"When you apply for the job of international pop star," says Rene Risque, "they don’t test your pee."
That’s pretty much the essence of Rene’s liberated lifestyle. As the creation of longtime local Andy Boose, Rene is yet another in a long line of persona-driven glam-rock creatures. The shtick about his being a European mega-star isn’t original, either. Thankfully, there’s a vital difference, in that Rene Risque & the Art Lovers is a really great band.
This continues an impressive streak for Boose, who started the 90s with the Vestrymen and spent the rest of the decade ignored in the rock act Mommy. There’s no product yet from Rene, but Boose’s newfound sense of hype has produced lots of press. The name of Rene Risque is already accustomed to bold type.
He’s also got an influential fan in Moby, who recently showed up at Joe’s Pub to jam with the band on "Whole Lotta Love." That was after Rene’s guitarist walked off stage because Rene wouldn’t quit singing about having sex with the guitarist’s wife, who’s also Rene’s back-up singer.
So it’s a soap opera, too. But the music ranges from fun electro to elegant glam rock. Boose also inserts just the right amount of self-loathing into his rock-star megalomania. This is a novelty band that truly relates to its self-obsessed audience, and maybe even a few decent folk. In that spirit, Boose deigned to drop the mask and talk to New York Press about his imaginary friend:
So how do you successfully pull off an idea that should sound like Andy Dick doing Hedwig?
It’s interesting, because it wasn’t until my fifth or sixth show that people began saying, "I see you’ve been studying your Hedwig." Actually, I’ve never seen the show, but, you know, I wear a wig. People thought I had that much as a reference point. I know I’m influenced by a lot of the same things: David Bowie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, all those things.
I did finally see the movie, and I love it. John Cameron Mitchell is brilliant. It’s definitely not an influence, but I’d like to do a theatrical show with a storyline. I’m still trying to figure out what’s driving Rene, or if he can ever change.
Was Rene created out of desperation, or some brilliant insight?
It was a combination. I’d been playing shows with Mommy for about five years when I wrote the first songs that became Rene Risque. I’d hit a wall in terms of songwriting, where I thought that maybe writing about my own angst wasn’t that exciting. I’d rather write about someone else’s angst, or somebody’s fabulous lifestyle.
It was kind of a songwriting exercise, and it was partially just a reaction to rock ’n’ roll being so passe. Little did I know that the Strokes–who were opening for Mommy at the time–would end up being who they are. But I was sick of rock, too. I needed something where I could age gracefully.
It must have been easy to create a shallow persona.
I didn’t have to think about it that much. We go in with the assumption that people will feel stupid if they don’t know that Rene’s huge in Europe, and these are his first shows for a U.S. audience. The hardest thing was wanting to leave Andy Boose out of it. I wanted people to have heard of Rene Risque and have no idea about me.
The people on the Mommy list would ask to be taken off the Rene list when they began to get email from my fake publicist. Fernet Branca has pretty much taken on a life of his own now. He’s not really the publicist anymore. He’s like a personal secretary, and he’ll be part of the show someday.
He’s fictional, but Fernet’s still done an impressive job.
Well, you’re the first person to ever talk to me as Andy Boose. I did an interview as Rene with Moby for Interview magazine, and I just did a Q&A with the New York Observer. There have been some radio interviews in L.A., and I did this Time magazine thing where they decided we were the best lounge act in America.
I don’t think whoever that was at Time has seen us. The magazine wrote that I was really Andy Boose from New Jersey. That’s because Fernet Branca wouldn’t let the reporter talk to Andy Boose. Fernet just said there were rumors about me being from New Jersey. Now some idiot in the Village Voice keeps writing us up as being from New Jersey. That’s someone else who’s never seen the show.
You’ve made Page Six and Liz Smith’s column, too.
I honestly don’t know how those Page Six mentions happened. Some people from the column saw a show, and there was a model there. They picked up on that. It’s still better to work the society press instead of the rock critics. Not many rock critics have been interested. We’re more of a lifestyle thing than a music thing.
And I’ve always hated that situation of rock clubs packing four bands on the bill, and your friends have to sit through all those other bands that probably suck. We started playing at Joe’s Pub because you can sit down and have a drink. It’s civilized.
But you’re still writing some great songs. The one about sex at the Paramount really captures a mood.
You can relate to it on different levels, whether you’ve stayed at the Paramount or not. It’s just about sleeping with your friend’s wife or girlfriend or whatever, and being a total asshole. The hope is that you can get past the illusion and relate to the song.
It’s all about honesty, baby. It’s like Crimes and Misdemeanors, where the Woody Allen character is a moralistic guy, and Martin Landau has his lover murdered, and at the end of the movie, Martin Landau is dancing happily and Woody Allen is miserable. The message is that life is not a morality play, and the assholes come out on top.
Rene isn’t your usual decadent cretin, though. I wish that more people understood that drugs have a use, but they’re not an excuse.
Yes, that’s one of the Ten Realistic Commandments at the Rene Risque & the Art Lovers’ Home for Tan Young Girls & Boys. The whole thing is obviously testing morality as it’s put forth by government or society. Why should the morality of 60% of people dictate what everyone else can do?
Obviously, I don’t have a home for girls and boys. And I don’t approve of pedophilia, but I find it funny to push those buttons. It’s one of those topics you don’t want to talk about. Pedophilia is horrible, but at the same time, you can argue that a 15-year-old boy with sexual needs could be attracted to a 20-year-old man. But I’m not on a high horse on that tip. It’s the kind of thing that could easily be taken out of context and ruin a career.
Umm…exactly how does your private life contrast with Rene’s?
Well, Rene is a philanderer and an asshole. I’m currently in a loving relationship. But I’ve got elements of Rene in my past. The other part is that I travel around the world a lot in my job. I’m the director of special events for amFAR, so I do a lot of high-profile socialite parties. I’ve been working with amFAR for eight years, so I’ve got lots of stories about Monaco and Venice and yachts in the South of France. It’s glamorous, but I’m working my ass off. It’s just not a high-paying job. I don’t have unlimited funds.
What about all those bottles of FernetBranca liqueur that you sent out as Christmas presents?
The Fernet-Branca people contacted me when they found out I was using their name for my publicist. I thought they were going to sue me. But I went to their headquarters in Tribeca, and they were really great and very generous. But then it was me on my bicycle, delivering all those bottles of Fernet-Branca by hand.
Rene Risque and the Art Lovers play Thurs., April 17 at Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. E. 4th St. & Astor Pl.), 212-539-8778.
