This is a strange position to be in: GC gets to, in the public sphere of global cyber-media, ‘out’ this Ontario-based musician and songwriter. Normally, by the time we’re interviewing them and plastering their name and photo all over Calgary and the rainbow community world, they’re public – if not comfortably settled – with their identity.
But Lucas Silveira, well, he’s a Zeppelin fan.
"I grab [Robert Plant, lead singer of Led Zeppelin] out of the air sometimes: I’ve done it in other interviews ... I think because Robert Plant, in the music industry scene, is a dude’s dude [and] has written some of the most provocatively sexual lyrics in rock ’n roll. And everybody just accepts it as his sexuality."
GC can’t resist having a fanboy moment of our own, noting Plant’s continued stretching of musical expectations, even 40 years on. We enthuse over his earlier album with Alison Krauss.
"He’s an artist, [and he] was in Led Zeppelin! What else does he need to do to be amazing? [Other bands] have billions of dollars; you can sit on your ass, and put out an album that’s really good, [not] just re-hashed versions of older material. And that’s what I love about Robert Plant: that’s what he does ... He’s not coming from ego. He may have once, but now he’s just wanting to give people an experience."
GC asks how his Pledge benefit cover of the Beatles and his most recent Facebook cover of a Bob Dylan tune relate to the work he does in The Cliks.
"As a songwriter, I don’t limit myself to one specific genre of music; that’s just not the way I’ve written music ... It could be anything: from a folk song; it could be bluesy; I can write an R&B song; a hard rock song. Click stuff tends to be a bit heavier and I’m the same way as a listener.
"When I make an album, I tend to put a collection of songs ... that complement each other; that’s the industry standard. You want [it to] fit and flow together ... I like being an artist. I don’t like the way the industry works."
Silveira describes the simplicity of the basic song as what really attracts him – whether it’s Beyonce or Dylan – which is why he often returns to that format himself. GC asks him what goes on differently between him playing solo with a guitar and when he’s fronting The Cliks.
"It’s fun: I love going onstage. I like putting on a show. It’s a different kind of fun than playing acoustically. I think it’s sort of the difference between being an introvert and an extrovert. When I play with The Clicks ... there’s a lot of energy happening; it becomes a lot of excitable energy. I don’t feel so emotionally attached to the performance, unless it’s a slower song.
"When it comes to acoustic performances, they become very introverted, to the point where it becomes a selfish performance ... It feels like I do it for myself.
"If I feel something in a song that connects to something I’m going through; I think that’s when I’ll be able to perform it the best ... It feels truer to the performer when they can take the words and intention of the song and make it their own."
Silveira describes how, as an independent artist based in Toronto, his ability to support a band on the road across our vast distances is limited. He’s more focused on playing Prides, where the audience comes to him, and they are taken really good care of as performers. Which is why The Cliks will be appearing, for their first time, at Jasper’s Pride on March 17th.
"I focus on playing Prides, mostly. I get to go to different cities; you get to go see all your fans. The great thing about something like Pride is that people will come from all around that city you’re going to just to see you, and also the fact that it’s a celebration that will happen to have a mainly LGBTQ audience."
In the last few years The Cliks has had the chance to tour with Cindi Lauper, the New York Dolls and The Cult, and Silveira describes the wonder of such an opportunity:
"Margaret Cho (comedienne with the True Colors tour) has given me advice from time to time, and on that tour I had some problems with the band (because of the attention he received from being a transgenedered male in mainstream pop, and the focus on him it created). She said ‘You just have to do you, and they’re gonna do them, and don’t ever, ever change the direction that you’re going for anybody else ... Because of that, I made some of the best choices I have ever made."
GC asks Silveira, So what’s up now?
"I’ve started a new project, which is R&B based, [with] a young guy from Minneapolis on it, called Lil One. He’s a great rapper, hip-hop artist, and he’s also a trans guy. [It’s] the only song I’ve ever written [about] someone trying to mess with my head about being a trans person."
This project, which Silveira calls "Chap", exists outside of his work with the Cliks. The demo of the first song, "Walk Away", is up on his Facebook site.
"[Previously] my gender identity is something that has never come into my writing. I write as a human being; I don’t write thinking I’m a Trans Man, and I’m going to express myself this way! ... I don’t like to do that, because I find when you write from a place that’s so narrow, you also alienate your audience ... I think everybody can connect to being hurt – to having their heart broken – having identity issues period! Being confused. But if I were to write an entire album about being a trans man, I think that would be very strange."
And here Silveira lights a fire under the music industry’s ass:
"Nobody ever sees me as a musician; everybody always sees me as a trans or a queer musician ...Even other queer people – that’s how they see you. They say, What’s it like to make queer music? What are you talking about? I don’t make queer music! I happen to be queer! Does Robert Plant make ‘straight’ music? No, he writes from a place where he’s talking about experiences he’s gone through, as does any other artist.
"It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time ... Specifically in the mainstream community, people can say Oh that guy writes gay music, so that means I’m not going to be able to relate to anything that he writes. I won’t get played on mainstream radio because they will see it as a support for a queer artist.
"The blessing of it is that ... I have the support of my LGBTQ audience, that has supported me through the years. That support, where you can keep creating and people will come to you because of the fact you are queer, and they feel safe coming to your shows ... It will be great that one day people will be able to be artists and actors, and not be seen as ‘trans’, but that’s not going to happen in my lifetime."
Well, damn the torpedoes and the narrow-minded, and go party with Silveira and The Cliks and the other celebrants in Jasper during this year’s pride, March 17th to 20th.
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