"Chris Moyles said on the radio that he didn't like me cause I was gay but ‘ghetto’. Don’t worry Chris, I won't be put in a box for you. Anyways your slot got taken by a gay. (Sips tea)."
If ever an example was needed that everything happens for a reason then surely Vince Kidd is it. Reaching the finals of The Voice, somehow mainstream success was still not quite on the horizon – something Vince has his own opinions about.
But finally he’s back, with no label, no manager but that’s not stopping him as he’s gearing up to release some of his strongest material yet – starting with ‘Almost Angels.’ Cop the video below and hear what Vince has been up to.
OK, let’s break it down. What’s been going on since we featured you way back in our very first issue. Awww…
That Loverboy shoot was so sick! I had so much fun! But since then? Shit, where do I start. I was on tour I guess and realising I just couldn’t see shit. I’ve had problems with my eyesight for a while but it was getting worse and glasses weren’t helping. As soon as I was somewhere dimly lit I just couldn’t see fuck all.
Anyways it took ages to get a diagnosis but they told me I have Retinitis Pigmentosa. So I’m like, ‘Come again, what does that mean?’ (Laughs). It’s basically a hereditary and degenerative eye disease that will eventually leave me blind. There’s no cure either. That sent me into this mad depression so I stopped touring and doing my own music. I started writing for other artists instead.
Then I dunno, I guess I just somehow came to terms with it and got my confidence back and sorry to be a cliche, but I went through this breakup and I just felt the need to write about my life again. I needed to write exactly what I wanted, so that’s how ‘Almost Angels’ (and all this new music I’m sitting on) came about.
Who are you signed with now?
I’m not signed to anyone babe! No label, no manager, no money (laughs). D.I.Y innit!
And now you’re back with ‘Almost Angels.’ Who you been working with? How has it been getting back in the studio?
‘Almost Angels’ is the first record I wrote in this new era. It was straight after a break-up. I was quite out of control before, depressed, drinking too much. And I just had to put pen to paper to get over all the shit I’d been through. It was cathartic. ‘Almost Angels’ is about being on the edge of glory, about getting through the fucked up times and getting to that place that feels like heaven. I was listening to this gospel group called Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, who inspired the female backing vocals, and I’d watch Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet like every day, so I knew it had to be cinematic.
And the video is major. Who came up with the concept?
I made the video with a director called Ben Charles Edwards who is a fucking genius. I met him a party a couple of years ago. We got chatting and he showed me some of his work. I made a mental note like, ‘When I come to do a video again, I NEED to work with Ben.’
So I hit him up a couple of years later, sent him a load of music and he was loving ‘Almost Angels’ (which I was so glad about ‘cause that was the first thing I wanted to put out).
I knew it had to be really London and based on my own relationship. The first thing Ben said was ‘Council Estate’ so we were fully on the same page and we got the concept down within ten minutes.
I feel proper blessed to have collaborated with Ben and everyone that worked on this, John Bretherton (cinematographer), Jeffrey Michaels (production design), Danya Gomez Douglas (assistant director) Callum Vincent (stylist) and all the cast, who are all my mates and were amazing. Shoutout to Brandon Lee Henry who played my boy. It’s so cool to have such talented people around me to help me bring my ideas to life. That shoot was just pure vibes!! So happy with how it turned out.
Do you wanna know a jokes story aswell? Well it’s not funny actually but anyways… So on the first day we shot the last scene of the video where I get beaten up by the rival gang. I had prosthetic makeup on (shoutout Lottie Day). Anyways we forgot to bring wet wipes so everyone went to the pub after and I’m rolling around with my face looking all mash up and everyone’s asking what happened. I go to the shop and get some wet wipes and it’s Mother’s Day coming up so I get some flowers for my Mum. We all went out raving – in Angel of all places (Almost Angels, Angel – see the symmetry).
Anyways we’re coming out the club and some dickhead grabs my mums flowers and legs it down the road so I chase after him and get my flowers back but he turns round calls me a ‘gay cunt’ and boxes me round the head, I fall back, smash my head into the railings – I couldn’t get up for a good ten minutes (laughs).
It coulda been way worse but I was so pissed off because I had to shoot the earlier scenes, where my face isn’t battered, over the next couple of days. Anyways it didn’t turn out that bad and Lottie the makeup artist was a don when it came to covering the bruises. We was laughing the next day like I channelled that shit so hard I made it happen. It’s mad innit though, just reminded me that I was doing the right thing making this video.
Vince Kidd in Loverboy Issue #1. Available to buy here.
Photography: Nik Pate
It’s so great to see a gay relationship front and centre. Do you think mainstream audiences are becoming more understanding?
When I first came on the scene, record labels would be feeling my music but back out of a deal and say (never directly to my face, only to my manager), ‘he’s gay, so people won’t buy into him’ which to me was just stupid. The 80s was full of gay artists who were flamboyant and fabulous as fuck, so why had it regressed?
Anyways now some of the most mainstream musicians are gay! So yeah people are definitely more understanding. Especially the youth of today I think they’re so smart and open minded. People that have been shocked by my video are the older generation, even then a lot of them get it still… But the kids, they just fully get it, they relate. It ain’t shocking to them.
I think kids are bored of seeing gay people represented or stereotyped in the same way in mainstream media as either the gay best friend or dancing around with glitter on their face. Of course there is nothing wrong with either but come on!! I remember Chris Moyles talking about me on the radio saying that he didn’t like me cause I was gay but ‘ghetto’. What, like the two can’t mix? And what does he even mean by that? Is he talking about my accent? I’m from South London. But on a real, how can he be saying something like that whilst being on the most listened to show on the radio? He was basically saying a gay person has to behave a certain way for him to accept them? Don’t worry Chris, I won’t be put in a box for you to get it. I can be whatever I wanna be, and anyways your slot got taken by a gay. (Sips tea)
What’s next for you?
Since dropping new music, the phone has been ringing again. I don’t wanna say too much cause you never know what’s gonna happen, but I’m off to LA for the next couple of months. Expect more online content, more music and videos this year and an album next year.
