Artist Interview with Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu - KRS.gay

As part of our 2021 Pride collaboration with queer indie label Kill Rock Stars, we will be chatting weekly with out artists from the KRS roster! First up in the conversation series is Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu.

What has your experience of being an out artist in the music industry been like?

Largely I feel incredibly lucky. It has either been a non issue or something people we have worked with have been supportive of. The "arts" are one of the few places where I think that, at least now (I hope...maybe I am being a Pollyanna) one can count on being out freely. My experience of course applies to (most of the time) living in cities on the west coast of the United States. I am sure if I was in many other countries or in other parts of Amerikkka it would have been different.

How has being signed to such an explicitly queer label influenced that experience?

It always seemed like being queer was like other human attributes, neither hyper special nor malignant. It feels totally and truly normal and therefore comfortable. 

Have you experienced any changes in how out artists are recognized and included over the course of your career? If so, what has that been like?

Again, I might be missing something, but it feels more open now than ever -- more expansive, more specific, but also more free. Shades of grey in the rainbow seem more acceptable than ever. 

What does the concept of Pride mean to you?

Being unafraid to be yourself.

Who are some of your queer or trans heroes or musical influences? 

Vaginal Davis is my number one idol and hero, socially, artistically, politically, and shimmy sham shamily. 

How do you feel about having your music labeled as “gay music”, “queer music”, or “trans music”?

I am a curmudgeon and don’t care about labels, but as labels go, queer is one I will stand by anytime. 

Would you consider your music political? If so, how?

Yes, by talking about politics! 

Do you have any advice for LGBTQ artists just coming up now?

Be true to what feels right to you and never give up. Honesty and persistence is the key to making something that can matter. 

Why is support for art, music, and venues so important for the well-being of LGBTQ people? 

It is important for the well-being of all people but I think it may have a slightly more significant place for LGBTQ people or for any group or individual who faces an excess of scrutiny, bigotry, violence, or ostracization for who they are. It is a place to turn negative experience and negative feeling into something other than oppression or pain. Participating in the arts, as an observer or creating it, can be a way to touch and heal and recontextualize and bolster and imagine and be excited by and to be let loose which, for someone whose very self is at odds with the world around them, can be the literal difference between life and death.

What message do you hope your LGBTQ fans or listeners receive from your music?

I hope that anything they might get from it is their own and individual to them. I am repeating myself but being oneself and reacting in the way that is true to them is all I could ever hope for.

For more on Xiu Xiu, click HERE.

For more on KillRockStars.gay, click HERE.

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