kd lang – Q&A
By Paula Yeoman

Canadian crooner kd lang gets contemplative following the recent release of her double-disc album Recollection, which celebrates 25 years in the music business.

The last time we saw you in New Zealand, you were touring your album Watershed in 2008. Were you happy with the response you got to the album and tour?

It was great, especially down there. I just had a really wonderful year. I was feeling really happy and loved getting on stage every night. The band really made it fresh and fun every single night and I owe a lot to them for rejuvenating me.

So you’re back now with Recollection, which looks back on your last 25 years of your career. It’s a big job, where did you start?

It was an ominous task at the beginning but when we came up with the idea for the structuring of Recollection, which was focusing on my actual proper Warner Brothers releases, then it became easier. We just went album to album and picked what we thought was the best representation of that record and then the second CD we got into the more extraneous parts of my career.

Did any of your personal favourites make the final cut?

Some of my favourites made it. My taste reflects more what I enjoy singing live and sometimes it’s the more obscure stuff. But The Valley and Wash Me Clean – those songs are very near and dear to my heart and they managed to make it on there.

If you could pin point the most significant period of change within the industry in the time you’ve been making music, what would it be?

I think it’s the whole Garage Band or Pro Tools thing on your computer. It’s handing people a tool to let them make their own professional grade music in any atmosphere.  It’s similar to the impact on painting when cameras became available to every individual. And the fact that I’m sitting in front of my computer now and that I can turn it on and listen to a radio station in Iceland– you know the world of music has just exploded open.

There’s a lot of talk about the demise of the long play album. Will you keep making records?

Yeah I like making records. I started 25 years ago, so I was actually pressing wax when I started. But I’m also into the idea of just putting out a single and uploading it on my website. I think it’s exciting. I don’t know the answer of where it [music] is going but I know that when you step up on stage and you are performing in front of an audience, you either have it or you don’t.

And live performance has always been very important to you…

Yeah, you could have the best record in the world but when you get on stage you have no connection with the audience. There are all of these tools and all of these evolutions and changes in the music business, but there’s one thing that will never change and that’s how you communicate with people – the real cream of the crop will still sift to the top.

You must have seen significant changes in the way GLBT artists are treated in the industry too. After coming runner up in American Idol last year Adam Lambert suggested he might have won, had he not been gay. Perhaps we haven’t come as far as we’d like to think we have?

I think it’s a kind of a glass ceiling thing – being gay certainly gives you a publicity pitch. You can get some attention with it but I think it’s probably true. I think Adam may have won if he wasn’t out. But I also don’t think he would have gotten as much press if he wasn’t gay. It’s a catch 22.

Of course, Adam then sparked controversy with his appearance at the American Music Awards. There wasn’t the same uproar when Britney and Madonna kissed at the 2005 MTV Awards…

It’s way harder for openly gay people to show affection. Britney and Madonna are very titillating for the male – it’s still very paternal out there. The authority is the male figure.

But you know what I have to say about all of this. To me the whole overtly sexual thing is really boring and really misguided. When I see public displays of affection like that, whether it’s Madonna or Adam Lambert – and certainly in the 80s I was definitely guilty of it – I find it really boring. I think when it’s contrived, no matter what sex or what gender or what orientation, it’s boring.

And finally, what projects are you working on now?

I have just started writing my next record, which I’m really excited about. I have a couple of new collaborators that I’m working with and I’m really excited about that. I’m not touring Recollection but I am getting back into the studio.

kd lang’s double-disc “Greatest Hits” album Recollection is out now. 

Thanks to Warner Music we have 5 copies  of the Recollection CD to give away to LadyFix readers. 

To enter simply email  editor@ladyfix.co.nz with the name of 5 lesbians (international or local)  that you would like to read about.  Make sure to include a postal address. The editor (Sarah) will decide on the winning entries

Paula Yeoman -  LadyFix Contributor