Boy George: Interview

Beep beep. An engaged tone. Beep beep.  Another engaged tone. After stalking Boy George for an interview for the past six months with more dedication than Lilo sniffing out her next line – we’re concerned that his legendary prima donna reputation may have a grain of truth. Since the time Maggie Thatcher was ruling the country with an iron fist and a more iron perm, Snickers were Marathons and Culture Club were in the Top Ten, Boy George has gained notoriety for all of the wrong reasons. When we tell people we’re interviewing him everyone rattles off the stories of heroin addiction, prison, rent boys, sweeping the streets of NYC– anything, but his music. He introduced the world to the celebrity drug prison meltdown and burn when Britney was still in nappies. As the headlines run through our head, we’re finally broken out of the trance induced by the chiming engaged tone by a very polite and husky hello...
The Boy George we speak to today shows no sign of the tragic melodrama that has blighted his career over the past decade. Proudly sober for two years, five months he’s charismatic, witty and extremely talkative: regaling tales of styling Kylie, gushing over his new band crush, Hurts, and cackling with an infectious throaty laugh about being asked to sign Lady GaGa’s Lady Garden – he’s anything other than the high maintenance drama queen we’ve been led to expect.

He’s been busy working on his first solo album in eight years – Ordinary Alien.  The record’s a collection of work with Roland Faber aka Kinky Roland, his collaborative partner for the past 15 years, as he explains: “The album’s tracks are all produced and remixed by Roland. There are some things from a while ago that never got finished”. George also worked on the album with long time writing partners, John Themis and Kevan Frost, as well as pulling Eddie Lock out of retirement and getting on board the legendary Nicky Holloway – it’s an album that definitely stays true to George’s club roots: “It’s very dancey” he tells us, “the album that relates most to what I do as a DJ”. Apart from the single, ‘Amazing Grace’, and the underground hit,‘Psychology Of A Dreamer,’ the record mainly features unheard tracks from George’s career, including a cover of a Terry Callier song, ‘Don’t Wanna See Myself’, originally recorded 20 years go: “I didn’t really like it and I didn’t want it put out” he recalls, “And, then I found the vocal, and I was like, ‘oh, it’s really good!”.

George also hooked up with Mark Ronson on his project Mark Ronson And The International Business for a track called, ‘Somebody To Love’, which features on Ronson’s upcoming album, ‘Record Collection’. “I DJ’d with Mark in New York for years and I know that he’s a 80s fan and he loves that kind of period,” George explains of their meeting.  “…[the track] is quite Culture Clubby, actually and that’s what we were going for. I imagine it would be what we would be if we were making records now. It’s got a hint of the original Culture Club sound about it, but it’s quite modern – it’s Mark Ronson’s style”.

However, his return to his career as a solo artist doesn’t mean a nail in the coffin of his career as a DJ: “I love DJing” he says, “I find it quite exciting; it’s something that I’ve done for a long time”. Despite being in the business for almost 30 years, he’s still as passionate about DJing as when he started as a teenager in the late 70s: “I like the music, I think that’s the most important thing; if you don’t love the music then I don’t think you could really do it”, he says.  “I’m into dance music; I like the fact that dance music’s kind of changing all the time, there are no kinda rules; it’s quite an eclectic scene – and, I just love it and really enjoy it”.

George’s love affair with dance music has seen him collaborate with some of the biggest names around including: Afrika Bambaataa, Faithless and Erick Morillo. And, he’s not stopping there: “I’ve just done a track with a group called Glide and Swerve. And, I’ve been working with a group called Dark Globe…. I’ve also done a track Harry ‘Choo Choo’ Romero”.

His dream collaboration, however, wouldn’t come from a sweaty Ibiza dance floor: “I’ve always wanted to work with David Bowie,” he laughs.  “I don’t think that’s going to happen! Obviously, that would be amazing,” he says.  “Generally, I’m open minded about those things, it’s about whether it’s the right person.  It’s all about how it’s done and the moment really”.

