In the spirit of Gay Pride week, KEXP Seattle (otherwise known as the coolest radio station in all the land) has released their annual “Weird At My School: Big Gay Playlist” and my song “Feed Me To The Wolves” (the “From Pillar To Post” version from 2009) is song 10, just between Ships: “Up and Down” and The Hidden Cameras: “Underage (Holy Fuck Remix).

Neat gay stuff, huh? Check it out HERE.

OK, so…the title of this post is a bit dramatic and unfair. 2009 actually brought with it some really amazing things. My new record “From Pillar To Post” was released and was received better than my little brain could have imagined…First by the press, then by all of you guys. It’s been really great to finally get to share where I’ve been since 2007 with you after going into hiding shortly after I got signed with “Beat The World”. Thanks so much for listening, for helping to spread the word about my tunes, and for reminding me constantly why it is that I write songs in the first place.

On the flipside to all of this professional joy, the past year has been quite a journey for me personally. 2009 was the first year since 1994 where no Alcohol or Cocaine entered my body. Like…NONE. I got clean in the beginning of 2008, so it was tainted by a couple of months of freebasing and I didn’t quit drinking until December of ’08…but this year was clean, start to finish. I’m nearing the 2 year anniversary of my last journey to cracked-out partytown…I know for normal people that doesn’t seem like a very big deal, but for me and for anyone who has ever known or loved me, it’s noteworthy. I’m finally at a point with the getting well that it’s not such a constant struggle to function. All I really have to say about that is…FUCK YES!!! FINALLY!!!!!

At this point, I have torn down every part of my old life and am about to start over. After over 6 years of moving in one direction together, my partner and I split up in July and I’ve spent much of the past 6 months since just regrouping, catching my breath, mourning the loss of that companionship (and that of one of my dogs, Spike, who went to live with “other dad” when he left), and making a new plan. I made decisions this year that kicked me WAY out of my comfort zone and have left me feeling vulnerable and beyond frightened at times, but I’ve managed to navigate through and have finally hit the light at the end of the dark tunnel. I feel great sorrow for this loss in my life, and it is a neon example of how some things which I broke when I was high are just unfixable, no matter how hard anyone tries. I wish him nothing but the greatest happiness and hope the new year brings peace and healing for both of our sad, broken hearts.

That same week in July I went to stay with my Mom and Dad in the Oregon desert. We spent the first part of the week in a raw emotional state, talking out old festering wounds and repairing cracks in the foundation of our family unit that had been made long ago. We cried for the better part of the week, but managed to come back together at some point while I was there. That time with them is the most beautiful experience I’ve had in my life so far and things are forever changed as a result of those moments together.

I’ve made a lot of new friends this year and am really excited to be starting a new decade this week with all of you in tow. I feel light again, like things are clearing up. I am determined to bring my personal life up to speed with my professional life this year…gonna make some happy stuff happen!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!!! See you on the 7th at Doug Fir in Portland! It’s gonna be a really good show. “Cars & Trains” and “The Gentry” rule the skool.

xxLL

The “Nerdy Frames” Music & Pop Culture blog from Auckland, New Zealand picked up on my new video and ran a feature on me today. You can also download some FREE MP3′s of my songs from their site!!!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!!!

Fun. It’s amazing to me that people all over the world are getting my music delivered to their ears these days. Go interwebz, huh? Also, go Beat The World & Caroline/EMI Records for getting it out there on a grand scale! I’m a very lucky boy. Worldwide distribution, baby! WOOT.

So exciting. “Out” Magazine has me as one of their featured stories today over at their website. To check it out, CLICK HERE.

Today rules!!!

You can read the full transcript from the interview below as well.

From “Out” Magazine:

Logan Lynn’s emo-disco-pop blend has already made him a hit with gay guys who like to hear their lives — from the highs to the lows — set to music. His ability to capture melancholy and melody is really no surprise, given that the grandmother who taught him about music also taught a similarly emotional man, Johnny Cash. We sat down with Lynn to find out about “bottoming his way to the top,” feuding with Jeffree Star, and just what “putting the discomfort in disco” actually means.

Out: I heard you have a very intimate connection to Johnny Cash.

Logan Lynn: My connection to Johnny Cash is that my grandmother on my dad’s side, LaVanda Mae Fielder, taught him how to sing and play the piano back in the day. In his autobiography he tells a story about my grandma telling him not to ever take another singing lesson because they’d ruin his voice. She just thought he had natural talent.

Out: Has that connection influenced you at all?

