GLAMPIRE

glampire

The Power of a Word, The Naming of a Culture, The Creation of a Rock Star

As with many aspects of culture, the originator of something is many times not known. Many people are credited with coming up with the term, “Heavy Metal”. The term, “Hip Hop” was coined by Afrika Bambatta and of course how many people know that “Rock and Roll” was first said by Disc Jockey Alan Freed? In addition, history often gives the credit to the wrong source. This is no different with Glampire. Let’s first establish a few facts.

Glampire was first introduced into culture in 1996 with the release of my first album, The Beginning of Terror. Prior to that; the word had not been formed. Along with Glampire came the hyphenated cross culture now known as glam-goth.

As with all culture there were precursors to me, they had just not named the culture as cleverly as I had. Assuredly there was immediate backlash and snickers from some of the snobbish goths and some of the ignorant glam rockers. Though no one can dispute the name gets a reaction.

The name begets attention; this is/has always been the power of the name/word Glampire. It is the softer and more user-friendly version of Vampire. Vampire conjures up fear and death, whereas Glampire conjures up at first humor, and then perhaps something deeper. After all; the surface is not and never will be the end game of art. The goal for art is to have layers, double meanings and a grand view from all on lookers if art is indeed going to stand the test of time, or even get noticed.

Marylyn Manson had his “spooky kids” and Robert Smith had his big hair and goth overtures replete with fans who copied him. Then of course we had Culture Club, Duran Duran and prior to them Bowie & Eno, Alice Cooper et al catapulting fashion and looks into our consciousness. We can keep adding up the soldiers, but it’s not worth it, we all know who they are and I adore most of them for all their sacrifices. Yes even the LA Glam rockers… If we go way back we can really take a long look at men in makeup, from the founding fathers to Shakespearian actors. We’ll stick to rock n pop for now.

No one had actually gotten around to naming the new breed of sexually ambiguous and flamboyant rock n roll creatures. No one had really taken the time to be clever about the collective cross-cultural audience that had built up. By 1996 it was due, culture was in need of a new name for the emerging boys and girls who stood outside (now inside) culture and gave its most colorful spectacles.

As I stated back in 96, I am not the only one out here, the world is full of “Glampires”; I just came along and gave them all a name. Now it is ever apparent that I was correct, as one swipe on Google will illuminate the searcher that indeed the name is now part of culture. The name Glampire has been taken for all manner of things. I am sure there are quite a few haters from back in the day that are not snickering anymore, or if they are it may be in slightly embarrassed tones.

Glampire, the word, the style, the name, the idea is now part of culture so much so that it is copied by popular books & movies (Twilight), other rock musicians/bands like Murder dolls, Tokio Hotel, in their dress, sound and in some cases CD titles such as The Barbarellatones Interview with a Glampire. It also appears to be a perennial favorite of celebs at Halloween (Martha Stewart 07, Adam Lambert 09). Even Time magazine adopted the term for it’s headline in a review of a new series on TV about ah…Vampires. Indeed it seems at the writing of this, vampires, glamorous Glampires are all the rage.

You might wonder how all this feels to me, as I see my creation adapted and adopted by so many. It feels fine actually. I created Glampire to change culture, to add something new to the huge heaping pile of cultural banality that existed at the time, and still does. To that end I accomplished my goal, it is now and forever part of culture and I sleep well knowing I did that.

I did it without the aid of big corporate thug’s brow beating consumers, I did it without being signed into indentured servitude by a record label and I did it without really trying, I just simply did it. It was bubbling up in me as well as in our culture for some time. Glampire has taken on a life of its own far beyond me as a person.

Is it not the best art that lives beyond the artist? Is it not the point of art to gain a life beyond the mortals who created it? If that is the yardstick, and it certainly is as far as I can see, then Glampire, simply as a word, or a style has achieved the status of originality in art. Besides; truth will win in the end. I’m not trippin’…

We can all think of numerous bands and songwriters with varying degrees of success and exposure that despite all their best efforts and the efforts of corporate drones, who threw money at them, that will never have the cultural impact that the single word Glampire has had on culture. In addition how many bands make music, play large shows, get radio play, MTV etc…and sort of just float along not really making a dent in culture, they just exist in the machine and one day fade out.

So you might be thinking there is some regret that I never “made it”. You’d be mistaken to go with that line of thinking however, as I did in fact “make it”. In fact I made it and escaped as I see it; many of the pit falls and the downright soul wrenching scenarios that many people face.

These scenarios would not have been all that beneficial to me either. As it is; I have enough heartbreak to last a lifetime. Once they own you; they own you for life.

