Right then...I've begun the 3rd album (the follow-up to 'Speak For Yourself'). I'm going to write a more frequent blog as I did with the last one so you can keep an eye on me and make sure I'm not slacking! I wonder how it's gonna turn out? How exciting! You're very welcome to comment but please don't ask me questions on here or i'll never get any work done. You can email me with any questions you have and every month we'll pick 20 from the virtual 'hat' and post them. Send your questions to: [email protected]
Much much more to come! Love, fluv x i x Wheeeeee!!!
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Click here and here to see 360s of my cosy studio in London where I wrote and recorded the last album "Speak for Yourself" xxx
hello you lot.... I'm really nervous (though my mum always told me just before piano exams that this was just a form of excitement) of what you're all going to make of the song in it's entirety. I've never given so much of the making of a song away before and was cautious in the beginning for fear it would spoil the surprise but I just can't help myself. I want you all to hear what I'm up to.
Every now and then I pop my head in here and there to see what you guys are saying about the blogs and all. In a place where it's mostly just me and a screen staring at each other, your words egg me on in all the right ways. I feel the want for it but not angry impatience and drumming fingers, so a big thank you for baring with me! I know some of you are beside yourselves with excitement with "not now but soon".
I really hope it pays off with all this build up! This song is a small window into what the album's going to turn out like. I don't even know myself how it's going to end up. This song may not even end up on the album.
In a fortnight my studio will finally be fully wired up and ready to roll. I can't wait to get fully immersed into the depths of the next 10 or 11 songs and treat each one as much as a complete individual as I dare. The studio has taken so much longer, soooooooooo much longer than I thought when I started out building it and now I'm really on a race to get the album completed and out to you by the end of the year. My friend's and family tell me I'll manage it as somehow I always do under pressure....this time I'm forcing myself to believe them as the task seems mountainous from where I stand at it's feet. Setting deadlines does have a habit of getting things finished.
More soon as always and a big thank you again to you all xxx love fluv, immi xxx
Episode 8 of the vBlog has arrived, check out Immi's 'snake light' and hear about her run in with an angry bumble bee, as well all the latest news from the house of Heap!
These 3 snips are part of about 30 mins of me, 1am at Honolulu airport. I found a quiet little space to stretch out (apart from a cleaning lady), check emails etc while I was waiting for my delayed by 2 hour flight to Fiji. I soon began to pass the time away by humming, whistling and typing to the music (the cleaning lady began cleaning further away from me now whilst throwing me funny looks) being played over the speakers, some of it I actually really liked...liking airport music? only in Hawaii.
Somehow I don't think any of these idea will make the album!
I've got so much more to tell you. This place I'm staying in now is just so breathtaking I can't even put it into words! Will update you on this place when i get to Tasmania as the internet connection is too slow here to upload some little clips i've filmed on my phone. YOu won't believe it! xxx i xxx
Love love to you all xxxx immi
p.s. This is what I typed for one of the qwerty jams. Really deep stuff man... mm...
xx xxxx xx x x x
x x x x x x
x x
x x x x x
x x
x x
x x x x x
x x x x n gjgjjgkjgkjgkklksfjgjlkjsdfglkjsdfglkjdsfglkjsdfglkjgas
This is my view! Taken 5 mins before I started this blog (which is probably going to be a couple of hours by the time I finish this blog!). I am having a whale (apparently you can hear them from my "home" sometimes) of a time. This is a very relaxed whale. One that's writing songs, cooking food (ah, the novelty of being in one place long enough to cook, buy groceries), learning Japanese (very very slowly in it's own time) lapping the little pool about 50 times each morning and braving the extreme undulating nature of this island's land mass on my rented bicycle. It's made up entirely of 2 volcanos. So quite hilly. Well, half up half down.
Yes my lovelies, I am in beautiful Maui where I shower with toads, play piano with a little mouse (I'm calling Percy) sniffing at the window and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with the odd lizard. Here's one that seems to enjoy coin collecting. I didn't take this but was trying to find a lizard/gecko for my blog but these ones have decided though not shy they are in the camera dept.
This one here's a Mourning Gecko, though I've seen them at all times of day. Sorry, it's still comic relief day in Hawai, I had to squeeze one bad joke in here somewhere!
While i'm here
Two fish in a tank...One fish says to the other "So how do you drive this thing?"
I'm at the beginning of a 60 day trip to some places I have and some I haven't been to. My studio's in a right mess from a year of touring and taking it apart, London always seems to get me doing things other than those I should (i.e right now, writing the new album) so the week or two before I left I spun my world round a little bit with google earth and zoomed into the place which seemed furthest away from anywhere. It turned out to be Hawaii! Then I Googled, Hawaii, "grand piano" self catering, and eventually found this place I'm in now. My goodness is it cool, hot whatever. Did you know I grew up in round house? Well now you do. I really like being in round spaces and Octagonal spaces come a close 2nd. Well this one's 6 interconnecting octaganol rooms, on a cliff, over looking the sea, with a waterfall about 100 yards away in full view and most importantly a gorgeous grand piano. We are getting along famously. It's been sooooo long since I've been able to play and play and play for hours on end whenever I want!
Here's a couple of pics I took. I love that panoramic feature where you join up 3 images in the phone. A little tricky with perspective to get it right on curve...anyway...here y'are.
For the last album I wrote a blog pretty much everyday for about the last 6 months out of the year it took. Well, it was so useful for me to do it that I'm doing it again. It really kept me on my toes. Funny how you get more done when you're being kept an eye on! So expect regular blogs, through the ups and downs in the making of the new album. I hadn't written ANYTHING for it before 3 days ago. So you are right here at the start. I would have started blogging earlier but I just couldn't keep it in anymore. The 2 songs at the moment are called "Wait it out" (for the movie) and "Pit stop". Completely chalk and cheese and I'm sure you'd expect nothing less.
So I'm here for 2 weeks (5 days in now), then to Taveuni, an island of Fiji, then to Sydney for a night to see a couple of mates before heading down to Tasmania for a couple of weeks. Then.... to Japan. I LOVE that country and have been dying for an excuse to get back there. 5 days in crazy Tokyo then up to Hokkaido for the rest of the fortnight. I'm going to meet Coppe too so very excited about that! I love that girl's music. Then after this...to Hong Kong for a couple of nights, then to Koh Samui, Thailand for a couple of weeks. I'm going to catch up with Milosh and his girl, Yen. He's out there writing his much anticipated new album. Hopefully we'll do a I'll show you mine if you show me yours little play off session. :) I think our Zoe's going to try and get out there too. Then for the last 4 days, i'll be in Bangkok. Phew! I can't bleedin' wait!
I have never been away and done anything like this before. I'm still winding down. I know this coz I've written nearly two songs i love already (one for a movie...but I can't tell you about that yet...mmm....I'll ask him and see if I can...), getting up at the blur of dawn, learning Japanese, emailing like a dog...I haven't really been out the house yet! I kind of feel like I have to earn my keep as it were. Write a couple of good'n's then go and explore. I've got some new friends here. Liam, who's been taking me around a bit, teaching me the odd Hawaiian word and taking me to the grocery store, his boyfriend, Luis (who so far I've only met up a ladder) and Cindy who looks after the place I'm staying in and also takes me into town a bit. We're all going snorkeling at some point too. Gotta be done in Maui. Will fill you in of course.
Goodness me...there's so much that's gone by and I haven't blogged on. That's part of the reason for my non-blogging of late. I started..did about 2 hours and only got about 1 week in! It has been mental.
In very short...(will update as I remember)... in memorological order...
The grammys (I sat 2 seats back from Prince!) Poor James Blunt was behind me and didn't see much past the garden patch of my hair. It really did just seem like a natural extension from the feather mohawk... and of course, the dress. Fantastic Pinar who pulled it together with Jackie in 5 days! Pinar got in touch with me through myspace about 8 months ago. She'd made a dress for me before (that I've worn for pretty much every gig since coz I love it so much) and when i heard I was nominated (the day before my birthday) I asked her if she'd make it. So..a couple of month's worth of emailing back and forth on ideas and this is what we came up with! We went and bought flowers and grass for my hair, fitted the outfit, chose the fabrics, bought shoes, fixed the parasol, named the frog (gary)...not bad and then they made it! All in the nick of time. Believe it or not, it didn't even cross my mind until I stepped onto the red carpet that I may be wearing something a little too adventurous for some. On a catwalk it'd be quite at home! People loved or hated it. Much like "hide and seek". But I sure loved wearing that outfit. It was so much fun. It's going into the soon to be opened for it's 50th anniversary, the Grammy Museum! haha...forever! Except Gary-the-grammy-frog stays with me. I even got to wear some rather fancy jewellery worth....wait for it....one necklace and one watch came to $600,000 on the form I had to sign for insurance reasons! My GOD! I had no idea. I went to this thing the day before that everyone who's nominated gets to go to. You get to wear really fancy stuff, they get it on TV...now because I was gonna be on TV with "best new artist" (giggle) I was important enough to wear all these glittery diamonds. So thank you Christopher Designs, I felt like a princess and maybe the prince was Gary! One mag who didn't like my outfit (there were quite a few...not that it bothers me in the slightest) said something about "let's hope for the frog's sake that it doesn't turn into a prince" I thought that was pretty funny :) I may never be a Bond girl but I've been a Pond Girl. Ah...anyway. I had a great time. needless to say the people that came up to me for a chat weren't the super slick, celery stick, can't think where's my lipsticks types but people I'd actually like to spend an evening with. I made some friends that night. So again Pinar. Thank youuuuuu!
Joshua Radin....who I toured with on the Hotel Cafe tour, asked me to remix a song from his latest album. It's called "Only You". Apparently it was played by Chris Dohridas on the wondefil KCRW the other day...More news on that when I get it.