LL: Well, it didn’t really influence me until later on in life when I cared about Johnny Cash or stuff like that. I did learn how to play the piano on the piano that he learned how to play on. So as an adult, I’ve kind of had moments where I thought that was cool. You know, obviously, I’ve spent a lot of time around my family who were all pretty musical as a result of her sort of passing that on. I grew up in the church, and we weren’t allowed to listen to Johnny Cash. We weren’t allowed to listen to anything secular. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve explored his music and thought that connection was cool.

Out: Logo calls your music “moody dance-pop.” Do you think that’s fair?

LL: Yeah, I do think so. My sound has changed a little bit over the years, obviously, as I’ve grown and started working with other people. But I think my roots are still firmly planted in electro-pop. I think to say it’s moody is sort of an understatement. [Laughs.] I think it’s very moody. I don’t think it’s dark. I find a connection with the rawness of what I’m saying. I try not to hold back. A lot of times that comes off as immature [laughs], like I’m sort of stuck in my own zone or whatever. But I think those feelings are universal — feelings of love, and loss, and some of the darker themes that people are going through.

Out: It seems like your following is a big influence on you.

LL: I think that’s true. I’ve spent the last few years getting to know the people in my network, which is maybe different than some other bands. I know their names, I’m in communication with a lot of them back and forth. I’ve really spent a lot of time since 2006 building up that relationship and trying to find out not only what kind of music they want, but how they want all that to look. I think it’s definitely more about my fan base and my following than my label. We sort of followed suit, looking at similar bands who used Topspin [a media company that helps artists bring music to their fans], like Metric. Some of those other bands that are just completely self-made and having huge successes. And a lot of that has to do with listening to their fans and figuring out what they want, instead of just marketing them the same way we would the High School Musical soundtrack. You’ve got to kind of know your audience and figure out what’s valuable to them, versus what the industry thinks is valuable.

Out: Your catchphrase is “putting the disco back into discomfort.” What does that even mean?

LL: Um, I’m not exactly sure what that means. [Laughs.] It’s been around for a few years. I think before I needed some kind of quick one-liner thing to get people’s attention. You know, I kind of built this all up on MySpace. You have that little tag line area — it needed to fit there. Someone had written that, I believe, at some point after a show I had performed, and I kind of just adopted it early on. I think that’s changed a little bit as my music has become a little less disco. And maybe it’s less about discomfort and more about trying to find the light or whatever. The material, lyrically, is kind of heavy at times, and it’s sort of this “spoonful of sugar” idea, where the music itself doesn’t necessarily sound as heavy as the lyrics. So together it makes it so the listener can process it, and it’s not like a huge bummer.

Out: Did you, as one of your new song titles suggests, (see the video above) “bottom your way to the top?”

LL: [Laughs.] I didn’t personally do that. This new record is all about the ending of my relationship that I’d been in for six years, and trying to get well — ending relationships with chemicals, ending relationships with people in my life. And that was just something my partner screamed at me at one point, and it turned into a song. I think it’s something I’ve gone through in my experience of getting here, not bottoming my way to the top by any means, but running into things with my relationship as my career started to progress. They just weren’t lining up. I take responsibility for half of that, for sure. I did make things extra complicated. When we got together, I wasn’t doing this. So things change.

Out: So are you available now?

LL: Yeah, I’m single. It feels weird. I haven’t been in the single world for so long, I’m finding myself newly sober and newly single, and it’s equaling out to me being a little bit awkward. [Laughs.] I’m trying to figure out how to do these basic things again. When I was single the first time around, I was so wasted that a lot of my experiences, whether that’s sexually or trying to relate to people emotionally or even in my music… it’s all sort of brand new again. It’s making me feel like I’m just hitting puberty, but I’m a 30-year-old man. It’s interesting. It’s a new world, for sure.

Out: Have you found that being an out artist has limited your career at all?

LL: I haven’t. I think I’ve found the opposite of that. I came out when I was 14, so by the time this whole music thing started to happen, which was about 10 years ago, I had been out for so long, that was the only thing I knew how to be. There wasn’t really an option of going back in. But I certainly don’t think I marketed myself that way. I didn’t market myself at all. I kind of just started making records to help my brain along. I would give them to my friends, and they slowly started kind of leaking out. By the time 2006 happened, and I had my MySpace page, I personally started marketing to gay people individually, just thinking we’ll be similar. [Laughs.] I think feeling alone or different — or those themes in my music — resonate with the gay community in a way that was sort of immediate, just because I do write from that perspective. I do think the world has changed enough from the time when I decided I wanted to do this to the time when we started marketing it that it’s almost a selling point at this point. I grew up in Kansas and Nebraska, so I wouldn’t have been able to imagine this in a pre-Will & Grace world. But things have changed enough now, where I think people are listening to the music for the most part, and not even thinking about that. I’m glad that people in the gay community have responded to me like they have, and I’m totally into it. It has made me feel less alone and more a part of the community, to have people in the community and outside of it respond to what I’m doing. It’s been cool.

