6 hands are better than 2
Originally uploaded by immi.
Welcome home Discovery! Glad you made it back safe and sound. Here's to MORE journey's into space coz the more you do the quicker people like us get to go there!! Oh yeah baby...that's what I'M talking 'bout.
Sooooo! what's been happening in the land of Heap since itunes no longer says "Did you mean Images Head?" when you type in Imogen Heap. Who or what is Images Head any way? you may ask...and i don't know. Anyway...
So...who's heard Hide and Seek on the radio in the UK!? I have!!! Big thanks to, Jo whiley, Zane Lowe, Scott Mills, Eddy Temple-Morris, Tom Robisnon, Annie Mac and Mike Davies. You guys RAWK! The single has been getting soo much unexpected love and attention from the giant that is radio 1 i hardly know what to do with my glee. I have never listened to radio 1 so much in a week! I got a kick everytime it was played and then someone would text in with their compulsive remarks. They ranged from "I had to pull the car over it's soo beautiful!" to "Imogen heap of crap" (that takes me back a few years!) "she sounds like Dido V Darth Vader". I really laughed at that one. Total 50/50. You love it or you hate it it seems. A real Marmite track. I'd rather that than indifference ANY day! I loved that it was Scott Mills' record of the week too, who LOVES the song and said "it's mesmerizing at it made you sit up and listen" and Chappers (who is part of the Mills' team and also sports commentator) absolutely hated it with a vengeance but had to sit through it the whole week, moaning. Of course i side with Scott ;)
Because of this very pleeeasing response i'm going to be physically releasing the single 19th Sept. Thinking formats...thinking limited release...thinking something special. Maybe some little 7" vinyls. So been working on getting some B-sidey ideas. I was thinking, seen as Hide and Seek is kinda a cappella i could do an instrumental to complement it. That'll be quite a challenge to NOT use my voice i tell you! A lot of sounds on the album you may think are strings or drums are in fact byproducts of my voice in some form or another. Not all of them obviously though...i'm clever but not that clever! Haha..erm yes so where was I? Oh yes...me...
NO not me....More importantly AGGIE (left of me in photo at the top) and RACHELLE! (right of me). So incase you don't know who these ladies are Aggie won the competition about a month ago and Rachelle is her mate she bought along with her. Aggie won by sending an email with this in it to as many peeps as possible (she wan't spamming coz we have ways and means of checking and caught a few other people out trying their chances with spam mails to beef up their numbers) If you don't already know what the top prize was it was this.
Flights for you and a mate to London (return obviously) from wherever the winner was in the world.
3 nights in an apartment in London. After weeks of looking for somewhere central with a view and kinda fun i found this place on Bow lane. Paid for, of course.
On the day you get here i pop over and cook you dinner then play a few songs on the old Joanna for ya.
Fistfull of asparagus
Originally uploaded by immi.
I'm not too into my outfit. I look like i'm donning a tent and it's all a bit beige.
If you'd like to know what went on why not have a look at the journals they've written about their visit here Thanks guys! Saved me a whole lot of letters!
I'll just add that i had a really great time with them and couldn't have hoped for a nicer couple of people to give the prize to. They've promised me dinner in Toronto so they haven't seen the last of me yet! They even braved a night at my favorite restaurant. the Okonomiyaki house on their last night with me! They gave me lots of gifts too which was really sweet of them. The cutest most definitely being Derek...the Canadian moose (to the right of Rachelle!). The sweetest was Aggie playing me a piano piece she has composed for me as a thankyou! I reeeeaaally enjoyed that. Thank you!!! People don't often play the piano to me. it was a really nice touch. I have been keeping clean with Rachell's mums home made soaps (my boyfriend appreciates this) and drinking many shots of tequila from Aggie's Toronto shot glass! hiccup... and am keeping this candle below to go on tour with me.....
Rachelle's mum's homemade candle
Originally uploaded by immi.
which brings me seamlessly to my next hot topic of conversation. The Hotel Cafe tour. There's also a myspace page about it too with tour dates. So this may in some small way make up for the Tori dates i didn't do. Now i'm not doing the whole tour...most of the acts on the website are only doing part of the tour though people like me are doing most of it. I am not going to make the first 10 days or so though and i'm going to join the show on the 19th Sept in NY at the bowery. Really sorry for those of you who live near the dates i'm not doing. My singles being released over here the 19th and i'd like to be around here to promote it a little beforehand. So it's for a nice reason but i guess that doesn't make you feel any better. Be safe in the knowledge that this is just the first of MANY returns to the states and soon elsewhere in the world hopefully...and our beloved UK! (i've not forgotten you). This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. Four or five artists at any one time in a bus, plus the house band (if we want to use them) and the crew all together traveling across the states. It's all very stripped down up close and personal. I'm really looking forward to it. Got shed loads to get ready for it though! It may be stripped down but it's amazing what you can come out of a suitcase these days! I will let you know more about this when i do. Will Definitely have singed this darned US licensing deal by then! CRIKEY...it's amazing how long these things take!
Something rather interesting has come up...can't talk to much about it coz it's all hush hush and all but Megaphonic Records (my label) has been offered a label deal by a BIG assed record company with SHED loads of cash they want to give me to spend on this album in the UK. Something i had not foreseen. Well not like THIS one anyway! It really is rather interesting. Secretly EXTREMELY interested. This is totally different from everything i've been running a mile from. I have i'm sure blurted too much. But there we go. Just to fill you in. There are obviously some things i have to give up on...mainly...money from albums not going directly into my bank account after all loans paid off and things but...still....very...you know...interesting..ja?
What else...i have been getting out and about a bit too. Have bumped into three ibabblers (not including Aggie and Rachelle) in the past couple of weeks. Hi you guys. 2 were at the Jon Hopkins gig i went to in SE1 and another at HMV who turned out to be listening to my new album on his ipod too. Immi in your head in your face. Nice...
Jon Hopkins
Originally uploaded by immi.
i also went to my old pals Jeff and now Sandra (beck)'s wedding party the other day. Great fun. Richie and I camped out in their back yard. Rock and roll. Went to sleep with ducks padding around outside our tent then running into the lake (the ducks not us). I got up and played a couple of songs at their request (the happy couple not the ducks). gave Paul McCartney a CD as you do...you know me...me with the rich and famous! haha...That really was pretty amazing. He asked me to sign it and that he really loved what i played. Crazy or what? Sorry to state the bloomin' obvious but that man was in THE BEATLES! My mum was there also, coz she lives nearby and they love her too (the ducks...no Jeff and Sandra)...she couldn't believe her eyes! I think i spotted her rubbing shoulders with him later on too! What fun we had...how we laughed...
Anyway...onto....Crustless bread went on sale in the UK yesterday after two years in development! Apparently 35% of all mums who make sandwiches for their kids cut the crusts of and this wastes a shed load of bread...I personally like a nice crusty crust. So there you go. Now you know.
xx
love and all the good stuff
more soon....
immi
Labels: imogenheap
