Rufus is Going To A Town he knows well..
Canadian singer-songwriter on his love for Dublin and Irish talent ahead of his gig at National Concert Hall
Rufus Wainwright had Ireland on his mind this week for a multitude of reasons. He woke up last Monday morning in a London hotel and found himself thinking about Oscar Wilde’s famous last quote: “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do.”
It gave him a good chuckle. “I’m staying in this hotel near Hyde Park and it’s kind of old-fashioned and then there’s this god-awful wallpaper,” Rufus told me shortly after he’d risen that very same morning.
“And I did wake up this morning thinking, either this wallpaper goes or I do.”
Rufus has always been a major fan of the Irish writer.
He once famously name-checked Wilde when talking about marrying his partner, “I wasn’t a huge gay marriage supporter before I met Jörn because I love the whole old-school promiscuous Oscar Wilde freak show of what ‘being gay’ once was. But since meeting Jörn that all changed.”
I suppose Wilde was essentially the first ever rock’n’roll star.
“He was almost like the David Bowie of his time. Even though he didn’t sing. But, yeah, he was the full package, as they say,” he enthused.
“I’ve always loved Oscar Wilde. You know, I still cry every time I read him, especially the kid’s stories stuff [in The Happy Prince and Other Tales].”
Last Sunday night, Rufus had also been thinking about Ireland when he sat down to watch a documentary on Glastonbury.
He had stuck it on to help get him in the mood for his own performance at the iconic festival today.
“They had some old footage of Sinead O’connor, right when she came out of the gate, and it was just so amazing,” he said. “She was so amazing. Like, her whole thing: how she looked, how she sounded, her attitude, what she represented.
“So I was definitely having a Sinead O’connor moment last night.
“You know, and then I’m old-fashioned [with regards the] people I love, like I’m a big fan of the tenor John Mccormack.
“And, I love Mary Black, back in the day when she was doing folk music stuff. I’m a big fan of the Divine Comedy. Those guys are great.”
Rufus certainly knows his onions when it comes to Irish music.
But perhaps that’s to be expected, seeing as he first started coming over to our shores as a young kid when his famous musician parents toured here.
His parents are, of course, the American musician Loudon Wainwright III and the Canadian folk icon Kate Mcgarrigle, who passed away in 2010.
Rufus also has a younger sister named Martha, who is a fantastic singer-songwriter in her own “Wainwright”. “The first time I went [to Ireland] I was around 11. I remember Dublin being pretty rough and pretty broken down. And then, yes, I remember the boom and the crash. So, it’s been a real up and down story there,” he stated.
“Dublin’s always been a kind of second home for us, the Mcgarrigle-wainwright’s. Whether it’s my mom or my dad, they’ve always done shows there and we went as young children to hang out and make these lifelong friends that we see.
“As an American or Canadian, you definitely get a feeling when you’re in Dublin that you have more in common with people in Ireland than, let’s say, people in England do with people in Ireland. You know, there’s such an affinity.”
One of his close Irish pals is the legendary guitarist Gerry Leonard, who co-wrote some of the tracks on David Bowie’s iconic Next Day album.
The Dubliner also worked as Musical Director for Bowie on his Reality tour in 2003-4 and then in 2009 with Rufus himself on his Milwaukee At Last!!!
“He’s just such a unique musician. You know, his sound is so particular, so personal, and very... so cool.
“I think he adds a kind of sense of ‘musical Gothic’ rock’n’roll. He’s a sorcerer,” he said. Rufus will have Dublin on his mind again soon, when he performs there at the National Concert Hall on July 6.
But the gig itself won’t be part of the most recent tour to promote his Grammy-nominated album, released during the start of the pandemic in July 2020.
He also released the live album Rufus Wainwright and Amsterdam Sinfonietta Live last November.
“It has been a long stretch for Unfollow The Rules tour. I am ending this tour really this week in Glastonbury and then by the time I get to Ireland, I will be mostly doing a whole bunch of stuff,” he explained.
“I’d do some of the new records, some of the old records, and some of the Judy Garland record. I won’t be doing a ton of the Judy stuff, but I’ll definitely do a little bit of it. You might hear an Irish folk song, who knows.” Wainwright’s Wikipedia page has him pegged as an American-canadian singer. He was born in New York, but moved at age three to Montreal to live with his mother after his parents split up. Does he feel more American or Canadian?
“Interesting. I mean, it waivers, certainly, depending on what administration is in office, whether it’s in Canada, or the US, because Canada has had their fair share of dolts as well,” he pointed out.
“But, yeah, I would say that I maybe, ‘unfortunately’, feel more American because I live there. And also, my dad is like this quintessential kind of stereotype of an American man. And that’s very potent, shall we say, and contending with that.
