Sacha Sacket speaks out

(All images c/o Sasi PR)
Born in Tehran to an Iranian father and British mother during the height of the Revolution, alternative singer-songwriter Sacha Sacket would escape to L.A.'s San Fernando Valley at the age of one, but couldn't hide from the harmful homophobia that he experienced as a child, which chased him through his high school years.

Largely ignored by his peers, who'd eventually go on to form bands like Linkin Park, Hoobastank and Incubus, his only emotional outlet was his piano, which he poured his heart and soul into.

If his first album, "Alabaster Flesh" (2001) was about finding his voice as an artist and as a gay man, "Shadowed" (2004) was about going to the dark places that test one's character, and his third, "Lovers and Leaders" (2007), featuring his character-driven lead single “Judy (for shame),” about never finding love, and his atypically, all-female backing band, was about making peace with it all, the good and the bad, the noble and the lowly, the lover and the coward.  Through incessant touring, college radio airplay, and his MySpace page, he has grown a dedicated fan-base. 

Watch Sacha Sacket's "Judy (for shame)" video now:

When it came time to record his live album, Sacket elected to record "Sacha Sacket and the LadyKillers: Live at the Zone" out Dec. 9 at L.A. sex club The Zone rather than a typical concert venue to add a bit of grit to his generally introspective, classically-based music, and to shine a light on the HIV/AIDS epidemic that spread in places like The Zone, and to the mandatory condom use and free testing that many sex clubs now provide. To this end, each CD is packaged with its own Sacha Sacket condom and a portion of profits will benefit ANSA's "It Takes A Village," a program that aids South African children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Sacha, I know that you wanted to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, but there are obviously other ways to do that than recording your live album at a sex club.

I just felt, that number one it would be a challenge for me. I thought I could have easily done it in a live venue, i.e. 'Sasha: Live at insert venue name'. But I wanted a concept attached or an energy. I was looking for somewhere that could affect the energy of what the record is. I think it was definitely a place that affects the music.

I imagine that it would be like singing in the shower.

Yeah, it had a lot of echo and reverb, a lot of bounce.

How hard was it to get permission to record in a sex club?

It was very hard to do it. None of the owners I asked wanted to talk to me, and that's the sad thing. I couldn't get in touch with anybody, so I had to stalk the owner of this place and convince him to let me do it, and he did.

But it makes total sense in a 70's Bette Midler, Barry Manilow sort of way.

No one got the Bette Midler thing. It was like, 'Come on, be a part of history.' But nobody cared.  We were told we could do it just during off hours. So we did it in this space, in the middle of interesting areas, where you could see stuff on the walls, and it felt very tawdry and used. It was very animalistic, and my goal was to capture that in music, and it worked.

OK, I have to tell you that I'm loving the all-girl band.  No male vocalist has done that, to my knowledge, since Robert Palmer in his "Addicted to Love" period.  But how did you get your all-girl band into a gay sex club?

Three girls and a guy lead singer is different in a gender sort of way. It's a rock band, and there's raw sexuality playing there. I liked the thought of recording in a sex club, because there are no boundaries there, and an immediate intimacy, like 'OK, let's fuck.' The immediate intimacy was interesting as an idea. I also felt naughty bringing girls in there and doing the show.

OK, going from lust to love, I read that, about your last studio album "Lovers and Leaders," you said that you used to equate love with losing power? 

I think I tend to be power-centric. I like control a lot. When I fell in love, I was suddenly not in control of my emotions and life, and I felt like I was on a rollercoaster. That feeling was very hard to let go. Also, my career doesn't lend itself to relationships, because I'm touring so much. I was selfish in a lot of ways. I looked at love as the opposite of my career, and felt I had to make a choice, but didn't believe I needed to. I had to figure out the balance.

Where is the balance?

It's compromise. Suddenly, I have another life on my hands, and how do you get to do what you want to do everyday? I can't do that in a relationship. In relationships before, I was so into my own thing and was only in relationships that were convenient. It fit into what I was doing and when it didn't fit, it didn't progress anywhere. But suddenly, five years ago, I was in a place where I knew I couldn't get away. How many hours do I play piano and sing about my life? If you listen to my music, it's so love-centric, and I'm always singing about my relationship a lot.  You'd think I was wise and that I know emotions, and know how to deal. But I realized I was not giving too much.

What was it about this guy that made you change your outlook on love?

