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TheBacklot Interview: Steve Grand

Steve GrandSteve Grand

Can you be an 'All-American boy' and also be gay?

If you're asking out singer/musician Steve Grand, the answer is yes.

The Chicago native burst onto the music scene in July of 2013 with the video for his single titled, no surprise, "All-American Boy." In the video, Grand is seen crushing on a straight friend and, in the climactic point of the video, he takes a chance and kisses the friend only to be rebuffed. The video went viral, with over a million views in the first eight days. (Today it stands just shy of four million). "All-American Boy" showed that the Chicago native not only looked good with his shirt off, but he was also not afraid to put himself out there as a music artist who also happens to be gay.

Fast forward to the present. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Grand's All-American Boy CD is in stores starting tomorrow with a full roster of songs, some new and some that you've heard since he first emerged on the scene. And while you may hear a country influence in the 25-year old's music, he recently explained to TheBacklot how he was mislabeled as the first openly gay country artist as well as the task of putting the album together, how his past as an underwear model is something that won't go away and why, despite being one of OUT's 100 Most Eligible Bachelors, he wouldn't be a good boyfriend to anyone right now.

Tell me how it feels for you to finally be putting the CD out after everything you’ve gone through the last few years?

Steve Grand:  It’s a big relief. I’m also so excited that my fans get to hear it, especially my Kickstarter supporters who are so generous in contributing to the project. I still can’t believe how successful it was, and I’m still and will always be so grateful for that.

Was it a challenge for you to stay positive through the whole experience with all the hurdles you had to go through?

SG:  I think I was always able to look back on the support from my Kickstarter people and that’s something that’s very affirming, right? I mean, I had almost 5,000 people that chose to enter in their credit card information so I could make this album. So, I felt very confident in that. But yeah, of course, these kinds of things took longer than I wanted them to. And the process was so much more complicated and difficult, more than I ever could’ve imagined and, yeah, it’s hard to stay positive and keep your momentum.

steve-grand-all-american-boy-cover-300I know some of these songs have existed for a while, but did you always know the songs that would be a part of this album?

SG: There was definitely a handful because I had a lot of songs. I’ve been writing music for a long time. I’ve never said it was a challenge to pick the song,s but I guess it was more like figuring out a puzzle. I wanted every piece of that puzzle to be able to stand on its own and make sense within the greater body of work. I think I did that really well.

Was it always a given that All American Boy would be the name of the album?

SG:  No, it wasn’t. I’ve gone back and forth with different things for a while, but when I started thinking about just calling the whole album All American Boy I felt that idea really stuck for a lot of reasons. One, because of the first song in the video and that had just an impact on a lot of people, and also because I felt like for me personally it had a lot of different meanings even outside that song and the video. My dad would always just pat me and my brother on the head when we were little kids and he would brag about us to our neighbors and say things like, ‘these are my boys, they’re the All American boys, they build treehouses and get the grades and are in Boy Scouts and play sports, they’re just your All American boys.’

So, that always had stuck with me because when I was 13 and I started to realize that I was gay and it occurred to me that I no longer fit into that idea of what it meant to be All American. I didn’t see being gay as something that fit into that idea of whatever the All American boy was. And as I got older and I started to accept myself I wanted to be able to claim whatever identity I want. And so for me, reclaiming that identity of All American boy is something that’s empowering to me. Because it’s me going out there and saying ‘listen I could claim whatever identity I want and being gay shouldn’t limit me on what identity I should choose.’ And I want to send that message to my fans that they could have whatever identity they want, and that just because of who they are or because someone says who they think they should be, it shouldn’t have an effect on what identity they claim for themselves.

There is a country influence in some of your songs, but I wouldn’t call you a country artist even though I’ve seen that more than once in the press.

SG:  Yeah, I think that it’s hard whenever you have something that goes viral and it blows up like “All-American Boy.” It’s just like a hot burning flame that can’t last. It’s not sustainable in and of itself, but that’s what most people remember.

It was a really crazy time and it’s hard to ever match that publicity. So, everyone was calling me a country singer at that time. I never said that about myself.

Then there was Buzzfeed calling me a country artist and saying that I was the first openly gay country singer. I wasn’t saying that and it kind of freaked me out because people were mad at me because they thought I was saying that about myself. I’m like, ‘no, I didn’t say that, I didn’t even know I was a country artist in fact,’ and being the first anything was the last thing on my mind. I don’t care about that. I care about making music and I care about creating experiences for my fans with my music and my videos and my performances.

So let’s set the record straight, so to speak. How would you characterize yourself as an artist?

SG:  If I had to nail it down I would just say that I’m a singer-songwriter with various Americana influences. That’s the first time I’ve ever said that sentence and it actually sounds awesome. That could be like Songwriter Americana.

That makes me think of artists like John Mellencamp. Who have been some of your influences?

SG:  I grew up listening to classic rock with my dad, so artists like The Beatles, the Rolling Stones. I got into Billy Joel and Elton John because I was a piano player and I thought it was cool that they incorporated the piano into rock music. And then in high school I got into artists like Fall Out Boy, Blink-182 and that whole pop, punk, emo movement.