Out: How much did it suck having the flu recently?

LL: It sucked bad. I’ve never been sick like that. I never get sick. I’m not sure exactly what happened. My brother had a baby a couple years ago, and I love her to death and was hanging out with her. I believe she may have given me whatever she got from the hundred other kids she’s been sticking her finger in the mouth of. It was gross, but I was holed up long enough to sit here and think about things. I was turning 30 too, and I was thinking, oh my God. There’s something about the flu that lends itself to minor depression. I did lose some weight though! I looked good for my New York trip.

Out: Speaking of New York, while you were at the CMJ festival in October you Tweeted that you were going to see Jeffree Star’s set, but he didn’t end up playing. You called it “pretty lame.” Is there a feud brewing there?

LL: [Laughs.] I hope not. I’d be afraid to be in a feud with that guy. No, actually I like him, that’s why I went. I think that’s a pretty bummer thing to do. It mostly reminded me of how I was a couple years ago — something I could have pulled. The CMJ promoters were not very pleased, but it didn’t really affect me. I went there in a Town Car, and then I took my Town Car back.

Out: Lastly, Lady Gaga: Overexposed or overtly fabulous?

LL: [Laughs.] I like Lady Gaga. I don’t know, you might be asking the wrong person. I’m thinking overexposure is in the eye of the beholder. If that’s what you’re going for, which I think is part of the whole deal with her, it seems to be working. I think if you’re exposing yourself in a way that you’re comfortable with, then that’s really your authentic self.

Out: Logan Lynn’s new album, From Pillar to Post is available at www.loganlynnmusic.com and in stores now.

So…my head has pretty much been spinning with excitement since late Monday night when iTunes went live with my new record “From Pillar To Post” as one of their featured “New and Noteworthy” selections on the homepage of their “Indie Spotlight”…right next to “Oasis”, baby!

To check it out for yourself, go to the iTunes Music Store and click on the drop-down MUSIC tab at the top. From there, you can click on “Indie Spotlight” and you’ll see me front and center. You can also access the album on iTunes directly by CLICKING HERE!

I love you all for coming out to “Jinx” Bar in Portland last night for the CD Release party my label put on for me. Thanks so much to Ryan, The Dandy Warhols, & all the sponsors (“Just Out” Newsweekly, “Vault Martini”, “Beat The World Records”, & “Jinx” Bar)…and big, BIG thanks to DJ Rescue for being her amazing self, as ever. I’ve said it before, but I am convinced that Zia McCabe is an angel sent from heaven to bless our ears and faces. Thanks for making the night a good time, you sweet people!!!

Here’s some photos from the evening for those of you who missed it. It suddenly turned into a dance party around Midnight. Super fun. Thanks for coming out to celebrate the new record finally coming out! You guys rule.

Lots of love from the hometown this week. In preparation for the big listening party my label is throwing me this weekend, Portland Newsweekly “Just Out” did a post about the party which you can read HERE. The writer, Ryan J. Prado, also included their official review of my new record which you can read below.

From “Just Out” (11/20/09)

– Ryan J. Prado

The Dandy Warhols posted the scoop on their website today. CLICK HERE to check it out. Have I mentioned how much I love them? They are so good to me. I love my label!!! Awwww…

The party starts at 8pm and goes until Midnight. It’s FREE FUN sponsored by “Just Out” Newsweekly, “Jinx Bar”, “Beat The World Records”, & “Vault Martini”. Check out the flyer below.

SEE YOU SUNDAY EVERYBODY!!!

xxLL

Pretty fun! You can watch this week’s episode airing now thru Sunday when the new one premiers. My new video, “Write It On My Left Arm”, appears on both so…watch it this week, watch it next week, or watch in online over at Logo’s website HERE.

Once again, I’m in the mix with some heavy hitters. Put me on any list with the Metric kids anywhere any day of the week and I’ll be all smiles. Hell yes.

Here’s what NEXT week’s episode has in store:

#1 Metric “Help I’m Alive”
#2 Jack Penate “Be The One”
#3 The Lovely Feathers “Lowiza” (Logo Premiere)
#4 Cage the Elephant “Back Up Against the Wall” (Logo Premiere)
#5 One eskimO “Kandi” (Logo Premiere)
#6 Logan Lynn “Write It On My Left Arm”
#7 Amanda Blank “I Might Like You Better”
#8 The Polyamorous Affair “White Hot Magic” (Broadcast Premiere)
#9 Girl in a Coma “El Monte”
#10 The Cliks “Dirty King”

This week’s episode of “NewNowNext” (MTV’s Logo Channel’s weekly “New Music Videos” showcase) is premiering my new video, “Write It On My Left Arm”, Directed by Trip Ross, TONIGHT (Sunday 9/6) at MIDNIGHT! Set your DVR or go HERE for repeat showtimes and full schedule!

