AmpedOut

Watch Now: "L1FE" Trailer

2009-07-06T11:53:26-07:00

Directed by lesbian filmmaker Aarin Burch, "L1FE" is the Billboard charting hit of transman Joshua Klipp, features the talents of the queer-centric Sarah Bush Dance Project, and was produced by openly gay African American music producer Kristopher Cloud.

"L1FE" has been on MTV LOGO's New Now Next and Click List Top 10, and recently featured in the San Francisco Frameline Film Festival. www.myspace.com/cutelittlewhiteguy

Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden

2009-06-30T16:02:03-07:00

Grammy winning cutie Michael Bublé just released a new DVD/CD, “Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden," last week. Take a look at the live performance of Buble singing, "I've Got the World on a String" below.

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How Much Do You "Want" It?

2009-06-22T15:49:38-07:00

"Want" by Adam Lambert is the first single from the album "On With The Show," and will be released later this summer. Adam co-wrote many of the tracks on the new album, which is material recorded over the course of the past two years -- right before his meteoric rise on "Idol." Listen now and tell us whether or not this song will be a big hit with his fans ...

Profile: The Dead Betties

2009-06-18T16:20:33-07:00

It's not easy to forget an all-boy band with the name The Dead Betties, especially once you've seen them live.

They receive rave reviews from the indie press and fans alike, The Dead Betties seem to be taking the spirit of punk rock back from the corporate teenage party music that's put out by bland bands like Good Charlotte.

The young, cute and fiercely talented group was founded in 2000 by vocalist/bassist Joshua Starr. Just like such original punk founders as Patti Smith and Richard Hell, Starr and his best friend, drummer Derek Pippin, dropped out of college and moved to New York to pursue their unbridled passion for music.

After hooking up with talented guitarist Eric Shepard -- a Michigan native who had also moved to New York to satisfy his musical urges -- the three realized they had chemistry, and, voila, The Dead Betties were ready to bring back punk from the grave.

The indie press has been drooling, describing The Dead Betties' unique sound as "cylonic hard core," "satiny, galloping and tuneful" and even "a drum-driven tidal wave of force and precision." While all those descriptions are accurate, the truth is that The Dead Betties defy classification.

"If we had to label ourselves, we would honestly call ourselves an alternative band," says Starr, "in the same vein as Hole, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth."

The band's self-titled debut EP is one of the best indie releases of 2004. The thundering bass, searing guitar and pounding percussion come together to create memorable melodies that will live on while those of lesser bands fall into obscurity.

They released their latest album titled This Is My Brain On Drugs in October 2008.

The best way to fully experience the unadulterated adrenaline rush of The Dead Betties is to see them live. Their frenzied stage show is proof positive that rock and roll is not dead.

by Josh Tager

Videos from the album Nightmare Sequence -- Hellevator and George's Mr. Right

Visit The Dead Betties website.

Billy Dortch Just Wants You to "Breathe"

2009-06-17T17:40:44-07:00

Don't let his good looks fool you. Openly gay musician Billy Dortch has the voice and talent to match his sexy boy next door appearance.

Born and raised in Sacramento, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that Billy moved to L.A. to pursue a career in acting. But while in Los Angeles, something else happened -- he soon discovered his passion to make music. Then in the fall of 2008, producer Gabe Lopez convinced him to record a demo after a memorable night out at a karaoke bar. Billy has now finished the music video for his debut single, "Breathe." Watch now ...

You can check out more sexy photos and artist updates of Billy Dortch at his official site.

Above image credit: Bryant Sentosa

Vanessa Williams Talks New Album And "Betty"

2009-06-11T14:57:58-07:00

Madonna isn't the only master when it comes to reinvention. In her two decades-plus career, Vanessa Williams has been the beauty queen, the hit-making singer, Broadway star and marquee film actress, and in the last few years, she's captivated fans yet again with her Emmy-nominated comedic turn as the power-grabbing Wilhelmina Slater on ABC's "Ugly Betty."

This month, the 45-year-old returns to one of her past roles with the release of a new album, "The Real Thing." In a recent interview, Williams talked about her music, the TV role that defines her for many of her fans, and how they relate to her as a result. Plus, a new video from the album ...

What's the key to your success over the decades?

Besides talent and being prepared for whatever, you have to stay open, you have to be flexible and think about your options and not get stuck in a rut and do the same thing, if this works, well, I've gotta do it 10 different times, always be willing to explore and reach beyond your comfort zone.

How do your fans relate to you?

Younger kids know me from "Hannah Montana," 8 and younger ... and I would say (those in their) 20s know me from "Ugly Betty," and then anyone over mid-30s, 40s know me from my music. And above that, it's probably Miss America.

Were you worried about taking a four-year break between albums?