It was one of those things. So many things added up. It just hit. I don't fully know why. We have a similar history, so for the first time I feel understood.  We both came out of bad relationships, of awful things, so it was a bonding moment. It was just right. He does corporate stuff, the opposite of me in every sense, and not a turn-on at all.  It's the sort of opposites attract and balance each other out thing. I really needed a balance. I was really in artist mode and needed stabilization. But it actually made me stronger as an artist. In fact I've become more prolific. There are insecurities, and that's what I'm getting through. Every artist has that. I now feel seen, and it makes me know who I am, and it's suddenly easier to approach my art.

I want to ask you about a specific song on the album. What is "Brandon Boyd" about? 

I always knew I had that song inside of me. I didn't know Brandon Boyd, but it was a high school experience and I knew I had to write about it. I went through a hard time. I definitely got labeled the queer thing, and it wasn't a good thing when I was in school. I saw high school as a power-centric thing, a 'Lord of the Flies' sort of thing. It was about fighting for survival, and it's really animalistic.

I went to high school with Brandon. He was the most popular kid. He's a great guy and has never done anything against me. I know he knows of me and knows of the song. But he's so up in the clouds, and of course other people fall on the sidelines. So it's interesting for someone from my perspective to write that song. I ended up doing the same thing as him, even though I come from the opposite perspective in high school that he did. Yet he is still writing songs about not being understood. So no one gets out alive and everyone suffers. It felt important to capture that whole animalistic feeling, that fight for survival.

Speaking of survival, I know that your family fled from Iran when you were only a baby.  Do you identify with your Persian heritage?

I have a big Persian family, half of it at least, but I'm not fluent with the culture. I was born there, but I haven't been since I was one-year-old.

I imagine that coming out within that culture was difficult.

It was hard to come out to my dad. It's not easy within the Iranian culture.  It still isn't accepting, and you still get judged. But it's interesting to see that side come around.

When I first came out to my dad, it was really awful. He was the least likely person to accept homosexuals. Growing up, it was a running joke with my family. But I've seen him come around along way. Now he's very proud of the music and what I'm doing. He loves to talk about me to everyone.  I've seen that shift in him, and that to me is amazing. I never thought I'd see that.

How did you feel when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the presence of gays in Iran?

I don't take him very seriously. I think he says a lot just for the reaction. In the Iranian community, at least in L.A., it was widely laughed at. In Iran, there's even a city that's considered homosexual by everyone. The thought that it didn't exist to everyone I knew was laughable. It's always been there and there are always running jokes. It's not like it's respected, but it's widely known to exist.

I know that when you were teased as a child for being gay, piano was your emotional outlet.  Can you describe to me what the experience of playing is like for you?

Honestly, it's still a mystery to me. I think that's why I do it. When a new song comes to me, it's very magical. I feel like I'm living life at its fullest. There are times, though, where I'm playing and I want to hit my head against the piano. I think that's why I return to it, because you are living fully. Something comes out, and it's an 'Aha' moment. It's a therapy to some degree. This is what I'm dealing with. I grew up not having a social network, as the gay kid that was not talked to very much. And it's not as if I could go home and say to my parents that kids are calling me gay. I did not have anyone to talk to, so the piano became very central to what I do. It's the only thing I had to express myself.

A lot of guys reject the piano for its lack of sex appeal in comparison to guitars and drums.  What's your take on it? 

I've been pegged as the romantic guy, but I still think there's a sexuality to what I do. I think it's definitely there. It's important. I do have that side to me, which is why I enjoy performing a little, too, because I can throw in hip thrusts here and there.

Speaking of hip thrusts, I saw your YouTube performance of Britney Spears's "Hit Me Baby One More Time."  That had a little sexiness, for sure.

I always do a lot of covers that people would never expect me to do, which I think is very important. It would be easy to do an Elton John cover. I could already hear it before I even try. So I try to mix it up and try new things.  I picked that song and wondered how I would do that. I like the song. I read the lyrics. Some songs piss me off, because of the bad lyrics. But this song is really dark, with dark masochistic lyrics. I found a voice in that, the part Britney didn't express. It's there if you read through it. It's darkly sexual.

I love that you appreciate the darkly sexual yet posted a photo of you with the lightly virginal Jonas Bros. on your MySpace page from an awards ceremony last month. Did they know who you were?

How would they know? They're so precious. It was a lark. It was a joke, and kind of fun. When would you see this pairing, ever? This is just hilarious and a lot of fun. We're opposites and they're really nice guys, it's true. I didn't attack or molest them. It was funny to do that and there was nothing more to it. We're as opposite as it gets and I like that. Maybe it's the Britney Spears cover side of me.

Watch Sacha Sacket do his best Britney now: