Beth Ditto: I didnt want my book to be like a Paris Hilton story
Rumbling basslines and a fierce vocal blaze through the darkness in Pariss Parc de la Villette. The source of this commotion is rock venue Le Znith, where US indie-dance-punk trio Gossip are headlining a packed gig, playing from their latest album, A Joyful Noise, and older classics. Frontwoman Beth Ditto commands the stage, simultaneously a soul diva, riot grrrl and Southern belle, ribbing long-time bandmates Nathan Howdeshell (guitar/keys) and Hannah Blilie (drums).
If Gossip are a political pop group, then 31-year-old Ditto is their righteous figurehead, praised (and sometimes slated) as a feminist/fat/lesbian/fashionista icon. When the band climax with their 2006 breakthrough anthem, Standing In The Way Of Control, Le Znith erupts. Its the eve of the US elections and the songs cry for gay rights strikes a mighty chord.
Ditto adds lines inspired by Nina Simone: You dont have to live next door to me/Just give me my equality.
A few hours earlier, the mood is calmer but still expectant. Ive arrived at a Paris hotel to talk to Ditto, not about her music but her newly published autobiography, Coal To Diamonds. She approves of the location because its a fancy branch of a familiar chain and also, they do American breakfasts.
It makes sense that a touring rock star appreciates her home comforts. Though it has to be said that comfort barely features in Coal To Diamonds, with its depiction of a poverty-stricken and abuse-ravaged Arkansas upbringing. Theres incredible bleakness yet also vitality, bright absurdist humour and a tribute to loved ones and youth culture. Somehow, its more like an anti-High School Musical than misery memoir.
Coal To Diamonds, which takes its title from a Gossip song, is also, Ditto guesses, not the book she was originally approached to write four years ago. The book is really hard for me to talk about and not because of the abuse, she admits. I think people really wanted it to be about partying and meeting Kate Moss ! and Karl Lagerfeld. I dont feel famous and I didnt want my autobiography to be like a Paris Hilton story. I wanted a metaphor for a mindset and coal can be as powerful as diamonds.
Ditto has always been a bold show-stopper and a candid commentator but she admits she had nightmares about the books publication: I have such a big family and you just never know how theyre gonna take it.
The Ditto clans reaction has seemed wryly stoical, including Beths beloved older sister, Akasha, and their mother, Velmyra, whose own abuse experiences form some of the books most traumatic scenes. Ditto remains warily protective here. I ripped the Band-Aid off. I interviewed my mom to make sure I had the details about her childhood right and that she was OK with things, she says.
Shes super-smart and spiritual and I think her childhood was such hell, shes finally getting an adulthood she deserves. I did this book and I bought her a house. She grins, ruefully: The irony
Coal To Diamonds charts Dittos formative years, leaving home, lodging with her fledgling band in a carny punk house in Olympia, Washington, touring internationally and all the while remaining an Arkansas spirit. Her collaborator, Michelle Tea (the queer writer of our time), has helped the book retain her distinctive sweet-and-salty twang and Ditto hasnt lost it in person either.
I could never work it in the city, she says. I love London, I still have a room there, but I dont know how to ride the Tube. Its just overwhelming. And every time we play a big show, Im like: How many times could you fit my home town in here? She pauses to pick something off her dress: Thats a cat hair from my own house. A little piece of home right there.
There are further factors that keep this travelling gal rooted nowa- days not least her fiance, Kristen Ogata, with whom she settled after a long relationship with transgender partner Freddie Fagula (the romance is detailed in Coal To Diamonds; the break-up isnt). ! The coupl! e have known each other since they were 18 (Ive come to realise that its really important to keep your old friends around you, says Ditto).
Theyre planning a super-traditional wedding next summer and, after that, a family. We have an agreement that shell be the primary caretaker and Ill be the primary breadwinner. When we tour, the babies will come with us.
Ditto is wearing an engagement ring and mentions she accidentally scratched the elegant sparkler. I did it while playing spoons, she laughs.
Kitty Wells [1950s country singer] had just died and we stayed up singing songs in her honour. Playing spoons is super-easy I learnt it from Sesame Street when I was five.
As she leaves for that nights gig, country-cosmopolitan Ditto embraces me. You smell like England, she declares, happily. I take this as a surreal compliment Im an Iraqi woman wearing French perfume but in Dittos world, identity is proud and fabulously free.
Coal To Diamonds is published by Simon & Schuster. www.gossipyouth.com
Beth Ditto has created two ranges for Evans (Picture: Evans)
The Life and Styles of Beth Ditto
RABBLE ROUSERS
A teenage Beth Ditto was already a music obsessive from blues and soul to riot grrrl punk when she started Gossip with high-school friend Nathan Howdeshell. Drummer Hannah Blilie joined the young band in 2003.
ON YOUR STREET
Dittos style translated to more accessible young fashion, too, including two acclaimed ranges for high-street plus-sized chain Evans.
IN THE RAW
ON THE CATWALK
A long way from Arkansas Ditto has been embraced by fashion designers including Jean-Paul Gaultier (she modelled his S/S 2011 collection) and supermodel party pal Kate Moss.
DANCING ALONE
In contrast to Gossips rockier roots, Ditto ventured into club culture, guesting with Brit producers Simian Mobile Disco on 2011s Beth Ditto EP. Lead track I Wrote The Book is vogue-inducingly brilliant.