I recently sat down with Canadian rocker John O., aninteresting guy who only came out two years ago at the embarkment of a newpersona. you might know him as Diamond Rings, an androgynous character who wears rainbow themed make-upall-the-while making some of the coolest DepecheMode quality alt-rock on the scene right now. and with a baritone voice as deepas The National’s Matt Berninger.
In his latest video for“It’sNot My Party” John is seen walking down the street in a dress singing inone of the deepest voices that would put your granddad to shame. I’m digginghis whole package and I loved talking with him.
Going into my meeting with John, I found out he’s quitetall, towering over me at 6’4. He’s incredibly intelligent and has thesestriking blue eyes that I would have never noticed if we had not made our wayout of our dark little nook in his hotel lobby bar and into the light of thehallway as our meeting ended. As we discussed the exciting announcement thathis debut album Special Affections isbeing re-released in the U.S. because it’s just that good, John came acrosshumble, appreciative and very level-headed – a normal kid with an incredible gift for making original, quirky, slightly dark, pop songs.
AE: so you’re re-releasing your album Special Affections with Astralwerks, and I’ve looked at the rosterof artists you’re now teamed up with (Kylie Minogue, David Guetta, The B-52s),it’s a pretty impressive list. I know that one of your heroes is Brian Eno, andnow you’re on the same label as him, were you excited? DR: Yeah that definitely played a part in me being interested in workingwith them for sure. The history of the artists that have been on the label.Yeah it’s awesome, it gives me something to work towards for sure. what I thinkI like most is that they’re all career artists and musicians who have beendoing it a long time and have worked really hard to get where they’re at. It’sinspiring more than anything.
AE: so what’sdifferent now that Astralwerks has come into your life?DR: It’s certainly motivated me more, not that I wasn’t motivated before.Having a bigger team behind me supporting what I do is inspiring. it sort ofvalidates the efforts that I’ve made so far. and they’re all professional andeveryone really wants to do the best they can, sometimes that makes things morecomplicated, but ultimately I think it’s for the best.
AE: so are theregoing to be any new songs on the new release?DR: We generally kept most of it the same. We’ve talked about revamping theartwork but ultimately I really wanted the album to be able to stand on it’sown for what it was. It’s very much a collaborative effort between me and some ofmy friends on the packaging, like the cover photo, we made a lot of it in Garage Band. It’s very raw and if anything, I want to be able to inspire otherpeople who are just getting into making music – to just show them that you don’tnecessarily need a Kylie Minogue budget right away to get people to be excitedabout what you’re doing as an artist. I thought that to change a lot would kindof diminish actually what was already there as a record. I’m trying to keep itvery much so in it’s original context
AE: and they’re okaywith that?DR: Yeah which is awesome too. That’s not to say that I’m “lo-fi or die” orthat that’s the sound that I always want to be known for, but for thisparticular album to have it carry through from bedroom to a major label wouldbe kind of special.
AE: Special Affections was made in yourbedroom?DR: Yeah totally, it’s possible right now with electronic music, it’sreally liberating that you don’t need a lot of space to record or rehearse ordo anything really. I live downtown and space is at a premium. It’s also niceto get your ideas out and record them right away.
AE: I read where theGorillaz just released their new album made entirely on their iPad. DR: Yeah, it’s crazy, I think it’s cool, too, why not if the technology isthere? because that’s the way a lot of people are listening to music these days– digitally. there is a sense of wanting to reflect the way the music ischanging and the way that we’re making it.
AE: Are you nowworking towards a future project?DR: Yeah I’m always working on new stuff. I’ve been doing remixes for thepast month, I’ve been doing a new one every week for other bands which has beenreally exciting. it allows me to stay busy and keep working without necessarilyhaving to go so far into my own psyche and thoughts. To write an albumlyrically can be really taxing and not always the quickest process. It’s funduring those times when I’m not feeling incredibly inspired to keep showing upand doing something.