The music business is a vast wasteland of scumbags and thieves, whose job it is to capture and enslave the creative spirits that inhabit the community. Sure it looks like a great ride from the fans perspective, and sure there are people who get in and survive, and enjoy all it has to offer. What you and I do not know is the interpersonal changes that take place in one’s life when they make concessions, bend their own ethics (if they had any to begin with) and what they “stuff down’ in order to be a good little robot for the suits, the endorsers and the corporation they now work for. There are enough people on record these days to substantiate this claim that the business is hell and music gets ignored for a whole lotta bullshit.

In addition no one owns me, my music, my name or anything related to Glampire in the way of making musical recordings or playing live. So yes, I win indeed. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and I am flattered. Do what you feel people.

Much of what we see in culture by way of technology as normal every day things was a new horizon when I started Glampire. The music business had to succumb to the internet and MP3’s; as well as taking the ostentatious and flamboyant musician serious, which now they do, so much so it looks like they champion it by and large.

Back in 96 you’d think no one prior to me had ever been a flamboyant performer, or at least that is how much of the industry and quite a few scenesters perceived it in relation to me, maybe they just hated me, or my records or what I represented. No one likes a freak with a brain.

Why then did you not carry on one might ask? 9/11 is why, simple as that. Even though I was relatively young at the time (35), I was not young enough to weather another year or two in limbo while the city I lived in was engulfed in toxic sadness and the industry I was semi involved with was retooling itself.

Whatever “support” I had was not all that reliable, of course these were hard times on everyone, so no ill will or blame, it’s just a fact, no one was really asking for me to return and carry on, except for maybe 6 people. None of which could have helped me get to a level where I would have a chance to actually make a living. Yes kids one has to eat and so forth.

Seriously, no one I knew in the “biz” or the “scene” or anyone in the press, none of the people I had been “working with” musical or business related were asking me to go on, come back or offer any shows. In fact I waited two and a ½ years with Glampire.com fully functional, and not one single offer came my way for anything.

Zero attention was being paid to Glampire, unless I paid any attention to it. Now a days the word Glampire is all over the place. No one has yet to reach put and inquire aside from a few devoted fans, but anyone in the biz? Please. Now when I see the name ascribed to a new culture of kids it is surreal and it is ironic. It is also rewarding, especially when I know alotta
haters see it now too.

When the dust cleared after a few years, I had changed it is that simple. Is it not the true artist that changes? Is it not the creed of all true creative people to grow and develop into something other than a circus act for gawkers to revel in? The risk you run is to keep doing the same crap you’ve always churned out? One promise I made to myself long ago was I will not grow old in the clubs and I would be an artist true to my craft. Growth and change are inevitable, so one might as well learn how to do it with grace. Change was always in my sights anyway.

If I stayed on pursuing Glampire as an active live and recording act there was a 50/50 chance it could have gone either way, big time or stuck in the streets. The odds were not good enough. As I predicted then, if I get out now while I am ahead; Glampire will remain a very cool NYC underground artistic statement. Quitting while you’re ahead is not the same as quitting.

My trouble is that I have no tolerance for people in my life that treat me like shit. Outsiders, haters etc…whatever… In order to survive and become some type of “idol” or star, etc…you need the ability in one way or other to deal with the downright obnoxious, foul, repugnant personalities that make up the music business & the music scene.

I had one encounter among many that led me to being on probation for assault; I could only see a trend developing that would have most likely had me seriously harming someone or perhaps getting harmed. Like it or not, when you stand up for yourself at some point someone will challenge you. It just so happens that this little guy in androgynies finest can also throw a punch. One gets tired after awhile. If you’re not dead or damaged you see that there is more to life than ego gratification and endless “parties” and empty promises. You become aware that time is the enemy and energy and creativity are at a premium and you better get it on while you’re young and pretty cuz’ no one is going to come along and “make you” into anything other than their slave.

When you are aware, truly aware, you cannot forgo the sense it takes to quit while you’re ahead. I decided to move on and let the art speak for itself. It seems it is speaking quite loud these days. Bravo!

I would not be surprised due to the never ending laziness of most people that those parading around using my name are unaware of where it came from, that there is a history that involves true creative thought and there is a person attached to it. That is why I am now stepping back out in a manner of speaking, if for no other reason to preserve what I created.

I’m sure most people hear the word Glampire and think it’s cute or cool or funny or what have you and then adopt it. For the casual kid on a makeup bender, that’s fine, what has me a bit flummoxed is the people using the name that should by rights be educated as to where it came from.

As I said, people are lazy. Some people are also just out and out jackers of culture too.

However artistic and cultural laziness is not confined to teenagers and it surely is not an affliction intrinsic to Glampire. Jacking is something all together different, and everyone nicks something, but names are sacred after all, especially when they are trademarked and in the system.