The US tour. Wow...what a trip! My birthday that we celebrated here! Some friends popped over to see me, we drank, soaked (all 20 of us) in the hot tub, looked at the stars, ate lovely home cooked food. Marble, where we stayed in this lodge, was pretty much inbetween Salk Lake City and Denver. Another google earth find! Thankyou for all the birthday love everyone and also for those of you who wrote me messages in the birthday book that Sam and Lisa from Map the Music put together for me. Really lovely to have that xxx
Ok...4 "i Megaphone" shows. They were just after the Grammys. I played them the way it used to be done. Piano and vocal only. 2 shows in LA and 2 in NY. I really enjoyed them. We had a little question and answer session too. It was great to play the old stuff (10 years on!) with my new improved voice and piano playing. I used to sing so differently. Tried to keep as much to the original way of touring the songs back in the day. I even got to play on Liberace's piano thanks to Pete at Baldwin pianos.
Wow I think about 10 lakes worth of rain just fell from the sky!
Then in Jan, the European tour which was totally different from the States and UK shows. Much smaller clubs. nice to shake it up a bit. See the white's of your eyes and all that.. Zoe was on tour with me again. Always nice to hang with her. In fact we were 4 ladies 2 men on that one. We kept 'em in check! Hooked up with the Nemo boys in Berlin. We went on to a club afterwards and ended up getting so drunk we didn't say goodbye! Sorry guys. We all had a great night though. You have got to large it up in Berlin.
Then I spent a few days in Bern after the last gig at the end of the tour to see my friends, and my God Daughter Nalini. I went into her bedroom and there on her bed in pride of place was the stuffed elephant I bought her when she was a wee baby. Ahhh...I do love that town. If you are ever in Switzerland promise me you'll go. Go in the summer and float down the River Aare. The club is belons to my mate Gert. It is a very bijou little place. Underground. And the entrance was too small to fit my mammoth perspex piano case in...so...with a non-gig looming...Gert asked the shop people above him if he could take it round the back of his club via thier french windows one floor up! haha. I just found this on my phone. I wouldn't enter it into any film festivals or anything...click here to watch it!
New Years...I went to Tanzania to bring in the New Year with the Flamingo film guys. We were sung to by a local Masai tribe. Heaven is on earth. It was so beautiful. Of course the guys egged me on to sing something back. I said I would but only if we'd all sing something together in return first. Out of all the song's on the planet the one we sand was doing "London's burning" in cannon. Goodness. It was quite awful! I wonder what they thought of that! We ate goat and ungali (kind of like Polenta). A great New Year's Eve. This is from Camp Natron, where it all goes on.
It was SOO unseasonalby (which seems to be the norm) rainy while we there. I had immense fun in the land rover while the guys slid accross the mud fields. We spent about 5 minutes going sideways coming out of Camp Manyara. Also with Sophie navigating through a mammoth puddle or two. There were a lot of safari goers who weren't going anywhere fast in that mud but I was in good hands. This is some of Sophie's expert land rover maneoverings, going through a typical puddle post downpour. You'd need more than wellies to defy this one: "Megapuddle"
This is my virgin hovercraft flight on lake Manyara! It just glides over and between land and water. Again, rubbish camerwork. I'll leave that to the experts (who is flying the machine). His name's Leander. There were of course many much more beautiful things I could have taken footage of but... i didn't. You'll have to wait for the film to come out :)
Phew. Well drat. I've just 2 mins past midnight. Took me a lot longer than I thought. Love to you all. I'll be checking in soon with more stories.
I've left all kinds of things out like frog noises, hot tub in the garden, how lovely it is here at night with fire on and a cool breeze breathing through the house.
Hey there. Lots ot write about but right now I'm am as stuffed as the turkey I just ate. Hope you're all having a great day. This is how i started my day, adorned in a rather attractive chocolate face mask while preparing the turkey.
It's been a great year and there's still 6 days to go! I've booked some flights to go to Tanzania on the 28th to welcome in the New Year with thousands of other big pink feathered birds (it's those flamingos again).
Love and kisses. Will write more soon xxxxx i xxxxx
I'm back on a another plane. Got a window seat and the view alone is worth the price of the ticket. Going this way across the earth is great if you like long sunsets. Which I do.
What a crazy last few days it's been. Got back from NY then spent the weekend doing various bits and bobs to prepare for going away for 7 weeks. That involved buying wallpaper on ebay (quite regency and perhaps a little over-the-top for my little flat) and taking pictures of clouds from my balcony for the mural I want painting on my living room ceiling while I'm away. I moved into the flat 5 years ago and apart from putting in a new kitchen and laying down some woodblock flooring throughout I haven't done a thing to it. Just no time really and now It's about time I did! So some lovely people are going to be beavering away at doing these bits for me while I'm away. That way when I get back (just in time for christmas) i'll have a fab new living room!
Then on Monday I was rehearsing with the Nemo, Jez (percussionist), Guy (of the frou variety) and Arve Henriksen. We only managed to get all the gear up and running from 6pm but that was all the time we needed. Nemo and I just whizzed through what we'd been doing for the past dates on tour to refresh, Jez was left to his own devices to add sparkly bits, vibes and his general percussivites (I know that's not a word but I like it), Arve turned up and just floored us all with his sheer trumpeting beauty. I just asked him to simply play whatever he felt like. My ears love that man. I always regretted directing him so much with what he did on the album. I went to see him live after our session together and wished I'd just let him go more. Guy came in around 8. it was so nice to see him again. I do kind of miss him now and then. We decided to do "Let Go" and "Breathe in". He on his harpsichord thing and also his clavichord (though it is sooooo quiet that we just couldn't get it amplified enough for him to play at the gig on Tuesday at the Roundhouse. It was invented as a practice instrument all those moons ago and not intended for electro/pop/rock/whatever concerts in huge round rooms. Jez, Arve, Guy and I just began to play Let go. Not having any idea how we were going to do it but after 6 minutes of improvising and song it just found it's natural being. Such a wonderful moment for me. Then pack down and get ready for the gig the next day.
I was running, well actually cycling about that day between studio and home and gig. I had to finish some music up for the Pool (No water) London press night that was the day after. Got it done then rushed home to get my stuff together and up to the Roundhouse to practice flying! I am so happy that me entering on stage via a broomstick worked out. When I first realized that the London show fell on Halloween my first thought was I was to fly in on a broomstick. It took our crew a few days to realize I wasn't joking! Derek (our tour manager) found the perfect flying machine (a broomstick from Heals) the day before that was more than suitably witchy. I had quite a bit of fun in the day being a witch and cackling. Though when it came to the real thing I was so excited to be up there I forgot to cackle. I donned these rather attractive padded cycling shorts underneath the harness. Relieved the pain of 11 stone of witch a little from my inner thighs. I have to say I had to give myself a pat on the back after that entrance. Coming on, singing, holding a broomstick and triggering the music from my mini wireless MIDI keyboard. You got to girl some credit! It was all going so well. We got the harness off (the cycling shorts stayed on throughout). and I ran onto stage. I knew something was up straight away when the tempo on my "parrot" (aka my sampler/Electrix Repeater) didn't read what it should have done and the AX1 (the red keyboard) wasn't playing the VST (virtual instrument). Real bummer. So I made up something to try to get me out of my gear's revolt and ended the song.
Now I had to sleuth the problem. So it was time to introduce "the band". My electronic band. My worst nightmare had come true. The one where I'm not prepared. Nothing works. I have no back-up. Everyone's looking at me. Waiting. I'm sweating and running through all the gear in my head to see If I can figure it out. It's exactly what happened in soundcheck. Abelton Live (the sequencing software I use on my mac) said that it wasn't detecting an audio device. This means that Abelton will not play. No MIDI will work, no samples will trigger, I can't play any of my VSTs (piano, organ, stringsm celeste etc....) I can't even do hide and seek coz the vocoder can't read the AX1. UGH! The only thing that worked in soundcheck was to turn everything off and start up 3 times in a row. That's all i could do. So i did. And it all came alive again. I've never had that before. I'm going to spend the next 3 days in Montreal making sure I don't find myself in that situation again. Sod's law it would be the big London show with all the press and radio there. Hey ho! Thanks to everyone for being so patient though. I didn't loose my nerve too much because you were all cool about it. Willing it to work for me. So once that was out the way...I had a great time. Loved every minute of it (apart from another gremlin in Loose Ends). The magic moment for me was "Let go" with Arve, Jez and of course Guy. We did film that night so one day I can look back on it all. It'll be fun to show me flying across the stage on a broomstick, apple dunking and dancing and singing between various instruments on stage with a huge pink feather mohawk to my grandkids in 70 years when they think I'm just an old boring biddy!
All round a fantastic night. Both Nemo and Arve were both as wonderfully different to each other as they were fantastic in their performance. Saw lots of friends after the show. All my family were there. Life is sweet.
So the next day i packed and waited in for the gas man who was turning up between 9-6...why can't they just give us a time!? Of course they turned up at 5pm so i could've gone out all that time and got bits I needed. Then in the evening I went to see Pool (No water) at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. I'd been waiting I guess for a year, since we started talking about it, to see it finished. I really enjoyed it. It was so much fun to hear my music on the stage with the performers acting and dancing with it. If anyone fancies a night out to the (physical) theatre then I recommend it. Some scenes are a bit much for some but I found it the whole thing pulled me here and there between disgust and laughter which I like. So that was that. Two fantastic big nights for me in a row. Now I really am feeling a high as a kite (much higher in fact looking down at the clouds).
So now I can just relax and concentrate on the tour ahead. it's the longest I've been on tour and from what I hear we have quite a fancy bus too to drive/eat/drink/sleep/shower/do internet on! How spoilt am I right now? On the plane with Jez, Walter (tour manager, sound engineer and pretty much everything in between), Matt our lighting guy and Klong. Speaking of Klong his true father, Simon Henwood, has an exhibition in New York starting 10th dec. Show him some love if you're in NY. We're going to be hooking up with the rest of the guys touring with us over the next few days whilst rehearsing etc. Very excited about it all. I explained who they all were at the end of my last blog if you want to see the full group of us.