And then a couple years ago especially I really fell in love with Lady Gaga. Sometimes I like to go and find another artist from back in the day, like I’ve been into Bruce Springsteen lately and Neil Young, and then I do listen to the Top 20 radio. I like to keep my finger on the pulse and know what’s going on in music in popular music culture.

Once you came out on the scene you were already out, so there was no coming-out process publicly. What have you heard from people?

SG: Definitely 99% of the hate I get is from other gay people.

Really?

SG: Oh, absolutely.

What do you attribute that to and what kind of hate are you getting?

SG:  I think it’s a lot of all different things. Of course it’s the Internet, so it’s just easy for people just to say whatever they want with no consequence. And also just putting yourself out there, people still don’t understand that just because someone has some viral success doesn’t all of a sudden put them in this position of power. Obviously it gave me a leg up to where I could start building a career, but it’s just that, I’m starting to build a career now. You don’t get a career in a moment like that.

And so, I think people historically feel like they want to s**t all over people that they see in positions of power and I think I’m mistaken as one of those people. I don’t think that I have much power at all, and I don’t think that I’m trying to do anything outside of making my fans happy with the music that I write and record and, of course, I want to branch out and I want to have more fans, so I try to get interviews like this and I try to talk to different outlets and I try to get my music everywhere it can be.

I think some people just, I don’t know...you’re on the Internet and people just feel like they can say anything. People don’t like what I represent, and they think I'm trying to represent the whole gay community just because I’m a gay person and I make music. By default I'm supposed to represent a whole community? I think that’s ridiculous. When people have expectations like that you’re going to make a lot of them upset-- when in fact I’m not trying to represent anybody but myself.

Do you ever think your good looks work against you? Or is it just a tool you can use to get more people to pay attention? What do you think of that? Because when I Googled your name, a lot of those underwear shots and things come up. I’m curious what you think about that.

SG: Yeah, I’m so tired of that. It’s like all those pictures were taken when I was 19 years old and I’m 25 now. So, it’s just really old for me. I only get upset when I think about the fact that that is the first thing that people see of me when that’s really not what I’m about as an artist. It was a snapshot in life, unintended. I mean, I did a handful of photo shoots and I never made any money for it just because I was trying to build a portfolio. I decided that that’s not what I wanted to do.

I don’t want to say that it’s hurt me but it’s just annoying. Some days it gets to me more than others. Just because it’s not a representation of who I am every day and who I am as an artist, and yet look at all the real estate it’s taking up on my Google search. So, it doesn’t make any sense, but the fact of the matter is that people like those images and it’s a Google image search. So, the images that people like and click on are going to go to the top and I would be foolish to even make any attempt to try to change that. There’s really nothing that you could do.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with those images. I’m not ashamed of my body. I’m not ashamed of what I’ve done. I was a young person trying to find my way and I think it’s really hypocritical of people to look at images like that, not even mine, and enjoy them but then punish the people who are on that side of the camera by saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously [and] they shouldn’t be able to get professional work. I think that is so hypocritical. I think the same thing goes with pornography. I think it’s such utter hypocrisy that so many people in our society were obviously all watching it and yet we treat these people like they’re sub-human. I think it’s just disgusting.

I know you like stay fit. Will that be a challenge while you're on the road promoting your album?

SG:  It’s not been a problem before, but I’m getting older obviously and so it’s going to be harder and harder for me. But I’ve never had to try before really, it’s obviously mostly genetic for people and I just don’t really get fat. The hardest thing for me is to keep my muscle, but other than that it’s usually pretty easy. But I think that I’m reaching that age where it’s getting harder because sometimes I’ll see a picture and I’ll be like, wow, I look like a like a very well-fed athlete. [laughs] I’ll have to watch it, but I’m not too worried.

Because you do still live in the Chicago area, is that where home is going to be? Or do you see yourself maybe moving out west or to New York in the future?

SG:  Yeah, I think that I’ll probably be moving out west. I don’t like the cold at all.

OUT listed you as one of the eligible bachelors out there. Was that something you were excited about or embarrassed…?

SG:  It’s fine. I think it’s a nice, cute little thing to do. I wouldn’t list it as one of my top accomplishments in life, but it’s fun.

Well, hopefully you’ll get some dates out of it.

SG: It’s not even on my mind right now, just dating. I tried going out the other night and I just left early, I just couldn’t even. With all this going on it’s exciting but it’s also really draining. I’d be a sh***y boyfriend right now so I’m just not going to hurt anybody.

You’re very active with social media. Tell me about the "Grandfans" that you’re assembling.

SG: I’m putting togather a street team in 21 cities-- those are the cities my marketing people chose. People are offended that I didn’t choose their city, but they did it based on where we were getting a lot of clicks and things like that. It’s not a very big team and they have to manage all those people. So, they took care of that and I call my fans the Grandfans. And then my band is called the Grand Band. It’s too good to pass up, like the cheesiness.

For more information on Grand, check his website. To download All American Boy, available Tuesday, March 24, visit Itunes.

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