What is your ideal office?
A quiet room on a quiet beach, or in the woods. A good bit of cabin fever is very good for my creative process. I actually cannot live in any big city anymore. I’ve put myself through the ringer too many times—I need nature a lot.
When was the first time you remember making music?
I had a noise project called No Fear that in its first incarnation used blenders, air conditioning units, computer beats and a bass guitar.
If you had to distill the most pervasive message of your songs, what would it be?
Live authentically.
Your work experiments with characters—what are the different personas that you embody and how do they interact?
I think about things always in an interdisciplinary way. I don’t create personas so much as entire atmospheres and then I think about everything that must go on and who lives and breathes in these spaces I create.
What is the healthiest choice you’ve made recently?
To never live in a big city ever again and to never use hookup apps again.
What has been your most memorable performance thus far?
God...hmm...I perform a LOT. L’Oréal Fashion Week last year was bonkers, but also this one time in Mexico City where thousands of people were on acid was pretty insane... Playing at a rave with James Blunt in Helsinki, Finland on the coldest day of the year. I’ve got stories for days, I’ve had a career for a very long five years.
What does the word “stigma” mean to you?
Hypocritical assholes who make mistakes but can’t let other people make them.
How did the revelation of your HIV-positive status change you as a person, versus as an artist?
I became public about my HIV positive status because not being public about it was negatively affecting my romantic relationships, and creating situations where I was not in healthy relationships—continuing to reinforce sexual trauma. That choice was entirely about me—the “me” my best friends, mother, and boyfriend know. There was no artistic consideration in that choice.
What is your favorite insult?
Calling something mediocre. But I really don’t like insulting things, I don’t like being mean it makes you feel weird. I’m really sensitive, so I generally don’t like being upset because I can have a really intense temper and way with words when I do.
Where would you like to die?
Definitely NOT Los Angeles.
Who turns you on?
Men.
