Catching up with Courtney Love: the Rock Monarch on her Upcoming Tour and the Problem with Faux Punks
See Courtney Love’s lasting effects on the 2013 runways »
It’s beginning to look like Courtney Love could have a breakthrough year ahead of her. As her North American tour can attest—she performs in Toronto on July 20 and in Vancouver July 22—the 49-year-old artist is firing up an inferno of a comeback trail.
Having just opened a major art exhibition with David LaChapelle at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, the former Hole frontwoman seems to be more industrious than she’s been in years. She’s in the throes of completing her autobiography (slated to hit shelves in December), she recently finished a fashion campaign with none other than Saint Laurent and is putting the finishing touches on tracks for an upcoming solo disc (rumoured to be titled Died Blonde).
On July 9—the day of her birthday—Love had a quick chat with FASHION’s features editor, Elio Iannacci, to talk about her upcoming Canadian concert dates, her thoughts on Hollywood punks and the importance of saying no to reality TV.
Happy birthday, Courtney. I had the chance to read your published diaries [Dirty Blonde], and noticed they were filled with all these checklists from your 20s and teens. Most of them centred on fame and wanting to be a rock star and getting into movies. Do you feel like you’ve fulfilled a few of your own prophecies?
“As far as getting the things I want, yeah. In fact, I’m looking at two scripts from my bed right now that came out of nowhere. I haven’t gotten a substantial film offer in 10 years, so to get two in one week is kind of a big deal. Everyone always talks about getting to their authentic self. There are very few spaces that I feel natural in, but I’ve [found] them.”
Where are those spaces?
“I feel really natural when I’m writing music, when I’m acting and, if it’s the right circumstances, when I’m playing music. It can be to 100,000 people, it can be to 10,000 or to 1,000 people, it doesn’t really make that big a difference to me.”
You’ve said that this solo tour is a teaser for a bigger tour you are planning. When will that be?
“After December sometime… when I plan to release some new music. This tour just kind of came along— it was a nice way of getting out of the house. I wanted very small venues because our band’s warming up, and then we’ll come back to a bigger venue in Vancouver and in Toronto and probably Montreal. Hell, I’ve played Saskatchewan on a tour one time. What a drive! A lot of mosquitos hitting windows—the whole windshield was covered!”
Your recent concert reviews have been pretty solid. Do you see them as an affirmation of sorts?
“It feels like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do when I perform. It definitely feels like I’m in my element. I stick my hands out—especially with smaller crowds—and I can feel that energy. It feeds me and I feed off the audience. I give as much as I’ve got in me. I like playing Canada because you guys are really hungry for something super authentic and I think I offer that. I used to refuse to play songs that didn’t move me in a certain way. By revisiting them, I think they have freshness to them, so I’m not bored. What’s not an affirmation is to stand on stage and just do something you hate doing. For me that’s hell—its like being on an oldies circuit.”
For your Canadian dates, what are you thinking of in terms of song selection?
“I’ll be playing ‘Nobody’s Daughter,’ the song; ‘Pacific Coast Highway’; I play hits too but I don’t always play ‘Doll Parts’ because I don’t always like it. Sometimes I play ‘Dying Together,’ it’s not as good without Melissa’s vocals on it, but the acoustic [version] is moving. I’ll get to a lot of stuff off Celebrity Skin but not everything, and a few weird ones off of Live Through This. Since I can’t play anything new, I’m looking at songs that I haven’t played for a long time, like ‘Jennifer’s Body.’”
What would you say has been the most emotionally taxing track to sing?
“A song called ‘Honey’ [off Nobody’s Daughter]. It upsets me, but I still like to sing it. When we wrote it, everyone in the studio cried. It’s a self-explanatory, deep song so it’s tapped into so much truth. It wasn’t a popular song because Nobody’s Daughter wasn’t that successful, but it still gets me—and ‘Northern Star’ does that for me too.”
What did you do end up doing for your birthday?
“I just came back from the Punk to Couture exhibit at the [Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City]—it was sort of a birthday thing. I was kind of infuriated because nothing was vintage. It was all like Ricardo [Tisci] curated this just for the MET, Gareth [Pugh] made pieces just for the MET and Rodarte did stuff just for the MET. There were a few old pieces of Westwood in the front and some beautiful McQueen dresses made out of garbage bags.”
Why didn’t you go to the MET Gala for the punk exhibit?
“I was invited but I didn’t want to go—I just didn’t want to put the effort into it. Did you see half those girls? I mean, come on. It was January Jones and more faux-hawks than I’ve ever seen…I think I would have strangled people. At least Anna Wintour wore Marni with roses on it—she just didn’t participate. To see actresses that pride themselves on dressing pretty with Pat McGrath black square eyeshadow and faux-hawks was too much for me.”
You have said no to a lot of projects and events that don’t suit you…
“I’ve said no to every frickin’ reality show there is—I don’t know why people keep asking. They just don’t seem to get the hint. Some things are not even supposed to be passed onto me but last week someone slipped me [a request] for Dancing With The Stars and Celebrity Apprentice. I was like, are you joking? Oh, and the really funny part was Celebrity Apprentice had LaToya Jackson on it, I was like, yeah, that’s a really good idea, I’m going to do that. Go f*ck yourself.”
What’s the benefit to having a tour with an open set list?
“You don’t have to be a slave to lights. If you have really high-end production you can’t change up your songs, which is boring. If you look at Gaga or Madonna, they can’t change their set lists, Nine Inch Nails can’t change their set lists—it’s really about production value versus being able to be [spontaneous] with your show and turn things around in the middle of it. Sometimes you are not in the mood for certain songs, sometimes the audience isn’t in the mood—you can tell. It’s instinctual.”
