The Cliks Challenge Gender With the New York Dolls

Posted on Jun 6th 2009 10:00AM by Denise Sheppard
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Although Cliks frontman Lucas Silveira was only three years old when the New York Dolls broke up (circa 1975), the two groups have more than a few similarities between them. The Dolls were one of the first rock bands to play with androgyny on and off stage. That said, even though their gender play was always evident, the main focus and appeal of the seminal Seventies band remained squarely centered on the music itself.

Sitting down to talk on the final date of the Dolls' West Coast tour, the Cliks frontman is clearly a bit of a groundbreaker in his own right. While their infectious blues- and soul-affected rock is the key to their success -- gaining not just praise but opening tour slots from the likes of the Cult and the True Colors human rights concert series -- the band is breaking new ground as the first-ever group signed to a major label that features a transgendered singer.

Born female, Lucas Silveira has lived as -- and transitioned to -- the male gender, and his openness both onstage as well as in interviews has proved to be both refreshing and inspiring. The Cliks' brand-new sophomore CD 'Dirty King,' out June 23, has taken that openness up another level entirely, as the cover shot features frontman Lucas as a beaten-down boxer in a ring alongside his bandmates, with black eyes, bruised ribs and a set of wounds that didn't come out of a Hollywood makeup kit: scars from recent top (aka breast removal) surgery. The singer says that the image was a natural match, designed to illustrate some of the darkness that came from making this new CD.

"To me, it was about exposing vulnerability," Silveria tells Spinner. "That's the intention behind it. This album has some places that are really dark and vulnerable. I felt a lot of hurt and really exposed as a human being in places that I never, ever would've thought. That is me taking a few punches."

As far as their recent tour is concerned, Silveira has said that performing as the opening act for some of his musical heroes has been a dream come true. "The Cult were amazing; Ian Astbury is a big supporter of the band and the entire group was phenomenal to us," he says. "The audiences were amazing, I think we gained a lot of fans on that tour." As for the recent string of dates with the New York Dolls, Silveira admits that their stamina is perhaps the most impressive of all. "They broke up in '75?!' laughs Silveira. "I was three years old!" When I was a babe in the woods, I knew of them and their influence on music. It is amazing to be on tour with people who are androgyny f---ers themselves."

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