{"id":6621,"date":"2012-06-13T01:05:04","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T08:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=6621"},"modified":"2012-06-13T01:05:44","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T08:05:44","slug":"rufus-wainwright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/06\/rufus-wainwright\/","title":{"rendered":"RUFUS WAINWRIGHT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT<\/strong><\/h1>\n

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times\u2014now let\u2019s dance\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

After spending a few years exploring esoteric pursuits like composing the opera Prima Donna<\/em> and staging a Judy Garland tribute at Carnegie Hall, Rufus Wainwright was ready to aim for the mainstream. \u201cMy listeners have been very patient with my little dalliances,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I wanted to give them the kind of record you can bring to a party and dance to.\u201d For the new Out of the Game<\/em> Wainwright, 38, enlisted the help of producer Mark Ronson to record an accessible suite of songs that reflect major changes in his personal life: the 2010 death of his mother, folk legend Kate McGarrigle, and the 2011 birth\u00a0of his daughter, Viva.<\/p>\n

Did the opera influence your writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I entered into the classical-opera arena, I had preconceived notions and an idyllic view of orchestras, opera singers and conductors as these titans of knowledge who were ready to enlighten me with their wondrous powers. And there was a bit of that. But I was immediately struck by how mechanical and constrained that world can be. Creative juices that I took for granted in my songwriting life were completely frowned upon and not understood. It was a clash of cultures. It worked out well in the end because I could bring some of my style into that world, but I also had to play by their rules. So I was looking forward to coming back, being freer and having fun with music.<\/p>\n

How was working with Mark?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark spends a lot of energy and time and thought getting the right mood with each individual instrument. That\u2019s something I adore. We wanted this record to be about the feel and the moment, so we worked quickly. That was different for me. In the studio, there was nothing patronizing or negative\u2014and that\u2019s rare, because often I\u2019ve had producers or record label people saying, \u201cWell, you\u2019re a great singer, but I don\u2019t know about the opera thing or the piano thing.\u201d But Mark never made me feel insecure at all. He was always complimentary, and he brought so many great ideas and grooves\u2014and a real excitement. In the end, what really sold me was the quality of his recordings.\u00a0They just sound so beautiful. Also, his amazing hairdo. (laughs<\/em>)<\/p>\n

What is the album about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two sides to this record. The last three years were the darkest I\u2019ve ever experienced, with my mother\u2019s death. At the same time they were the most joyous, with the birth of my daughter Viva. So there\u2019s an intermingling of \u201cIt\u2019s time to party\u201d with \u201cLet\u2019s enjoy what time we have left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Viva interested in music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, she\u2019s only just turned 1, but yes, we\u2019ve played piano together. She spends a lot of time with her grandfather, playing and listening to music, which is great. I\u2019m looking forward to us being able to spend more time together, but it\u2019s hard with touring, because you\u2019re in constant motion, and you\u2019re<\/em> the kid and the industry is daddy.<\/p>\n

How have you coped with the loss of your mother?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought after a year that things would settle down and I would hit the runway. I was ready to land, but the plane took off again\u2014and there are moments now that are even harder than when she died. I do believe that she\u2019s reaching back and reminding me of our great love, and also some of our great battles. (laughs<\/em>) It\u2019s the kind of experience where you can\u2019t help but be impressed by that\u00a0which we cannot see.<\/p>\n

\u2013Bill DeMain<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT It was the best of times, it was the worst of times\u2014now let\u2019s dance\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 After spending a few years exploring esoteric pursuits like composing the opera Prima Donna and staging a Judy Garland tribute at Carnegie Hall, Rufus Wainwright was ready to aim for the mainstream. \u201cMy listeners have been very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[3879,3878,3875,891,3754,3876,3877,970,390],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6624,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6621\/revisions\/6624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}