Tea & Sympathy with Billie Myers

Full disclosure: Billie Myers and I are friends. Good friends.

One night about a year and a half ago at singer-songwriter Darren Hayes's Los Angeles concert (he of Savage Garden fame, who went solo, came out, and cemented his status as a gay icon), a "fan" got a bit riled up -- i.e. drunk -- and began shouting things at the stage.

This is before Hayes had even started singing.

Hayes finally took to the stage, the crowd went wild, and this drunk guy started calling people on his cell phone, screaming at people in the room, and shouting for "more drinks" across the crowded club.

I have a low tolerance for people who won't shut up when someone is singing. Just as I was about to lean forward and ask the guy to keep quiet, this statuesque woman with a mop of golden locks leaned forward and said as politely as she could muster in that oh-so-melodic British accent, "Pardon me, but could you please shut up," or something to that effect. Sometimes I add the word fuck to that quote, but in all honesty, I don't remember exactly what she said -- I just know that the guy got up and left and I asked this woman to sit down.

We listened, we laughed, she invited me and my friend backstage with her to meet Darren after the show. How did she know him? They'd toured together.

Billie Myers of "Kiss the Rain" fame is how she's best known to her fans, but I know Billie Myers as my saucy, loud, and opinionated but kind-to-a-fault friend.

And I am thrilled that after a seven-year hiatus (one imposed by a shape-shifting music industry) she's back with a new album of songs.

Check out Advocate.com's exclusive video interview with Billie. In the days to come, we'll bring you footage of Billie in the studio, singing "Kiss the Rain," her new single "I Hope You're Happy Now," and other songs from her new album, Tea & Sympathy, which is available for purchase now at BillieMyers.com.