I have a lot of memories of being in bathrooms: at school I would go there and hide instead of going to my lessons.
“Visually they have a strong place in queer history as a place of hook-ups, love, lust and shame, as well as being this bodily space that we’re slightly repulsed by. “We have toilet cubicles on stage! As far as bang for your buck, a toilet goes a long way,” he adds. “Theo’s vision is super visceral and dirty, and a bit of a twisted take on a night out.” Alexander says. The film director Bob Fosse – particularly his 1972 Liza Minelli-starring classic Cabaret – were also pasted on the moodboard, along with the gay art-house film Pink Narcissus.
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“My big inspiration for the tour was the movie Showgirls especially the iconic scene towards the end where there’s lava onstage and they’re all in gold lamé and it’s just insane,” he enthuses, of his collaborations for the tour with visual artist Theo Adams. “You need a lot of zips and poppers…” he says with a frown, before erupting into laughter.
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The Years & Years ringleader is currently six weeks deep into gruelling tour rehearsals – this week, he’s been busy consulting with a magician in order to try and pull off a death-defying illusion live on stage, and has been mulling over how to switch seamlessly between his costumes, by the Irish designer Rory Parnell Mooney. I’ve been so inspired by what they stand for – particularly supporting trans people, people of colour and marginalised people within the community.”
“I’m so happy that they’re going to be there because they put on a great time,” he says of the latter, “but they’re also committed to activism and advocacy. Alexander’s previously appeared at the night as a surprise guest. I’m still committed to being ridiculous.”Īnd so, the blueprint for the Night Call tour was born: alongside Years & Years, the all-queer line-up will host rising newcomers L Devine, Eddy Luna and Cat Burns, alongside the radical dance collective Queer House Party, which started in the early days of the pandemic as a virtual club night, and later evolved into a physical space. Having finally unveiled the transformation is “a huge weight off my shoulders,” he adds with a theatrical sigh: in the run up to the awards Alexander had to embargo all of his selfies. “Wow, they really are the nipples of the face,” he observes, paraphrasing the eternal words of Drag Race UK legend Bimini. “Eyebrows…” he muses, before taking a contemplative pause for thought.
Just a couple of days ago Alexander was back in full-blown stardom mode again, sweeping around the Baftas with dramatically bleached eyebrows, a gigantic cape and platform boots, where he reunited with his fellow castmates from Russell T. “I thought, oh, if only people could see me now.” “The pallet broke in the hallway and thousands of these albums fell out onto the corridor, booklets everywhere,” he says, “and then of course my neighbour came home.” Greeted by the sight of one of the country’s preeminent pop stars wading through an ankle-deep pile of albums – each one bearing an image of Alexander, posing as a merman no less – the neighbour quickly scurried off, while the singer began the undignified task of ferrying each box inside, one by one. Shortly before the release of Night Call – Years & Years’ third album, which captured the restless yearning of two years stuck inside, and shot straight to number one – Olly Alexander got to experience it first hand as he heaved a massive, industrial pallet of records into his building’s lift, and all the way down the long, seemingly unending corridor to his flat. Obody really tells you about the everyday reality of being a pop star.
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