“And there’s a specific myth about Hercules, about him being the strongest man on earth but being at his most vulnerable when he’s with his lover. I guess it was that contrast between feeling your emotions to the full as well as being physically strong and masculine. The idea of the masculine and the feminine coming together.”
The point at which masculinity and femininity intersect is a theme of the project and a defining theme in Butler’s life. He says, “I would say that in general, I tend to surround myself with a largely female presence. A lot of my friends are girls, so I think it’s something that happens to be a matter of fact within my peer group. “
“Also, it speaks to the experience of being a gay man, growing up and having this very stereotyped idea of what a gay man is put upon me. And then finding out as an adult that Hercules at one point was the strongest man on Earth, and at different times he was attributed to having male lovers. So it’s this idea of the relative values, that what we perceive or believe today isn’t always the truth. It was kind of a vindication for me as a gay man.”
The theme continues to the extent of the collaborators Butler has on board. Acid house DJ Kim Ann Foxmann and sultry vocal seductress Nomi (who has previously collaborated with Debbie Harry and Wu-Tang Clan man RZA) are joined by the trump card, Antony Hegarty. It was his friendship with the singer and his inspired request years ago for Antony to sing on a new song Andrew had written, ‘Blind’, that was the catalyst for the entire Hercules and Love Affair project. It’s an extraordinary song that encapsulates everything great about the project. It’s unashamedly camp and features all the horns, percussion and ass-shaking bass you could ever want from a disco anthem.
“We didn’t do anything with it for a year,” Andrew admits. “He went off and had all his success on (2005 Mercury prize-winning) ‘I Am A Bird Now’ and then came back and asked me to put the song on one night. So I put it on and he was like, ‘You should really do something with this.’ So it just picked up, having him on other songs and writing songs with other people. The process begat itself.”
The band has spent the last couple of months working on a live show, which will feature Kim Ann and Nomi touring with Andrew, a rhythm section and live horns. Antony may also make an appearance on the road in between promoting his imminent third album. The reason he is in Belfast though, is to go back to where it started in Denver in the early Nineties: DJing.
“For the most part it’s gonna be house, techno and disco,” he says when asked what to expect. “Kinda classic, in general – a classic sound. But I can get a little eclectic too!
I’ll play an industrial song or two every now and then, I’ll play a classic rock song… I’m not opposed to stepping out of the boundaries, but in general it’s pretty rooted in a classic club sound.”
Words_Chris Jones
Hercules and Love Affair (DJ set) is at FAD @ Stiff Kitten, Belfast (Friday, March 14). For details, see the FAD website (click)
www.herculesandloveaffair.com
Posted on: 27th January 2010
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