E138: Kid Congo Powers on being gay in the Bad Seeds
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- In this episode (www.rocksbackp...) we welcome the delightful Kid Congo Powers, all the way from his home in Tucson, and ask him to talk about his former lives in the Gun Club, the Cramps and the Bad Seeds - as detailed in the riveting new memoir Some New Kind of Kick.
The man born Brian Tristan looks back to his teen fanboy years from Frank Zappa to the New York Dolls, plus his memories of the L.A. glitter scene at Rodney's English Disco. He describes how it felt - as a gay Mexican American - to be a misfit among mainly white misfits on the punk scenes in L.A. and New York. He also explains how the Gun Club was conceived after he met Jeffrey Lee Pierce while queuing for a 1979 Pere Ubu show at the Whisky. We hear how Kid was then headhunted by the Cramps' Lux and Ivy, and what it was like to be part of their ghoulish B-movie aesthetic. We similarly learn how he was recruited (and "cast") as one of Nick Cave's drug-addled Bad Seeds in mid-'80s Berlin.
From the decline and premature death of Jeffrey Lee Pierce - via Kid's own eventual long-term sobriety - we shift into the rarefied and erudite world of Brian Eno, an iconic glam influence on the young Brian Tristan. Clips from Mark Sinker's 1992 audio interview with pop's resident egghead are heard, leading in turn to discussion of Eno's collaborations with Robert Fripp and Toby Amies' remarkable new King Crimson documentary.
Mark talks us through pieces about the Stones' 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' (1968), classic-blues septuagenarian Victoria Spivey (1975), the Police (1979) and Joe Bataan & Arthur Baker (1996) after which Jasper concludes the episode with quotes from pieces on bodyguard-to-the-stars Michael Francis (2003) and the "rise and rise" of Pharrell Williams (2015).
Many thanks to special guest Kid Congo Powers; Some New Kind of Kick is available this week in all good bookshops. For more Kid, follow him on Twitter and Instagram @kidcongopowers.
So good in Gun Club. Also The Cramps, for a bit!
Finished his book this morning. It's a good read. And he was in 3 of my favorite bands
That time in Amsterdam in '83 (or thereabouts) when the cramps and the bad seeds were on the same bill... wow! When I get my flux capacitor working I'm going back to that gig as my first stop. Wanna ride shotgun?
@@therealbushmanpat Fuck yeah!
same to everything.
I finished reading it last week.......surprised at how well written it was and the humility
And yes, he played in three of my favourite bands
I’m in@@therealbushmanpat
Loved the Gun Club.
Oh cool, didn't know there was a gay member in the band there's occasionally references to gay sex in the songs, Stagger Lee, etc.
I've never been a Nick Cave fan. Superficially, he sounds to me, like someone reading a book to the loose meanderings of his band. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. Kerouac did that, and I accept it as a poet reading with jazz in the background. It kind of works. It's just that Cave doesn't chime with me. Guess he's a cult figure. He's definitely loved by his fans
Kid is the best!
Brian is a monster of rock
So he is saying there was big macho energy going on in The Bad Seeds. Can't say I find it hard to believe.
I don't think so, I think he's saying as the only openly gay man in that group of people he felt isolated. It doesn't mean the band had issues with or prejudices against him.
Yes he is very clear its HIS issues and has nothing to do with the band themselves. @@WinstonTexas829
You say that like it's a bad thing.
It isn't.
It's why rock n roll has died with the stunted growth of weak chins and T-levels.
@@fuckamericanidiot To be honest, I don't give a shit about rock&roll. Plus I'm sure at the time those who considered themselves tRuE rOcK & rOLLerS, like fans of AC/DC, Kiss and such, considered Nick Cave an arty hipster pussy.
He doesn't say that, listen to it again.
But wasn't Rowland S Howard somewhat Flexisexual? So I don't think it was the Bad Seeds first experience of this with in the band?
BS Congo, I was around in the 80s at a certain place in Sydney where you were crashed out on the floor with some 18 year old kid you picked up at a gig and you were chocker block up him in front of all of us staying in that house to. You were also swapping your drinks rider for Rollies (Rohyptinol tabs) which you were giving the young dudes. You never hid any side of your personality while in the Bad Seeds, that is total BS
Damn, so you're accusing him of seducing young men especially and getting them stoned. That's a pretty big claim to just throw out there online.
Which translates to wishing you were that guy. I get it.
But I hear you . Every Rockstar, no, every person wants to paint themselves in their best light, if given the chance.
@@kimtodd1202 I don't care what you called em, we called em rollies. Also if you did know that house you'd say it's name, it had a name and thats what is was known by. You never knew that house, tell me the suburb it was in at least?
So what I'm hearing is you all stood around and watched. Didn't try to assist the passed out kid in getting out of the situation? Weird flex, calling someone out and admitting you were present but didn't do anything to help. That makes you complicit.
Met him DJing in a small bar in Richmond Virginia. Super sweet guy 🙂.
Went to a friend's place for dinner in Islington many, many years ago. Kid Congo Powers was there. Eating his dinner. Didn't say a word all evening.
Never liked Nick Cave, love the Gun Club though
FUCK EM
He always speaks highly of you
@@shatchett0😂😂😂
Shame on you lol
Kid was also in The Cramps for a few hot minutes.
Solid dude...
CREEPY!
how?
Why? Because he's an intelligent guy and that's foreign to you?
What? Your comment? Yes, it is