William Beckett, former frontman of The Academy Is…, spoke with Hypable about his new record Genuine and Counterfeit and his journey so far as a solo act, as well as delving into a few details about the past.
William Beckett – once the frontman of now-defunct Chicago emo/scenekid darlings The Academy Is… and currently touring under his own name as a solo artist – is a fanboy.
With nerd chic constantly on the rise, more and more “civilians” find themselves sucked into media that, once upon a time, was beloved only by those deeply embedded in fandom culture. Since geeks make the most dedicated fans, many celebrities nowadays will pick up a few buzzwords in an attempt to pander, but not William Beckett – he’s the real deal.
He’s so enamored with Game of Thrones – the show and the books – that he wears a Hand of the King brooch nearly every day and will discuss his love for the Lannisters with anyone who’ll listen. He has a Pottermore account, he uses Hedwig’s Theme as his onstage intro music, and he’s made tour merchandise featuring his own face as the Ministry of Magic’s Undesirable Number One. As he fiddles with his guitar to warm up his fingers, he picks out melodies from Phantom of the Opera, a lifelong obsession, and when challenged with the potential superiority of rival Broadway classic Les Miserables, he fires back with defenses that end up flowing over from our chat into the night’s performance in Newcastle, Australia, where he brings up the topic with the crowd.
Above all, Beckett understands what it is to be a fan. He knows how to love something – to really, truly love it, without restraint or stigma, and it’s this quality that’s helped shape his success as he makes the transition from frontman of a beloved band to solo act in the wake of The Academy’s break-up.
This fall tour mirrors Beckett’s last Australian visit in a strange diptych – supporting Floridian rockers Anberlin at many of the same venues they played in 2009. However, the stage act that Beckett now presents couldn’t be more different. The Academy Is… allowed Beckett, who was then reminiscent of a young Jim Morrison, the opportunity to be the most energetic of frontmen, using his long limbs, wild hair and yards of extra microphone cord to create a small, elegant tornado amidst his four bandmates. Today, he adopts a more mature look – the short-back-and-sides wet-combed hairstyle, the dress shirt and vest, the brogues – and he’s completely at home wielding his acoustic guitar, leaning on the microphone stand and trading quips with his audience. This is the new William Beckett, and he’s reveling in it.
William Beckett speaks to Hypable. Photo credit: Hypable
Hypable spoke with William Beckett about his journey so far as a solo artist, the implosion of The Academy Is…, his new record Genuine and Counterfeit, his families – both his Decaydance one and his own flesh and blood, and the unique relationship he’s formed with his fandom.
Hypable: To start off with what I see sitting here in front of me: how did you go about creating your solo act? Comparing your onstage persona with The Academy Is… to what you do now, that’s a pretty big divide. How do you figure out what you’re comfortable with – do you ever feel trapped behind the guitar now, or did you ever feel too exposed before?
William Beckett: I don’t think about it either way. Naturally I can’t go too crazy when I’m singing the whole time essentially, and I’m playing as well, so it’s just two different shows. I don’t think one is more genuine than the other. I’m able to be myself more, I think, in certain ways, being solo and being able to talk about whatever I want, interact with the crowd however I want. When you’re with a band it’s a little different – it’s not that way. You sort of have to stick to the script a little bit, which isn’t disingenuous, but from a performing standpoint obviously the running around and mic flips and throwing the mic stand around is fun. When I play with a full band I think that those things will naturally come out. But right now, it’s nice to just kind of show people a different side that they haven’t seen.
Hypable: You’ve also gone through a few image changes. How different do you now feel from the way you presented yourself when you started touring with TAI? Obviously you’ve gone back to wearing your trademark knee scarf, which has a personal history for you, and you’ve gone from flared jeans and long hair through leather jackets and boots to what we see today. Is it just personal style preference, or do you calculate your image?
WB: I think it’s personal style preference – I mean, in some ways it’s been a mash between the two. I brought the knee scarf back because it was never my choice to stop wearing it in the first place. That was a product of band politics, which sounds so ridiculous, like the lowest form of minutiae. Because in the grand scheme it shouldn’t mean anything, but in a lot of ways it did – what it symbolized, and that I just wanted to do it and have something that was different. And I liked wearing it, and then we made our second record and we wanted to be more “rock’n roll.”
William Beckett – 2006 and 2013. Photo credit: Kelly Swift/Ryan Russell
Hypable: How much thought went into that kind of thing back then? Like, “this is the way we want to market ourselves?”
WB: I, personally, never thought like that. Ever. In the one record that we did try [2007’s Santi] – I feel like whenever I thought that way it yielded a result that looks made up. It looks like we’re wearing costumes. So for me it’s just – I wear what I wear. Like this is how I go out. This is how I hang out at home. I don’t really think about my image in a way of fashioning it and tailoring it into what I think is going to be cool or popular. I just wear what I wear and that’s how I’ve always been.
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