I’m in some SUPER good company on this week’s show…check it out!

1. Amanda Blank “I Might Like You Better” (Logo Premiere)
2. Santigold “Lights Out”
3. Cage the Elephant “Back Up Against the Wall” (Logo Premiere)
4. Jay Reatard “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” (Logo Premiere)
5. Logan Lynn “Write It On My Left Arm” (Broadcast Premiere)
6. The Dead Weather “Treat Me Like Your Mother (Live)”
7. Metric “Help I’m Alive”
8. Jack Penate “Be The One”
9. Von Iva “LA LA”
10. The Sounds “No One Sleeps While I’m Awake”

Umm…yeah. So super awesome!!!

It will be making it’s Network Television Premier on Logo’s weekly music video show “NewNowNext” at some point over the coming weeks…I will keep you posted on the specifics with all of that as they are revealed.

Pretty fun! For now, you can watch the video at the top (right) of this site!

Yay. TV.

For those of you not in Australia, you can either go to “Q Magazine” online here and download the latest (August 09) issue (My story is on pages 31 and 32) or you can check out the full transcript of my interview with Q Magazine’s Marc Porter just below:

MP: What is the inspiration behind your upcoming new album From Pillar To Post?

LL: Well, this record is basically a documentation of my journey from despair into wellness…the songs are about love and sadness and the struggle to stay alive and find truth in the midst of total chaos, addiction, loneliness…my music mirrors my life, and my life went through a major overhaul about halfway through the 2-year process of making “From Pillar To Post”, so it starts off desperate and ends hopeful. Ultimately, it’s about me letting go of the darkness that I had been encompassed by for so many years and allowing the light in, little bits at a time. I’m no good if I’m not totally honest about where I am when I’m writing, so as the clouds cleared in my life they also cleared in the songs. It’s about letting go, allowing myself to feel things as they are, and being brave about facing the feelings instead of cowering in the corner with a pile of cocaine and doing my best to escape them.

MP: How did the opportunity to work with Logo come about?

LL: In 2006 I made a bunch of videos for my self-titled release and ended up getting one of them into the hands of Logo’s programming director, and from there the relationship was born. The first video ended up spending something like 14 weeks in the top 10 countdown, and right around that time the head of artist development from the network came to my show in NYC for gay pride 2007 and invited me to come by MTV the next day for an interview. When my “Feed Me To The Wolves” E.P./video came out later that year, we had an even more successful run, and this time they picked my video as one of the top 10 of the year and invited me to host their weekly music video show “NewNowNext”! We are just wrapping up two new videos for this new record (with more on the way) so there will be more Logan Lynn/Logo action coming up in the next few months. I love those guys and feel really lucky to have been around since when they were first getting started as a network. They wanted LGBT artists who were doing something different and I guess I fit the bill, so…YAY.

MP: Is it a curse or a blessing being known as a gay artist?

LL: I’d say if anything it’s been a blessing. It’s cool to be able to say that and actually believe it. Growing up in the bible belt I don’t think I would have envisioned that what was getting my ass kicked and disfellowshipped from church for would eventually be a major draw for my career path as an adult and would basically be the catalyst for getting people to listen initially. Had the gay press not endorsed me so whole-heartedly none of what is currently happening would exist. I am thankful for the change from Con to Pro and am really only ever able to be successful as myself, so…being a gay artist was really my only option from day 1. I think my songs are about life and love and the valleys we go through on the course of our human experience…some of the themes such as loneliness, isolation, despair and a feeling that you don’t belong hit home especially with many folks in the gay community, but those sorts of things apply across the board to ALL of us, gay or otherwise. I think that’s been really great to see that I’m not actually alone, not so isolated as I thought…that there are TONS of people out there on a similar journey and they are able to connect with my music in a way that I did not think possible when I was convinced that I was a man without a country or whatever.

MP: To an outsider just discovering your music…how would you describe your style?

LL: Ah, the million dollar question. This is a hard one to answer because I think that, with this new record in particular, I have my feet dipped in a bunch of genres. At the end of the day, it has been widely categorized as Sentitive Electropop but I still fancy myself a singer/songwriter with DJ gear instead of an acoustic guitar or a piano. I think the term Emo fits as well, but you might think about throwing a “tronic” on the tail end of the word just to avoid conjuring a mental image of a 17 year old Crybaby from Orange county with dyed jet black hair and too much eyeliner, singing about how fucked up high school is.

MP: How did music come into your life?