I'm happy that I've been able not to depend on one genre to make a living. The recording industry has changed immensely. ... I always hope that my fan base will follow me from project to project and I'm in a position where I have a whole new audience that doesn't even know me as a singer, which is fascinating.

Are you planning to tour with this album?

Not right now. ... I have to go back to work the second week in July. So I only have eight weeks off. I'm already exhausted.

What do fans think of your role as Wilhelmina?

People who know me from my recording career always get a kick out of it and say, "I love watching you be so bad," and the people who haven't seen me before, the younger audience, are a little bit intimidated, sometimes afraid to approach me, which I think is hilarious. ... To play such a role is very freeing as an actress because you get the chance to really be as broad and loose as you want and kind of be a brat and get away with murder.

How would you describe your music to those who only know you as Wilhelmina?

I would have to let whoever is discovering me for the first time see a much softer side than what they see on a weekly basis. That's the funny thing about playing such a terrorized role on TV; my real self is different, so I think a lot of people, if they don't know me, will see, definitely, a side of me they don't see on a weekly basis.

There's talk of upcoming changes on "Ugly Betty." Your thoughts?

I do think there is a definite "Betty" style which is unique and I wouldn't want it to become just another show which looks like all the other shows. I hope it will stay unique.

Interview by OSCAR WELLS GABRIEL II

Photos: Getty Images

Profile: Justin Utley

2009-06-10T14:19:00-07:00

Justin Utley looks like he was born to be a rock star; his rugged good looks, tight jeans, charismatic stage moves and commanding vocal presence have made a major impact on the New York music scene. His debut album as a solo artist, "Runaway," blends singer/songwriter sensitivity with hard-rock attitude, all delivered with plenty of hungry big-city energy. It's quite a change for a kid who once was a best-selling Christian artist in Salt Lake City's Mormon community.

"I was the prince of Mormon pop with a couple of Mormon albums that did pretty well when I was 15," Utley confesses with a laugh. "The [Mormon Church] also has their own movie industry and I've written songs for some of those movies. There's this strange alternate universe of Mormon film and music in Utah. You go to the multiplex and you have the major films right next door to a missionary movie. It's a big subculture, but it doesn't really play anywhere out of Utah."

Utley grew up in a conservative house and was "forced into piano lessons" at a young age. He put music aside until high school, when he returned to the keyboard and started writing songs to release the emotions he couldn't get to any other way. He also found his way into musical theater.

"My mom got me into a play singing Disney songs and that kinda spawned my career," he says. "As I got older, I was in everything from 'Bye Bye Birdie' to 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.' (He recently was the male lead, Radames, in the Utah premiere of Elton John's and Tim Rice's "Aida.") When I told her I was gay, she said, 'I thought you just had commitment issues, but I should have known. You spent too much time alone with those He-Man action figures.' "

After high school, Utley started Found, a mainstream rock project that won a Slammy (awarded by Salt Lake's indie newspaper The City Weekly) for best new band. He also won Best Singer and Songwriter and was a featured performer at the 2002 Winter Olympics, but Salt Lake City was getting too small to contain his musical ambitions. "After the Olympics, I realized I had to get out of town to make the next step. There's a punk rock scene, but it's very localized. You rarely get noticed from outside. The gay scene is very underground in its own little sphere. Gay Pride draws about 30,000, but there's only one gay club in the entire city."

Before he left, Utley decided to come out, which was a generally positive experience. He also left the Mormon Church. "Brent, my first boyfriend, passed away suddenly during the process of coming out, and that was difficult. When I told my mom, she said she was sorry she didn't get to meet him, that he never came over for dinner. Everyone I told remained in my life and was very supportive except my Mormon bishop, who told me in a roundabout way that Brent passed because God did not approve of that kind of relationship.

"I wrote a letter to the church excommunicating myself. They say they allow everyone to worship as they please; yet they create an environment that's closed and make plenty of pro-family anti-gay contributions. They don't really live by the live-and-let-live rule they profess to follow."

Utley worked on "Runaway" while he was in the process of moving to New York, bouncing between sessions in Salt Lake and the Big Apple. He played most of the instruments himself, but invited Lance Yergensen, his bandmate from Found, to lay down some shredding electric guitar parts. The music has a bright live feel, bursting with energy and confidence. "Goodbye, Goodbye" is a rocking kiss-off to a faithless lover with a big anthemic chorus; "Little White Lies," based on Utley's disillusionment with the Mormon Church, has a '50s R&B feel and searing guitar work from Yergensen, while "Crash & Burn," one of Utley's most requested songs in his live set, is a bittersweet tune about overcoming life's difficulties, marked by Utley's pleading, emotional vocal.