Right. I have a sandwich waiting to be eaten and i iz hungry. I'll check in with you soon. xxx immi xxx
So…I’m on a plane heading for NYC. There’s about 4 hours still to go with no internet connection. It’s the perfect opportunity to catch up on everything with y’all.
Tomorrow i’m playing “hide and seek” at the MTVu Woodie awards. Fingers crossed I can make that high note! Apparently I’m opening the show, which is great, as it means I get to relax for the rest of the evening and get to watch Beck play. I’m pretty excited about it to be honest. I’ve never been invited to an award thingy as a nominee before. Thank you to all those people who put me forward it was very unexpected and a very welcome surprise. I feel loved ….*tear*. My first thoughts of course would normally have been “Oh my!!! what will I wear?” but thankfully this lovely lady named Pinar Eris (say hi, she got in touch with me through my website asking me if I’d like her to make a dress for me….er…..let me think about that for a minute….yes!) has spared me a week of indecision as she’s made me this beautiful outfit. Last time I was in LA I met up with her, took measurements in my hotel room and went looking for fabrics, birds and butterflies together. I imagined I’d get it when I got to LA next (the gig at the Wiltern) but bye gum she’s already finished it. It’s going to be waiting for me at the hotel in 5/6 hours. I love it when a plan (even though I didn’t really plan it) comes together!
So….as usual where to start? It’s been another good few months. I think I’d like to start by thanking all those of you who have come to see us (Nemo, daily myspace band/artist winner and myself) on the UK tour. I really did have so much fun and every night I got to play my beautiful clear perspex piano thing. I’ve been dreaming of it for a year but have only now got it together. Boy oh boy is she (I think it’s a she anyway) special. The shape of a baby grand piano but with all my electronic techno geeky gubbins within so I can still do all I need to do. Complete of course with coloured lights and ivy twisting through it. Here she is!
A huge sorry to those of you who had tickets to see me in Norwich, Cambridge and Oxford. I’ve never had to cancel a gig before in 10 years of doing this and then 3 in a row. I felt awful in every way. I just had a cold at the end of the day. Most frustrating! I could have done almost anything else but sing. I tried every cough medicine, pastille, tea, lozenge, steam-vapour-washing-up-bowl-towel-over-my-head, sofa-sinking-movie-watching trick in the book and It’s STILL wouldn’t budge. The dog ends are still with me now. We’re rescheduling the lost gigs for 3 week of January. I hope you can make it then instead.
Touring with Nemo has been great. They are a band from London who I go to see every gig I can of theirs coz I LOVE going to hear them play. I was chatting to James (singer) about the upcoming UK tour after their last London show and he asked if they could open and … well… there we are. They come up on stage with me and play a few songs too so I can leap about a bit. It’s a real rish to be on stage with them. Loved every minute of it.
The first band/ artist on each night have been the winners from my myspace competition. So many people sent in requests to play it caught me a little off guard! At least 100 entries per gig for their chosen cities. I was struggling to get through them in time before the gig. Thank you to everyone who has put their band/ friend’s band forward. I’ve gotten quite into 8bit-chip-hop (I don't know what they call it but hot dang is it good!) As a result thanks to Pixelh8
So I’m just looking in my calendar now to remind myself of all the millions of things I’ve been doing since I caught you last. I have to go back as far as July! In short…(actually reading back now…in long)
Headlock video.
11th July – Headlock video shoot with Simon Henwood It was so much fun working with him. In the silhouette outfit my tail was made up of my long purple sheepskin rug thing that I have in my bedroom…wrapped up in string and stuffed with stuff. The tip of the tail is a feather duster my mum bought me (coz she thought I’d like the orange feathers…not to dust with…) I had so much fun getting the outfits together for this video. I’d like to thank Harriet’s Muse again for the loan of that delicious egg shell green dress (pictured) that I spilt miso soup on…eeek….but I got it out. I got him to help me get together this little short for the Silver ticket/golden apple draw. He got me running down Oxford street in a wet suit fully kitted out with tank and all! Also in a tiger suit, an old creeky lady and a spaceman . Check out Klong (who’s sitting with me in the spacesuit with my suitcase on Shaftsbury ave). He doubles up as the perfect sleep cushion/companion for these long-haul flights (round my neck now). “Klong can neither see or hear you but senses your kindness”…ahhhh.
Here's a link to the competition video. Winner annonced at the Rondhouse London gig 31st oct.
13th July – I finished this song I’ve been working on for the Plague songs CD called “Glittering Cloud” which is one part of The Margate Exodus. It’s out now on itunes UK and up on my Myspace if you’d like to hear it. I was called up a couple of months ago by Brian Eno (yelp) asking me if I’d liked to get involved and to call up his mate Michael Morris (who's behind Artangel) to find out more. Here’s what I wrote for the inlay of the Plague songs booklet about it.
"My mission, should I choose to accept it was "to write a song about Locusts" That had to be the strangest request I've ever had so of course I took it on! What I had no idea idea of is that for the most part our locust is actually a pretty nice solitary kinda guy. It's only until the rains fall and they're forced to hand out together to eat and breed they become the creature we all know and hate...Our locust is battling between his two sides. In the verses he's trying to explain that he's misunderstood, that he's not really like that and and in the chorus, he's become the tribal cop-eating warrior! I thought that when they are swarming they're probably having a fantastic time about it. Hedonistic even. I imagined them all at some huge rave or something"
15th July – began preparing the studio for my next guest….enter…Josh Groban. Now…let me fill you in a little on this one. I know it may seem a little bit of an odd coupling but that’s exactly (as I’m sure you know this about me by now) why I did it. I love a good challenge. Josh is also the sweetest guy. He’s been to see me play quite a few times and had always expressed that he’d love to get into the studio “bed “ with me – as it were. We had fun exchanging nonsensical sentences, mingling somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean courtesy of ichat (my favourite route to freeing the “flow” when it isn’t there to start with) to come up with an idea for a song. Josh came up with a cracker “nothing monster” and even though we didn’t use it, it got us rolling on an idea. He came to London for 3 days to write the song with me at “the hideaway” (my studio). We worked really hard on it and wouldn’t let it rest until we were both satisfied that all fluff and fat had been removed from our song. Then Josh went back to LA to continue working on the rest of the album and I, finding days here and there between travelling and festivals etc, finished it eventually. It’s the first time I’ve recorded male vocals and written and then produced a song for another artist. I want to thank Josh for asking me as I learnt a lot in the process and think we came up with something really really good. Josh’s album comes out 7th Nov and our tune is “Now or Never”. Check it out.
22nd July – off to Dallas to meet up with the lovely Ryan Obermeyer. He has designed the artwork for Headlock (single out last week) and it is just breathtaking! 3 fold, spot gloss full colour digipack (complete with flamingos) and clear slip case (with condensation effect). We didn’t get into quite as much trouble as last time (cookie box encounter) but I did have a ride on the back of some big biker’s Harley, twice, with this huge feather mohawk I was donning from the photo shoot! Quite a sight I can tell ya… Here’s the Minisite he’s put together about the making of it. I have spent a long time just drooling over the single artwork. I really can’t believe the CD has such a beautiful outfit.
25th July – Up to Seattle to fulfil my promise to Heidi. It’s been a long time coming! The competition was way back in December but Ballooning season in Seattle was not going to arrive any earlier for anyone. Strictly June through September. I invited Zoe to come along (and also roped her into filming some footage for us), coz I hardly ever see her out of touring… plus she conveniently lives in Portland – a short (for the US) jaunt up the freeway. Zoe very kindly picked me up from the airport and we made our way to Woodinville and checked into this great hotel a few minutes walk from Tully’s coffee shop (our rendezvous). At around 6pm Heidi arrives. The first time I met our Heidi was at the Neumos gig in Jan this year…in drag no less! That stubble was pretty realistic in the dark and the rain. This time Heidi was fresh faced and as excited as we were. We had a few drinks in the garden then pegged it up to the coffee place where we met up with our remaining passenger, Heidi’s mum, Barbara. Filled out some forms…we signed away, not reading the small print…just get me in that big picnic basket! Our pilot, Eddie, has been flying balloons for over 30 years and apparently had never come down in one…yet, It was a gorgeous evening. We arrived at a nice grassy spot “fill up” with air. The guys set the basket on it’s side and switched on the fans to inflate our balloon. We took some footage of ourselves inside the balloon before it got roared on by the propane burners, (that was cool). It’s so wonderful up there. Blue blue sky. We could see for miles and Mt Rainier in the distance was clear as a bell, which is the first time I’ve seen it as it’s always been overcast when I’ve been here previously. We were just loving it. It’s just so calm, floating, drifting effortlessly and then….the loudest sound every minute or so as Eddie topped up our balloon with some more propane. Those burners really do make a big racket! I think we were up there for about an hour? It went so so quickly of course. Horses below us were jumping about at the sight of us and all the dogs in the area went crazy, barking their heads off at the sound of the burners overhead (they give off this high pitch frequency). Heidi grew up in Seattle and was pointing out all these places that she and her mum knew. Up and down we went with the currents and then before we knew it…we were in a field deflating it as the sun set. Just lovely! I really want to do it again. It strangely felt so natural to be up there. Then we went back to the lovely hotel and had us some chat and drinks (pics from Heidi)
Seens as I was in such a beautiful place in the world after the ballooning I thought i'd go for a spot of kayaking here in a place called Alderbrook. I was minding my own business in the fjord and what pops it's head out the water but a seal! I LOVE seals...really really love them.
So then a few weeks of Josh Groban mixing, flamingo film meetings a couple of Pool (no water) talks (I’ll get into that later) and various interviews takes me to…
The next big thing which was V fest 18th Aug. My first festival ever as a performer. ( I don’t really like that word…I sound like a monkey or something but can’t think of a better one right now). So many people came to see me! I was quite touched actually. I thought the tent would be maybe 1/3 – 1.2 full but it was PAKCED! (perhaps even more packed in Stafford as it started to piss it down with rain just as I came on and people ran for the nearest shelter…I planned it all of course).
