Billie Ray Martin interview: The Opiates & Hollywood under the knife (2012)
Divas, transvestites, and rising stars striving for sanity, identity, or that next plastic surgery fix. Their stories, among others, are brought to life by the electronic beats of Hollywood under the knife, The Opiates’ debut album. Dubbed “the Carpenters of electro”, The Opiates are composed of singer / songwriter, Billie Ray Martin and musician Robert Solheim. In Hollywood under the knife and its associated EP, Rainy days and remixes, they spotlight the sometimes negative and bizarre impact of Hollywood internationally by exploring issues such as self-image in Anatomy of a plastic girl and Reality TV and finding life’s purpose in Candy coated crime and Rainy days and Saturdays.
The CD was further enhanced by The Opiates’ collaboration with a number of other artists. Its cover and booklet are adorned with previously unseen and unpublished photos by photographer Wolfgang Tillmans and the EP includes remixes of three of the album’s songs by the likes of Kim Ann Foxman (Hercules and Love Affair), Chris and Cosey (Throbbing Gristle) and XHK. Through all of its vivid artistic elements, each song on Hollywood under the knife allows listeners to step into a seemingly insane, but surprisingly relatable world.
Billie Ray Martin is well known for her number one solo hit Your loving arms, her previous work in the band Electribe 101, and collaborations with Steven Mallinder and Vince Clarke among others. To gain insight into the inspiration behind Martin’s lyrics and a behind the scenes take on Hollywood under the knife, artdesigncafe interviewed her to learn more.
ADC: For Rainy days and Saturdays you sing about a fictitious transvestite, Candy Darling, who, "although leading the wild life and preparing for a sex change, dreams of married life and a house in the suburbs". Your inspiration please?!
Billie Ray Martin: She is not fictitious. She existed and her life is told in my song as it was. The words are taken out of her diaries and put into a song, in my own way, adding my own interpretations of what he meant.
ADC: Sorry Billie Ray. Sorry Candy!
ads by artdesigncafe
Facebook comments
