Aurelio Voltaire is a self-confessed daydreamer. And his daydreams have thus far served him well. His colourful, sometimes unbelievable, life has somersaulted through careers as an animator, a comic creator, and possibly his most recognisable role to date, as a musician known for his dark, original and lyrically inspired songs in the Gothic and alternative genres. But Voltaire Industries is a one man operation and the cries of love for his music are on par with cries demanding it for free. So how does the multi-talented artist satisfy both appetites?

The slightly unkempt, tired and very cold man I meet at the Whitby Spa Pavilion is in contrast to the charismatic performer who ignites rippling waves of female adoration and swooning in his audiences. Over a meander across the town and traditional fayre of fish and chips I slowly come to understand just where that fawning comes from as he recalls his experiences of being a young TV director charming endless women into bed simply by mentioning that he worked in television.

For all that Voltaire is open, and frankly blunt, about his escapades, he is also fairly self-effacing about them. It is not a brag, but a statement of fact. He admits he didn’t care, that anything went. Starting out as a 17 year old animator earning thousands of dollars a week, he had no real reason to. The conversation stalls as he takes a call from his wife, Jayme. When he finishes I ask if she comes on tour with him, he visibly lights up and proudly states that on a recent tour, his wife attended 18 out of 22 gigs.

He tactfully tries to explain that as a musician he attracts a certain level of attention, undoubtedly his Cuban heritage has also contributed to this; the mantle of tall, dark and handsome could have been created specifically for him. He quickly goes on to say although it’s good to be liked, the certainty of Jayme’s attention supersedes it all. We then jump into a much more industry related matter – the question of paying musicians for the work they create. The world is changing, according to Voltaire, and he has had numerous conversations with people who have never bought a CD or downloaded a track in their lives, yet still claim to love his music and demand more of it. So how does he respond to this? “I generally tell it like it is.” And telling it like it is means explaining how he wouldn’t march into someone’s house and give away all their stuff so why should he give something away that took four months of his life and cost him $20,000?

Voltaire's music has been described as 'Dark Cabaret'

 

It’s a fair point and fast becoming an age old argument across the music industry, but it’s still true and, as he points out, Voltaire Industries is a one man operation, and with skyscraper rent to pay in his New York apartment (the shape of which he neatly describes using a very small section of Whitby path) and a family to feed (he also has a 13 year old son) every CD that isn’t bought makes it harder for him to sustain that required level of income.

His response is to embark on vlogging – video blogs that can be loaded directly up to his YouTube channel. It seems like a compromise – delivering the free content that many are increasingly demanding, yet trying to retain an element of control and still make it a marketing tool to raise his profile and, in turn, increase attendance at gigs and more downloads. For the self-proclaimed technophobe I have to wonder if he grudges such a compromise.

As an example, he uses Neil Gaiman’s prolific tweeting. “My Twitter feed is often taken up entirely by tweets from Neil Gaiman. I have no idea how he manages it. I check and respond to my emails, I post new pictures and stuff on my Facebook page and upload work to YouTube but the whole time I’m spending doing that is time I’m not spending writing a new song or doing actual work.”

Yet he fully realises that not having all these channels isn’t an option. He needs them, perhaps now more than ever in the constantly shifting sands of the music industry.

Voltaire’s latest album Riding a Black Unicorn is now available to buy from iTunes or CDBaby.

 

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • •

Filed under: Blog • Writing and Media

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!