LL: I fought for it. Being raised in a VERY religious, anti-“secular” music home I was not allowed to listen to anything that wasn’t written about in “CCM” (Contemporary Christian Music) Magazine. As I began to discover what REAL music was around the age of 12, I began to fight for it. From there, when it was clear that I would never be allowed access to such tunes on the up and up, I began to steal CD’s and hide them under my bed. I remember taking a bunch of Amy Grant CD cases and replacing the discs with Nirvana, Teenage Fanclub, Sam Philips and Depeche Mode records. At some point, my parents eased up about the music and I was allowed to listen to “clean” songs by “secular” artists…this was a MUCH easier rule to break and I now just had to lie about what I was listening to, as opposed to relying on shoplifting to get my hands on important records. That was sort-of the beginning of the end with the heavy-handed media rule at my house, but I think that the many years spent longing to hear pop music and rock and roll instilled this incredibly strong connection with the music I have come in contact with ever since, and CERTAINLY was a driving force in the formation of what the music I make sounds like today. I’m pretty sure that my knowing back then that every time I pressed play might be the last time I could hear it made the hearing of it that much more important.

MP: You’re quite a sexy guy…do you like the attention?

LL: I’m flattered by that perception and am aware that it exists, though I try to keep the focus on the music as much as possible. I think the day I look in the mirror and think “Wow. You’re sexy.” will likely NOT be happening any time soon, but it’s great if other people think so and that somehow gets them into my music.

MP: What do you think sets you apart from the crowd?

LL: I’m WAY crazier.

MP: Feed Me To The Wolves is a wonderful song, does this reference something particular in your life, and do your songs ring true?

LL: Hey, thanks! That song was written as my long-time partner and I were splitting up in 2007 and is the first song on the record, beginning the journey back together and into the madness of trying to put the pieces back together. It’s me at my emotional worst, trying to hold onto something that was slipping away faster than I could grasp it. That song is about desperately trying to get the love back, make the pain stop. My songs ring true to the time in which they were written, but as my feelings change, so do the songs. I was at rock bottom when I wrote “wolves” and am not anywhere near that at this point…but that kind of sorrow and panic is an important part of the puzzle and was necessary to include in order to accurately tell the whole story.

MP: Do you live in Portland, Orgeon? Does this city support its artists like Melbourne, Australia does where I’m from?

LL: Yeah! Puddletown, baby! The local press has been really good to me and as far as the city goes, I am SURROUNDED by talented, like-minded folks to work with. I can’t really imagine living anywhere else at this stage in my life, and every time I have tried a new city since moving here in ‘96 I end up coming back boomerang style so I am, for now, home.

MP: How much planning goes into your image such as your incredible fashion sense and gorgeous hair?

LL: Ah, schucks. You’re very kind. I think at this point I have worked really hard to match up the “image” with how I am in real life so all of that requires very little plotting or planning…it’s all just me—the good AND the bad. That applies to my songs as well as my outfits and hair I guess. It just is what it is and I’m trying to be ok with however that sounds and looks at any given time. If other folks are into it, great. If not, no worries…but whatever the response is, I can at least know that they are responding to ME, not some publicist’s edited, airbrushed version of me.

Appears on Logan Lynn: “Blood In The Water” Remix EP Collection (Volume 1)…ONLY AVAILABLE WITH THE PURCHASE OF “FROM PILLAR TO POST” during the exclusive Pre-Release on this site!

Remix by Daniel Cartier.
Artwork by Logan Lynn.

…along with another photo from the shoot they had at my house in June.

Check it out HERE

Just when you thought it was safe to FF through the commercials…

Logo has been running one of the commercials I shot while I was at MTV filming my episode of “NewNowNext”. Keep an eye out for me next time you hear the words “and now, a word from our sponsors…”

CLICK HERE TO VISIT LOGO ONLINE!

You can check out the full post here.

…but here’s a bit from the post:

“With mesmerizing beats and a soft, crooning voice, Portland electro performer Logan Lynn creates meticulous and moody dance pop. After being raised in a strict religious environment in the midwest, he came out at the age of 14 and moved west to discover the music he has inside. His latest album From Pillar to Post talks about finding a way to ease the pain. He’d like to find other people who are totally bummed out — and who want to dance, at the same time.”

For those of you in the Portland Metro Area, pick up a copy! The LL story is on PAGE 49! For the rest of you, you can check out the story online here or you can download the pdf version here: http://www.justout.com/archives/issues/06_12_09/ or you can just read it right here, right now…

“ROCK BOTTOM YOUR WAY TO THE TOP”

Logan Lynn: Making Music That Matters

by Ryan J. Prado

By the time you read this, musician Logan Lynn will have undoubtedly dazzled a sold-out crowd at The Crown Room’s PDX Pride Kickoff event, alongside New York City’s Street Hero and a cast of DJ’s. There’s a good and simple reason for confidence in what is as of press time a foregone conclusion: Logan Lynn is one of Portland’s best original artists.

