Bright Light Bright Light interview: 'Last year was a blur'

Welsh-born, New York-based artist talks about his new tour with Erasure, keeping politics out of his music, and ambitions for the future

Bright Light, Bright Light: 'I like being immersed in other peoples’ situations, I find that very inspiring. I don’t like to look inwards too much when I’m starting to think about records or different songs. I’m a keen observer. It’s endlessly fascinating'

"Last tour I met a man with my face tattooed on his arm – which was wild."

Welsh-born, New-York based LGBT pop icon Bright Light, Bright Light is in high spirits as he talks about his forthcoming plans, including recording new songs and a European tour with friends and heroes Erasure.

“Being able to work on new material right now in London is great," he says. "I’m here for about a week just before we head off on tour with Erasure, and the nice bonus of that is I get to do a bit of work while I’m here, bit of recording, bit of writing, but it’s mainly rehearsals and getting ready to be on the road for 42 days which is a long time! I opened for Erasure before – just a one-off show in 2011. Vince and I did a remix swap, so he remixed one of mine, I remixed a band on his label. But we live really close to each other in New York so we hang out quite a lot and we’re friends, so it’s a nice pairing to go on tour with someone you like hanging out with.”

His set is a relatively brief 30 minutes, so he says he'll be sticking mostly to his latest two records and a song from the first: "A kind of pedal-to-the-metal, rollercoaster ride through the material. No new material.”

2017 was quite a year for the singer. “Oh God, last year was a bit of a blur really! I feel like I enjoyed all the shows we did last year, they were really fun. We did a couple of shows in the UK, a couple of shows in America, but it was actually just quite nice to be able to start writing again.

“I did some music for Mark Gatiss’ Queer Monologues on BBC 4 and that was really fun, because that’s using a very different type of musical skills. I got to do something very left-of-centre for me and that was really cool.”

One moment from last year stands out in particular, however: “Last tour I met a fan who has my face tattooed on his arm, in a collage of Björk, Madonna... and me – which was wild! I'm also a huge fan of both of those women so I couldn't believe I was in a tattoo sleeve with them, but really that I was a tattoo at all!”

It’s no secret that Bright Light, Bright Light is a fan of film – as he explains, he’s already considering writing a score, if he ever gets a break from touring.

“I really want to be able to work in cinema. So one of my long-term goals is to score films. I think probably horror – because that’s my favourite genre. A lot of my favourite scores are from late ‘70s to early ‘90s horror films, B-movies, lots of dark, weird Italian cinema. So I would like to work in that genre very much – fingers crossed within the next five years I’ll be able to do that.

“A lot of the time I get inspired by stuff I overhear on the subway, which is real-life film I suppose… so it’s like dialogue or interactions that catch you off-guard, that are very different from your own. I like being immersed in other peoples’ situations, I find that very inspiring. I don’t like to look inwards too much when I’m starting to think about records or different songs. I’m a keen observer. It’s endlessly fascinating.”

He’s done some big-name collaborations – most famously with Elton John, and several of the Scissor Sisters – but there are many more artists he’d like to work with.

“Björk I’d love to work with because she’s so crazy," he says. "All of her records have inspired me in so many different ways. I think she’s really inspiring because she’s morphed into so many different genres and styles. Um… Kate Bush, but I don’t see that happening," he adds with a laugh. “I’d love to do something like write the vocal part for a Röyksopp track, I reckon that would be amazing. I love their production, I love their catalogue. I’d like to work with more dance-focused people as well, because I really enjoy that world, but that’s not my skill set.”

He’s unlikely to find any songwriting inspiration from the current political situation, he says, either here or as someone who lives in Trump’s America.

“Here’s my position on that: I don’t think that I am the most informed or that I’ve earned my place to be a political spokes-voice. So I try to keep that type of politic out of my songwriting and I do it more in my personal life. I do a lot of fundraising, I do a lot of awareness raising through charity fundraising and lots of stuff that I do via eBay or my website, and I try to donate to causes that are fighting Trump’s racist system or the awful effects that Brexit is going to have.

“But in terms of vocalising my political views in my lyrics, I don’t think that I have the strength to do that. I don’t think it would be effective if I did it. I don’t think I know how to get things across as eloquently as a lot of people do who make a point of doing that in their music. There’ll be allusions to things that I don’t agree with because I’m emotive – but in terms of an overtly political song, I don’t think that’s my strength. I don’t want to do anything clumsily and I don’t want to do anything that doesn’t help a cause. So I think I’ll leave that to the pros, and then I’ll do what I can in my personal life to help matters.”

Although he has a well-established and sizeable fan base, there are still plenty of venues he hasn’t yet played which he would like to – and, of course, some he’d prefer not to return to.

“I would to be able to play at the Royal Opera House here (in London) – I saw the Björk show there back in 2001, or whenever Vespertine came out, which I thought was amazing. I’ve always wanted to play that venue so hopefully I’ll be able to sell enough records to play that… it’s quite big! I’d love to do a proper dance tent at a festival – I’ve played at Glastonbury, but not a dance tent. So I’d love to do that. Other venues… I think I’ve done quite well in London so those are my favourites.

“Can I think of any that I hate… Yeah. Fine. There have been one or two venues where the people there have been rude, but that’s not the venue’s fault, and staff changes, so I won’t name any names. But generally if I don’t mention a show for a while, or if I don’t praise the show then something’s gone wrong. Always be diplomatic – like somebody said, be pleasant to the people you meet on the way up, because you will see them on the way down. And that’s true.”

The album Choreography is out now. Bright Light Bright Light is on UK tour with Erasure – tickets and info here