“But the one thing I will say is, I feel very strongly that I’m a Quebecer,
The first time I went to Dublin I was around 11. It was pretty rough and broken down...then I remember the boom & crash. It’s been a real up and down story there.
probably even more than a Canadian, per se, you know, or Montreal, shall we say. I’m very tied to that city. But, I’ve citizenship in both countries.”
Rufus was only three when his parents separated. But nevertheless, it must’ve been really hard on him?
“I don’t remember too much. My main memory was wondering why the dining room table was going into a U-haul trailer,” he recalled.
“I didn’t understand that. It’s funny, because that very dining room table now is in my garage and we use it to, like, fold laundry on – and it’s kind of fallen apart and cracked.
“So I took it out on that table later on! But that was my main memory. It was very dramatic, and I still suffer the consequences today.”
Growing up, Rufus knew from an early age that he was gay. But his parents found it difficult to accept it.
They didn’t have the tools, shall we say, to navigate that whole situation,” he explained. “And, at the same time, AIDS was just devastating the gay male population. So, the whole thing was a mess.
“I would have been more shocked about their reaction, or would have said that that was more shocking considering the world we live in today, if this was 10 years ago [when] we were doing the interview.
“It’s a real gift when the kid is coming out and it’s a positive experience, because it can be really horrible still in places.
“We’ve really gone back in time, especially in the United States, in terms of gay rights and women’s rights, and it is pretty ferocious how deep-seated some of these prejudices are, and they’re still, you know, with us to today.” In many ways, it’s a miracle that Rufus is still alive as he genuinely feared for his life when he was raped and physically assaulted in London at age 14.
Later in life, he was also fortunate to survive unscathed from a hardcore drug addiction and alcoholism.
It had spiralled so far out of control that Rufus even went temporarily blind after he consumed too much crystal meth.
But he was able to get his act together and has been clean and sober for 20-plus years now.
“I don’t think anybody ever gets over that kind of stuff. But, it’s really a question of what you do with it, you know? You have to be able to capitalise on it in some way,” he reflected
“And I’m fortunate in terms of being an artist, that I write songs, or compose operas and stuff, or go out and perform and really express myself – and express a lot of these fears, and so forth. And I don’t think a lot of other people have that ability. You never get over it, therefore, you have to use it for something. It’s important.”
Despite suffering from panic attacks and occasional sleepless nights during the pandemic, he is in a more positive place these days.
It’s all thanks to his strong marriage and then becoming a father himself in
2011. He has a daughter named
Viva with
Leonard Cohen’s own child,
Lorca, who was conceived via sperm donation and lives with her mother.
Lorca was named after the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who was a major influence on Cohen. Incidentally, there’s another Irish connection here. The definitive biography on the murdered Spaniard was actually written by an Irishman named Ian Gibson, who also wrote a book on Salvador Dali.
Gibson once told me he turned down the opportunity to take Cohen on a grand tour of Lorca’s home village because he wasn’t going to get paid for his valuable time. Needless to say, his son later told him he was crazy not to do it.
“We had great times together, Leonard and I,” Rufus reflected on the Canadian icon, who died at the grand old age of 82 in 2016.
“I wouldn’t define him as a friend necessarily. I mean, we would hang out occasionally, but it was really under the kind of family mantle, you know, because of obviously having a child [with his daughter].
“But also, he always knew the Wainwrights somehow would be intertwined with the Cohens. So I cherished the time we did have. I would have enjoyed more of course.”
In regards to his own marriage to German artistic director Jörn Weisbrodth, Rufus told me, “It has been really wonderful. We’ve been married almost 10 years and together for almost 17. And it seems like it was yesterday. So that’s a good sign when it’s going quickly.”
Wainwright’s hubby has an official role in Viva’s life as her stepfather. Did Rufus always want to be a dad?
“Fatherhood was never on the cards for me. I didn’t think it was. Sorry, I guess it was in the cards,” he said, laughing.
“I didn’t see it. But it really centered my life in such a profound way. So it’s been wonderful.”
Going forward we might see a lot less of Rufus on tour. So it might be a good idea to catch him while you can.
“I love making music. I think I always will. I think it will always be a deep part of my life,” he concluded.
“But that being said, touring and doing concerts and always trying to please people in a concert setting, it does take a lot. It takes more and more energy as you get older.
“For instance, during Covid I started drawing again. I went to art school for a while. So, that’s actually become a bigger part of my life now.
“I’ve written a musical too, which I can’t say anything about because we’re in the process of trying to lock up a cast and theatre, and so forth. But I will be entering into the musical theatre realm soon. Wish me luck. “So, whether it’s also writing these musicals and stuff, I’m looking to get a little out of the spotlight as I get older, as my face gets older!” Break a leg, Rufus…
■■Tickets for Rufus Wainwright’s concert at the National Concert
Hall on July 6 cost between €25 and €55 and are available from www.nch.ie.