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Talkhouse

Welsh-born, New York City-based artist Rod Thomas makes music as Bright Light Bright Light, creating pop music influenced heavily by cinema, with nods to the ’80s and ’90s, his formative decades (the moniker Bright Light Bright Light is a line from Gremlins), in its colorful, effervescent presentation. He has released four studio albums including the 2020 #1 UK Dance Album Fun City, which focused on the LGBTQ+ experience and featured such guest vocalists as Sam Sparro, Andy Bell of Erasure, Madonna collaborators Niki Haris and Donna De Lory, and Justin Vivian Bond, and 2016&#8217;s Choreography, which featured three songs with Elton John, all Scissor Sisters members and Grammy-nominated Mykal Kilgore. He’s also a celebrated DJ who runs the Time Out NY Recommended party &#8216;Romy &amp; Michele&#8217;s Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance,&#8217; based on one of his favorite films, and an in-demand remixer who’s worked for Jewel, Erasure, Loren Allred, Dannii Minogue, Drag Race stars Jujubee and Katya among many others. He runs his own label, YSKWN!, which also acts as an umbrella connecting and amplifying LGBTQ+ voices in the arts and local businesses. (Photo by Warren Giddarie.)

Rod Thomas

Film

Blood and Black Lace: A Cut Above the Rest in the Lurid World of Giallo

Bright Light Bright Light has been a staple of the international LGBTQ+ music scene for over ten years, having released three prior albums and touring as both a solo artist and as support alongside pop royalty like Elton John, Cher, Erasure, Ellie Goulding, and Scissor Sisters. He also collaborated with Elton on his 2016 banger “All In The Name” which he also performed with the music legend on The Graham Norton Show.
His new album Fun City is out September 18 on his own label YSKWN!, in partnership with Megaforce Records and The Orchard, and it will serve as not only a stellar collection of expertly crafted &#8217;80s-inspired dance-pop, but also as a musical love letter to the LGBTQ+ community. The album boasts a veritable “who’s who” of LGBTQ+ major-players and allies who serve as collaborators, including (in alphabetical order by first name) Andy Bell (of Erasure), Big Dipper, Brendan MacLean, Caveboy, The Illustrious Blacks, Initial Talk, Jake Shears, Justin Vivian Bond, KAYE, Mark Gatiss, Niki Haris &amp; Donna De Lory, and Sam Sparro.
For the past four years he has curated, hosted and served as the DJ for regular afternoon dance parties (which he affectionately calls the “Romy &amp; Michele&#8217;s Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance”) at Manhattan’s Club Cumming and Brooklyn’s C’Mon Everybody. Aside from using his music as a powerful platform for equality, he has also actively fundraised for The Trevor Project, Ali Forney Center, Hetrick-Martin Institute, ACLU, and Elton John AIDS Foundation over the years.
(Photo Credit: Warren Piece)

Bright Light Bright Light

Music

In Conversation with Jake Shears and Rod Thomas