Then I had a few days to start on a remix that I’m doing for one of my favorite atists, Milosh. He’s asked me to have a go at The City (which I still haven’t managed to finish….eek). Had to cut that short to record the B-side for Headlock. I only had a few days so I spent it singing all kinds of funny sounds and out came “Mic Check”. I just love it! I have been wanting to record a track like the way I do “Just for now” live for ages. All vocals. This however takes that idea to a whole new level and I even had a go at some special Heap style blip/beatboxing! Must be heard to be believed. It’s up on myspace too, for now.
30th August: Edinburgh gig at the beautiful sounding Queen's hall, which doubled up as some catch up time for me my mum and my mum’s brother, Uncle James. You see my mum’s a Scott and I am also part Scottish on my dad’s side. Now my Dad worked out a while back that I’m 9/16 Scottish (In case you were losing sleep over the fractional intricacies of my ancestry...or something).
2nd Sept – off for my all too regular dose of La la land. Initially I was just going over for The Last Kiss musical get together session for Zach Braff's 103.1 radio takeover. It was good to see Cary Brothers and label mate Rachel Yamagata again from the Hotel cafe tour tour the previous year. Zach , I might add, is pretty cute. It was a fun day. Even the piano microphone falling onto the strings just as I played “let go” worked out quite nicely. You can hear what we recorded that day on Rehearsals.com. Later in the week we saw a screening of the film and I enjoyed it. It’s out in the UK now for people this (or that in 3 hours) side of the pond. “Hide and Seek” gets a prime spot (thanks again to Zach who did the same for Frou Frou’s “let go” in Garden State) which is fantastic. Later than night a few of us went to the Chateau Marmont (oo er…don’t you know). I met a guy there who came up to me to say he was a fan and loved the record and could I go and meet his director friend. Which I did. We got chatting and ended up talking about Kenna (who I think’s great). Anyway, they asked me to go to lunch with them….and that Kenna would be there too as he’s going to be involved in the music for this film that they want me to do something for also…So…maybe…there’s a Kenna/Immi tune on the sweet horizon!
Before I left London, I sent some emails out to various folk I know there and also folk I don’t (but would like to) meet while I’m there. One of these guys was BT . Now I have to say I was a little funny about meeting him as he’d mentioned in an interview that he and I were going to be doing something together on his new album, which I would love to do…except he hadn’t asked me yet! I thought that was a tad presumptuous of him. Nevertheless we met and I loved him. We’re going to do something in the new year when we can both find the time. He out geeked me by quite some margin so I picked his brains.
I also squeezed in a little dinner with my old pal Dave Stewart, from "I megaphone" days, which coincidentally is being re-released (FINALLY after 7 years) next month. I ended up in a studio (seems to be a running theme) adding a little vocal heapness to this Greenpeace song he was working on (also Annie Lennox is on it…mmmm). I extended my trip so as I could play at his/greenpeace’s 30th birthday party. We sang the song and I did a couple of others too. Met up with quite a few other people I haven’t seen for ages which was fun.
Then…in the SAME week…I was summoned, by Hans Zimmer into his rather ornate LA studio to “Jam” with him and his musical buddies on this new film he’s scoring called The Holiday. I only had my harmonizer and sampler with me so I jammed all vocal. It was soooo nice to get into a roomful of fantastic musicians and just simply…play/sing…whatever came into my head. I haven’t done that in a while. That’s how I’m going to start off work with the flamingo score now for sure (come January) and I can hardly wait! So if you go and see the film (out 8th dec, bizarrely exactly a year after the Narnia film) you’ll hear plenty of my warblings throughout.
Then…got back…more press then…rehearsals with Nemo for the UK tour. Then Justine, my good friend who makes great short films of jelly arses and synchronized swimming (amongst other things) and who also films a lot of me too (we hope that one day we’ll get all the footage together and do something with it) got married to the wonderfully quirky and handsome Toseki! Congrats my lovelies. A little bit of Heap trivia…Norma, who cooked THE most amazing food for the reception afterwards also plays “the interfering old bat” in the silver ticket video thingi.
Here for a few days in between rehearsing I worked on the music for the Pool (no water) production. A while back Steven Hoggett and Scott Graham the directors/founders of the Frantic Assembly group asked me if I’d be interested in having my music (mostly from "speak for yourself") set to physical theatre. He gave me a first draft of the play, written by Mark Ravenhill and on another plane journey, I had a read and I was in. So in this week I went for the first time to see a rehearsal and watched the 4 actor/dancers move to my music. It was such a thrill! Very powerful stuff. Please go and see it. Some of it is quite full on though I warn you. Here you can see when and where they are on. I am so looking forward to going to see it on 1st Nov in London. I went back to the studio after taking notes and played with the music accordingly to fit with the different sections. I took some lyrics out here and added some more vocals there, extended bits and added beats. I enjoyed reworking them to be used in this context. What they do with Mic Check is so awesome! Can’t wait to see it. Here is an article Mark wrote about the process of writing play for Frantic.
Then more rehearsals…then UK tour!! Which almost brings me up to the present day…here…sore assed in my seat now for a good few hours 20,000 feet over the Atlantic cloud blanket with 2 hours to go until landing. Are you really still reading?
Just yesterday I was on XFM singing some choons live on air…dashed back to the studio to prepare for tomorrow’s Woodie gig then packed frantically, sleep, wake, cab, airport, plane…now!
When I get back it’s the London Roundhouse gig. Nemo will be there too. I’m really looking forward to it. Arve Henriksen is also going to be playing that night too. PLEASE get there early to both Nemo and Arve Henriksen play. I saw Arve play at 93feet east in London and hands down it’s my favourite gig ever. I cannot express how good this guy is. Truly inspirational. I was with Guy (who may be popping on stage for a couple also!) at Arve’s gig and I think he was worried about me as I was crying so much! It really was so beautiful, it hurt. I will also be golden apple dunking (as it’s Halloween) for those of you who found sliver tickets on the UK tour. Whoever’s number I grab in my pearly whites will be on their way to NYC for the gig on the 8th Nov with hotels and everything paid for! Yummy. I hear that Nemo’s fans will be turning up in fancy dress…so please feel free to do the same should you so desire. I have a little something up my sleeve too…it’s a secret though and I can’t tell.
So…what about after that? Well sadly, Magnet has pulled out of the North American tour (7th Nov – 20th Dec). I was pretty gutted about it at the time but all is fine now. I know many of you would have surely loved him if you don’t already know his music. He is fantastic live. It’s just him and his lap-steel guitar. Never mind… the show must go on and indeed it will with the incredible Kid Beyond opening. It is freaky what this guy can do with his voice. He’s also going to be helping me along in a few songs too. I wonder if he’ll teach me a few tricks? I do hope so!
Also opening for the US tour is Levi Weaver. Now Levi won the Birmingham myspace competition slot and those of you who came to that gig loved him! He sold out all his CDs (80+) in no time. I really enjoyed his set so he's going to come along also. Armed with cello bow, melodica and loopy stuff. Also playing on stage with me later on. You see what I'm doing here....it's all about pulling your resources! I am really up for this US tour I tell you. We've got Rob Jost also coming along with us and he's going to be playing double bass and french horn. Also Jez Wiles (my next door neighbor) to come bang and chime his various percussive noodlie bits (mainly vibes). It's gonna be a good'n!
There’s also European, Japanese, Australian and poss South African dates all coming up in the beginning of next year too. Hopefully I’ll catch some of you along the way.
The announcement has been made….we’re landing in 15mins. That was the fastest 7 hours in west.
I'm back now and in the thick of it again. Well actually right now I'm in seat no. 21D on a plane heading for Dallas, Texas to do a photo shoot with Ryan Obermeyer for the Headlock single cover. I can't believe it was only 2 weeks ago that I got back. It's going to be good to write this blog and put my toe back in there a little. Mmm... Where to start? Of course the first thing people ask when you see everyone again is "so... how was it?!" and it's been so hard to put the trip into words for my family and friends. There was so much to take in. I know this sounds really bizarre but I was so insanely busy before I left that it hadn't actually registered I was going to be encountering all those animals we saw at the zoo when we were kids five minutes after I got off the plane to cross the Tanzanian border. It was like I was on a film set or I was watching it all from my sofa or something. Zebras and wildebeest entering on cue, in surround sound, crystal clear onto the most impressive, cinematic vistas. What I'd just seen didn't really sink in until I was on my way home. I'm hoping I'll be able to jump back to where I left off when I return during the making of the film. Now I fully understand why people like to go back repeatedly to places they've visited before. I always thought that was a bit of a waste when we have so few opportunities in our lifetimes to really travel, but I get it now. You do spend most of your holiday time getting acquainted with your new surroundings, figuring out a little of the language etc. Once that's all out of the way then you're in.
Before I left I wasn't sure what I was going to bring back with me apart from the field recordings of course, which I did manage to snaffle 6 hours worth of. From our flatulent hippos, to the murmurs and poppings of Ol Doniyo Lengai, the active resident volcano at Lake Natron. I was trying to explain to my sister the most useful thing I returned with. It sounds cheesy I know but it's this feeling for the music. (Bear with me here!) You know when you fancy something to eat, you can almost taste it in your mouth, but you have no idea what it is your craving? So you go through your food at home or in a supermarket looking for things that feel closest like they belong to this meal you can't quite put your finger on. You may know only that it's something sweet or that it has to have beetroot in it. Every time you pull something into your basket you start to form a collection of items that satisfy the feeling. (You still there?!) It's like the way I write my songs, but I didn't realize this until now. I couldn't really officially describe to you what I was trying musically or lyrically to achieve but from the beginning to the end everything I chose to throw into the pot was because it hovered closest to this feeling. So basically, I have that now for this film and I didn't have it before and previous to my being there I didn't realize I was missing it or needed it. Maybe because pretty much everything else I've written before this I've had a personal emotional reason for doing so. A need to write that piece of music to satisfy something within me. Though I loved the challenge of writing a film score for the first time I hadn't had an emotional connection with the film really until this trip. Which is exactly why Leander, Matt and Mel flew me out there! So thumbs up on that one. You got me now!