For tickets and/or more information about Courtney Love’s Canadian concert dates visit ticketmaster.ca.
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See Courtney Love's lasting effects on the 2013 runways »
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It's beginning to look like Courtney Love could have a breakthrough year ahead of her. As her North American tour can attest—she performs in Toronto on July 20 and in Vancouver July 22—the 49-year-old artist is firing up an inferno of a comeback trail.
Having just opened a major art exhibition with David LaChapelle at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, the former Hole frontwoman seems to be more industrious than she’s been in years. She’s in the throes of completing her autobiography (slated to hit shelves in December), she recently finished a fashion campaign with none other than Saint Laurent and is putting the finishing touches on tracks for an upcoming solo disc (rumoured to be titled Died Blonde).
On July 9—the day of her birthday—Love had a quick chat with FASHION’s features editor, Elio Iannacci, to talk about her upcoming Canadian concert dates, her thoughts on Hollywood punks and the importance of saying no to reality TV.
Happy birthday, Courtney. I had the chance to read your published diaries [Dirty Blonde], and noticed they were filled with all these checklists from your 20s and teens. Most of them centred on fame and wanting to be a rock star and getting into movies. Do you feel like you’ve fulfilled a few of your own prophecies?
"As far as getting the things I want, yeah. In fact, I’m looking at two scripts from my bed right now that came out of nowhere. I haven’t gotten a substantial film offer in 10 years, so to get two in one week is kind of a big deal. Everyone always talks about getting to their authentic self. There are very few spaces that I feel natural in, but I’ve [found] them."
Where are those spaces?
"I feel really natural when I’m writing music, when I’m acting and, if it’s the right circumstances, when I’m playing music. It can be to 100,000 people, it can be to 10,000 or to 1,000 people, it doesn’t really make that big a difference to me."
You’ve said that this solo tour is a teaser for a bigger tour you are planning. When will that be?
"After December sometime… when I plan to release some new music. This tour just kind of came along— it was a nice way of getting out of the house. I wanted very small venues because our band’s warming up, and then we’ll come back to a bigger venue in Vancouver and in Toronto and probably Montreal. Hell, I’ve played Saskatchewan on a tour one time. What a drive! A lot of mosquitos hitting windows—the whole windshield was covered!"
Your recent concert reviews have been pretty solid. Do you see them as an affirmation of sorts?
"It feels like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do when I perform. It definitely feels like I’m in my element. I stick my hands out—especially with smaller crowds—and I can feel that energy. It feeds me and I feed off the audience. I give as much as I’ve got in me. I like playing Canada because you guys are really hungry for something super authentic and I think I offer that. I used to refuse to play songs that didn’t move me in a certain way. By revisiting them, I think they have freshness to them, so I’m not bored. What’s not an affirmation is to stand on stage and just do something you hate doing. For me that’s hell—its like being on an oldies circuit."
For your Canadian dates, what are you thinking of in terms of song selection?
"I’ll be playing 'Nobody’s Daughter,' the song; 'Pacific Coast Highway'; I play hits too but I don’t always play 'Doll Parts' because I don’t always like it. Sometimes I play 'Dying Together,' it’s not as good without Melissa’s vocals on it, but the acoustic [version] is moving. I’ll get to a lot of stuff off Celebrity Skin but not everything, and a few weird ones off of Live Through This. Since I can’t play anything new, I’m looking at songs that I haven’t played for a long time, like 'Jennifer’s Body.'”
What would you say has been the most emotionally taxing track to sing?
"A song called 'Honey' [off Nobody’s Daughter]. It upsets me, but I still like to sing it. When we wrote it, everyone in the studio cried. It’s a self-explanatory, deep song so it’s tapped into so much truth. It wasn’t a popular song because Nobody’s Daughter wasn’t that successful, but it still gets me—and 'Northern Star' does that for me too."
What did you do end up doing for your birthday?
"I just came back from the Punk to Couture exhibit at the [Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City]—it was sort of a birthday thing. I was kind of infuriated because nothing was vintage. It was all like Ricardo [Tisci] curated this just for the MET, Gareth [Pugh] made pieces just for the MET and Rodarte did stuff just for the MET. There were a few old pieces of Westwood in the front and some beautiful McQueen dresses made out of garbage bags."
Why didn’t you go to the MET Gala for the punk exhibit?
"I was invited but I didn’t want to go—I just didn’t want to put the effort into it. Did you see half those girls? I mean, come on. It was January Jones and more faux-hawks than I’ve ever seen…I think I would have strangled people. At least Anna Wintour wore Marni with roses on it—she just didn’t participate. To see actresses that pride themselves on dressing pretty with Pat McGrath black square eyeshadow and faux-hawks was too much for me."
You have said no to a lot of projects and events that don’t suit you…
"I’ve said no to every frickin’ reality show there is—I don’t know why people keep asking. They just don’t seem to get the hint. Some things are not even supposed to be passed onto me but last week someone slipped me [a request] for Dancing With The Stars and Celebrity Apprentice. I was like, are you joking? Oh, and the really funny part was Celebrity Apprentice had LaToya Jackson on it, I was like, yeah, that’s a really good idea, I’m going to do that. Go f*ck yourself."
What’s the benefit to having a tour with an open set list?
"You don’t have to be a slave to lights. If you have really high-end production you can’t change up your songs, which is boring. If you look at Gaga or Madonna, they can’t change their set lists, Nine Inch Nails can’t change their set lists—it’s really about production value versus being able to be [spontaneous] with your show and turn things around in the middle of it. Sometimes you are not in the mood for certain songs, sometimes the audience isn’t in the mood—you can tell. It’s instinctual."
For tickets and/or more information about Courtney Love’s Canadian concert dates visit ticketmaster.ca.){kind=link}