AE: Yeah and you’recontinuing to put your sound out into the world, artists like Calvin Harris andPassion Pit have done the same. so what is your creative process?DR: On the last album I wrote a lot of the songs on acoustic guitar andpiano. it wasn’t until after I had probably a good chunk of the album writtenthat I wanted it to sound differently and be electronic sounding, more popular,and more fun to do it that way. Most of the music that I listen to has a beat.It’s ultimately really nice that a tune can stand up as a great song. It’sreally easy the way technology is progressing to throw a lot of cool soundeffects and production techniques at something that isn’t necessarily the bestsong to kind of trick people into thinking that it is. That’s not what I wantto do. It’s more important to me to write the words and make the chordprogressions and find something that really sounds nice and then worry aboutdressing it up. so that’s kind of how I work.
AE: How would youdescribe your fanbase?DR: It’s really diverse. Short of bugging your own friends to come out and seeyou, after that it’s out of my hands by and large who comes to my show. I canonly make the music I want to make, and present the image that I feelrepresents me and hope that the right people get it. Not that there’s wrongpeople. People who come to my shows are all over the place. Kids in highschool, 20 something downtown folks like me, people my parents’ age, which isreally cool. It’s all over the place. I‘m trying to reach as many people as Ican. I want to try and make the music and put on the kind of show that allowsanyone to feel like they can come and express themselves and be themselves andbe safe and have fun. I would be really worried if I had a demographic nicheand everyone were the same that comes to my show.
AE: so you just cameoff a tour with Robyn, and she has an enormous amount of gay fans. Every timeI’ve been to a Robyn concert it’s like going to a gay bar. what is it like foryou to now have an entire audience of gay people introduced to your music?DR: It’s great. a lot of the artists that I’ve grown up admiring and beinginspired by I think appeal to queer fanbases whether it’s Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue or Robyn.
AE: Do you have afavorite Robyn song?DR: “Hang With Me”
AE: Do you have afavorite song of your own?DR: I think the very first song I wrote as Diamond Rings -“All Yr Songs.”It’s a little ditty and not really the direction I’m heading with my musicright now, it’s a little cute, but that was really what got the ball rollingfor me. To me it’s the beginning of this whole now way of conceiving myself andmy role as an artist.
AE: Tell me aboutthis persona you’ve created as Diamond RingsDR: I think this is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time – ever sinceI was in art school learning about music. I grew up in the suburbs and I don’thave brothers or sisters so I didn’t have anyone bringing home cool cassettetapes or records or going to shows so I really had to figure out everything onmy own. In my late teens I started buying records by TheSmiths and The Human Leagueand kind of getting into synthy bands that presented a kind of androgynous, dangerous image. I wanted to see myself as an artist that was part of thattradition but I wanted to do that in a way that was unique to me. I didn’treally want to copy anything outright. it took a while to figure out what thatwas going to look like, finding a way to do it that would feel right. I foundthat when I started doing the shows, putting on makeup, being on stage, that itwas really exciting, and I wanted to do it all the time. Not all the time, allthe time, it’s a lot of work.
AE: Yeah right nowyou’re not in make up.DR: Yeah totally. I’ve done interviews before with people at 9 in themorning and they said ‘oh I thought you’d have make-up on’ and I’m like ‘do youknow what time it is? what the hell? This shit takes time.’
AE: well so you’velisted a lot of your influences. what are you currently listening to though?DR: I just got the new Cut CopyAlbum. I like Robyn. The newest Kylie Minogue album is really bad-ass.There’s this electronic rock duo from Montreal called Handsome Furs that have a new album out that’s really wicked. Myfriend Katie is in a band called Austraand she sings back up on “Give it Up” on my record. My musical taste is prettyall over the place. I like Saltn Pepa and Public Enemy.
AE: Yeah I noticedthat you rapped on your song “Show me your Stuff,” will you be doing more ofthat in future works?DR: I want to, whenever I perform live and I rap people go crazy. I definitelythink it would be fun to have more of that on the next album, not in the sensethat I’m a full on rapper, because I can’t do that. It’s a fun way to write butit’s really hard and because there’s so many words there’s a bit less pressure tobe poetic.
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