Well to give you a little detail of the activities we got up to I thought you'd like to see the route we took once we got to the Empakai crater, not far from the much better known Ngorongoro crater.
Our hiking route
The first night after the last blog update we stayed at this place called Ndutu lodge in Serengeti. The journey there from Seronera was across wide, short grass plains scattered mainly with gazelles, impalas and ostrich. I've decided I really like ostriches. The male's flesh flushes pink when it's horny! They are huge birds. From a distance they look like small shrubs because their torsos are so big and brown but their necks are so delicate and long that they dissolve into the sky. I guess that's a good thing if there's a hungry lion or two about, although I can't imagine a bush being their idea of a good bit of nosh!
We got to the lodge just in time for one of many beautiful sunsets. Then we sat around the bonfire looking up into the night sky, finding Saturn and its moons. A few cold beers were also just the ticket. (The beer over there is called Kilimanjaro and it's GOOD!) I was taking pics of us around the bonfire and then went to have a shower before dinner, leaving my brand new Erricson 810i mobile phone on the seat. Doh! I didn't realize until the next morning I'd left it and after a frantic search it was nowhere to be found. Now the guys at the lodge are all an honest bunch, which pointed to another culprit altogether – the resident hyenas! So somewhere around Lake Ndutu there is a vibrating hyena with a very dodgy laugh. There you go. Apparently they'll take anything...
This was, however, the only 'camera' I'd brought with me, so I could send pics to the moblog and also so I wouldn't have to carry a camera along with all the other techno kit I was carrying. So now I didn't have one, but thankfully Leander took loads of pics and footage for my scrapbook and this blog and actually it was quite nice not to have a camera, always looking through the lens at the most beautiful moments.
Leander
Anyway, that was the last of the beds. From now on it was camping all the way. The next morning we set off to drive about Lake Ndutu and for me to get my first proper glimpse of the stars of our film - the flamingos!
Flock of flamingos
The thing about flamingos which I learnt pretty quickly is that they're not that into us getting too close to them. They like to keep a good wide berth! So In order to combat this situation I went down the local fancy dress shop and bought myself a 6 foot flamingo suit. I was very convincing! (Of course not - there were no fancy dress shops round there, but I do wonder how these guys are going to film them!) I did however get some great recordings of them flying away from me, mostly flapping and honking from various distances. Mel and me
Also later on that night at the Empakai crater they flew over us. We could see them silhouetted against the moonlight. It was wonderful to stand there at the edge of this crater in the dead of night surrounded by the sound of frogs and crickets. This only after I'd recovered from my laughing fit after hearing a hyena call for the first time. It's so hard not to laugh when you know you shouldn't. You'd think after 3 years of silent morning meetings at Quaker school I'd have that down by now, but I never did seem to master it!
From time to time new groups of flamingos would pass high over us, honking and squeaking as they made their way to distant Lake Natron.
That night we had a candle-lit meal even though it was freezing up there! We were at about 9,000 feet I think. Bed, early, get up, early.
Now I'd like to introduce Manangoi, a Maasai warrior Mat and Mel knew and had brought along with us for the rest of the trip as a guide and friend. He'd walked for 3 days solid just to meet us. This is apparently like a walk in the park to him. He always looked so fabulous in his red shuka (robe) and sandals.
Manangoi
There I was with laptop, video camera, sound recording device, those crazy binaural mics that look like ancient 80's headphones on my head (but boy do they get the job done!), tons of sun cream, straw hat, massive hiking boots and anything else I could squeeze onto my person. I must have been the source of some amusement to him!
Manangoi and me
Here he's listening to my new song, the all vocal b-side to Headlock! How cool is that!? I was laughing because he was singing along in a way that people do when they can't hear themselves for the music in their headphones. That was a great moment. He is a fabulous singer though. We had fun round a campfire one night when he sang songs about 'bringing the cows home' and 'the night before the killing of the lion'. I tried to sing along for a bit. The rhythms are so different to what I'm used to in our mostly click track 4/4 musical world. I made up some melodies while he sung this great riff where he would sing by both letting air out and in. That was great fun. Leander filmed that too so when the 'making-of' gets put together I'm sure that'll be in there somewhere. I have to find a place for him in the score. Don't think 'Deep Forest' please! You know me...
Next day. Rise and shine, early morning. We're off down to the lake inside the crater. On our way through the forest I come across my first strangler tree. Now THAT is a tree..
Strangler tree - Mel and Manangoi
At the lake edge I had another few attempts at sneaking up on the 'flamin' joes' (as Matt calls them) but they were having none of it! The thing I discovered about recording with this binaural mic set up is that if it's all sounding perfect, you stop and press record and then 10 seconds into it the flies arrive to see what you're all about. So I have lots of recordings with these flies buzzing around my head. Maybe the same set of flies followed me for the whole trip. Who knows?
We circled the lake and passed by the odd herd of cows with their many bells on. Got some good recordings there. Sitting for a short lunch break and a quick nap, lapping up the sound of the crater. Every now and then Leander would film me doing something for the 'making-of'. While I was waiting for him to set up I sat on a rock at the lake edge and a couple of young Maasai boys, who were no more than 6 and 9, came to keep me company. I don't think they get to see many people like myself around those parts (it's quite off the beaten track). We were looking and laughing at each other, touching each others hands and they were checking out my ears. I decided to sing a little something as I couldn't speak the language, and then the elder one started singing along with me! (Check it's in record. Phew!) I can't quite imagine any of the kids around my block doing that somehow. Maybe for a moped? Still? Nah..
Goodness this is taking forever! Sorry but if you're still here, well, then you're still here. So anyway, we walked back up the crater to camp, which turned out to be a much longer climb than I'd at first thought. I was starting to feel a little ill at this point. That's what happens to me every Christmas. I stop for a few days and out comes the sniffles and shivers. Also I think the altitude wasn't helping. Anyway, dinner, chat, early night...
Next morning, bright and early, as today we're walking to Lengai. Started off with a cup of coffee and a creative discussion with Matt about our shared vision for the soundtrack. Not a bad meeting space if you can get it!
Me and Matt
When we started our walk our guides told us it would take 4 hours but actually it ended up being more like 8! It was really misty that day and we couldn't really see very far off the road we were walking along, plus, unfortunately, I was now feeling really crappy. So after a few hours of walking I got a lift ahead of them with a passing jeep to the next campsite. I was completely delirious, got to camp, jumped into the tent and was out for the count until dinner! That night England played Portugal in the World Cup 1/4 final. Matt had a small portable radio with him and we listened to the game whilst eating our dinner, with Lengai as dark and mysterious as Mordor before us, bats flying around us as we perched huddled together on the freezing hill with the wind whipping through our campsite. It was a very confusing game to listen to: the only time the commentators spoke in English rather than Swahili was to insult our players. Fair enough!
Bed, early, a night of feverish sweating, but then I was fine in the morning. We were walking down to lower ground now to meet up with Matt's camera assistant Bazil and the Land Rover. The donkeys (oh yeah, forgot to mention them!) were carrying our tents etc down the trail. Sadly, near meeting the other guys at the jeep we came across a dead donkey. Not one of ours, but it had only just died which Mel said we can at least be thankful for on account of the potential smell, but our donkeys seemed genuinely disturbed by the sight of their dead friend and refused to go past it, which was the only way out of the gorge other than turning back a long way. So the Maasai guys who were leading the donkeys had to shift the dead one out of the way. It was a sad, disturbing moment.
The Crimson Wing
Sooooo? Now we're on our way to Lake Natron. This is flamingo central and was to be our home for the next 3 days, We were staying at an old abandoned missionary house on the eastern side of the lake. It was octagonal. We could see the lake shimmering in the distance and Lengai towering to the south. There were these hot springs about 10 mins walk from the house where we'd paddle about in as each night we saw one incredible sunset after another.
Natron sunset from hot springs
We sat up and chatted about the film and what to do next. I played some musical ideas from some of the other musicians who are also going to be involved. For me it's such a treat in so many ways this score because I now have an excuse to call up all these amazing people that I'd love to work with! Very exciting. Anyway, nearly there. Mustn't stray. I've got 50 mins remaining battery!
The first morning at the house at Natron, Bazil was teaching me how to make Tanzanian chapatis when we heard a helicopter closing in from the distance. It was Alan Root. Now here's a guy who's been bitten by just about everything you can be bitten by out there, puff adders, gorillas, leopards, to name just a few. He's made tons of nature films. He was coming to pick me up and fly me up to the top of Mt Lengai, the Maasai Mountain of God!
Heli flight
Apparently next time I go there I HAVE to climb it with them! It is really super steep so double time at the gym until then... I got some great recordings up there and some far reaching views. It was quite disturbing walking about up there. The hardened larva is very brittle and when you walk over it near the mouth of the volcano it sounds like there's not very much between you and a big gaping hole underneath. Slowly slowly. I edged closer to get some poppings. The volcano had erupted only two months before so it was a lot less vocal than usual.
There's a little video blog I did for you up there for you guys that I'll post soon...
