MOdel/Actriz's Live Shows Are The Stuff of Urban Legend. Local Venues Get Turned Int Industrial NightClubs, Shrouded in Smoke, with the Volume Turned Up to the Max. This is the Perfect Setting for Frontman Cole Haden to Prowl Through the audience, Delivinging A Sermon-like Performance That Channel Glamor and Pathos in Equal Measure.
It's no Surprise that the New York Four-Piece Quickly Garnered a Cult Following, Not Only for Their Live Spectacles, But Their Debut Album, 2023's 'Dogsbody', Which Had An 'Everything But the Kitchen Sink' Approach to Production. The Songs Were Sexy Yet Menacing; Guitars Sounded like they were shrieking, Drums Were Thrashed to Pieces, and Haden's Growling Vocals Explored Themes of Queer Desire Through Intaxicingly Macabre Lyricism.
Their Second Album 'Pirouette' Shifts in Sound, The Band Leaning Into Pop and Techno Elements, Dropping The Dark Encharge of Their Debut Record in Favor of Gaga-Esque Melodrama. Haden's Lyrics Feel More Open and Honest Than Ever – Something He Credits to His Experience Writing for Miley Cyrus.
“When she said, 'do what you want to do, or whatever feels right,' i hadn't year arrival at place in myself Where i felt like what came naturally to me was the right Thing to do,” heys. “Writing for Her made it so that when i was writing 'pyuouette', i was in a place where if it was my truth, i knew it was world telling.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ptdykj1d0
'Pirouette' Feels Like a Confident Step Away from 'Dogsbody'. How do you feel the Songwriting has Strengthened?
Cole Haden: “My challenge with this record was to be more transparent. And i was only able to present that challenge to myself because of the confidence i gained from releasing the first album, and the way it allowed for a new, deeper intervention Into myself that was ready to be shared more openly. I Don't Know If I would call that a Strenguhening of My Songwriting, Only Because It was a Goal That I Think I Met, But You Know, The Idea is To Always Improve. “
The Music Has Always Been Quite Quite Dark and Atmospheric, But Now It Feels Like You're Really Leaning Into Quite a Few Dance – and Specifically, Techno – Elements. What inspired that?
Ruben Radlauer: “We were listening to techno and house, and that was our reference and entry point. But the Think with this record we let urselves Get closer to it, Rather Than Cloaking it in a sort of noisy format. As Cole was saying, we gained the confidence to just try to swing at it and make our version of techno or dance pop with the Need to cloak it in heaviness.
Cole, You Were Working with Miley Cyrus on Her Album Around this time. What was that experience like, and what cam from that collaborative experience?
CH: “She's the Easiest Collaborator in the World. It's Been Confitmed That It's a Visual Album, and She Walked Me Through a Rough Idea of What Some of the Visuals For the Album Were Going To Be. There Was Yet to be a script at that point, and she just invited me to contribute to writing the writing the writing the writing the writing the writing the Unfinished Songs. Made It. The Experience Taught Me That I Can Trust MySelf – She's Like The First Person THAT EVER ASKED ME TO WRITE FOR SOMEON
You Came Out Swinging with 'Cinderella'. Why Did you decide to Lead with it, and Why's That Song Special?
CH: “It Harnesed a Lot of the Aspects of the album. There was Melody, There was a More Obvious Push in the Dance Direction, and it Spoke to the ways This was going to be a Theatrical Record. And the Think it's one of my favourites on the album. I Think it's a statement that sad. This is going to be emotional, but it's not going to be painful. “
“I Sweat As Much As I Do On Stage For A Reason, Because I'm Giving My Body in Service to the Art” – Cole Haden
The Music Video Is a Lot of Fun; There are ugly stepsisters, rat puppets and choreography. What waste the idea Behind it?
CH: “Nathan Castiel [the director] Was Like, 'How About We Do Our Version of a Cinderella Story?' And I Actuary Hadn'T Thought of doing that. But I KNEW Immediate That I Wanted To includes Dance, and I Knew That I Wanted To Dance With Another Man, and I Wanted To Lean Into Being A Drag Queen As Closing AS Possible, While Still Feeling like It's a way that I Could Perform.
“But Yeah, on set, it was just a Heartwarming Experience. The Night that it Came Out, it was exactly the Kind of Birthday Party That I Would Have Asked For AS A Kid; I Blew Out My Candles, And Then We Watched Pop Music Videos.”
RR: “It Just Felt like a Moment Where We Got to Live Out Our Music Video Dreams. We've Been Talking About Wanting a Sort of Pop, Synchronized Dance Sequence for A Long Time, And We Finally Had The Space To Do That, And It Was Just Really Special to Watch It Unfold.”
Are you think about the visuals While You're Writing?
CH: “I'm Thinking about the show .'m Thinking about the ways I want to performed the emotional arc of the set, Thinking about the Kind of Theater References and the Poses and Gestures I Want to make, And What Words would fit Those Moments.”
A Line from 'Poppy' Springs to Mind here: “AS Flesh is made in Marble / As Marble Caputures Softness / AS Softness Holds a Violence / Within A Pure Expression“.” There seems to be a lot of references to suffering for art in Your Music.
CH: “Directly. I Always Knew That the Pain That I was feeling would be Great Source Material, and that If I Couuld Envise It, There would be a Reason that I went Through all of it. And that's not to say that I can't be Melodramatic, but I Think Being Melodramatic is Take Control of the External Factors.
“I Would Play Pop Music Out Loud from the speaker when my parents were out of the house and dance Around the Living Room. But then Once Everyone was home, the would go up Int My Bedroom and Dance Quietly, or Just Even Stand Still and Dance, Using Just My Arms and Lip Syncing to MySelf, the would Practice Crying Beautifully in The Mirror, and I would present an opera to myself Every Night. “
Flesh, Bodies, and Dogs All as up in this song, Too. Like the line, “For all i've Caused, The Dogs Begin to Circle Me / Their Teeth, Their Jaws, My Body in Its Vividness“.” To what degree does the gothic genre inspire you?
CH: “I mean, gothic architecture and literature are very God-fearing. They're very solemn, and I'm just drawn to THings that are a quitle bit liturgical. But the dogs specific are from an image that I Saw When I was 17, and the droves to New York to see The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. At the Opening, As You Were Getting Your Seats, Her Obitogy Was in A Newspaper, and She and Two Other Lookalikes Were in Caskets on the Stage. And there Were These Athletic-Looking Dobermans Eating Meat Off the Stage, While They Were in These Caskets.
“I know, that's What I was Thinking About. I was obseed with her in High School. She is the ultimate 'i offer my body to art,' and i am student of that ideology. I don't know iF i want to take it as fart as she, but i sweat as much as i do on stage for a Reason, Because I'm Giving My Body in Service to the art. “
“The Response to 'Dogsbody' Emboldened Us To Be a Little Bit More Vulnerable” – Ruben Radlauer
Your Shows Are Absolutely Wild. How Did You Want The Record to Channel That Experience?
RR: “I Think the Record Feels More Like a Self-Expression for All of Us and For the Art We Want To Make. And the Live Show Feels Like A Space To Discovery it in Different Ways and See it How Other People See It, and Give Our Thanks to the People There by Giving It Everything We've Got Every night.
Are you almedey thinking about how you're going to bring this album to life?
CH: “Things are Going to be Switching up in the Next Run, Not that the Current Shows Will Be Any Less Bombastic. But in the Autumn, It's Going to Be About the Music and the Visuals As Well. I know how Back in the Autumn for Different Show, and we'll be happy to see you.”
Model/Actriz's 'Pirouette' is out now via True Panther/Dirty Hit