There. Borrowing a well-worn queer rallying cry, “It’s Official.”

The story of Logan Lynn’s music has its origins in his frequenting the warehouse party/techno din of the Midwest as a teenager.

“I was drawn to electronic music first because I stumbled upon the synthetic freedom that came with the drugs and dancing at the giant warehouse parties I was attending,” explained Lynn.

After beginning his journey in the realm of the working DJ, Lynn experienced an epiphany of sorts that would help guide him into what is currently a bona fide creative avalanche.

“At some point the techno crossed wires with all the years of listening to indie bands with female singer/songwriters, and I was left with sort of a combination of the two genres, but from a dude’s perspective,” said Lynn.

Almost 10 years passed before a friend of Lynn’s convinced him to share his music on Myspace. Within a year of his 2006 web debut, Lynn took the stage for his first real show, in front of 400,000 people at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco—all because the director of the event had come across his music online.

“I guess I was out of touch or something,” Lynn said. “Up to that point I had never really made the connection that there were MILLIONS of listeners at my fingertips and all I really had to do was get their attention.”

Now that he’s got it, Lynn has been steeped in a whirlwind of songwriting, beat-making and self-analysis, yielding the fruits for his new album, “From Pillar To Post”. The disc is due for release this fall on The Dandy Warhols’ Beat The World Records. Lynn has also hosted and been featured on MTV’s Logo network as part of the NewNowNext segment, and his video for the song “Feed Me To The Wolves” was honored by the channel among its Top Ten of 2008.

Lynn’s new album resonates in a lyrical web of sticky sentimentalism and salty resolve, accompanied by spookily catchy electronic sheen; the tandem creates an uneasy but addictive listen, and considering the events occurring during the two years Lynn spent making the record, thos assessments aren’t just journalistic cake frosting.

“Halfway into the process, my life fell apart…” explained Lynn. “I sort of broke it apart, but at any rate, it wasn’t good.”

Lynn ditched the city for a couple of months to clean up a chemical dependency and get his head straight. During this time, he planned what would be the beginning of his new path.

“When I got back to Portland, I threw out everything we had recorded and started over,” Lynn said. “I had taken the time away to sort things out, but the only way I knew how to do that was by writing songs, so that’s what I did. I came back feeling like a new man and proceeded to make an even newer record.”

“From Pillar To Post” is a musical conundrum in essence—both an electro touchstone for the club kids and a somber lyrical experience for connoisseurs of heady melodies.

“It’s a bit Mary Poppins,” said Lynn, “but I think when you are working with rough medicine, sometimes the spoonful of sugar is imperative to the process—both in me writing (the songs) and in (them) eventually being heard by others. I choose not to candy-coat the message, but instead try my best to keep the delivery on the sweet side.”

The general inability to apply an appropriate tagS—assuming one exists—to Lynn’s music coincides with his acknowledgement of the doors opened for him as a gay artist.

“Were it not for my having been so embraced by Logo and the gay press overall, the straight world wouldn’t have caught on,” Lynn said.

“My songs are about love and loss and feeling alone, which resonates particularly well with folks in the gay community. I think this is because we have a shared human experience, though, not just a shared gay experience. Pain is an across-the-board thing. I am a gay artist and am happy being one.”

-”Just Out” Weekly Newsmagazine
Issue 6/12/09

(Logan Lynn performs with Deastro and Wampire at 8PM Tuesday, June 23rd at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, $8. Visit blogout.justout.com for a full transcript of Lynn’s interview.)

You can read the full transcript via “Just Out” HERE, or you can read below:

Today’s copy of Just Out features a profile on talented local musician Logan Lynn. As is customary, you can only print so much information from a full interview, so I’m posting the complete Logan Lynn interview transcription here for your perusal!

Don’t say I never did anything for you.

Interview after the jump!

Your upbringing into the Portland music scene, and the music scene at large, has been very DIY until recently (mixtapes, demos, etc.). How has your fan base and organic kind of root system affected the way you make music now?

Well, after nearly a decade of writing and recording songs in obscurity I had a friend convince me to get a Myspace band page in 2006. From there I was finally able to get my music out to people aside from my immediate peer group and things kind-of blew up overnight. The first real show I had played was the Folsom Street Fair that following September for over 400,000 people—all because the director of the event had come across my tunes on Myspace and asked me if I wanted to play. It was wild and gave me some pretty hefty exposure within the gay & leather communities.