The day before the last day we drove across the salt flats to the other side of the lake to walk up a waterfall. Now here's where I'm going to try and explain something that may seem a little odd after all that I've said. All the time I was there, it was without a doubt an incredible experience. I could see and smell and hear everything around me but I don't know if I was really there for a lot of it. I have been trying to analyze it. Maybe because these last 10 years I've been living my life always a fortnight ahead of myself i.e. finishing a b-side, or video, or tour. Trying to meet deadlines and I haven't really stopped. Everything has been work related in some way. This was too of course but I was getting frustrated with myself for not being able to really BE there, you know? I guess in being somewhere very much in the present you have to rein yourself in. Stop yourself from looking back or looking ahead. Just gather yourself so it's just you at that moment and soak it up. As we were crossing from the east to the west side of the lake I got it. Zebras were galloping along side our Jeep and glassy mirages were forming behind them, mirroring the lake and the hills. There was no road, we just went whichever way we thought was best along the salt and sand. Typical, it was the last full day on the trip and I finally figure this out! Or at least start to. I think maybe it's also about living in the city. In fact that's exactly what it is. There are a few trees with the odd bird in them 7 floors down in the communal green space and then there's the River Thames just there, the occasional city fox scavaging about at night through the rubbish bins but apart from that there's nothing much to remind you of the natural world. I think I need a bit more of that. Which is why I'm taking an extra couple of days in Woodinville after the balloon ride on Tuesday with our competition winner Heidi and the lovely Zoe Keating, hiring a bike and going to cycle by the river there along the trails (maybe dropping in on the odd winery!)
Group chat
So that was a long one ha! I bet you didn't expect that marathon essay. There will be more to come. Thanks so much to all the guys for bringing me in on this adventure. I'm so looking forward to getting started on the music. It's not going to be a short process, this is a couple of years in the making but here's to a great beginning!
Finally this is something Leander's put together of me at Lake Natron on the last day there. Speak soon xxx immi xxx
Hey there guys....so sorry it's been such a hugely long time since my last catch up...but...well...quite frankly I've been the busiest I've ever been in my entire life!!!I'm now "working" in Tanzania on my first film score. Some of you already know about it. It's the flamingo one. What's great about this project is that it's not going to be me sweating on delivering a score 1 week before the films due for release (like Narnia!) but I'm being brought in right from even before the start! The idea is I'm here to record sounds and be inspired (like I need to be,...but of course I didn't tell them that!) to get writing. Being a nature film there's not a whole long of dialogue (not unless you can speak flamingo or marabouan) so it's just great for me to spread my musical wings...as it were.
So now....I should really introduce you to everyone while I'm here. First up we have Leander Ward...he's the guy who got in touch with me in the beginning and he's directing it along with Matt Aebehard who lives in the Serengeti along with our script writer (his wife) Melanie Finn. There's also Smiley (who's Somali) and he's a great mechanic...which is VERY handy if your jeep breaks down in the middle of the open plains.This is me in the Serengeti. It's only the 2nd day and I've seen lions, gazelles, impalas, buffalo, tons of big birds (like myself!) like ostrich, vultures, marabous and wonderfully colourful birds (the lovebird being my favourite so far....but I haven't yet seen a flamingo...a couple more days until we get to those!), hippos, giraffes, baboons, hyenas, black backed jackals, one snake which is an egg beater and Matt is holding it captive in a tupperware box with a huge chicken egg which it won't ever swallow...but it can dream, some crazy insects and bunnies. I'm sure there's some things I've forgotten...zebras, elephants and wildebeests too. Wow. Loving this so much. I'm really starting to listen to the sounds around us. It's hard to remember the last time I was somewhere and couldn't hear a car in the background or an aeroplane in the sky. It's just all natural sound. I've got this mic setup. Binaural mics. I wear them attached to this headband thing. They look like headphones but they're mics and I've been recording everything from zebras and wildebeest lapping up water from a river to Hippos wading in mud and farting quite a lot. The broad wings of the marabou flying over us. The idea is to take these sounds back to London and begin to work on the score using the beats and melodies within the natural environment. Starting from a hyena call and then morphing it gradually into a piece of music. So the listener can't really tell where the two meet. They just evolve out of each other.
There's this rock that's called Ngong rock...and it makes these amazing resonant sounds when you hit it with other rocks. Really tuneful. This is me hitting and recording it. I was thinking about getting me one of these for stage but I don't think the stage crew would appreciate carrying a 5 ton lump of granite on and off the stage each night! It's said to be the oldest instrument in the world. It was almost like a steel drum. After playing it for a while you start to hear all the detail within it's sound. So many harmonics. I'm definitely going to be using those recordings as part of my rhythm tracks!Met this guy called Alan Root today (who's a big cheese in the world of nature films). He had this pet hyrax. It was soooo cute! They called it Pia. Apparently it the elephant's oldest relative and looks like a large guinea pig. He's going to take me up in a helicopter in a few days to the top of the Lengai volcano which is still very much alive. Cool! or not actually...
As you can imagine I'm having the time of my life.
Just been going round and round in teeny little circles trying to crowbar out some lyrics for this b-side. Sometimes they come easy (1% time!) and others they don't...one line has come out easy though... I may just have to repeat that over and over if I don't come up with the goods soon! Which would read a little something like
Verse "Run with me through rows of speeding cars" "Run with me through rows of speeding cars"
Chorus "Run with me through rows of speeding cars" "Run with me through rows of speeding cars"
Weird extra bit "Run, run, run, and now backwards and to the left and stretch..with me oo ooo oo through rows of speeding cars, cars, da da dey ya"
I decided taking pictures and videos on my mobile phone of things that light up in my studio would be more fun instead. If anyone reading this came to the Scala gig a week ago this is one of the dragonflies that was hanging from various places around my kit and some distorted music (the beginnings of the chorus riff) Dragonfly_lights.mp4 There's something a little irritating about this song...it's in pretty much the same key as "Goodnight and Go" which may be a little odd hearing them one after the other...I've tried playing/singing in another key but it doesn't quite cut the mustard I'm afraid. It probably won't even bother anyone but me anyway. Today I did something highly embarrassing which I will never do again. It's called SOHO circuits and it involves me (and about 10 others) runingn around a room in a gym doing star jumps and bench presses. Not for me...definitely not for me. How is it I am the only one that looked like a total spamhead. I'm just too darned lanky for that stuff. Anyway...back to simpler things in life.
Cheese. I love cheese. Pretty much any cheese. Can you tell I'm procrastinating! Ugh... Better get back to them. Love, fluv immi x
Hello everyone. Wow. I feel like I've been on this crazy holiday for a month made loads of new friends then came home to find everything has come together. What an amazing start to the new year. The tour was so much fun. I had my own bedroom on the bus!
I would like to make clear I didn't demand that in some sudden wave of divadom... I'm not that bad...yet. However it was a lovely treat and now i've tried it...well..you know. A huge double bed that was sooo comfy with really soft sheets. It even had a shower, the room, not the bed. I miss drifting off to sleep in the whirring of the bus between cities and watching the trucks with all thier lights pass by the window through the blinds.
and the find of the year award goes to.... Zoe. A pic i found on flickr by a bloke named J. McPherson.
I won't go on and on and on about how amazing, gorgeous and talented she is because you'll all start to think i fancy her or something...but...wow. Such a pleasure to be around. I'm so looking forward to spending more time with her in April when we'll be touring as many of the parts we missed on this last US tour as we can. Which means perhaps some sunshine! I'm now officially the palest shade of foundation.
Here's another pic that Mark Owens took of me in San Francisco before the gig at the fab, glow sticks adorned Great American Music Hall. We were shooting for a pic to go in his piece on me in Urb Magazine Goodness...that was just a hello really...there is so much that has been going on! Perhaps the biggest news is that this guy Nick Raphael, has over the past 6 months, been slowly convincing me to license my beloved album to him and his new Sony/BMG imprint White Rabbit. I am the first signing and boy does he want to get off to a good start! I met him initially a while back in my studio in London reluctantly. Some of you know my past experience with big labels hasn't been a a whole bag of laughs. He'd heard the album and had been bugging my manager for a meeting. As soon as I met the guy I found myself coming around. Much to my annoyance everything he said made complete sense. I've been hey ing and ho ing about this for a really long time and i just feel this record is too important for me to be pig headed on this matter. I have to pass on some of the responsibilty as all the non creative stuff's been taking up to much time. It's still my album. I own it. I have 100% artistic/creative control. Basically nothing changes apart from the fact that they give me the cash to do what i need to do and they take a chunk out for doing it. I believe it's totally the right thing to have done - (signed on friday!)... The thing is i could never have got a deal as good as this if i hadn't released the recorded, produced, designed and released this album already. It looks like things are finally coming around. This means...new video coming your way asap, more touring (this deal is for everywhere outside USA, canada and Mexico) in all kinds of places and most importantly more time to make more music!
As a kind of hats off to Nick and his label the artwork is going to have a little White rabbit in it somewhere. All will be revealed...this guy...Ryan Obermeyer who wrote to me about a year ago now i think....asking if i'd ever let a fan get his paws on some of my artwork...i took a look at his site and sent him an email with something along the lines of "You bet your ass i would!" So we met in NYC last November. Three months on...he sends me this!!! I just LOVE IT! So now he's designing the single cover artwork for Goodnight and Go around one of the millions of photos he took of me in November. Plus he's a real sweetheart. Say hi to him. it's his birthday in a couple of days. BUT...it's Justine's birthday todat! Happy Birthday lovely. For those of who came to the Scala, Justine was responsible for the synchronized swimmers above your heads. She's also been filming me on and off for the past 8 months or so and has the camera attached to her face. Lots of DVD footage me thinks there! Mox was the guy to the side on the stage doing the projections too. I only wish i could have seen them! We've been working on stuff since july...i wrote a blog a while back about us beginning to work with each other... Thursday, July 14, 2005 to be exact. What a great night the Scala was. I loved it because there was everything from visuals, to amazing guests Duracell and Zoe plus Jon Hopkins on the virtual decks in between. A real feast! thank you to everyone who came. It was a really special night for me!! I have to admit to being a tad nervous as London always scares me a little. Because it's home and also home to "the business" too. Richie took this photo from the balcony. Well i'm all worn out now! Off to have a nice cuppa and maybe one or two chocolates from a box that has mysteriously opened.
