Fear Is A Woman’s Best Friend: Q & A with Deerfrance

Deerfrance © 2001 Punk Magazine

Popshifter: As an artist, what is your manifesto or mission?

Deerfrance: I paint and write books and do video and TV and things for bands. I have always related through music. I talk too fast for the average Joe and have a very strong NY accent so singing has always been better for me. I taught myself piano on an old upright in a friend’s garage. I got my first guitar at 11 and figured out songs ’til I was 12 when the school system took me from my family home and into a Greek family. That’s when the lights started flashing and they haven’t stopped yet. In the early 70s when I saw Television with Tom Verlaine, it sent me to electric guitar land and I have stayed there.

I have been very lucky to meet and know all the people who have inspired me, including Captain Beefheart and Aretha Franklin. As an urchin on the streets of NY and San Francisco I got to crash and hang with the best of them. True artists are generous with their spirits. The big boys on the top can be very rough just like on any playing field.

One day, David Bowie sat me down for a chat backstage; we had just played Carnegie Hall and it was my birthday. He told me to always be true to myself (in a nutshell). We all got back on the planes and hit Chicago next. After our gig I ran over to where Bowie was playing. He came out in that red wig and long dress singing “Fashion.” My wee mind was blown. Just the night before he had been the Thin White Duke advising me. Actions scream louder than words. A very freeing moment; he smiled so cheekily.

If you are lucky enough to draw the art straw. . . well, they say anyone can learn to be a doctor but you cannot learn to be an artist. Yet these days schools are filled with classes on managers and networking as if it really is just a business. I hope that this economic disaster clears out all the yuppies from the lower east side and Soho and artists can strive forward again. It is sad to see a city as great as NY without an art base due to economics. Out of bad comes good, I sit waiting to pounce, kiss. . .

My manifesto is to take no prisoners. You asked about John. He really never left a performance without rearranging the audience’s chromosomes, never. All life must be lived that way. There is an expression in France about being serious. Really, if you are not serious, what are you, kidding?

A very special thanks to Deerfrance for her contribution to this article.

Additional Resources:

Her television show can be viewed at this website. I suggest the readers check it out.

Deerfrance also has a YouTube channel, which can be found here.

This article’s title inspired by lyrics of the John Cale song, “Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend”; all lyrics © John Cale unless stated otherwise (© Garnant Music, © John Cale Music BMI).

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