I guess I was out of touch or something, but up to that point I had never really made the connection that there were MILLIONS of listeners at my fingertips and all I really had to do was get their attention. Those sorts of social networking sights have been the distribution lifeblood for my operation for years now. As far as how it has all affected the way I make music now, I think it’s totally safe to say that without the “root system” of Myspace, DList, Facebook (and the like) in place I would have continued on down the path of complete and total obscurity, making 80 minute “records” on my bed with a 4-track player for the rest of time. I met both of the producers I am currently working with (Carlos Cortes from Assemble The Empire & Mac Valentine from Sevenrepeat) on Myspace and it has opened up a whole world of essential-element collaborators and remixers for me. It’s been pretty amazing, actually. A bit of a whirlwind.

Are you a multi-instrumentalist, or do you compose mostly with programmed beats? What was the draw for you to electronic music (not so much influences, but you can list some if that was a big part)?

I’d love to say that I am a multi-instrumentalist (and, if playing multiple instruments poorly makes me one, then I guess I am) but in actuality, I can really only claim songwriter and vocalist as mainstays.

I was drawn to electronic music first because I stumbled upon the synthetic freedom that came with the drugs and dancing at the giant warehouse parties I was attending as a minor in the Midwest. In becoming a working musician in the electronic world, I was a DJ first. At some point the techno crossed wires with all the years of listening to indie bands with female singer/songwriters like The Innocence Mission and I was left with what I have been making since the late 90’s…sort-of a combination of the two genres, but from a dude’s perspective. I like electro, but I like the power of words that aren’t totally vacuous as well. I think it’s possible to make pop or electronic music that matters.

You described your new album as a journey from you running amok, to restoring yourself to sanity. In what ways does your music provide you with a therapeutic outlet? Did the making of this album exorcise any demons for you?

Yeah, man. This record was tough. I took a while to make it because it was my first major release and everyone involved wanted to make sure we did it right, but also because half-way into the process my life fell apart…I sort-of broke it apart, actually…but at any rate, it wasn’t good. I hit a place in 2008 where I needed to make some major changes. It was clear that I was not turning out to be the person that I wanted to be. I was pretty lost…TOTALLY lost, actually…so I decided to shut it

all down. I left the city for a couple months, cleaned up my chemical act, and made a new plan for what would be my new path. When I got back to Portland I threw out everything we had recorded for the record and started over. I had taken the time away to sort things out, but the only way I knew how to do that is by writing songs, so that’s what I did. I came back to Portland basically feeling like a new man and proceeded to make an even newer record…a different record than the one we had been working on. My story changed, so the record had to change. It’s very therapeutic to turn the feelings into words and it’s been pretty incredible to be able to connect with all of these folks who then hear my songs and can relate. Where I once felt alone, in many ways I no longer do. The idea that there are other people in the world who feel as crazy as I do has really helped me feel WAY less crazy. Not being wasted out of my mind 24 hours a day anymore has really helped with all of that too. That part seems pretty obvious now in retrospect, but I couldn’t really see it at the time. I was too busy being wasted and crazy.

The somberness of your lyrical content mixed with bouncy beats presents an interesting aural dichotomy. Do you try to actively attract listeners with the music, then 1-2 combo them with what (if I may gush) is pretty heady lyricism?

I don’t know that I am actively trying to do that for the listener, but you are right to say that the “happy/sad” thing is happening. I think that aspect has helped me find a wider audience…like, I have two types of listeners: the ones who read the lyrics and the ones who don’t. I like the idea that one listener can have two completely different experiences with the same song. With writing songs, I kinda have to keep my ears planted in the light as I go. It’s a bit Mary Poppins, but I think when you are working with rough medicine, sometimes the spoonful of sugar is imperative to the process both in me writing them and in their eventually being heard by others. In general I choose not to candy-coat the message, but instead try my best to keep the delivery on the sweet side. I might be singing about somber things, but I’m not trying to make somber sounds.

From Pillar to Post is also your first time with help in the instrumentation department. Were you finding limitations to your tried and true musical approach, or were you just looking to create something different?

Both, really. I don’t really think the change in sound would have happened like it did were it not for Carlos coming into the picture at the end of ‘06. He really brought a whole new angle to the table and we formed our shared vision fairly quickly after starting to work together. He is really talented at things that are not necessarily my forte, and because I trusted his vision, I let him do what he was good at during the process of making the new record and I was able to focus on what I was good at and take the vocal and lyrical work up a notch. From there, we realized that there were things that neither of us were very good at, so we brought in our friends and filled in the instrumental gaps. I was just one guy with a Casio SK-1 before 2006. It’s amazing what can happen when all of your friends are super talents. Long story short, I decided to listen to smart people who I respected and it paid off.