Love and kisses to you all. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff i've left out as it has been a while since my last confession. It'll all come out eventually! ;) Fluv immi xx
Hi ya you guys. Here's a little movie while i get around to writing a mega iblog! This is Zoe (camerman and world's most talented lady...next to me of course haha...), Emily (laughing somewhere, hiding) and James (our sleeping sound man). love, fluv Miss heap xxxx Tour_silliness.mov
Hey you lot. Just a little thank you xx I see you're all tucking into the competition! I wonder who's going to win and where i'm going to have to go to give you your prize?? I'm excited! The last animation goes up tomorrow. Seems like next time we'll have to make it harder! You guys are just too quick! Don't forget 11pm GMT 1st Jan 2006 to send in your answers!
MWAH! have a good one xxx love and all the good stuff immi xxx
Firstly...before i get stuck into this Hellooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm almost at pains to start as i know how much i've got to write..there's simply no way around it, i've just got to get typing. You know when you haven't called a friend that you probably should have phoned by now to catch up but you haven't...so then you leave it for another couple of weeks and by now...LOADS of stuff's been going on and it's 4 x the reason to call...then again and again and OH for god's sake just PICK UP THE DAMNED PHONE AND DIAL! So...i just dialed. Plus i have a nastly cold that no matter how hard i kick won't get off me. I'm stuck at home (which is actually quite nice sometimes...to be forced to do nothing).
Below somewhere in this torrent of letters is info on US tour, stuff about the song I wrote for the Narnia film, a new competition coming to an email near you...soon...holiday pics and what i ate for dinner 63 days ago.
Soooo..last time we saw each other I was by a pool watching the sun set over an RV park at Lake Havasu, USA. Shortly after we skipped into town to check out the old London Bridge and stubled upon a man and his son, motorbiking together inside "the globe of death". Then we ate steak. Next day we continued on to the Grand Canyon. We ended up arriving at midnight becuase we thought it'd be more fun to take the scenic route. Route 66 to be precise. This one's taken by you know who with his fancy new mobile phone camera. So we parked up by a lookout post and walked out into the darkness. The wind got more intense the closer you got to the drop. It felt HUGE but we couldn't see it at first as our eyes were still adjusting. And when they did i thought to myself..."Is that it? I've seen bigger holes than that ...what's the big deal? AS IF! oh my. Incredible. Even more in the dark because apart from the wind there was not a sound. A little scared we eeked our way out to the edge and stood. In awe. For as long as we could before the temperature got to us. We were also really hungry so we went back to set up for the night. I think i cooked my special spicy rice too and the man got the barbie going. Oh yeah...it was good. This is what it looked like the next morning for sunrise. Good thing it's quite large because there was a HUGE japanese tourgroup out first thing in the morning to catch the same spectacle. Goodness....i can't go on to describe everyday from then until now...so now i'm going to speeeed through to.... NARNIA! Just before we left for our little 10 day RV holiday i was summoned to a room within a building somewhere in hollywood. In it about 6 people waiting to meet me including the director Andrew Adamson, the film score composer Harry Gregson-Williams. I hadn't planned on them being there otherwise i quite possibly woudn't have drunken quite so much liquer the night before! It was the Hotel Cafe Tour's big night though. What could I do? Plus i finally met Zach Braff so of course I just had to celebrate. I leapt on him the moment he walked in through the dressing room door with a big "i haven't seen you in ages" hug... while i was backcombing my hair...It was only while i was hugging him that it kinda of dawned on me i'd never actaully met the poor guy before! He was lovely. i dedicated "let go" to him that night. Anyway....SIDETRACKED...i met these guys and to put a long, hangover-head meeting short they played us (my manager and I) some segments from the film and described what they needed from me. Which was quite a lot! (originally they wanted 2 songs but then decided the movie only had room in it for one at the end). I asked when they wanted this done by and they told me I may have to cancel my holiday! They needed it NOW. I wasn't going to cancel out little trip together as it was Richie's birthday on the last night of the tour too so we went out and had four days together before i started to panic and came back to LA to write and record the song for the film. Anyway..so Disney put us up in this very sexy hotel with at the Marina Del Ray in LA. It was perfect as it was just a short journey to Harry's studios where i was to get creative for the next few days. Harry was upstairs composing the Battle scene with Timpani thundering on the ceiling above me and i was downstairs in my own little "blue room" with all my gadgets, Mbira and fairy lights. I LOVED it there soooo much! The studios are by Venice beach. There was this great deli down the road which is where i got my daily intake of BLT with avacado on Ciabatta. mm mmmm... On the third day of being there I was invited to go over the hills to the Scoring stage to watch Harry conduct the orchesta with this HUGE screen infront of him. We were actually on the same floor as the orchestra when they recorded it. When it you watch the Battle scene in the lion the witch and the wardrobe" and you hear the music. I was there! In that very room when it went down! I was so incredible. I loved every second of it. I got all emotional. I MUST make sure i get the opportunity to do that again! One of the many reasons for me saying YES to the guys at that meeting about getting involved was that the worldwide release date was my birthday! Which reminds me...you guys are so sweet...BIG Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday messages!!!
Ok so...I did what i could in LA but then i had to go to NYC as I had gigs and promo already set up. So off I went with all my gadgets and set up my new home at the Sony Studios to continue work. The problem now was I had promo all day then a gig or a showcase almost every night for 5 days. The only chance to work on this song was 1am (after packing down the gear from the shows and put it back together at the studio) until 10am when i my day would start again packed with meetings. So i got a whopping 7 hours sleep the whole time! Catching an hour or two a night on the studio chair. It was really hard as I write my lyrics while singing them. Kind of singing nonsense into the mic until words start to form. Though my voice was shot from the day and no sleep so i couldn't write the lyrics, so i coudn't finish the song so i was getting REALLY stressed out and that just made it worse. All i actually needed was about 4 or 5 sentences to finish off the vocals. Unfortunately they were the was ones at the beginning which are often the hardest. The problem i was having is that usually the songs I write are about ME!!! ME ME ME ME ME notice me and this GREAT SONG! but in this instance it's totally different. You're writing for film. To picture. It has to not jump out at you and distract you from the film. I had to continue a feeling the audience has after seeing the film and not YANK them into another dimension. Which is what i love doing in my own stuff. Anyway...so those opening lines were crucial. In the delirious state I was now in on my 5th day of working through the night and about 3 hours before i had to submit the song to be cut to picture and to get mastered intime to go onto the soundtrack for manufacture. i found myself saying to myself. "Can't close my eyes"....i was falling asleep at the QWERTY wheel but it was my ticket to the remaining lyric! Hurrah! just in the nick of time. If you don't fancy buying the whole score (though it's really great) but just want to buy the song you can do it here
So that was that. Job done! PHEW! The saturday and Sunday I had left were spent with Ryan Obermeyer. We'd been emailing and ichatting each other for ages about doing something together and this was the time. You can have a look at some more pics of him taking pics of me by clicking the pic. He's going to do all kinds of magical things to me by the end of the images. You'll see!
"
Goodness are you REALLY still reading this?! How about a random picture of some very old friends to tide you over? Silky and papa That's better..
Ok so where was i? Ah yeah...we're up until about 1.5 months away now. I came back to the UK then a couple of days after shot off to Copenhagen. What a great city! I went there to support one of my fave Rock bands Carpark North. They heard about me talking them up in an interview and so invited me to play at thier homecoming show. It was a right laugh. Again another night of heavy drinking! Jeez...I don't drink a lot but when i do they just seem to taste better one after the other? Anyone else get that?
Then of course more recently i went to the Nania premier don't you know! At none other than the Royal Albert Hall! OOhhh..i was rather a glitzy occasion! not a red, but a blue carpet and my first ever big premier. It was quite something. I don't have a pic of my outfit sadly! But take it from me...i did my bit! I even caught myself on Saturday morning TV walking behind the director as he was interviewed. The film was projected onto the MOST enormous screen I have EVER seen! I was pretty unreal to think that i had only just a month before been sweating it out in that studio and only a couple of weeks before that had had the conversation with the the director and everyone about it! As for the aftershow party i'll just mention hovering by the White chocolate fountains and Annie Lennox! They were my highlights.
Been doing tons of interviews. Had a great one on my birthday for the T2 mag in The Times. You can see the online version here. It'll be up on the press archives pages soon. Mike Pattenden - the journalist - had definitely done his homework as he bought me a birthday card! That's a first and a nice surprise. I've done a few radio interviews too since i've been back. The one i had most fun with was Paul Gambaccini. The interview i had with him will be aired 22nd Dec, 10pm on R2. It's kinda his round of up of his favourite music of this year i think...which is nice!
Ok...what else. Tour almost fully confirmed for the US starting off with Letterman, 10th Jan!! Oh yeah baby, who'd have thought?!! They want me to do "Goodnight and Go" and I'm not going to argue! There's more info on the calender page. Now... I'm going to be touring the states in 2006 a lot and I know i'm not doing all the states this time around but bare with me! The trouble with touring the USA is it's too DARNED BIG! It costs such a lot to travel to some of the places out there. When I get to do the BIG shows then the tour kinda pays for itself. I am REALLY trying to get at least 1 in Canadian show in too. Not I know that sounds stingy but it's for the same reason... It's looking like Toronto.
The set up is going to be pretty much like the picture at the top here. If any of you have already seen me this is how it's going to be. I have however a little trick up my sleeve with a lady named Zoe Keating I heard some of her playing on this site and freaked out. Bought her latest CD which is BEAUTIFUL and have asked her to come along on tour with me. She'll be opening for me and also playing a few songs with me too. Looping and playing as she goes. A real talent. Gorgeous melody and harmony. Heck i may even tear myself away from my cockpit and leap about on stage while Zoe accompanies me! We're going to have a bus too! Yipeeeee....I love touring about on a bus. Makes all the difference. Not to have to pack and unpack everyday but rather leave my mess strewn all over the floor. I am quite messy i have to admit.
