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In a world that doesn’t make sense, Glace Chase is here to help us through. Garrett Bithell sat down with the man behind the iconoclast, Rick Viede.
‘Rick Viede’s creation of the coked-up, faux-glamourous iconoclast Glace Chase embodies all the things wrong with today’s media culture.’
So said Inpress magazine, and it’s hard not to agree with that statement. But according to Rick, the ignominious genesis of ex-child star and peace activist Glace Chase was somewhat inevitable.
“Growing up, Rocky Horror and all of those iconic, trashy, semi-transgendered performances were always what I related to the most,” he tells SX. “So I always knew I wanted to do something like that. I began working with this ex-child star motif, and it just developed from there.”
Developed, indeed. As Rick admits, Glace Chase has in fact grown into a bit of a monster.
“A lot of people call me Glace now,” he says. “I’m known a lot more on the scene as Glace, so it’s definitely an alter-ego. It’s a bit of social armour too – he can do what I can’t do, which is why there’s this huge freedom in the character and why people relate. People always say ‘thank you for getting up there and saying it’, and I feel that release too.
“I find Glace has always been like my friend or counsellor – someone I can run to and console myself in because he’s so fucked up.”
Returning from two successful seasons at The Butterfly Club in Melbourne and Mardi Gras’ Festival Bar, Rick is returning to Will & Toby’s this weekend for i am glace chase. And it appears a loyal fan base is beginning to mount.
“Seeing the character start to take shape in people’s eyes and feeling that people are actually starting to get a sense of him now is really exciting,” he says. “I’m such a dry performer, so it almost takes people a couple of times to get the joke.”
According to Rick, it is Glace’s sheer irreverence that queer audiences identify with and appreciate.
“I used to write really depressing, dark shit,” he muses. “Then this comic book mentality started and these larger-than-life, often very painful, but really unique and strong, characters began coming out – which I why I think queers relate. It’s this defiant, individualist ‘I’m here’. I think there’s something really powerful about saying, ‘this is who I am and it might not click with anyone out there but it’s just individual, it’s just me’.”
But it’s not just the queers Glace is attracting. “It’s getting pretty mixed,” Rick says. “Initially we thought we’d only get the gays but it’s almost like Glace is so fucked up that even a lot of gays don’t like it. You just have to be a bit left-of-centre.”
To be sure, the material in i am glace chase is confronting. It tells the story of twenty-something Glace, who has suffered an unfortunate run of luck since the cancellation of his hit sitcom ‘Boy Knows How To Do It’ in the late ’80s. Part cabaret, part motivational lecture, part trash, Glace may be barely standing but he’s determined to save the world!
“I’ve been having such a fun time looking at Glace’s journey and the idea of him saving the world, and just how he would do that,” Rick laughs. “Really sitting down and pondering that quite seriously!
“He’s such a trash bag. He’s been to Iraq and he’s supported the troops there – my favourite thing I’ve been teasing out lately is the idea of him losing loved ones in every terrorist attack. It’s so wrong but it’s so funny!”
Glace is backed by his ‘sole-person’ band The Management (Jeremy Brennan), with the show weaving warped covers with horrifying original songs, “one of which is called ‘Paedolicious’, which is about being so hot that paedophiles want to fuck you.
We’ve actually had to stretch that one out because everyone was so shocked and traumatised.” Other tunes include a Lou Reed-inspired epic, ‘My Agent, My Man’, and a song especially for Bindi Irwin, ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’.
Regardless, Rick has proved to be a born entertainer. He has a long history as a writer and performer, and is currently an affiliate playwright for Griffin
Theatre Company and has had two plays developed by Riverside Theatres. He has appeared as the lead in the films Crazy Richard and Stray, and most recently penned The Beat, which stars Glace as a bigoted cop and was part of this year’s Queer Screen festival.
Rick is now priming himself for the next step in Glace’s shady career – giving advice to unwitting, troubled individuals in a column on local queer website www.samesame.com.au.
“We’re asking people to write in their problems because Glace will give you real advice,” Rick deadpans. “They will get a real hearing. Glace will solve them!”
i am glace chase, The Supper Club at Will & Toby’s (Level 1, 134 Oxford Street) this Sunday, April 13. Tickets $15 from www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 438 849, $20 at the door. For more information on Glace, visit www.myspace.com/glacechase.
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