Utley wrote and produced "Runaway" by himself. "My studio has digital and analog equipment because analog captures something digital can't. It opens up the soul of the music a bit more. "Runaway" has an introspective feel, with lyrics that I wrote before and after coming out, so the images are open enough that everyone can relate to them. Right now, I'm taking a break from performing and writing the next album, which is more edgy, more rock and a lot louder. "Runaway" was introspective and retrospective; the new music is about moving on and has a lot of power in it. I get so excited, I jump around the studio while I'm recording."

by J. Poet

Justin has been cast as the lead in the new country musical "Our Country", by Tony Asaro and Dan Collins in New York City, opening June 21 as part of the Planet Connections Theater Festivity! For tickest and more information go to http://www.ourcountrytoo.com/.

Justin Utley's official website: http://www.justinutley.com/

Justin's Guide to New York City

A Gay Fave Gets Literal ...

2009-06-05T10:44:22-07:00

Gay.com

Whitney's Big Comeback?

2009-06-04T14:14:02-07:00

Arista Records has announced that Whitney Houston's new album will be released on 9/1/09. It will be the first record she's put out in seven years, which has been an eternity for die hard Whitney fans. Her official website is offering an exclusive preview of the new video and new songs if you subscribe to the her mailing list.

Swing It Back

2009-06-01T23:49:47-07:00

There are a couple of misconceptions about Swing Out Sister that need to be cleared up.

Yeah, the twice Grammy-nominated band’s breakthrough number six hit "Breakout," is as bubble gum as they come, but don’t for one second mistake them for a pop band.

Sure, they’re often regarded as one hit wonders (although they had two hits in the U.S., if you count their 1992 number-one adult contemporary cover of "Am I the Same Girl," which experienced a renaissance in recent years in promos and in the introductory theme for the "Martha [Stewart]" show), but that doesn’t mean that they’ve since disappeared into some sort of 80's time warp.

In fact 21 years after making a dent in the U.S. pop charts, existing members: keyboardist Andy Connell and bobbed model-turned-singer Corrine Drewery -- who since forming in Manchester in 1985 with former drummer Martin Jackson have gone on to influence outfits such as Stereolab, St. Etienne and later Everything but the Girl -- have just released a ninth album that will probably defy the expectations of most American listeners. It’s as soulful and jazzy as the 1945 film (about two people who secretly get jobs at a jazz club without their upper-crust families' knowledge) from where the band took its name.

Aptly titled "Beautiful Mess," the album fuses Swing Out Sister’s jazzy sounds with sexy hip hop hooks, lush 60's pop, smooth 70’s R&B/funk and laid back Latin grooves. On the album’s soulful opening track "Something Every Day," Drewery sings, "The best is yet to come… there’s no need to ask… we’re made to last…" By the time you reach the album’s end, you will most likely wonder not if but when lightning will strike twice for this "one-hit-wonder" band.

In a recent interview I chatted with Drewery about this, their upcoming tour, the gay fans, and her musical love affair with the legendary lesbian songstress Dusty Springfield.

Corrine, what can audiences expect to see on this tour?

Well, it’s probably a bit more up close and personal than people are used to. It’s a slightly smaller band, so it’ll be more jazzy acoustic. The smaller band will also allow us to be a bit more spontaneous and change things or reinterpret songs as we go, on tour. Some people say that it’s the best tour we’ve ever done.

One song that gets a major rehaul on the new album is "Breakout" with the stripped down, slowed-down acoustic "The Breakout (Latenight Studio Take)." Why did you decide to re-record that song in that way?

Well, we were in the studio rehearsing anyway and thought, ‘Let’s record it and hear what it sounds like.’ So we just recorded a rehearsal and played it back, and thought that maybe people would like to hear it, the people who can’t come to our shows. People always asked to remix that song. But we wanted to do it ourselves, so we remixed it... because it can take it. It has been the other thing, the pop, exuberant song, so it seemed like, ‘Hey, let’s take it right down now.’ It still works with a bit of melancholy and reflection.

Watch the behind-the-scenes magic that went into the re-recording of this classic track:

When I heard the song in that way I couldn’t help but think how especially inspiring the lyrics are in this economy. Do you see that?

I do, actually, when singing it. I think it’s affected lots of people. When I perform it live, I see that it means a lot to people. People have made major decisions to that song. They’ll send letters or emails... a lot of gay people said that they came out to that song, as well. It’s changed quite a few people’s lives. I’m very touched and moved by that. A song can be something to confirm your thoughts or take on any meaning that you want it to. Maybe it’s not written for that situation or moment, but people choose to take it to give them strength. I came out of what I was feeling that inspired that song, in a pretty literal way. I was stuck in a situation that I did not want to be in, and thought, ‘Hey, just go for it and see what happens.’ Sometimes you have to just close your eyes and dive in.

Please explain the title of the new album to me.

