Mario Silva - The Deleted Scenes

For the March issue of Outlooks, I interviewed Liberal MP Mario Silva as part of my unofficial programme of profiling all gay and lesbian parliamentarians for the magazine.  I do a few every year, but I also try to make the interviews timely in some sense, though it doesn't always work out that way. When I interviewed Silva, the hook was about campaigning as an out MP and how that has its own particular challenges, and at the time, it looked like we were about to have an election. After all, it didn't look like the government was going to last until the last four by-elections, but lo and behold, it's still going and now it looks like it will last until autumn.  Nevertheless, given space considerations and keeping my focus on campaigning, there was plenty from the interview that ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor.  These are some of the highlights.

On his being an advocate for human rights:

“I care greatly about human rights issues, I’m the vice chair of the Human Rights committee and we’ve been dealing with a lot of issues around the world on human rights and I have spoken frequently about it.  I think where there is a great opportunity for the gay community, and I’d like to work in partnership with and I have already started working with is queer associations, is to deal with issues of gays and lesbians who have been persecuted in many countries around the world and have them come as refugees to Canada – it’s an issue I’m very passionate about and would like to be more active in. I’d also like to see more people in the community be more active in that, and I’ve spoken a few times in Parliament about that, and in the spoken in the Human Rights committee on that, and I think that there’s more that we can do.  I think that all of the gains we’ve made in Canada, we should now fight for them globally.  Canada could be a very good refuge for these individuals who are suffering a great deal of intolerance and discrimination, hatred and attacks in these other countries, in the Middle East, where you can get killed – it’s very scary.  I spoke very strongly about those two Iranian teens that were executed – it was so emotional for me because I thought that I could have been one of those if I was living there.  I think the community needs to be more active about those issues.  The problem is that people have to qualify to come and it can be very difficult.”

On his role as Treasury Board critic:

“It’s a challenging role, it’s a very tedious role and certainly around the time of the estimates and the budgets when it gets really busy, we go line by line and we pay a lot of attention to the money that was going, in terms of advocacy roles and positions, and even on issues of justice, on crime how much they are spending on prevention as opposed to locking people up, all those things, so I took a very critical look at some of those things.  I look at them from my own perspective and viewpoint and I make the recommendations to our party and our leader based on that.”

On the demise of the Court Challenges Programme:

“It’s a real shame because one of the reasons that Canada was perceived internationally as this great defender of Human Rights – our Charter of course, but the fact that people could challenge also laws that are discriminatory against them, and we would pay for that, and few other countries do that, but that was a real landmark decision that we had put forward, and we are very sad that the Conservatives had cut it.  They didn’t see the value in it.  It’s very interesting because the cuts were directed at certain groups.  The money we were talking about was very manageable, a very small amount, but it was women’s groups, it was the special court challenges, it was literacy programmes for adults – little moneys as they see as being run by activists who work against them, and therefore we should cut the funding to cut the activists out of the picture. Whether it was doing any good or not they didn’t care.  I think that the Conservatives are still quite upset about how the country has moved so far based on the court challenges and based on the courts – the whole attack on the courts and activists courts by the Prime Minister was incredible and I think that they’ve come to the conclusion that there’s nothing else they can do other than attack the courts to still maintain some of their bases, but the reality is that they’ve lost that battle.”

On his private member's bill banning replacement workers:

“It’s still a very controversial bill, and I haven’t been moving as fast as I could but that’s because I want to make sure that I have the maximum support from all of my colleagues in the caucus before pushing it forward.  But we are supposed to be holding second reading soon.”

The article with Mario Silva can be found on the Outlooks website here, or you can download the full issue on .pdf format here. (The piece is on page 14).

Melanie C - The Interview

With the concert tomorrow night, I thought I would post the full interview with Melanie C, Maclean's style.

Q: Looking forward to coming to Canada?

A: I can’t wait. And I haven’t got long now, I’ve only got two days before I travel to Montreal to begin this, the Canadian Adventure.

Q: You decided to break Canada on this album and not the States, which is kind of an unusual choice, and I was just wondering what your thought process there was?

A: Well, my last two albums have been made on my own labels, Red Girl Records, and in different territories, I licence through different labels, and when I was over with the Spice Girls working with EMI, my publishers here, they expressed an interest in releasing the album there, and I just jumped at the chance because I really enjoy working in Canada, and I had a lot of success there with my first album and hopefully this album will be well received and we can have some fun over there too.

Q: I’ve noticed with your previous album you had some tracks that were Germany-only and it was one of those curious things, I had thought.

A: When I first started in the music industry, being with a major label, everything was international, and you went everywhere and did everything. I mean there were certain places you didn’t really bother going to—it’s funny because somewhere like Poland, which I never went to as a Spice Girl but I’ve been there quite a lot as a solo artist—but things are changing and it’s really hard to know where things are going to go next, and currently I’ve really been concentrating on the markets which have been receiving the albums well. That’s what’s kind of taken me to Germany quite a lot, we’ve had a lot of success there, we had a great time in Portugal with this album, so yeah, it’s kind of weird the songs or the albums that certain countries pick up on.

