Alex Cluge, Q & A:
(Transcript of interview in The Daily Dalliance, an English music & arts publication)
Q: So Alex, there seems to be a disconnect between your songs, which are passionate and heartfelt and your rather snarky attitude when talking about yourself, your music and especially some of the “lost years”.
Alex: Well, I’ll admit I can have an attitude when it comes to music. But, when it comes to “lost years”, I’ve been out of the public eye for a time now, so I don't feel I need to comment on it.
Q: That’s all well and good, but it makes some people wonder if there is something that you are hiding or that you are ashamed of.
But before we get to that, why do you always refer to yourself in the third-person?
Alex: Well…(sounding annoyed) Alex sees it as a matter of respect, and is feeling quite insulted right now by your question. To be honest…Alex isn't liking how this interview's been going so far.
Q: Sorry I asked...But if you could fill in some of that time. We understand that you’ve spent a great deal of it in Budapest, Hungary. Almost like a "second" home?
Alex: Yes, I’ve heard… accusations of bigamy…the press twisting my words.
Q: But weren’t you quoted as saying, “If it’s wrong to love two families, if they're in different time zones, I don’t want to be right”?
Alex: I wouldn’t call that bigamy, I’d call that open-ness and loving-ness.
Q: You have a fascination with famous artists who dropped out of sight for long periods and then produced some of their finest work, Leonard Cohen in Hydra, Gaugin in Tahiti and more recently Daniel Day-Lewis, who’s left acting numerous times to pursue shoe-making.
Alex: Yes, Alex was so inspired by the Day-Lewis story that he actually moved to England…to apprentice as a bespoke tailor.
Alex always believed that every man looks good in a nice suit. And by every man, he meant not only biological, but trans, as well.
Unfortunately, things went off the rails when Alex was dismissed for lingering too long measuring male clients, when figuring out “which side the men dressed on”.
Q: Switching topics, you are a Jersey boy, having spent your formative years in New Jersey.
Alex: Yeah, I’ve heard people talk about my Jersey accent. They say, “Hey Alex, I can’t make out what you’re saying in your songs.”
That’s when the Jersey-boy in me yells out, “Then go Google it, douche bag!”.
Q: As usual, on your current recording, you play all the instruments and rarely use other musicians. Why is that?
Alex: I don’t care for musicians, to be honest. Singers and producers, as well. I think Prince felt the same way.
Q: Some people might take that as being an egotist, don’t you think?
Alex: Far from it. Alex is quite modest. He even said “My records could never compare with the classics like Stairway to Heaven…but to be fair, it took four guys to make that one.”
Q: So where do you see your career going in the next five years?
Alex: Well, I’lI be recording three albums, or thirty singles…depending on how they market it ...and then I will stop cold, like JD Salinger.
Q: Well, why would you do that?
Alex: Because people listen to the same 4 or 5 songs of their favorite artist anyway, so why waste my time?
Maybe, I’ll try being a bespoke tailor again…I guess you know the story.