The Wainwright stuff
Rufus Wainwright on family strife, interviews as psychotherapy, sexuality, George W Bush and why he wants Madonna’s kids as fans.
John Walshe, 14 Nov 2006
Meeting Rufus Wainwright is something of a daunting experience, even for those of us who consider ourselves fans. Outspoken and outrageous, he’s very much the angel with the devil’s tongue, and there’s something weird about hearing that supernaturally magical voice spouting venom. Kind of like having a Seraph tell you to fuck off.
But meet him I do at the Electric Picnic, and the amount of wheeling and dealing that goes into organising the right backstage pass to interview Rufus outside his dressing room makes this feel like an audience with the Queen (no pun intended). Sitting in the sun, wearing giant shades and looking, if anything, reserved, I ask him about ‘that’ voice. While he obviously inherited musical genes from his famous parents, Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, I wondered how much of his talent is down to nature and how much is nurture?
“I actually had a very annoying voice after I hit puberty,” he admits in that strange tone that seems at once mocking and knowing. “As I child, it was definitely a natural phenomenon, but then I experienced this Simpson-esque ratification when I hit puberty and my voice dropped three octaves: I suddenly sounded like a cartoon character or like one of the guys from The Little Rascals. That was really devastating for me. I knew that to get my voice back, I would have to really work at it. ‘Cos it’s a bizarre voice, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard [laughs]. Some people find my voice quite ugly, which I can understand.”
So did he ever take formal singing lessons?
“I took one singing lesson. But certainly, growing up with the McGarrigles and the Wainwrights, singing was formally forced on us,” he grins. “We were in boot camp, or ‘note camp’.
“But the more you sing, the better you become. Singing is like using any other muscle: you have to toughen it up. This whole thing of saving your voice or not trying something because you might hurt your voice is bullshit: in my experience, the voice is the toughest matter in the world. Think of all the great singers who destroyed everything but their voice.”
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