Q: Being as you’ve had a lot of international success, one of the things that I’ve been wondering is that there’s always this obsession with breaking America with a lot of artists—especially UK artists, and it puts a lot of pressure on them. In the past few years we’ve seen some examples of what some of that pressure does, thinking of say Lily Allan or Amy Winehouse for example. I was wondering if that’s something you’ve noticed as well?

A: I think a lot of that is quite media-driven to be honest with you. I’m sure that the labels would love success in America because you can just shift so many units there and it’s a lot more prosperous than other territories. But I think when it comes to the artists—you know, I think it’s kind of hard for me because with the Spice Girls we were very lucky and we broke everywhere and it was like a dream scenario, everything went well for us. Then as a solo artist, I’ve gone hot and cold in different places but for me I don’t see America as this big challenge to try--  I think maybe when I was a little younger, I think because there’s something about here in the UK, you find that American artists are given a lot of respect and quite often the domestic artists are just pushed to one side, and then when you’re in mainland Europe you find that as a British artist you also command a lot of respect. It’s funny, it’s just kind of the culture of the music industry, but I think that some of the artists that you mention and saying that a lot about the stresses and the pressures, I don’t really think that is to do with trying to break America to be honest with you, I think that it’s something a little bit closer to home.  Do you?  What do you think?

Q: Well I think that one of the things I noticed, I was watching an interview with Lily Allan once and she was saying that in trying to break America, she’s only had one album, so she’s doing the same set night after night and she’s so bored with it, but the label says that if we want to break America we have to do all these venues all across the country and it got to a point where she started drinking too much to just cope with the boredom of it all. That was one of those things that I was wondering.

A: I think that the labels are so obsessed with breaking America. The funny thing with major labels is that they tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, and they’ll have a lot of success over in Europe and Southeast Asia, you know, go over, try to break America, spend so much time doing it, usually failing, that all the other territories have gone cold and there’s a new kid on the block. You know, I think especially when you’re a young artist you put your faith in your label, and quite often they make mistakes.

Q: You’ve gone from a major label with international success, to forming your own label as an independent artist, and I’m wondering—partially how that process came about for you, but also what you find are some of the big differences for you as an artist.

A: It came about really when I was released from my contract with Virgin, which I knew was coming, you know the label was in quite a lot of trouble and EMI were taking them over, and it was quite a relief to be released. I was just looking at options because I knew that I definitely wanted to continue my career, and to self-finance and start my own independent label just felt like a really exciting thing to do and quite challenging as well, and just a complete opposite from where I had started from. So we set about doing that, and I found it great creatively, it was really inspiring to have a complete and fresh start, and you just feel a bit more in control of your life.  You know, you’re not wondering if you’re going to get dropped or what was going on at the label because the music industry is so unstable at the moment, it’s hard to know what’s going to happen next. So it’s cool having your own label, you can work at your own pace and you don’t have to answer to anybody and you don’t have to take too many opinions on board and you can just get on with it and make your own mistakes. (Laughs)

Q: What would you say are some of the different pressures then?

A: Well of course you know financially it’s quite daunting because it’s bloody expensive making records so you haven’t got that financial support. And also you lose a lot of your power because a major label with other big artists, sometimes there’s some politics that come into play at radio stations, etcetera, so you lose a lot of your clout. But I wouldn’t change a thing—I’m really happy now being independent. I’ve totally lost my faith in major labels, but I suppose that’s really to do with how rocky the industry is, but yeah, it’s great being independent.

Q: With your last album when you first started out with this label, at certain points you were releasing singles on your website only and things like that. Was that part of the learning process?

A: Absolutely. You know I think the learning is never going to end, because the way things are going now things are changing constantly, and you have to just learn as you go.

Q: You’ve had a definite evolution in your sound between the four albums, and the third album had kind of reached this pinnacle and it was kind of aggressive and then this last one you kind of stepped back a bit. Something that I’d also noticed was this was also the one album that you’d done the least amount of song writing, and I was wondering if that played into it?

A: Yeah, you know this album is really a reaction to the last album. I had such a lot of fun with Beautiful Intentions, I loved writing it, I loved getting out there and playing it, but after I’d done that I felt like I’d needed a dramatic change. I wanted to do something that was more beautiful and I wanted to make an album that had more of a singer-songwriter feel, and somebody like Adam Argyle and Jill Jackson, they’re actually artists as well, and I’ve enjoyed writing with Adam but they just had some beautiful songs that I wanted on my album, so that’s really why I let go a little bit and did some other people’s songs.

Q: Was it kind of scary letting to some of that creative freedom?