Your music is difficult to pinpoint in the genre game, but what is normally a vicious kind of term, “emo,” you seem to have embraced (at least from a few researching standpoints I came across). Is the distancing or acceptance of tags something that you think ought to be addressed more in music?

Yeah, at a certain point I decided to try and reclaim that word and just do my best to redefine it for myself to fit what I was doing musically. It seemed like a safe bet, since all attempts to pinpoint what genre to put me tend to lead to head-scratching and shoulder shrugging. I figured that it was still a perfectly good word, so why let it go to waste just because 5 years ago a bunch of crybaby douche bags from Southern California wore too much eyeliner and made shitty records about how unfair their parents and girlfriends were and how hard high school is. I get why labels are necessary, but I don’t pay too much attention and I tend to think that

neither does the listener, once they are listening. I think I fall into different categories at different points throughout this new record, but I have my roots firmly planted in pop music always…it might be mope-pop, but it’s pop all the same.

When did you first begin your working relationship with the Dandy Warhols and Beat the World, and how has that relationship evolved since you made the connection?

That all started in 2007 when I was heading up an ad campaign for this biofuel company I was working for at the time. I had gone to Los Angeles for a week of photo shoots and had hired photographer Ray Gordon to come along with. We hit it off and became fast friends. He was pals with Courtney (Taylor-Taylor) and ended up passing along to him the demo that Carlos and I had made and were planning on releasing as “From Pillar to Post”. We ended up having a big party at my place after Musicfest where I showed Courtney one of my videos. He called me the next week and told me about how they were starting a label and asked me if I wanted to make a record. From that point on it’s been sort-of a dream world of everything coming together, slowly but surely. They basically gave us the keys to their kingdom to make the record that they knew I could make, if given the means. I normally don’t believe in fairy-tales, but I won’t lie…it’s been awesome since we linked up with them. There’s no way I could have EVER made this record were it not for them letting us invade The Odditorium and work it out bit by bit without any pressure to hurry up or do it any way but our own. Beat the World was VERY patient with us and let us take our time and it really paid off. The Dandy Warhols are so smart, man. They really took us under their wing and I have learned SO much from just having Courtney there as a springboard to toss ideas around with. All the bands on our label are doing their own thing and are doing it authentically…THEIR way. It’s a motley crue of individuals whose main collective goal is to make great records. I feel pretty lucky to be apart of it. I think we all do.

How has being a higher profile gay artist materialized into how you write music, or in what ways you present your music, if at all? Do you have qualms with being identified as a gay artist, rather than simply an artist?

I don’t think that anything that has happened over the past few years since being scoped by the public eye has changed how I write songs or the music itself for that matter, but it has COMPLETELY changed the course for my getting the music heard. Were it not for my having been so embraced by Logo and the gay press overall, the straight world wouldn’t have caught on. I have no qualms about being myself. I am who I am and it just is what it is. I am a gay artist and am happy being one. It’s something I was born as and, quite frankly, is not something I could change even if I

wanted to. At the same time, while I write about my experiences with and feelings about love and life as a gay man in the world, I don’t think the songs are inherently “gay” songs. (Whatever that even means.) My songs are about love and loss and feeling alone which resonates particularly well with folks in the gay community. I think this is because we have a shared human experience though, not just a shared gay experience. Pain is sort-of an across the board thing. Everybody has it, so everybody can relate. We are all struggling to figure out what the hell we are doing

here, how to be with each other, how to be happy. That is ALL of us.

Is there an exact date for the new album being released yet? Either way, what tour plans do you have for after its release?

No set number date just yet…It’s coming out this fall. We are just wrapping up the second of the new videos, so the release date will be set here very soon after those are in the bag. I’m SO looking forward to people finally being able to hear what I’ve been doing for the past two years. That’s the fun part. We are going to be playing a few festivals this summer and are planning a tour for late Fall, so I’ve been gearing up for the next wave of Rad to hit. I’m totally ready.

Before this story actually comes out, you will have already played the Pride PDX kickoff event at the Crown Room with Street Hero and various DJs on June 11th. If you’ll allow it, give me a pre-show live review as if it’s already happened, using your futuristic powers, as if you’d traveled ahead in time and wrote your own review on your set. It can be brief, but I’d like to use it in my intro! If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, no worries!

ha ha ha

I think I might have fried the part of my brain that allowed me to see

into the future, but I think it’s safe to say it was a gay ole’ time.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SHOW, CLICK HERE.

NOW…WATCH THE TRAILER:

We are just going to play a few songs from our new record and then dance the night away! This one will be short…just a quick preview of what’s to come at our full show at Holocene the last week of June!

See you on the 11th, people.