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Business and pleasure
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“When you’ve made 10 records and you’ve been the ‘it’ boy and you’ve been lambasted by critics and then you’re ‘it’ again and then you’re not, and all this time you’re getting older—I’m 33—and pop music is a beauty contest more than anything, you rely on your heart and your head to be sexy. There’s just a certain cheekiness in making up a word like ‘manlicious.’” So says Hawksley Workman of his new, “sexy rock” record, Los Manlicious, close on the heels of a “song-oriented, pop-folk” record called Between the Beautifuls. Both were released this year, a first for the prolific artist. Currently holed up “in the bush” in Ontario, Workman’s contemplating relocating to Paris, where he’s had significant success, to focus on writing music for other artists. Given his recent dealings with his music industry overlords, you can’t blame him for seeking out new scenery. One morning last week, from the foyer of a Toronto hotel, he told the Mirror all about how his latest album nearly never saw the light of day. Hawksley Workman: It was a record I laboured over for a long, long time and when I delivered it, there was this sense of, “Uh-oh, is this the wrong record for you at this time?” I’ve told the people I work with that I will always make a different record, I’ll never be consistent, I’ll always be confusing, that is my angle, that is my hook, so I don’t know why everybody’s having such a hard time. The thing now in the music business is that everybody’s running scared, there’s rarely a decision made from a place of confidence. As an artist, it’s stressful, so I just decided, ’cause I like writing songs, to make another record [Between the Beautifuls]. I’m not very precious about those sorts of things. Maybe I should be that snooty artist that says, “This is the record, whether you like it or not, we’re releasing it.” But I did pressure them to release Manlicious, finally, saying, “I’ll go crazy if this just sits around.” M: So, is Los Manlicious a place? HW: You mean like a place below my waistline? M: Ha! No, like a tourist destination. HW: Like, fly to Cancun and then take a taxi to Los Manlicious? Yeah, maybe I should franchise resorts. It’s very Disney, what you’re talking about. Though I don’t know if Disney would touch anything called Manlicious. M: Speaking of which, you’ve said that “Fatty Wants to Dance” is about you, when you were a “husky kid,” wanting to be Michael Jackson. HW: I still feel like that. Michael Jackson, coming into my world in 1983 with Thriller, was the beginning for me. Seeing somebody so fluid with their body, I knew then exactly what I wanted to do. But we can’t all be shaped like Michael Jackson. There’ve been times in my life where I’ve just stopped eating in order to be skinny. I don’t do that anymore, but when people tell you you’re fat, it affects you for a long, long time, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how you really look, you still see yourself as being a cumbersome creature. I’d love to be graceful. I’m just a brute, really. M: But you can make that work. HW: Yeah, I’ve done it in my own way. Hopefully. I got bills to pay! WITH HEY ROSETTA AT LA TULIPE ON |