No sir this cultural intellectual laziness is something that has had me questioning people’s moves for most of my whole life.
So what of these people running around using my name, my creation. How can that be? Well it can be as long as they are not putting out CD’s with that name as their name or performing under the name. The name is protected under a registered trademark. I have excellent representation (finally), and I plan on putting out some new music for those who are interested.

In addition, I will be detailing on this website, my life, my music and my thoughts on art and culture in a series called The Glampire Diaries. As Henry Miller said to Lawrence Durrell, “as long as you have 100 dedicated readers what more do you need”?

I no longer need the ego blast of fandom to get me through the day or the night. I have accomplished my goal of dispensing forth into culture something new and original, Glampire, the word, the music, the naming of a culture, the aesthetic to the youth who are now no longer outcasts but mainstream. You’re welcome.

Quite a few people throughout history have had hit singles, thousands have had “deals” many more have gone unnoticed and unheard. At least when I look at my work I can say I contributed to culture. I didn’t just come to the party with a hungry belly and an open hand looking for what I could jack, which is by and large what most people do. Some do it well, but most are simply vultures, voyeurs and hacks, leaving only the distrust of real artists in their wake.

Glampire is equally loved and hated, which is also a true sign of making art that challenges. Too much of what now passes for art or entertainment is empty, banal, vapid, a rehash of a rehash, and redundancy of facsimile. It’s sad to see that the new art is celebrity. Culture is now and has been for quite some time a semi glowing ember of true expression. Dare I say it looks as though all that is left is the ability to revamp, because it’s really all been done, and has been for a long while. So is the new creativity the ability to copy cat? The homage is the new originality?

You can call me arrogant; you can scoff and say “fuck this guy, he never sold any records”. True, comparatively I did not “sell” any records. What I did do however was name a culture that now permeates all walks of life. Remember the kinder gentler version of the term Vampire is Glampire, and it’s out there far and wide.

That my friends and enemies; is a whole lot more satisfying than selling records, or cavorting around with suits or partially talented lazy excuses for musicians. I can’t stand hack musicians whose egos are bigger than their skill set. All the real musicians know what I’m talking about too. I also feel bad for talented musicians who are afraid to grow, afraid to make real sacrifice for better art. The one thing I did as an artist was sacrifice my entire life, right down to my name; for my art. Glampire was the riskiest move I could have made as an artist/musician/performer. It made me get really good, I could not afford to be bad and look like that. I still say that one must risk their life in total; artist or other wise to reap any real rewards in life, playing it safe will not satisfy in the end. Risk may also not yield you what you always dreamed of, it rarely does. What risk does do is build character and that is what you’ll need when you age.

Ask yourself, after all your hard work and the troubles withstood have you created anything that really had an impact on culture? If it did, great I applaud you. If your best efforts still leave you standing in the cultural landscape with people not giving a shit, or no one ripping you off, or no real money, then perhaps people you might want to rethink your approach and your output.

Do we really need that record, that song; is it just your friends and family that like your art? Did the big corporation make you a “star”, or did you do it on your own? Is your art really worthy of risking your life? Because intended or not that is what you’re doing; risking your life one way or another, so one might as well just go for it.

After all what constitutes success by and large for an artist’s life is survival, not fame and not fortune. I survived, I still create, and I still hold true to the belief that one should not simply toss out crap, (opinions aside), but should put something out that is distinguishable from the carbon copies floating around. It’s almost impossible, but it can be done, though it’s not easy. The impetuous nature of youth usually over rides good decision making, it surely knee capped me many times. However we live in a world now where through technology, anything you desire for creative ammunition is at your finger tips. One can also take a peek at all that is going on and what has happened, this is good for art, but it does take responsibility and leg work.

I already gave my sacrifice to the art gods and I have an interesting and entertaining story that goes along with it.

I’m no longer compelled by ego or vanity for that matter. I have the slow and confident patience of a painter, a novelist or a sculptor. I’m in no hurry that is for sure, and mania of any kind is not attractive.

What I would like to see now is more of that sculptor’s patience from the rest of culture though I doubt it will be the new attitude adopted by today’s fame hungry teens and TV “idols”.

So get ready for more of the same sound, the same look, and the same empty headed answers in interviews and the same corporate slavery that has existed since the days European royalty owned and commissioned music. Even with all the freedom musicians have these days they still chase the trend and suck up to the corporations.

Setting yourself free is not a component of what constitutes as cool these days. In fact go along to get along is now more popular than ever. It seems that culture has inverted and being dumb and popular has taken over. Or have those types just been slowly building in numbers?

Bear in mind that being trapped is being trapped and no amount of social accoutrements will break the shackles, in fact they only lock them further with more difficult combinations to undue. Stay free and stay tuned….

Glampire 2009