Christine and the Queens joined Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie on air at the 6 Music Festival.
On his inspiration for the new album
Chris: I was very inspired by Angels in America, the Tony Kushner play, when I wrote all this music. And so [my previous album] Redcar, this red archangel weird 80s rock record, I was shaping it as the weird prologue of the [new album] that’s going to be released now. So it’s almost like a weird two-piece Broadway set… it’s this eerie strange journey that you’re going to get. But the upcoming record is taking you yet again to another landscape and I’m very excited to release it actually.
Chris: I was so inspired by [the play’s] grandiosity and Shakespearean gesture towards faith… I wanted to reflect that in my work. The upcoming record is literally haunted by angels. You can hear them come and go and inform my own songwriting and connect me back to true faith and light.
Mark: And might we see that reflected in the stage show tonight?
Chris: Hopefully, yeah. It’s been two years of me believing so you’ll tell me!
On the name Redcar
Mark: When you adopted the name Redcar…were you aware that there was a town on the north coast of England called Redcar?
Chris: Alors, I actually did not know that but my team immediately noted it and were like, ‘do you know Redcar the town?’ and I was like, ‘I know the town in my mind. My mind town!’
On Paris
Stuart: Is Paris still home, Chris?
Chris: It’s a very good question. Sorry, I’m going to be such a caricature maybe. But home is music now. Paris is the city I love… but music is now the house I come back in when I close my eyes.
Stuart: The papers today are full of riots and the streets of Paris full of rubbish and the aftermath of riots. So that must be interesting as someone who knows Paris well looking at that from over here at the moment.
Chris: Yes it’s very particular because I literally left for rehearsals and the protesting was starting. Listen, I think it’s heart-breaking that there is this disconnection between the president and maybe also the people because I feel like there is a lack of conversation that just triggers more and more violence. It’s just heart-breaking to see. I think people do not protest and do all those things if they are not feeling deeply unheard. So it’s just an expression of despair. And I hope they will pay attention in the big offices because it’s about governing for the people. It should be that, right?