A: You know, not at all. I enjoyed being able to interpret someone else’s work. I feel especially with songs written by Adam and Jill, I identify with the lyrics so much. I suppose we’re of a similar age and a similar background, so we kind of see the world through similar eyes anyway, so I’ve really enjoyed singing. It’s almost like a new challenge because when you’re consistently singing the songs that you’ve been a co-writer on, and you know a lot of the lyrics and melodies are your own, it’s nice to just be a singer. You have to search in a different place to get the right vocals, the ones that you’re happy with.

Q: I’ve heard that you’re going back to work on a fifth album shortly, or if you’ve already started.

A: I’m hoping to do lots of writing over the summer, with the Canadian tour, got some more Canadian trips planned and then some European dates, but yeah just getting into the studio, absolutely no pressure and I just want to have a go and see what comes out. So much has happened over the last, well twelve years really. I think it’s time to really just take the pressure away and just be quite free, you know maybe just experiment with some different sounds and have some fun.

Q: Do you have an idea what you want to do with the sound yet, or are you just playing around?

A: Yeah, well I’d like to probably get a bit rockier again for some of the album and work acoustically as well, I really enjoy working acoustically. I think it’ll be a little bit tougher than this album but probably not as tough as Beautiful Intentions.

Q: One of the things I really enjoy are a lot of your b-sides.

A: Oh! Thank you, yeah, me too.

Q: I found that some of them are really incredible, and I’m always amazed that some of them didn’t make the albums.

A: I know sometimes I wonder whether I should have made different choices. But you know, I actually pride myself on having really great b-sides because a lot of people just put crap on the b-sides. (laughs)

Q: I would have to say that my absolute favourite one was from the single for ‘Here It Comes Again’—‘Love to You.’

A: Oh yeah, with Rick Knowles—no wait, that wasn’t ‘Love to You,’ that was with Gary Clark. Yeah.

Q: I just thought it was an amazing track that I really wish had been on the album.  So if you ever need any push to release it…

A: Yeah, that should make a comeback.

Q: Anything in particular that you’re looking forward to seeing while you’re over here this time?

A: Well I’m excited to come to Ottawa because I’ve never been. There’s quite a few cities I’ve never seen on this tour, and we’re on a bus so we’re truly going to see everywhere, so I’m looking forward to that. You know what—I’m really hoping that people in Canada are open to just come along. I’d really love people to come along who don’t know me, who don’t know any of my solo work. If people enjoy live music, you know I’ve got this band—my band played with the Spice Girls shows, and my front-of-house engineer also did the Spice shows so I’ve got a great team of people. The music, it will be fantastic. I’d love people to just come out just out of curiosity and check it out. Usually when people come out to see me for the first time they’re pleasantly surprised.

Q: And you’re excited doing more intimate, smaller venues?

A: Oh yeah, it’s better especially for the type of music that I’m doing. Arenas are fun, but I’d much prefer to go to a theatre or a club, so it works the other way on stage. It’s definitely a more intimate experience.

Melanie C - Online

My Melanie C article is now online on the Xpress website, found here.  Thanks to it being a web-only feature, I was able to have the space to do the interview justice and not have to worry about it being crammed into something that was only some five hundred words, which is probably all I would have been allowed in the print edition.

Gay Travel in Canada

My piece on gay travel in Canada appears in the May issue of Outlooks.  The piece came about when I met Bruce McDonald at the Interpride Conference held in here in Ottawa at the end of March.

It can be viewed at the Outlooks website here, or you can download the issue directly in .pdf format here.  (The piece is on page 25).

The Delicate Art of Negotitation

Attempting to sell the Melanie C piece has been something of a headache the whole week. In the end, the piece wound up back where it started--with Xpress. The piece was not so much commissioned as "if you want to do the interview, go ahead, and if we have page count we'll take it." And then they were supposed to get the increased page count, but their head office in Montréal had their own interview, which they were supposed to use instead. And then, that piece turned out to be too Montréal-centric, and it was back to me. They could put it on their website--but not pay me for it.

I don't like working for free. I've done a couple of spec pieces here or there for editors I've never worked with before, and in most cases they've panned out. In one case it didn't quite--the editor liked the piece and planned to run it, but they ran out of space, and then the bill passed, and they it was rendered moot. Nevertheless, it led to new work from him a couple of weeks later.

So I shopped the interview around, but most outlets either had their own piece done--in some cases I knew that but pitched that this interview steered clearly away from the topics they had covered--or in one case, the editor never got back to me, after three voicemails.

Winding up back at Xpress, I submitted the piece on the condition that they arrange for passes for me for the show in lieu of payment. That seemed to work, and it is some token renumeration for the work that I put in. Being as they have a new editor there as well, this was my trial run with him. So it all worked out as best as it could, and I did get to interview a Spice Girl. But it highlights some of the perils of working as a freelancer.