New interview from Australia! I posted this fully because the link won't always give you everything. But give it a hit when you can.
www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/adam-lambert-red-wine-and-weed-is-a-good-recipe-for-sensual-adventures/news-story/50f9f703dd96e191ef3d6e8f15072f27?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitterAdam Lambert ‘Red wine and weed is a good recipe for sensual adventures.’Five years of global touring fronting Queen couldn’t help but rub off on Adam Lambert.
His new album Velvet has been inspired via “osmosis” by the UK rock band’s classic sound.
“Artistically and creatively this is so far the closest my two worlds — my solo career and fronting Queen — have been,” Lambert says.
“That was a conscious thing. I wanted to do a project that felt more vintage in its references. I was doing super contemporary EDM stuff before Queen. Having done Queen for so long it’s such a part of me, it’s informed the artist I am now.
“In the past I was more enamoured with trying to stay current current current. Now timeless is actually more fun. I love the idea of putting music out that won’t sound dated in a year.”
Which is lucky. After his last album, 2015’s The Original High, the 37-year-old American singer has cut ties with major record labels.
He’s signed with US independent Empire (also home to his former X Factor Australia judge Iggy Azalea) and is planning on drip feeding music ahead of an EP later this year that will be the first half of Velvet, with the second next year.
“There’s not a committee of people looking at budgets and dealing with tons of other artists,” Lambert explains.
“It’s more direct. They want me to feel empowered creatively, that’s different for me, feeling fully in the driver’s seat.”
Lambert admits his touring work with Queen is “lucrative” — another reason he was able to become an independent artist.
“I am somebody who invests in my own project. When you’re an artist in financial fear there’s different things motivating you. I do have the luxury of being able to focus on this project because I’m not thinking ‘I have to pay rent’. I am lucky that way.
“In the past not only was I getting pressure from the outside, when you get so far into the game, as an artist you start making money my motivation for things. ‘Oh we need a hit, I want as many people to like this as possible because this is what’s trendy right now’.
“It’s easy to lose sight of your own integrity in that game, in that hustle. Part of me going back to the drawing board was ‘OK, why do I make music and what music feels the most authentic for me to be making right now?’ I feel like I’ve landed on it now, which is great.”
So far Lambert has released the dark Feel Something (”I wanted to talk about my heart and where it had been”), New Eyes (inspired by his relationship with Spanish model Javi Costa Polo) and Comin’ In Hot.
“That’s the arc of the album. It starts in this ground zero, then building and climbing out. I’ve realised as an adult having being on this earth a while is your happiness is up to you. That’s the underlying theme of the album. Musically it’s glam, it’s soul, it’s funk, it’s disco.
“I’ve tapped into a soulfulness I haven’t tapped into on other albums. Maybe that comes from being the most comfortable I’ve been in my skin I’ve ever been, knowing my heart more than I’ve ever know.”
Comin’ In Hot also features the hiding in plain sight lyric “red wine and weed.”
“It’s legal in California, I’m not endorsing anything illegal where I’m from. Red wine and weed is a good recipe for sensual adventures. There’s a herbal touch to this album to the development of this album for sure.”
One new song, Superpowers, was written as an anthem for the LGBTQ community.
“I worked with more women, more queer people, more queer people of colour than I ever have on this album. That informed some of the angles and subject matters and some of the sounds and vibe. It feels closer to my community than it ever has.”
Lambert’s second solo album 2012 Trespassing was the first time an openly gay artist had reached No. 1 on the US chart.
“That helped to prove the point there is an audience for an artist like me. Now you see there are a lot of different types of queer people, you can’t box us into one thing. It’s not a niche anymore, we’re all making different types of music. We’re all different which is reminding the public we all have a different MO and at the end of the day we’re all human. We’re not that different from you, we all feel the same sh--.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h-vd8QiLLwLambert has a brief cameo in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody — he plays a trucker who tries to pick up Freddie Mercury, who had yet to come out, at a rest stop in the US.
It’s a brief scene, but Lambert was ready to expand on the role for art’s sake.
“I said to the director ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do an interior of the bathroom scene? Show what transpires?’,” he laughs. “They said no.”
He watched the debate over the “gayness” of Bohemian Rhapsody unfold from a distance.
“I’m the singer in the band when we do live shows, it’s not my movie. It’s an interesting debate. This was one interpretation of this legendary rock star’s life. It reinvigorated a fanbase that was already doing great, we weren’t having any problem selling out tours, but it brought it to a new generation.
“It was a movie that knew which audience it wanted to appeal to, it had a certain rating, I think they nailed it as to what their goal was. Compared to the Elton John movie, he’s still here. That changes the path the film takes. Freddie’s no longer with us.
“I think the band were very respectful to his memory as far as treating that subject with a certain amount of reticence because he’s not here to say ‘Oh you know what, let’s go further in’. It’s just different.”
Lambert is in the middle of rehearsals for Queen’s next tour, which will upgrade to stadiums in Australia after the success of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Their last tour saw Lambert get to perform his solo hit Whataya Want From Me.
“I said ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ It’s such an honour. This is Queen. This is their catalogue. Queen songs are far more iconic than anything I’ve ever done. It’s a real compliment to me when they decide they want to do one of mine.”
There are tentative plans for more deep Queen cuts to keep diehard fans happy, as well as the classic hits to satisfy the younger audience the film has captured.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne79MuCbgmQ“Sometimes Brian (May) and Roger (Taylor) want to do a song I’m not that familiar with, which is exciting, it keeps it fresh.”
While some may think Lambert is a Freddie Mercury superfan, he’s been learning on the job.
“My first experience with Queen was getting the Greatest Hits, then the second one. Those albums were my idea of Queen for the longest time. Then I started working with the band, and I dived into the full catalogue. I’ve learned so much, the fact I’ve discovered songs I didn’t really know is cool.”
The singer says there’s never been an endpoint set on his work with Queen — he’s happy to keep doing both projects for as long as he can.
“We’ve never sat down and gone ‘OK this is the last one’ it keeps evolving and snowballing, the movie has obviously put more momentum on it.
“Every tour we end and there’s something else offered. It’s great. Plus the songs are in my body now. I don’t have to stress or think about it too much. Much like Brian and Roger, they know these songs, these songs are part of their physicality, that helps too. It’s not such a daunting undertaking now.”