Matt Fishel: The Proud Queer Rocker

Eight singles later and British singer, songwriter and recording artist Matt Fishel is finally releasing his new album. “Tales of Queer Suburbia,” Fishel’s third album, due out just in time for Pride, has had a steady drip of singles teasing the album for over a year.

Unlike singer-songwriters backed by major labels, as an independent artist who believes in “presenting top quality work,” he says it’s not really by design; it’s about practicality and time.

“I do this all myself — I don’t have a big team. I don’t have a lot of help. So, I’m actually not able to move as fast as I’d like to,” he shares, before adding that industry and algorithm changes also make it harder for independent artists to find their audience.

Now, with over half the album already released, Fishel believes there are still a few treats in store.

“The aim with this album, when I set out to do it, was to try and make 13 songs that sat together as a collection, but where none of them really sounded exactly the same,” he says. “So, whilst lyrically and production-wise in terms of the kind of harmonies I use and the melodies, it’s like a collection, there’s quite a few surprises.”

“Tales of Queer Suburbia” features retro throwback influences from the ’80s and ’90s, music that Fishel grew up listening to. Listeners can hear the sounds of power ballads and rock melodies from the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Cher or Pat Benatar. But the lyrics and perspective take on a deeper meaning with Fishel’s lens applied.

Songs on this album run the gamut from sad and reflective to joyful and triumphant. Some even get political, referencing a provision of the 1988 Local Government Act in the UK under Margaret Thatcher.

“[Clause 28] basically made it illegal for schools and public services to promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle,” Fishel says. “So, an entire generation of people, myself included, went to school in a place where it was illegal to be able to be told that it’s okay to be gay, or even that there are gay people that exist.”

He continues, “A lot of it is me looking back as a confident, proud, open gay man now on what it was like to be quite repressed many years ago. And also, there’s a lot of really fun, positive songs on this album about life now as a gay man, and the different experiences that I’m having in the world now that I wasn’t able to have 20 years ago, and I’m putting them all into song.”

Being unapologetically queer isn’t new for Fishel. When he first started recording songs, he had to create his own label, Young Lust Records, to release his music after record executives told him to ditch the queer themes.

“I went ahead regardless,” he says. “I’m like, screw that, I’m gonna go and make queer songs, and I’m gonna be very overtly and expressly queer in my work.”

Acknowledging that there are more opportunities for queer people to see themselves reflected in art, Fishel also explains that there is a long way to go.

“I constantly, continually sought queer representation and had to look for hidden meanings behind things or had to secretly hope that what I was watching or listening to was actually a gay person unable to be 100% open, but trying to communicate,” he says. “I don’t want young people to live in a world where they’re seeking queer art in their small towns and they’re unable to find it. So, any small contribution I can make to that is very rewarding for me and very important.”

His message for his younger self, who launched his own record label, is simple: you need resilience and try to shut out negativity.

“I’d say to myself, that you know already in your heart that this is what you have to do; this is your calling.” He adds, “Ignore the constant homophobia, because that’s always gonna be there. Just focus on what you’re doing, focus on bringing joy and positivity and try not to be bogged down by it.”