It’s a combination of being halfway through the recording and wondering when we would be finished. It was the first album Andy and I produced ourselves. Normally we worked with a longtime producer, but for our ninth album we got some material together, and thought that it would be nice to do this in a low-key way, very up close and personal. I even learned how to use Logic. For me to take control of my destiny, I should be able to use it. I was sitting, being a producer. But we thought, ‘How on earth are we going to get this finished?’ because you need a third party to take that step outside; when no one tells you what they think, it’s hard for you to know when you’re so close to it.

I thought it was interesting how you released some of the album's singles and videos online ahead of time and asked fans to come up with the name of the album. It’s like they were in the studio with you.

Why did you decide to take this tactic?

They’ve given us lots of encouragement. Andy embraced the whole online thing a lot sooner than I have. It’s a great way to reach people, globally.

I like getting fans involved. When you don’t have a team of people urging you to finish, in a way it’s the people who are urging you to finish. It kind of helps you. When you do it by yourself, you need motivation from where it’s going to end up, so you want the feedback of listeners.

Under what circumstances do you see this album being played?

Hopefully it’s a great sound for bringing people together at a gathering or party or drink with friends. I like driving when I listen to music, because you get the full hit when driving. It’s a time for reflection, a time to be exuberant... because hopefully you’re heading to a great place. We called the first album ‘It’s Better to Travel,’ because music sounds great when you’re on the move.

This album is very soulful. For Americans who are only familiar with "Breakout," do you think they’ll respond to this music as favorably?

They might be surprised by it, but judging by the response of listeners [in the U.K.], I think it’s a welcome kind of progression. People don’t want more of the same, they want something familiar, but with elements that are distinctively our sound. We want to bring something else to the party and don’t want to do the same thing over again. This album gives a glimpse to how we are... it’s a musical conversation without as much of the production process that we normally have. It’s like they’re in the room with us when we’re putting the tracks down. It’s more intimate.

Swing Out Sister has consistently done well in Japan chart-wise and award-wise. There have even been Japan-only releases of your music, a ‘Live In Tokyo’ LP and one of your songs was even used as the theme of a Japanese TV program.

Well, I think they’re very loyal, the Japanese. They want to hear everything. There’s an element of every country’s audience that’s very faddish, but in Japan, there are a lot of loyal listeners, who are very interested in music. They’ve also got quite a large jazz audience, so they picked that out of our sound quite early. It wasn’t just fast, faddish pop to them. Our music was something that would be here for a while.

The gay community has also stuck by Swing Out Sister. How do you explain your gay appeal?

I mean, it just shows that the gay community has very discerning taste. I think fans of our music are like us -- patient, sensitive, discerning, and willing to go the extra mile, and obviously have impeccably good taste!

The Swing Out Sister story is that you started singing for the band without any prior experience. Did you just fall into singing or was that something that you always dreamt of doing?

I wanted to sing since I was very young. The first time that I saw Dusty Springfield, I was mesmerized by her look and sound... I didn’t know what she was. Looking back on the songs that she was singing, they were such great productions and songs. I just remember thinking that I wanted to be a singer and go on tour.

Were you surprised to discover years later that she was a lesbian?

Not really. When she started singing it was so shocking and outrageous, so it made me feel quite sad that she had to suffer in silence, but I thought it was great that she did not have to base her career on it. People just took her music for what it was. It didn’t make any difference.

How have you changed as a singer and performer over the last 20-something years?

I don’t know... I suppose I’m a bit more picky, because we got through so many phases and fads and things that came along. Now I know what I like. I’m a bit more experienced, maybe a bit more confident. I started blissfully ignorant. I was 25 when I first started making records, which is older in an industry with an emphasis on youth. I think it’s better to get success when you’re older because then you have more experience and are not getting pushed around by people. Luckily Andy and I had enough experience to know what we wanted to sound like. When you’re older, you also share a lot more. You’re more relaxed, more confident, and not so protective.

There’s that cliche about cats having nine lives and I was wondering, on the eve of your ninth album release, if you think that the same holds true for bands.

I have not thought of it in that way. With every album, we approach it with as much enthusiasm and wouldn’t want to make a record we didn’t feel excited and enthusiastic about. I think in that respect every album that we create is a new lease on life. We only make a record when we’re ready, when we’re excited about it. Because if it’s not enough to make us jump up and down, then it won’t be enough for others.

Catch Swing Out Sister’s "Beautiful Mess" U.S. Tour in a city near you:

June 3     San Francisco     Bimbo's               8p.m.
June 4     Los Angeles        El Rey Theater     8p.m.
June 6     Washington, DC/Columbia, MD Capital Jazz Fest @ Merriweather Post Pavilion     7p.m.
June 7     Philadelphia Café Live                     TBC
June 8     New York City     BB King's            8p.m.

Photos courtesy of Penetration Inc.