m in contact with the people who are listening to my music. That’s how this whole thing started, that’s how its built up to this point. That’s how I know somebody’s gonna be there tomorrow.”

It’s those relationships that fuel Lynn’s music.

“It’s great that I get good reviews or whatever, but the people who I actually care about are the people I’m talking to online, that are coming up to me after shows, that are interested in what they just heard. You gotta feed the tree.”

Logan Lynn and The Gentry will be playing this Thursday, May 27th at the Doug Fir Lounge, 9pm with DoublePlusGood and Fleshtone.

NETWORK TELEVISION WORLD PREMIER OF LOGAN LYNN'S NEW VIDEO "THE LAST HIGH" ON MTV'S "LOGO" CHANNEL NEXT WEEK!

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:15:21 +0000

I just heard word from the kids at MTV that my new video “The Last High” will be making its Network Television World Premier into MILLIONS of homes one week from Sunday (on February 21st at Midnight) on their Logo Channel‘s weekly video countdown show “NewNowNext“! Set your Tivo! There are tons of repeat showtimes from there, but if you wanna catch it as it hits the airwaves, Sunday the 21st it is!!!

This is going to be the 5th video of mine that they have picked up since 2006. Pretty exciting. I love Logo!!! To watch me hosting “NewNowNext” at MTV Studios in NYC a year ago, CLICK HERE.

You can watch the video just below as well, but there’s something about seeing it on TV that is WAY more fun. Be sure to tune in!!!

Logan Lynn Music » Interviews

Queer Celebrities Need Love, Too: An Interview with Matt Alber, Bruce LaBruce, Daniela Sea, Danny Roberts, Jackie Beat, Holcombe Waller, and Matthew Zink

LOGAN LYNN FEATURED IN PHOTOGRAPHER JEFFREY HORVITZ’S QUEER APERTURE PROJECT!

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEW ON THE ACCIDENTAL BEAR THIS WEEK!

JUST OUT NEWSWEEKLY INTERVIEWS LOGAN LYNN ABOUT “QUICKLY AS WE PASS” + HIATUSES!

LIVE RADIO INTERVIEW WITH LOGAN LYNN ON WINNIE COOPER’S “THE INTERVIEW SHOW WITH SCOTT WOOD” THIS WEEK!

LOGAN LYNN’S PROMO FOR Q CENTER’S WEB SERIES “WE ARE Q CENTER” PREMIERED TODAY!

LOGAN LYNN FEATURED ON THE “BORN THIS WAY” BLOG!

VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH LOGAN LYNN & DANNY D. FROM THE HUGS ON PIRATE SATELLITE TELEVISION THIS WEEK! WATCH HERE.

2010 IS OVER. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?

I hope you all have a happy new year! Be who you are and don’t worry about what the world thinks. The world is most likely wrong about you anyhow. xxLL

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEWED BY GERMAN QUEER MUSIC + POLITICS BLOG, CATCH FIRE! FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD!

BELGIAN PRODUCER & INDIE ELECTROPOP GOD STYROFOAM TALKS ABOUT LOGAN LYNN IN MINT MALE MAGAZINE THIS MONTH!

READ PART TWO OF LOGAN LYNN’S INTERVIEW WITH JUST OUT NEWSWEEKLY HERE!

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEWED ABOUT HIS DEPARTURE FROM MUSIC IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF JUST OUT — DIGITAL VERSION HERE!

CHECK OUT LOGAN LYNN’S INTERVIEW IN CURRENT (AUGUST 2010) ISSUE OF ‘Q TOWN MAGAZINE’! READ IT HERE NOW!!!

LOGAN LYNN TAKING AN EXTENDED BREAK FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TO COMMIT CAREER SUICIDE – FULL STORY HERE.

LOGAN LYNN INTERVIEWED BY “DIRTY” MAGAZINE THIS MONTH!!!

WATCH THE VIDEO OF LOGAN LYNN & THE GENTRY PERFORMING "WRITE IT ON MY LEFT ARM" ON KGW NEWSCHANNEL 8 HERE!

LOGAN LYNN & THE GENTRY ON KGW NEWSCHANNEL 8 TONIGHT AT 7PM IN PORTLAND!!!

OREGON MUSIC NEWS STORY TODAY ON LOGAN LYNN & THE GENTRY: "EMOTRONIC GOES POST-PUNK"!

NETWORK TELEVISION WORLD PREMIER OF LOGAN LYNN'S NEW VIDEO "THE LAST HIGH" ON MTV'S "LOGO" CHANNEL NEXT WEEK!

I hope you all have a happy new year! Be who you are and don’t worry about what the world thinks. The world is most likely wrong about you anyhow.

xxLL