EZRA MILLER
THE ACTOR INTRODUCES HIS “GENREQUEER” BAND SONS OF AN ILLUSTRIOUS FATHER
The American actor introduces his “genrequeer” band Sons of an Illustrious Father, as they speak frankly about the vital importance of queer visibility, coping with the “ridiculous hellstorm of these times”, and exploring ideas of sexual and gender fluidity.
“The first thing that came to my mind was a force field, so take that as you will.” We’ve just asked Ezra Miller what Pride means to him. It’s a typically outof-the-box but felicitous answer from the American actor, who has become one of Hollywood’s more enigmatic wonders. His Sons of an Illustrious Father bandmate Lilah Larson offers up an equally playful answer. “A group of lions,” she says, before third member Josh Aubin gives us a more conventional response: “For me it’s the ability to feel safe in who you are.”
Sons of an Illustrious Father are a three-piece band who define their music as being “genrequeer” – a clever play on the term genderqueer. Ezra – who many of you will know from blockbuster roles as Credence Barebone in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and as The Flash in superhero flick Justice League – has been a member of the group for nearly as long as his acting career. He has known Lilah since they were 11 years old, and Josh initially only joined the band for a month just over a decade ago, but still remains with them to this day. They have consistently released music over the past few years, and their new album is upon us – the fascinatingly-titled Deus Sex Machine: Or, Moving Slowly Beyond Nikola Tesla (more on that a bit later).
So what does “genrequeer” actually mean, we hear you whisper? Their output so far (and most of the time within a single song) spans many styles, from grunge to folk, electronic to punk, they blend genres from a smorgasbord of influences, never restricted by conventional ideas of how a band should sound. On top of that, their music serves as an exploration of fluid sexuality, dissection of gender definitions, and a megaphone of unadulterated queerness. “In terms of representing otherness, in some way that’s very natural to us – very inevitable in that we are people who have always felt ‘other’ in the world,” Lilah explains, before presenting the caveat. “Then at the same time it’s very important to recognise the privileges we all have, mostly as white people. It takes somewhat of a diligence and when creating we should include perspectives that are not just those that we regularly come by.”
Their statement that they “were born from an inherent need to represent otherness within personal identity” solidifies Sons of an Illustrious Father’s place at the forefront of a seiwsmic shift in the music industry, as more and more acts swim against the currents of binary – effectively challenging traditional notions of what it is to be masculine or feminine. “I think we’re in a really exciting moment in music,” says Lilah. “People are blending all sorts of genres, sounds and histories, and are feeling pretty empowered to write songs about things that were previously taboo. Like their queerness or about other political ideas. It’s very exciting to see some of these artists have great success.”
Ezra came out publicly as queer back in 2012, so the vital importance of having LGBTQ visibility in the mainstream isn’t lost on this band at all. “It is literally a life and death issue,” says
Lilah. “Having been a mentally ill, disaffected queer youth, I know how much it can matter to see queer people surviving and thriving. Being loved, and loving themselves, life and the world. We all know vaguely the statistics of suicide among queer youth, and the murder of queer and gender nonconforming people. Promoting visibility is a really powerful tool against that.”
In the UK, eight out of ten trans young people have self-harmed, while just under half have attempted suicide. What’s more, Stonewall’s latest School Report reported that 45% of LGBTQ students have experienced bullying because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. In the US, LGB youth are three times more likely to contemplate suicide than heterosexual youth, according to The Trevor Project. Of the 40% of transgender people who have reported making a suicide attempt, 92% of them were under the age of 25. So when Lilah states queer visibility is a matter of “life or death,” she is not being sensationalist.
Then there’s the largest mass shooting in US history. In June 2016, 49 people – mostly from the LGBTQ Latinx community – were killed when a gunman opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. A further 53 victims were wounded in a horrific event that was specifically targeted at LGBTQ people. In response to this horrendous tragedy, Sons of an Illustrious Father recorded and released US Gay. “If I don’t die tonight / I’m gonna dance until I do,” the opening line of the song goes. “And if you’re not too afraid / I wanna dance with you.”
“That song was actually incredibly easy to write,” says Lilah. We pose the question if they