On being different
Musician and activist marches to a different drum

Skott Freedman is a visually and audibly refreshing change from the majority of young pop acts that are flooding the airwaves and dominating the MTV culture.

At a mere 22 years of age, Freedman is poised to break out into mainstream culture by virtue of his accomplished two CDs and a recent article by Billboard Magazine that’s taken everyone by surprise, including Freedman himself. And remember, you heard about him here first.

“The way I found out about [the article] was just ridiculous,” says Freedman, a very personable and wise young man whose boundless energy is palpable even over the phone.

“I had no idea it was even going to be out. I was walking the streets of Boston and I got a call from one of my friends who works for NBC, and he said, ‘Hey, you’re in Billboard this week!’ and I said, ‘What?’ I had to sit down, and I made him read me the whole article over the phone. I didn’t believe it.”

It appears that this came at a most opportune time. Like most young artists, his parents, while supportive, were concerned that he’d have a tough time making it in the music business.

“They think it’s too hard being a full-time musician, artist, and my Mom doesn’t like that I’m so out. So even up to a week before the Billboard article, they were saying, ‘Why don’t you go to graduate school and put this music thing on hold for a couple of years. You could pick your salary right now.’ So when I got the Billboard article, it was like a gratification where I could turn around and say, ‘Oh, yeah, well something’s working.’

“Of course,” explains Freedman, “I could take an easier path, but I’m all about not compromising and I just want to do what I love, and that’s music.”

Freedman is becoming well known in the States, and has clus-ters of fans in both Australia and Denmark. His biggest support has come from the queer community, since he is vocal about his bisexuality. “The LGBT community, they’ve been so loyal. They want more out artists; they’ve been amazingly supportive.”

In addition to his music, Freed-man is also an active advocate. He’s given several lectures around the United States at various colleges and GLBT groups on bisexuality and battling biphobia, based on his own experiences of negativity. “I think it’s a strange phenomenon, the very idea of biphobia, specifically within the LGBT community, because of the comments I’ve heard, like ‘Oh, it doesn’t really exist,’ or ‘Give it six months. You’re just on the way to the happy rainbow of gaydom.’

“They tell me, ‘Maybe it’s just a phase,’ or ‘You’re just choosing it because it’s a trend.’ It’s so disturbing because these are the things that gays and lesbians are complaining about hearing from their homophobic friends and families. We hear this from people like Jerry Falwell and complain about it, and then turn around and do it to each other.

“I think bisexuals in and of themselves need a community, but bisexuals are still so closeted, not only in mainstream society, but also in the gay and lesbian society. In order to have that community, you need to come out; you need to have that voice. Don’t just live under the label ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ just because it’s easier.

“As a whole, society is very dualistic,” adds Freedman. “We like black or white, this or that, either/or. We don’t like shades of gray, and bisexuality is one of those shades of gray. With sexuality, there is no right or wrong. Sexuality in itself is a shade of gray.”

For those people who have had difficulty defining Freedman’s sexuality, labelling his music has been an even greater challenge. “The number one question I get when someone finds out I’m a musician is, ‘What kind of music do you do?’ I’m kind of stuck because it’s not rock, it’s not alternative and it’s not folk. I call it ‘acoustic alternative,’ or ‘alternative folk’ or ‘alternative pop.’ What I’m doing I don’t really hear on a Top 40 station right now, but I don’t want it to be plucking a banjo in a coffeehouse either. I’m kind of a middle of the road, new singer-songwriter where my style kind of varies. I like to mix it up a lot.”

Comparisons to artists like a young Elton John, Tori Amos and Rufus Wainright abound, but Freedman is really in a class of his own. It may be a good thing his CDs aren’t available in stores, because they probably wouldn’t know where to put it.

“There is a growing need and want, fortunately, for independent music,” says Freedman. “People are sick of every Britney Spears/Mandy Moore/Jessica Simpson girl that comes out. The independent radio stations and publications have been great, because the public wants something different.”

More than anything, Freed-man’s albums are a like short story collection. From a very young age, he has been collecting stories and characters from his friends, his imagination and his own life and putting them on paper. “I love telling stories, telling stories about other people. I don’t always write autobiographically. I write from a variety of viewpoints. I’ve always loved creating, writing, inventing characters, and I put this right in the music.”

Freedman’s drive to write stems from listening to music where someone was singing about something I could relate to. “Sometimes, I just feel like I don’t have the words to express how I feel, so I turn to a different muse, like music or writing or turn to a book, so that it can express it for me. Sometimes when I’m in a dark mood and I listen to a song by an artist and I really feel what he’s saying and it really hits me, I want to give that back. I want to give that person that feeling.”

- printed in Capital Xtra, Issue #104, Mar 29, 2002. Cover photo - Skott Freedman.