<title><![CDATA[I DonΓÇÖt Know What It Is]]></title>
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<copy><![CDATA[“Am I drawn to mythology? God, I’m ruled by it.” Rufus Wainwright is giving a typically camp response to an enquiry about his choice of Arthurian attire for his latest album photoshoot. “But not so much the medieval stuff, I just look cute wearing body armour.” Wainwright pauses to entertain this fanciful notion. “I’m your knight in shining armour. I’m here to save you from Linkin Park.” But before you ladies entertain any ideas of chivalric romance, I should point out that this particular knight will not be rescuing any damsels in distress. In fact, he is more likely to be carrying a lance for Sir Galahad. If you haven’t already guessed, Wainwright leans only slightly to the right of Liberace. Not that he has ever been reticent about his sexuality – far from it. “There was never any cover-up about my being gay. I was one of the first artists to come out of the gate running. Or, rather, skipping.” His third album, Want One (its companion, Want Two, is due out before the end of the year), begins with the resplendent Oh What a World, a pageant that blossoms into the mother of all Gay Pride parades. Wainwright’s flowery arrangements have all the understated sleight of hand of a Baz Luhrmann production. Does he agree with this assessment of his expansive, opulent sound? “Well, my flourishes are very baroque,” he concedes. In concert, Wainwright comes across like a more handsome and infinitely more talented Will Young. Ever the showman, his soaring vocals are weighed down by a lazy, drunken delivery – think Jeff Buckley after half a dozen whiskies – and his piano-driven melodies augmented by lavish orchestral arrangements are a kaleidoscope of musical influences. There is the soothing nostalgia of Cole Porter, the lush pop of Brian Wilson, the magisterial splendour of Sgt Pepper-era Beatles, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the arias of Maria Callas, and the histrionic harmonising of Freddie Mercury. Wainwright also transposes classical influences into a contemporary framework, incorporating Ravel’s Boléro, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Schubert’s piano lieder into his adventurous, fantastical vision. It should come as little surprise to learn that Wainwright was a childhood fan of Judy Garland or that his music is driven by a Wizard of Oz aesthetic: “It’s my Emerald City,” he announces preciously, before switching to another allusion. “I’m presenting a Trojan horse, something where you can dissolve the outer layers and reveal the inner beauty.” Wainwright’s evocation of Greek mythology is fitting. The vicious infighting of his family has made them popular music's very own house of Atreus. Wainwright, the son of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, was born in to folk aristocracy 31 years ago. Shortly afterwards his parents divorced and he was raised by his mother in Montreal. The rest reads like the CV of a musical prodigy: he began studying piano aged six, and toured with the McGarrigle Sisters and Family throughout his childhood. At 14, his song I’m a-Runnin’ became a hit and he received a Juno nomination (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) for most promising young artist. Wainwright went on to study piano composition at Montreal’s McGill University before dropping out to focus on his career. Clearly, he is much more than a mere chip off the old block. Why does he think people are so fascinated with rock’n’roll lineage? “The age of the musical dynasty has experienced a new birth. Before the advent of popular music there were always musical dynasties – Bach had something like 20 children. Then there was a period when the singer-songwriter was portrayed as a lonely troubadour who sprang out of the earth and that kick-started the rediscovery of musical dynasties,” he explains. However, Wainwright believes the parallels with his parents are more than just a spot-the-influences game. “I do think there’s an interesting correlation between me and my parents because there’s not really a struggle going on in terms of fame. My sister [Martha] and my mother both contribute to my new album, and we all feature together in the new Martin Scorsese movie, The Aviator, so there’s more camaraderie now.” It was not always this way. When he was starting out Wainwright used interviews as therapy sessions, openly discussing his promiscuity and drug use, and criticising his father. Wainwright Sr retaliated not only by attacking his son in interviews but in songs such as Rufus Is a Tit Man. Such is the extent of their publicised bickering that fans feel like they know the Wainwrights like intimates. “I just want to be my Dad / With a slight sprinkling of my mother / And work at the family store,” sings Rufus in the song Want. Does his often fractious relationship with his parents still inform his work? “My relationship with my mother is intense, ferocious even, more so than with my father, whom I’m afraid of, like all sons are. Many of the keys to my wellbeing lie in that relationship.” The subject of his wellbeing arose when Wainwright came close to a breakdown and checked into rehab to rid himself of drink and drug dependencies. “I was approaching 30 and I hit this big depression. I was either going to go down one path and self-destruct or go down the other and survive. I had to look at my life and figure out what sustains me beyond music and show business.” Consequently, he describes Want One, with its pomp and pageantry, as “a triumphant return from the dark side”.<br> <br> The mythical ascent from what he calls “gay hell” echoes the work of one of his heroes, Arthur Rimbaud, the 19th-century French poet. Gay hell? “[It is] a very controversial place, in terms of what it means to different people. On the one hand it is necessary, but it’s not somewhere you want to linger, otherwise you end up paying the price.” Wainwright’s elliptical response betrays the media training he has undergone since the days of dumping his personal problems in journalists’ laps. Could he be a bit more specific? For the first time in the interview Wainwright seems genuinely uncomfortable. “Even mentioning or talking about it is hard because the right-wing extremists in America go completely... [he dries up, then adds with feeling] they will try and completely annihilate you.”<br> <br> Whereas he exorcised personal demons on Want One, does its reportedly darker sequel try to slay political ones? “Well, Waiting for a Dream mentions the ‘ogre in the Oval office’, and then there’s Gay Messiah, which is [even] more of a protest song against the Bush administration.” Now, his metaphorical strategies become clear. “It’s because the propaganda in the US is so powerful and our minds are under assault,” he says. “That’s why I require mythology on a daily basis, just to make sense of the world. For me, those fairy tales where Prince Charming rescues Snow White, or the ogre gets stepped on by a giant, provide a<br>sense that good will prevail. “I cling on to that mythology because, even though people don’t always live happily ever after, I need to remind <br>myself that life is still beautiful.” Rufus Wainwright will appear at Usher Hall, Edinburgh, on Oct 27, and then Barbican Centre, London (29), the Dome, Brighton (30), Octagon, Sheffield (31), Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (Nov 2), Warwick Arts Centre (4), the Corn Exchange, Cambridge (5), Guildhall, Southampton (7), Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (8). Click <a href="asfunction:Tardis.webPageOpen,http://www.rufuswainwright.com"><b>here</b></a> to visit the official Rufus Wainwright website.]]></copy>
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<headline><![CDATA[Prince Charming]]></headline>
<quote><![CDATA[After more bitchiness than Dynasty, family feuds are nothing<br>for Rufus Wainwright to be scared of. He has bigger dragons to slay now. By Dafydd Goff]]></quote>
<caption><![CDATA[WainwrightΓÇÖs soaring vocals are weighed down by a lazy, drunken delivery ΓÇô think Jeff Buckley after half a dozen whiskies]]></caption>
