Indie impresario and Deerhunter main man Bradford Cox is taking his croon-y Atlas Sound project on the road this month for a short U.S. tour in support of his excellent third album, Parallax. When the record came out a month ago, Cox – who identifies as asexual, queer or single or something like that – gave an interesting interview to Rolling Stone in which he bemoaned the serious lack of “queerness, homo-eroticism and boyhood” in rock n’ roll. To wit:
The last time I saw you play live, it was a Deerhunter show at Webster Hall, and you were dressed up in the teen idol look that you have on the cover of Parallax. What inspired this look?
It’s nothing more than a junk-shop version, a thrift store version of Ricky Nelson or something, but emaciated. It’s nothing new. I’d been really yearning for there to be some icons in music, in the kind of music I’m interested in lately, because it’s f*cking dismal, what’s going on right now.
In terms of charismatic figures?
Hetero-centric, boring, scruffy 20 year-olds are ruining the f*cking face of rock and roll, you know? There are no Patti Smiths or Joey Ramones, or Lou Reeds, even. Well, but Lou Reed is f*cking playing with Metallica, whatever. There needs to be some vital something, and I mean, I’d like to try to be that, if possible, if I may be so bold.
You may. And we encourage those of you in the below listed cities to aide him in his quest:
Atlas Sound 2011/12 tour dates:
Dec. 14 – Durham, NC @ Motorco
Dec. 15 – Richmond, VA @ The National
Dec. 16 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
Dec. 17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House
Dec. 18- New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Dec. 20 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Feb. 19 – Tokyo, Japan @ Ebisu Garden Hall
(via Pitchfork)
Hmmm… I think Hunx And His Punx are pretty bold and vital somethings. Especially Seth!