Out of his two passions – DJing and being a solo artist – he enjoys the thrill of playing live in both worlds. “As a DJ, you’re trying to keep people on a perpetual high,” he explains.  “When you perform as an artist and a singer you take people through lots of different emotions; you can make them cry, you can make them dance. It’s different in that respect, but when you’ve got a crowd going crazy it’s exactly the same as doing a live show”. This summer he had the opportunity to play a secret set on the Thursday night at Glastonbury: ”It was amazing because we were sitting backstage and it was quite quiet and then they opened up the tent and there was like, mayhem! We had to wait for an hour to go on, as there were so many people”.

He also recently hit up Manchester Gay Pride DJing at the legendary Venus club for the Boy George Masquerade Ball: “As a DJ, my career has largely stemmed from the north so any opportunity to return to Manchester is one I jump at,” he says.  “Manchester has also been a good city for its audience, mixing both old and young with great success and because of the harmony existing within the music scene there the crowds are always up for a good night”. Gay Pride is an issue still very much close to George’s heart: “Playing Pride is always an honour.  Obviously, as a gay man myself, it holds a lot of meaning to me personally and because of this I’m proud to both support it and perform over the weekend,” he says. “It is a great occasion to celebrate our sexuality and, minus a few idiots who don’t quite get that it is GAY PRIDE weekend, it is always a fun event too”.

This year has also seen George busy with a needle and thread building up his fashion label, B:Rude. Originally founded in New York in 2005, the label started when George had downtime between his rehearsals for his play Taboo and started making t-shirts for himself to pass the time, leading to the debut of the label’s first line in 2005. Taking his inspiration from “Vivienne Westwood and Boy – very much, the punk aesthetic,” it was a way for him to channel his creative side: “Fashion is an important part of my life, which is one of the reasons why I set-up B-Rude”. Constantly seen in a Phillip Treacy trilby, George has always been a dedicated follower of fashion: “My tastes for designers change like the wind. I see my style as being ‘personal’ by which I mean ‘this is who I am’…. I’m not one to rush out and buy the latest designer garment because it’s the ‘in’ thing to do. My clothes come from a huge range of different shops that include Oxfam and Primark”, he admits.

For B:Rude, he’s already styled celebrity clients, including icons Debbie Harry and Kylie Minogue. “For Kylie, we made quite a few things. We made a suit, a hat, trousers and ties. And, for Debbie we also made a pencil suit with red flashes of sequins on, like blood drips, which she loved. Doing something with Debbie Harry was amazing. They (each) gave a rough outline of what they wanted. They’d seen what we’d done before. Kylie, in particular, was pretty open minded and did what we wanted”. The future could see George re-launching the label and giving it a very modest name: “I might be changing the name to G.O.D.  It’s because, it’s my initials George O’Dowd. Not that I’m claiming to be God or anything!” he says in that familiar husky laugh.

One avenue George is eager to avoid is Reality TV: “I try to avoid reality, really. I’ve done a pretty good job of it so far!” he quips.  In particular getting anywhere near Simon Cowell’s basin head and nipple grazing waistline: “I think [XFactor’s] reached new levels of cruelty,” he says animatedly.  “To have people on who are completely delusional and cannot hold a tune just to make fun of them I think is really wrong. It’s like, ‘judge not lest ye be judged’, as they say”. Coming to fame the traditional way of working up from clubs to getting signed, he’s dismissive of what XFactor is about. “It’s not necessarily about finding new talent. Thank God, he (Simon) wasn’t around when I was a kid…and imagine if you saw Ziggy Stardust on XFactor, it’d be like: ‘lose the cape, love’.  They wipe away anything that’s individual”.

Next year, also sees the 30 year anniversary of Culture Club with the band set to reform: “We’re talking at the moment; we don’t know what we’re going to do at the moment, but definitely something,” he confirms. Rather than just comeback to cash-in on a comeback tour, George is looking to recording with the band again: “I’ve already talked to Mark Ronson about maybe producing some tracks for us and I’ve already started talking to my American friends who run labels. I want to work with some of those 80s classics, like Jam and Lewis and various people”

With a new record, fashion label and a Culture Club reformation all in the near future and a fresh new outlook on life, George is enjoying life, “I’ve finally realised that I’m really lucky to do what I do. It’s the best job in the world”.

Marie Wood

Ordinary Alien
Released: tbc

Mark Ronson And The International Business – ‘Record Collection’
Released:  27 September