A line-up of LGBTQI+ musicians will play tributes to their favourite queer artists in the inaugural, HOMAGE- A QUEER MUSICAL TRIBUTE. The line-up includes Brendan Maclean, Jordan Raskopoulos, Marcus Whale, Benhur Helwend and Sports Bra.
Maeve Marsden is hosting and we had the chance to chat with her about the night.
SAG: So this is an interesting project you have on your hands here, what’s the derivation of Homage.
MAEVE: The root of Homage is pretty simple. I’ve been running in Queer Stories, which is a storytelling night for a couple of years. I’m currently on the road with a book tour for it. I’ve been to Canberra and some regional towns and Melbourne in Brisbane with that and the stories that kept coming through from the LGBTQI community: often they touched on music or they touched on the role that different songs or different musicians had in influencing identity, sexuality and community.
And Homage as a concept, where queer artists perform covers of queer artists, is something I done with other artists maybe seven years ago as this little project in a small venue in Sydney. And now that I’m doing bigger stuff and these storytelling nights are going so well, I decided to revive it as, like a live music spin-off of Queer Stories.
So, I picked some of my favourite local artists and gave them the brief. They’ve picked some songs, we got a house band so it’s a larger scale than last time I did it because the Factory is a large space. I’m really excited for it. It will be a nice full energy on the night, I think.
SAG: So your artists are only choosing queer writers/ performers?
MAEVE: Yes. So they have to be songs that at least have been written and made famous by LGBTQI musicians. We often talk about queer music and icons and those songs you really hear at Mardi Gras but I really wanted to celebrate Queer musicians and not just icons of the community. So there are artists covering David Bowie to Troy Sivan … so there’s Australian local musicians.
I’m covering Dusty Springfield, she’s one of my favourites.
SAG: How far back are you going do you think?
MAEVE: I’m trying to think: people have definitely chosen artists from the 60s 70s and there’s Cole Porter who is even further back. Jimmy Somerville … so there are songs from quite a range of decades which I’m really happy about. Right up to contemporary songs that might have been released this year. A result of putting together quite a few artists is that we get a real breath people’s tastes.
And the artists will talk about why they chose the songs so it’s not just a gig. It’s got that element of storytelling again, artists talking about why these particular songs or musicians speak to them.
SAG: That sounds interesting and from your experience with Queer Stories who do you think your audience is going to be?
MAEVE: Queer Stories in Sydney gets a really mixed audience. I get a younger crowd in other places but in Sydney we get people right through from 20s to retirees and people in their 70s. Which is really lovely.
I think that is partly programming because I program quite a wide age range. I often say that people who come to Queer Stories are the kind of ‘quieter queers’. People who don’t necessarily wants the club nights and the big nights out. It’s a place for kind of listening … a gentle cultural meeting for the LGBTQI community. So I expect I’ll get a similar kind of audience for Homage. But maybe added in the music goers and it might even be a different demographic again which will be really cool for me to see. And no doubt fans of the musicians who are playing.
SAG: So did you say you got a bigger than normal band for this gig?
MAEVE: The band I’m using is the one I have for my cabaret act , Lady Sings It Better, and beefed up for the rock element as well as the cabaret feel. So they really are experienced across rock, jazz, pop, musical theatre. But there’s a young punk band called Sports Bra who are going to play independently the band because they themselves are a full outfit.
SAG: So it’s only one night. Have you got thoughts, if it’s successful, of extending in some way?
MAEVE: Yeah, we’ll have to see how it goes. Tickets are selling really well. I can imagine it would be a good Arts Festival event because you could have different musicians coming into a city and you could feature different guests. I don’t think I could do it as regularly as I do Queer Stories because it’s a bit more work but I would love to see it happen regularly in Sydney. I would love to make it regular.
SAG: What made you decide on The Factory as the space for this event?
MAEVE: I wanted a really good live music space. I wanted the songs to really be front and centre and that space does that for me. Sydney’s not overrun with moderate size live venues, you get a lot of small spaces and then massive venues. So with all the technology for good audio and a space where I can fit three to four hundred people it’s perfect. Will be able to get a really nice cool sound.
SAG: So just finish off, can you let people know how the night is going to run? What can we expect?
MAEVE: So the show will be in three sections and I’ve got some fabulous DJs who do, sort of, disco in the intervals. So I’m hoping that we can have a little disco breakdown and a boogie if they want during intervals. It’s a seated show but people might definitely get up during the show as well for a dance.
SAG: And just on the QT are there any duets or so forth planned?
MAEVE: Well it’s a bit of a secret but we might be doing a big number at the end. We will have to see how we go getting that many people into the room but there’s talk of a George Michael number!
HOMAGE- A QUEER MUSICAL TRIBUTE is 7.30pm on Wednesday 24th October at The Factory Theatre – 105 Victoria Rd, Marrickville
Tickets are available from Box Office on (02) 9550 3666 or the website.