We sat down to have a chat with the enigmatic, charismatic and revolutionist Handsome. We talked about origin stories, queerness and changing the fucking world, one heart at a time, through some radical electronica and a sweet gang of creative misfits.
Tone Deaf: What was the origin of the HANDSOME project?
Handsome: I was releasing music as Caitlin Park, which was a folk project. I put out two records. It was cool but also, I’d started this when I was in my early 20s and I think I was kinda playing a character; a character I think I’d modelled off some of my older friends at the time.
While I was making a third record I realised this didn’t feel like me anymore, and this feeling coincided with heaps of different things that happened in my life, like meeting Kat [Dopper] for example. I met a bunch of people through my partner and y’know, friendships evolve and things change – I started to learn that dancing was okay.
You didn’t dance before?
Handsome: No, I was really staunch about it because I wasn’t comfortable with myself. As I got older that changed. I think a huge part of that was because I’d become much more present in the queer community and had been going to parties and being like, “My god this is so fun, I really feel like myself here!”
Watch the video for ‘Late Night Ball Game’ by Handsome below
Sounds like ultra good vibes.
Handsome: Totally! Then I started working at a record label, a hip-hop label [Elefant Traks], which definitely changed my musical palette. Seems like all these things were conspiring to create some change. Handsome: You’re right. [Laughs.] This is the origin story. One thing that really shook me was a night after a huge Heaps Gay party during Vivid. A friend and I were DJing there, we had a big night and ended up getting home at 6am. I remember crouching around a heater with her, still really buzzed, while looking through our phones and finding out that the Orlando shooting had just happened.
It shook me because not only are we part of the queer community, but we had literally just come from a queer party. It was scary to imagine someone coming in and opening fire like that. It’s scary to get that wake-up call and that reminder that you’re still a minority that is hugely discriminated against. That sort of thing is less likely to happen in Australia because we have amazing gun laws, but who’s to say it couldn’t?
It’s always jarring to be reminded of your otherness, but that can help shift your self-perception too. Like recognising that you’d outgrown the Caitlin Park project.
Handsome: Exactly. That’s the point it became clear to me that Caitlin Park no longer felt like me, and I wasn’t making music that was changing people’s lives. I wanted to make music that would create a change. And so HANDSOME came into play.
How much of Caitlin Park still lives within HANDSOME? Or is that separate altogether?
Handsome: It feels pretty separate to me. When HANDSOME was starting, people had trouble letting Caitlin Park go, or would try to create a tie between both projects. When me and my label first launched HANDSOME, I was a little pushy about not talking about Caitlin Park because I was terrified that I’d be boxed in; everyone was like, “Oh you play an acoustic guitar, that means you’re a folk musician.” [Laughs.] I’m like, I’m so much more than just that.
Watch the video for ‘Save Some Love’ by Handsome below
Maybe that’s why it’s important in the beginning to divorce yourself from what people know you as so you can establish a new identity with what you’re doing now. That puts your anxieties about Caitlin Park in perspective, especially considering the fear of being pigeonholed.
Handsome: Totally. I didn’t want to make this record with the Caitlin Park name, I want a fresh start. It’s funny that when HANDSOME started I dropped ‘Late Night Ball Game’, which is a song about coming out. It really felt like I was coming out again, in a very public space, which is a powerful statement.
Your music is described as Tomboy Pop. What’s that about? How would you define that?
Handsome: I like the word play a little bit but also it feels like an accurate representation of who I am. It’s a totally personal thing. I also think there’s like an element of the music that sounds a bit like what a tomboy is: there’s a grittiness to it.
What’s the HANDSOME Gang all about?
Handsome: Allowing people into a space to feel safe but also to encourage self-expression; whether that’s through art or poetry or whatever it inadvertently includes collaboration. I want this project to be something that actually creates social change.
Do you have any plans to take over the world with the HANDSOME gang?
Handsome: Yeah I have. I mean on a grand scale I just want it to feel like a movement. I want people to like where HANDSOME is going and for them to feel they’re part of something special because they are. And the reason is because I’m part of a [queer] community of people that have spent a lot of their lives thinking that they’re different, in a bad way, and they’re terrified of that. I want to empower those people.
Watch the video for ‘No Cowards’ by Handsome below
If your family disowns you or you feel out of place or ousted in society then you are going to seek a family elsewhere. That’s what a chosen family is for. A lot of my friends have so many fucking horror stories. They’re people who’ve been thrown out of their houses for months on end when they were 16 and things like that. Those stories need to be heard, but also those people need to feel like they aren’t always going to feel so helpless.
We certainly have to do the Auditing of The Self much earlier than a straight person.
Handsome: Exactly right. And as much as that’s scary and terrifying – it’s horrible that we have to do that – it makes us who we are, it makes us stronger and I that’s something that should be fucking celebrated.
What’s on the agenda for the gang. Are you going to expand beyond music?
Handsome: I like the idea of doing collaborations with artists or having multiple creative projects in some way driven by queer people. I love film. I love fashion. It would be really cool to give artists of all persuasions jobs!
Do you think it feels good for you to be on stage now because you’re on stage as yourself?
Handsome: Totally. It’s such a different thing like when Caitlin Park used to get on stage. I’d have this whole character, down to the voice and mannerisms of someone else. Now I talk the way that I usually talk.
There’s nothing in between you and the crowd. No hiding behind a guitar.
Handsome: Yeah! Just getting up there with only a mic is one of the best things I’ve ever done.
You also dance now!
Handsome: I dance now! [Laughs] I’ve got a massive single that’s going to come out early next year… It’s all coming together. I think next year we’re gonna be touring a lot. I’d like to go overseas and build a team who really cares about what I’m doing but also, I’ve got grander ideas in the works too.
To take over the world.
Handsome: Yeah, to take over the world.
