Gay crushes and transgender cats

Brisbane-based cabaret performer Jacob Diefenbach channels that most universal of gay experiences in his latest song, Boy Likes Boy — falling in love with a straight guy.

“Boy Likes Boy is a mish-mash of real-life experiences — from high school, college, even primary school. The narrative in the song is a synthesis of these. I wanted to create something that was, on some level, every gay man’s story,”

Diefenbach told the Star Observer ahead of his concert alongside songstress Emma Dean at the Basement this weekend.

Diefenbach sent an mp3 of the freshly-recorded track to subscribers as part of his last newsletter mailout, and said the response so far had been “overwhelming”.

“I think there’s an absence of these sort of stories in mainstream media. Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl doesn’t quite cut it, in my books.

“As an artist, I feel that part of my job is to write the stories that were never around for myself, growing up.”

The audience at the Basement will be the first to hear the song in a live setting, and it’ll be part of a set that Diefenbach said was “shaping up to be very dark, which, by my standards, is saying something”.

While Diefenbach and Dean are not planning on performing together on the night, they’re longtime creative collaborators, Diefenbach describing her as his “partner in crime”.

“In 2006, we co-wrote An End To Dreaming, a theatrical piece which was performed alongside the Dresden Dolls, locally and abroad. We’ve performed together a lot since then, including for Downside Up, a musical we co-wrote in 2009, and My Sublime Shadow, a gothic cabaret in 2010.”

“Over the years, we’ve formed a close personal and creative relationship. Emma’s one of the few people who makes me laugh. Hard. Once, we were rehearsing for a show with our two pianos facing across from one another. I can’t remember what brought it on, but we were stuck in a hysterical, piss-your-pants laughing fit for about 20 minutes.

“I think maybe my partner had just come back from the vet and told me our cat of three years was actually a male, not a female.

“Poor little Dora.”

Barring any giggling fits, Diefenbach will preview songs from his forthcoming album, Along Came The Spider, at the concert. He’s been co-producing the album with Powderfinger lead guitarist Darren Middleton.

Should listeners expect a move away from cabaret and towards Oz-rock for the Green Room Award-winner?

“Not at all. Truth be told, I reckon Darren was pretty enthusiastic about working on something so different! What we’ve created is a simpler offering than my previous CDs — piano, strings, a bit of organ, a bit of percussion.

“Along Came The Spider is a record that is at once intensely dark, but also fragile. I’m so happy with what we’ve created.”

info: Jacob Diefenbach performs at The Basement on Saturday, May 14 at 7.30pm. Visit www.jacobdiefenbach.com Photo by Emma Diefenbach