Ask A Straight Guy: Super Furry Animals' Cian Ciaran
Does anyone remember an old Saturday Night Live skit where Chris Kattan and Nathan Lane played racist vaudeville comedians who ran out of existing ethnic stereotypes so they started making up their own? Their last act was something along the lines of "I eat babies. I drink pee. I must be French!" Super Furry Animals, who are headlining tomorrow night at 9:30 with Holy Fuck and The Fiery Furnaces, are Welsh. And though I don't know much about Wales, I think that SFA keyboardist Cian Ciaran's answers to our "Ask A Straight Guy" questions sounds like examples of some non-existent stereotype. They seem to have all of an Englishman's surliness without any of their gentility.
I've always thought of Wales as the Canada of England. Just as current Canadian acts like The New Pornographers and Feist make music that sounds new and fun without being exotic, SFA takes a familiar English pop sound and makes it bizarre enough to sound different.
TNG: When did you first realize you were straight?
CC: I didn't. I've always fancied gerls [sic], feck[sic], and drink.
TNG: What is your least favorite stereotype about straight people?
CC: I wasn't aware there were any.
TNG: What are the biggest challenges faced by a straight guy in today's culture?
CC: Same as they always have been.
TNG: What kind of bars do you like to go out to?
CC: Dance clubs, with loud music and tasty and reasonably priced drinks.
TNG: Do you find that a given stereotype about straight social culture doesn't apply to you? If so, how do you go about changing its reputation?
CC: If I was aware of one , which I'm not, I'd have to ask first what is there to change , and then if I thought it needed a change I'd go about it by non-violent demonstration.
TNG: What obligations, if any, do you think you have to the gay community?
CC: The same as I have to all my fellow human beings and animals on the planet.
TNG: Why should people come out to see you play at the 9:30 club on Sunday?
CC: Hopefully for a good time, life's too short to stay in on a Sunday. Have a debate or a drink. Love life.
4 comments:
scotland is the canada of england. wales is the french-canada of england. i say this as a canadian, not a scot or welshman.
I think that first answer is a nod to the Channel Four sitcom, Father Ted. That's what Father Jack always said.
Am I right?
how can someone be unaware of stereotypes about one's own subculture?
Zack, you have a great interview style. And you just reminded me of one of my favorite bits of Welsh slang: feck. It's stronger than "fudge" but softer than "fuck." It's the comfortable middle ground that American slang doesn't have. Fabulous, feckin' fabulous.
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