Some of the best entertainers blur the line between irony and earnest sincerity. Alex Cameron is no different.
Since at least 2013, the Sydney, Australia, native has inhabited the persona of a failed entertainer pursuing strippers, single mothers and online romance. But his brand of entertainment isn't a matter of pure satirical comedy -- he's trying to be as honest as he can be and in the most tragic of ways.
"If you're seeing irony in my act or lyrics that's totally up to you. I'm trying to be as honest as I can be.... I cling to that. There's something to be said for that [spiritual honesty].... I'm staying true to the narrative, maybe like a universal perspective that can be related to from multiple angles," Cameron told me over the phone last week.
That masked honesty -- "True Lies," if you will -- has attracted the likes of Foxygen's Jonathan Rado, Angel Olsen and the Killers' Brandon Flowers, all of whom collaborated with Cameron on his last album, "Forced Witness."
"I met Rado in a nightclub in France; we were playing together on the bill and he watched my set and left a letter in my backpack saying, 'Come on the road'.... I met Angel on the road, and we just became pen pals," Cameron said.
While those high profile partnerships have given a lot of visibility to Cameron's work, his most important partnership comes in the form of his longtime saxophonist and business partner Roy Molloy.
"We've known each other since we were about five years old. Six years ago, I played him demos, and he said, 'I'm in,'" Cameron explained.
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"We decided to split everything 50/50. We share a bank account; it's all in there. Roy does a lot of longform writing.... He helps artists with bios, writes short stories and scripts.... The next couple of years you'll see a lot of what he's been working on; it just takes time," he added.
Rutger Ansley Rosenborg has been with NBC SoundDiego since 2016. Find out more here.
