— by Rodrigo Perez
They're here, they're queer ... and ushering in a "gay folk church music" revolution.
Meet the Hidden Cameras, a Canadian art collective that mixes the sensibilities of a gay pride parade with evangelical merrymaking and erotic metaphors. But with risqué songs about taboo sex acts and gay marriages, don't expect this group to appear on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" anytime soon.
Three years ago in Toronto, mastermind Joel Gibb restrung a guitar so it would work with his left-handed playing, and he was off and running. Before he knew it, he was penning homemade pop songs on his four-track. Shortly thereafter, the singer's friends held an art party in a tiny little gallery space and with the help of a dozen or so of his best buddies, the Hidden Cameras were born.
Typically playing in churches and porn theaters, this musical commune earned its reputation from hyperactive and celebratory performances drenched in cathartic revelry, often making use of semi-naked go-go dancers to keep the audience on its toes. Drawing on his Baptist upbringing and the music of his youth ("goth, punk and pop music"), Gibb writes all the songs. Musically, the ever-expansive group is equal parts Phil Spector-like symphonies and twee-happy pop psalms set in church.
Neither exploiting their sexuality nor closeting it, the Cameras don't shy away from celebrating sex in all its sometimes messy forms on their debut album, The Smell of Our Own. "Golden Streams," with its warm pipe organs and mellifluous strings, might be superficially beatific, but it soon becomes apparent the subversive hymn is an ode to a certain sexual act not exactly embraced by the mainstream. But Gibb insists his subject matter isn't meant to provoke or titillate.
"I don't think [it's] weird, because everybody pees," he said earnestly.
It's safe to say the video won't be played on MTV anytime soon. "The video's just a blue sky and then all this pee and it's like an orchestra that goes along to the music," the singer said. "It progressively becomes like a huge grid of pee, and the idea is perhaps you could find redemption or find your way to heaven through that."
The Hidden Cameras' name also has various metaphorical interpretations. "There are all sorts of angles you can take on it, but specifically it's about how you can control people's mind's through their insecurities," said Gibb. "A symbol of that is a surveillance camera, which may or may not be watching you. That idea makes people's behavior change, so it's a product of the modern age we're in."
After a handful of gigs in their hometown of Toronto, the group set the media afire and gained the attention of notorious homegrown porn auteur Bruce La Bruce. Affectionately nicknaming the mostly gay group as "Peter, Paul and Mary and Mary and Mary," La Bruce has decided to include two of the bands' songs in his upcoming porn comedy, "Raspberry Reich."
Even from the very beginning, the group came with favorable accolades. Estimable Rough Trade Records chief Geoff Travis apparently signed the Hidden Cameras with a heartfelt zeal not seen since he signed legendary '80s group the Smiths.
To the outsider, the Hidden Cameras songs are about queer culture, but Gibb insists his subjects are just everyday life and there's little political agenda at hand. "I just like writing about the body and smells and stuff," he said casually. Moreover, Gibb's influences and icons don't fit the mold of gay stereotypes. "I always liked the real straight guys, like Gordon Lightfoot. I always liked their style," he said.
The thorny relationship between homosexuality and religion seems to be a tricky one to resolve, but Gibb contends that that's exactly the point. "That's the premise, seeing how two opposing things fit together, 'cause they do in a way. Songwriting is how I reconcile the difference between the two things."
With homosexual marriage and gay bishops coming out of the closet hot topics of the moment, songs like the Cameras' "Ban Marriage" are becoming more and more relevant. Gays might be fighting for the right, but Gibb looks at the institution with a bit of a smirk. "Marriage is an outdated idea anyways, but [the song's] about how annoying couples can be. Like the culture of coupledom, but under the premise of gay marriage."
Coming from socially liberated Canada, Gibb marvels at the hypocrisy of being stickered with "parental advisory" and "explicit contents" labels in the United States. "You can't use the word 'hard-on' in a song, apparently. You can say 'penis' but you can't talk about it in relation to copulation, it has to be flaccid or something in a song. [There's] weird technicalities. I'd love to see the list of rules in America about what you can and cannot say, 'cause it all depends on the context."
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