Pop music performer Ari Gold goes for the jugular—literally—in his latest music video “Make My Body Rock,” a song featured on his fourth studio album, BETWEEN THE SPIRIT + THE FLESH (coming March/April). The artist, who won the recent Pitch! show in NYC that Fango moderated (see here), shared some exclusive pics with us, plus you can see the sexy and scary “Make My Body Rock” video below the jump.

Born and raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in the Bronx, Gold released his first album in 2000 and is considered to be the first openly gay pop singer to be out in his music from the beginning of his career. The “Make My Body Rock” video, directed by Colly Carver, is expected to hit MTV/LOGO’s Top 10 this week.

FANGORIA: What was the inspiration for the video?

ARI GOLD: It’s a TRUE BLOOD meets MAD MEN deconstruction of heterosexual marriage and a heterosexist economy. It’s the first single off my upcoming album, BETWEEN THE SPIRIT + THE FLESH, and I wanted to make a video that represented the flesh to the fullest extreme where we were actually eating flesh. The fact that it’s the flesh of a child speaks to the ways children are used and abused in our current system of parenting.

FANG: Are you a horror fan?

GOLD: I’ve been a fan of horror since I was a little kid, but I tended, as with all other things I liked, to go for the female version of horror. Whether it was Drew Barrymore in FIRESTARTER or reading [I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER author] Lois Duncan’s young adult books. I’ll never forget in fifth grade when my teacher had [Duncan’s] A GIFT OF MAGIC on a vacation reading list, and since it was about a girl with magic powers, which is my favorite genre of everything, I wanted to read it. But they didn’t have it in the library, so I took out DOWN A DARK HALL instead. My teacher said she wasn’t sure I should read that one instead ’cause it was really scary and I thought, “I can handle it!” Cut to running into my parents’ bedroom scared shitless! After that I read every single Lois Duncan book I could find.

FANG: Will “Make My Body Rock” expand your fan base?

GOLD: I hope so! I don’t think people realize what a nerd I am and how much I get obsessed with nerdy things and collecting things. Am I saying FANGORIA’s readers are all nerds? No. But I am saying that nerds who like horror are cool. And I hope that when people really get into my albums and my videos, they see the kind of things I’m influenced by, like horror and sci-fi and fantasy and high and low art.

FANG: How would you describe your music?

GOLD: My music is definitely pop music, but I don’t think pop music has to be stupid. It could be considered political pop. And like lots of pop music, it’s influenced by R&B, soul, electro and dance. I like the challenge of saying things that are more complex in the context of a pop song.

Check out Gold’s official website here and watch for a longer interview with the artist in an upcoming edition of Sean Abley’s Gay of the Dead blog.

 

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