ROD THOMAS TAKES US THROUGH THE STARRY COLLABORATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS BEHIND HIS EBULLIENT FIFTH ALBUM ENJOY LIFE
JEREMY ALLEN
Q+A
Welsh musician and singer Rod Thomas, aka Bright Light Bright Light, is back with Enjoy Youth, a 90s-inspired, house-infused trip through late adolescence, seen through the prism of experience. The New York-based 41-year-old discusses coming out in the Valleys and relocating Stateside, as well as collaborating with Ultra Naté and finding out he’s funny while lunching with Elton and Lulu...
What’s the significance of the title Enjoy Youth?
The album was inspired by my friend, Janice, who moved to France when she was 15 to be an au pair. We met on an AOL chat room back in the day. I used to visit her while she was staying with this very rich family in Paris. She lived on the top floor, and I remember going past the family one night on the way to a bar, slightly underage. The grandmother asked where we were going and we said to a club. And she went, “Oh, enjoy youth!” It was the funniest thing and she looked so happy. She was so excited for us. For the last 20-something years, that has stuck in my brain, and I thought it was such a fabulous little mantra.
Did you enjoy youth when you were young?
Yeah, it was a mixed bag. It wasn’t a bad youth at all, but coming out in Wales during the 90s was pretty shit. There’s a lot of pressure on people, whether you’re gay or just not the same as everybody else. You just feel like, ‘Oh, I can’t really stay here’. Moving to London was probably when I first started to really see myself as part of real life.
You moved to New York in 2013. Did that have any impact on you creatively?
Definitely. Having a clean slate at the age of 30 was actually lifesaving. I felt like the music industry in London absolutely couldn’t have given less of a fuck about me if they’d tried. I’d spoken to every single A&R, every single publisher, and they just all decided that they didn’t want me there, which was fine. I moved to New York and people were just like, ‘Oh my God, that’s really cool. Come and work on this with me, come and sing on my show, let’s write a song together…’ It was just so different.
Would you say this new album is a nostalgic record?
It’s probably more reverence than nostalgia, if that makes sense. I didn’t want to recreate the 90s because there’s enough people doing that with much bigger bu
