As anyone who’s watched Grant’s magnificent solo career develop across his solo albums will tell you, Grant specialises in bracingly honest songwriting. These LPs have brought commercial and critical success to the notoriously self-critical Grant. But before this solo acclaim, there were The Cza...
John Grant
Queen Of Denmark
Bella Union, 2010
For those who had never heard The Czars, Grant’s Midlake-assisted solo debut was an out-of-nowhere masterwork. Who was this fortysomething who sang like Robert Palmer, played piano like Lennon, emoted about his sexuality like Antony Hegarty and raged as hilariously as Eminem?
GRANT: I met Midlake at South By Southwest during the death rattle of The Czars. They were people that I really respected. That was important. And they were doing really well. And they were saying, “We think you’re amazing” and I believed them because I thought they were amazing. And they wanted me. Eric Pulido kept calling me saying, “When are we doing this album? We’ll put you up. We’ll be your band. We really feel that you have something you need to do.” I kept them waiting because I was asking myself if I really wanted to do this. I was 40 years old… wouldn’t I just be making a fool of myself? But once I got there they created this atmosphere which was the closest experience I’d had to a family… like brothers. I needed to feel that love from other American men. And they were straight, which for some reason, felt very important to me. And they came from strict religious backgrounds too, and they didn’t give a shit that I was gay. They loved me and got my sense of humour and they followed through with all the promises they made. It can’t be overstated how important those guys are. Musically, they did whatever I wanted them to do. And they were up to the task. I don’t think I’d always worked with musicians who were capable of playing the things that they needed to. The Czars’ guitarists were great, but Paul Alexander of Midlake introduced me to the fact that a great bass player can transform a song. He constantly surpassed my expectations of myself. Midlake brought expertise. And they never laughed at any of my ideas. So I wasn’t afraid to be myself. I like the fact that many fans of John Grant have no knowledge of The Czars. The Czars era reminds me of how scared I was and how evil I have been to myself. So that feeling is what I connect to when I listen to it. Queen Of Denmark is where I found my voice, as far as I’m concerned. In every sense. I finally felt I was allowed to say, “You know what? I’m really fucking angry I was taught I don’t matter as much as other people because I’m a sick pervert.” A lot of the rage came from the fact I was never able to stand up for myself when I was attacked verbally or physically because I was taught they were reacting the only way one should to such a creature. On Queen Of Denmark the man finally stood up and said… “Fuck that!”
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John Grant
Pale Green Ghosts
Bella Union, 2013
After the success of Queen Of Denmark, Grant decamped to Iceland with Biggi Veira of Gus Gus, indulged his love of electronica, and wrote one of the great break-up albums.
GRANT: The Queen Of Denmark tour was really exhausting. I was in such mourning for the relationship I sang about on Queen Of Denmark and Pale Green Ghosts, and the attention I was now getting saved me from going off the deep end. But I felt totally at the bottom again, and I was barely able to take any of the success in. There’d been so many false starts, and part of me was wondering, “Do I really have a career in music now? Or is it a fluke?” But as soon as I saw Biggi Veira’s studio in Iceland, and heard the Icelandic language – because I’m a language freak – I just felt that I had to work with this guy. And of course I was scared shitless, but my motto is be scared… and do it anyway. And that’s served me well. Working with Sinéad O’Connor? I just adore her. She’s one of those idols that you meet who surpasses your expectations. Who would have thought, when I heard “Mandinka” for the first time and shat my nappy on the dancefloor in Boulder, Colorado that I’d one day be hanging out at her place in Ireland, just chilling, and talking about music, with her playing me a duet by John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison and saying, “You and I should do this.” Are you kidding me? Did writing so honestly about my break-up have a cathartic effect? It’s started to. I can talk about it now without feeling despair. I can imagine a future now. And that’s something.
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