Photo by Lina Lecaro

SSION's Cody Critcheloe has been hailed by everyone from Pitchfork to Vice for his multi-faceted disco-drenched artrock. Not sure it's as deep as the 'Fork cogitates (what is?) but his work is seductive, sardonic, and fervently visual. He was recently in town to show off his cinematic masterpiece, BOY, a project several years in the making threading SSION's colorfully twisted music videos with mock-doc footage ala Madonna's Truth or Dare. Even if you're not down with the flam-BOY-ance of the imagery, the beats -off the band's '08 self-release Fool's Gold– are undeniably fun and infectious in a Scissor Sisters-meets-Fischerspooner kind of way. They've opened for the latter.

Trying to chat with CC at the opening was nearly impossible (boys like him… a lot) so we emailed the artist some burning (literally) questions. His predictably provocative, off-the-wall answers (including the exclusive on his imminent move here) after the jump, plus the film trailer and a clip seen in the installation. See it all in context at Peres Projects thru April 3.

WCS: At the BOY opening you said you were considering moving to LA. If this is true, why and when?

CC: I was staying with Jonny Makeup in the house that Charlie Chaplin once lived in and everyone was freaked out because it's supposedly haunted. But I felt safe because I knew that Charlie was watching over me. In fact, one night while I was really stoned, I felt Charlie come in the bedroom and he was like, “Don't worry Cody, it's cool. We're brothers.” And I was like “Fuck yeah! I love LA. I can't wait to move here.” So now, I have to move to LA.

WCS: You sure made a splash on the LA club scene last week and had BOY's afterparty at A Club Called Rhonda. How do LA clubs compare to K.C. ones?

CC: Rhonda was the most e-mazing party I've ever been to. The energy of that place was totally lethal… in a good way. I was doing so many poppers at one point I felt my head fall off and be tossed around the dance floor. There were so many cute guys there too! LA has the sexiest guys… guys with really black eyes that are just begging to get fucked. I like that.

WCS: Heard you were planning to burn an effigy of a certain former MTV VJ there before it got nixed for fire concerns. Who and why?

CC: Tabitha Soren! I just think Tabitha Soren is a really good example of why the world has went to shit. She was just a total poser! She looked cool and alternative but she was actually a Republican?!?!? Remember how much Kurt and Courtney hated on her? I think this needs to be exposed and I'd like to see kids all across the world burning effigies of Tabitha Soren. I think it would send a pretty strong message to the world that posers are lame. Still though, I'd love to be interviewed by Tabitha Soren or at least go shopping with her. She has e-mazing style!!!!

WCS: What's next for SSION?

CC: After I move to LA, I'd like to make a movie about natural disasters. It would star Tanya Harding and Karen O in a lesbo-renegade relationship similar to Thelma and Louise. I feel like if I was in LA this would be a really easy sell and I would have an enormous budget to work with. The working title is “Shit Out of Luck.” I'm also working on a new pop record that will finally allow me to stop wearing so much make-up.

Check out more on SSION's LA takeover, plus the subversive sex-sirens of the Wrong Show and fetishy freaks of Batcave, in this week's Nightranger column, which might be our naughtiest, most outlandish ever.

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