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Levi Kreis Knows Where He Belongs |
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Tuesday, 14 April 2009
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Levi Kreis is in a happy place, and he wants the world to know about it. The confidence and upbeat attitude found throughout the 12 tracks on Levi’s new album, Where I Belong, are a stark turn from the emotional honesty and heavy nature of his last CD, The Gospel According To Levi, which largely explored his personal struggles between religion and sexuality. “While it was a huge help to a lot of kids who came up to me and said they now had the strength to come out or didn’t want to commit suicide, it was a very important album for me to do. But it’s so nice to have gotten that off my chest, let all the pain go, erased all the chips on my shoulder and come to a place of celebration with myself.”
And he certainly has plenty to celebrate nowadays. Aside from his newest collection of songs out this month, Levi has been splitting his time between L.A. and Chicago, where he has been turning out a critically lauded performance as Jerry Lee Lewis in the stage show The Million Dollar Quartet.
It’s a long ways from his Southern Baptist upbringing in Tennessee as a self-described “little kid evangelist.” While Levi may have the church to thank for teaching him how to sing gospel and belt with soul, it was also the church that caused years of self-loathing. After going so far as to enroll himself in a church ex-gay program, Levi eventually leapt out of the church closet of Nashville into the entertainment closet of L.A.
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“I was immediately getting response from major labels...yet somehow it was made clear to me that [being gay] could not be a part of the equation. In their executive minds, it just doesn’t work for the heartthrob to be gay, because how could the high school girls want to buy you?” says Levi. “But I wasn’t going through that again. I’ve gone through it so many different ways, courted by eight different major labels. Why can’t I just say these things the way I want to say it and take them to my community?”
And so he did. Creating his debut album solely on his own, Levi managed not only to write and produce 10 beautiful tracks, but also land himself airplay and licensing opportunities.
Two albums and a lot of musical therapy later, Levi finds himself in a much different musical environment, one he sees as more accepting of GLBT artists and one in which said artists can have more control over their art.
“At the end of the day, our stories are stories. We all share the same hurt, the same pain, the same life experience,” he says. “I think that’s a huge feat when gay artists decide to make music that appeals to a mainstream audience. Can you speak to them and us? Many gay artists are [doing so] now, and I’ve learned I can, too.”
Where I Belong is available May 5. Visit levikreis.com
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