The Golden Boy: Arjan interviews Ari Gold

September 26, 2007

Ari Gold plans to take listeners on a journey this fall. In October, the handsome, openly-gay singer will release his new album "Transport Systems" that is filled with sexy and funked up R&B pop tunes that will please fans and surely make many new ones.

Making this new record was a journey for Gold as well after celebrating the success of 2004's "Space Under Sun." "On my last album, I made some inroads about being an openly-gay artist and I think it put me on the map," he tells Arjan Writes. "For this new album, I wanted to step up my game and make it sound even more tighter and better, and challenge myself when it came to songwriting, singing and production. The pressure was on."

"This record poured out of me creatively. I've made a tremendous growth," he explains. "You learn stuff every day about life and yourself. Coming to the realization that at the end of the day nobody is going to do for you what you can do for yourself was a big lesson for me. I think that's a big lesson for gay people [in general] because we have to really learn how to respect ourselves and learn how to give ourselves the accolades and the props before we can expect it from the outside."

Gold doesn't mind that some people have brushed off his artistic talent and labeled him as just another pretty boy singer. "They said that about Madonna for years too. That she was just some dumb, sexy, pretty chick, so I'm good company there," he laughs, taking the criticism in stride. "[If] people would really take the time to listen to the music and listen to what I'm trying to say then I just can't believe they would still say that. If they still want to hate then the only other I can think of is just that it is a jealousy thing."

"Transport Systems" is inspired by the singer's fascination with "progression, movement, transformation and transportation" that serve as metaphors for the social issues he sings about. He discusses topics like gay relationships, the meth epidemic, gender identity and human rights. "I write about a lot of different things. I like songs that are about having fun, but then there's a more serious side to my music as well," Gold says. He laughs, "Gay people are multi-faceted. We're not all interior designers who want to make straight people look better.

One of the standout tracks on his disc is "Mr Mistress" on which the singer addresses the down low phenomenon. "The song is written from the perspective of a gay man who finds out that the man who he is having an affair with is married with kids, explains the singer. "It is really an empowerment song. It is written in the first person, so me singing it was sort of like me saying 'I don't wanna deal with all that drama and all that mess. I don't wanna destroy somebody's family (. . .), especially when there's children involved."

"I think gay people deserve better for ourselves. A lot of us spent so much time in the closet struggling to be proud of who we are so why would we want to put ourselves back into a situation where we have to lie or keep someone else's secret for them?"

A lot of the stories in Gold's song come from real-life stories he absorbed around him. "(. . .) I think I'm a good listener. Even from an early age when I was in elementary school or high school, my parents used to always call me the school psychologist because I would have all the girls calling me, keeping me up at all hours of the night over the phone telling me their problems and I would sit there and listen."

The theme of the entire disc culminates on the track "Transport Me" that he worked on with producer Steve Skinner (Celine Dion, Jewel, Diana Ross). In the song, the singer imagines being transported to another place and another time where there are no limitations to the concepts of gender, sexuality and race. "Take me someplace where the core of me isn’t up for debate," he sings. "The system is not working. This system is flawed."

Gold adds that he is particularly proud of the lyrics in the song "Good Relationship" that is a pretty "harsh and revealing" song about his own personal issues and psychology. "I really laid it out there on the line," he confided. "That song also speaks about [the relationships between gay men] and the kinds of issues that come up and what we deal with."

He segues into the song he recorded with out musician Dave Koz, titled "Love Wasn't Built In A Day," which is about the hope and the step by step nature of lasting relationships.

"That's really what this album is all about. Forward movement and moving past the pain and past these injuries that we have experienced."

Ari Gold
Transport Systems
Gold 18 Records
In stores October 2

Just Jack: Kylie's New BFF

September 06, 2007

Just Jack's "Overtones" is by far one of the most noteworthy new records of the year. Jack is a London-based MC who mixes his distinct talk-sung vocals with shimmering pop, disco, soul and funk. The CD is the follow up to his indie debut “The Outer Marker” that was released in 2003.

None other than Kylie Minogue duets with Jack on "I Talk Too Much," a collaboration exclusively cut for the U.S. release of "Overtones."

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