I am planning a tour of the UK end March/ April too. Dates announced asap.
Did a show with Rufus Wainwright in Norwich the other day too. ooooh...he is lovely. It was so nice to see him again. The saucy gent that he is! On the way there on the train i met a lovely young lass, Katie Riddle. I'd just sat down in my chair and this girl sat in front, turned around all excited and asked me if i was imogen heap. Well...i am ...so i said yes...then I got all excited. It doesn't happen to me too often in the UK. It's a nice feeling when it happens. Anyway we chatted and chatted until she had to get off the train an hour later. I stuck her + 1 on the list and she came up to the gig. It was her birthday the day after and she was trying to finish a rather long essay. I hope you got it done Katie!
ooooh...i forgot about that AMAZING night you Londoners treated me to at the Shepherd's Bush, 22nd Nov! I can't believe everyone sat down on the floor like that?! I've never heard london so quiet. Thankyou all who came. That was a very special night for me! MWAH! oo ooo...plus the Gig that my mate Brian (Eno...oooooh!) invited me down to at the Astoria. Great to play my tunes over such a massive sound system!
What else? ..Well there's a big email coming out soon to those of you on the mailing list with other stuff on it too. My hands are aching. Plus the ring finger on my left hand has a little tiny plaster cast on it to try and straighten it out after the bike accident before i left on tour in Sept. Boo...that's actually pretty bad. Maybe i'll decorate it and put it up on my next blog. I will write again before christmas to wish you all well! xxx
Ahhh....now...also watch out for another email in a couple of days from now. I'm gathering the pieces for a new competition! Now you know how AMAZING the last prize was so don't miss out on this one! i have a cool idea on the prize but need to find out of it's possible first. The way to win is to guess the lyrics from these animations that are being made as I type. Nick Stewart, the same guy who did "mini immi" for the competition email is doing it and they are soo cute! I'm going to give you over christmas to sweat it out then announce the winner on New Years Day.
Blimey O'Riley! That's enough of that. I'm off to make a nice pot of bourbon! Big kisses to y'all! I'm sure there's TONS i've left out but that should keep you busy for a while! Keep warm and ring an old friend or look what happens?!
Love fluv xxxxx Speak in a few days. immi xxxxxxxx
Hey everyone...really quick note. Finished the Hotel Cafe tour the day before this shot. Had such an amazing time and will think of it fondly in my heart for the rest of my life. Such sweet sweet guys, the gigs just got more and more fun and the drink flowed more and more freely!! Really felt so relaxed. It was more of a holiday! Yesterday Richie and I took off from San Diego (the last show) for a short RV trip around Arizona. This was our first stop. The Salton Sea. It was so beautiful as you can see and definitely helped lighten the post tour blues! More soon xxx Hugs to you all. It was so much fun meeting so many of you on the road. Will be back for more US gigs in Feb if all goes to plan xxx
Hey there everyone. Having an awesome (I’m speaking the lingo now) time on tour so far!
I got thrown in the deep end when I arrived after having slept for 4 hours over 48 hours I arrived in Indianapolis and got to the hotel to meet up with all the guys on the tour. At reception I rang up to Brian (our tour manager on the Hotel Café tour) to say “I’m here…what now?”. So he tells me that in 10 mins they’re all going to a Motley Crue concert and that my presence was requested to go with them from namely Carey Brothers (on the tour with us). He figured it was a good way to break the ice...he was right! You can’t get more full on metal than Motley Crue! So we all met up at the bus (very nice! Totally different kettle of fish to our UK busses!)...apart from Butch Walker (also on tour with us) who was already hanging out with his pal Tommy Lee backstage in his dressing room at the venue. We all piled into Jason (our stage manager/ friendly guitarist/ bass player should we choose to abuse him)’s brother’s car and headed for the gig. We eventually found our way in thanks to Tony (part of the Motley Crue team) who escorted us in through the back and straight into Tommy’s dressing room...greeted by him, top off, tatts out, drumming on anything hard surfaced psyching himself up for the gig along to his “aftershow” playlist on the Apple laptop, itunes playing through a mobile disco with a great little sound system. Now THAT is rock and roll! I’m liking this so far...It’s almost time to go see the gig so we gather together some Coronas into plastic cups and follow the leader to the sound desk where we were going to watch the gig from. The atmosphere was primal, excitable, ready to blow! They came on stage in spandex and ***k you t-shirts in amongst a host of scantily clad ladies in black latex. I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’m sure they’ve all got some form of tourettes as every other word was a swear word. It just added to their charm...The gig had so much pyrotechnics going on. It was pretty funny to watch the guy who was “playing” the fire and smoke on his computers just in front of us. I really needed to go get me some ear plugs so Tony escorted some of us to the dressing room again to pee and also so I could chew up some bogroll into a little ball and stick it in my ears as some kind of make shift earplugs (gross I know but needs must...I like my ears). It was really really loud. He asked us if we’d like to go watch Tommy play drums on the stage...er...YES! So three of us found ourselves say 6 feet away from Tommy ripping the skins to pieces. It was quite an experience. We definitely had the best seats in the house there that night! Occasionally Tommy would take a swig out of the Jagermeister bottle for a pick me up and eye up this lovely young lady who had appeared behind us. He’s like a kid up there. Glancing round to us (well mainly Butch) everytime he pulled off a cool fill like “did you see that?” Tommy ran off for a second and came back on with a harness. He then proceeded to the front of the stage where he was winched up to the rafters where 20 feet up was an electronic kit for him to play on...then he swung mid air to the one on the other side of the stage where there was another electronic kit! That was something I’d never seen before...again...funny but strangely brilliant and totally metally over the top!
The show finished and we all met up again and piled into the dressing room...booze was a flowing...young ladies were a hanging and empty beer bottles were a dying a quick death against the dressing room walls. I must admit to really enjoying having a little boogie to Tommy’s “aftershow” playlist. He’s really into his hard electonic jagggedy beats which is right up my village lane. It was a great night and we were all well and truly bonded by the end of it.
It was time to skip on back to the bus...stopping by a Taco Bell on the way for a healthy does of calories. I could never do this every night as I’d be a complete wreck but you gotta do the rock and roll bit every now and then!
So the day of the first gig. I was nervous that the gear in my 5 suitcases may have been damaged and was itching to get it set up to see if it was ok. The gear in soundcheck was fine thankfully. I was so much more relaxed and getting back into the swing of things. It’s so warm here I really feel like I’m on holiday. It’s so nice to be able to walk out of building and not need your coat. The gig was getting closer and the queue started to talk to me as I walked past from some of the peeps who were here to see me. There were 4 other artists playing last night and the idea is that none of us are headlining. We all rotate. We are all SO different from one another too which makes for an interesting crowd! I had time for 6 songs. The first gig in the states for this album has now been achieved. It was really a relaxed atmosphere and I’d met quite a few people in the audience prior to going on which also put me at ease. I’d like to say a big thankyou to everyone who did come out yesterday. I loved signing all that stuff. Makes me feel like a pop star! If any of you took any pics please post them up on the ibabble.
Big love to you all and see some of you in Cleveland tonight! Xxx
Well hello there. At LONG last...oh my...i am over the (big red) moon! RCA victor are now licensing the album for USA and Canada off of Megaphonic Records (me) and you know what that means don't you boys and girls...release date! It is....1st November...2006....not really...
Nov 1st 2005. I know it's still a way off but i thought that little joke may lighten the wait/weight. As with these things it takes 6 months to negotiate the right deal and then right when you're in the middle of something....it absolutely CAN'T wait a minute more... you must sign NOW. So they faxed it though to the guy who owns the studio complex my room's in who had to wait around for me to double check and check again...call my manager...my oh my...the time had come...As soon as I sent it back with a little covering note "All for one and one for all! To a long and happy relationship" xx immi xx I felt so good, relieved. Fingers crossed this is the right decision. RCA victor have really fought long and hard to get this deal and have been exceedingly patient with me. I am very much looking forward to working the album with them. They've already emailed me today about 20 times with all these ideas and putting things in motion. I'm all excited all over again. So...Hurrah! I met Larry Hamby (the VP of A&R) back in February of this year. Somebody had recommended him and his label for my album. My manager and I met him in his Manhattan office (some 43 floors up) over looking Times Sq. Immediately i warmed to him. I wasn't expecting to come out of that meeting seriously considering signing to them as they are part of the HUGE beast that is Sony/BMG but he really struck a chord with me and we have been in talks ever since. RCA victor's roster is very eclectic which definitely appealed to me. Most importantly they absolutely LOVE and believe in me and the record and that is THE most important thing. (by the way...they are also licensing for Mexico too but don't have a release date just yet)
Soooooo....what else has been happening? Been doing a ton of press interviews and Q&As for various papers, mags and sites. Getting my patter back now. It was quite tough at first getting back into the swing of interviews after such a long time. For UK peeps check out this Friday's Independent...i think that's going to be a good little feature. Did the interview and pics just near where i live.
I've done my first ever remix for somebody. Temposhark asked me to remix their song "Hard Medium Soft" for their debut album "Battleships". My mix was called "HMS Heap mix"...get it HMS...battleships...anyway...There's also a certain Mr Guy Sigsworth who's done a remix for another of their songs "it's better to have to have loved". I've heard it and it is (of course) beautiful. Their rather cunning plan for the album is to release a double CD. One of their album and the other the remix album. They've also got Cursor Miner (who I LOVE!!!!) and Avril (who i also LOVE!!!) to do a remix...should be good...Their album is released sometime in January next year.
Then after I got that together i raced through my instrumental B-side for Hide and Seek (to complement the a cappella A-side) in time to get it mastered before this bank holiday weekend to make sure that it gets to be pressed in time for single release (which is now 26th Sept). I'm designing the 7" vinyl today but the small problem is I still haven't stumbled across a title yet. hmmm...As the track has no lyrics...it's quite dark. Filmic, orchestral.
I feel really good about the piece because I finally got around to using this idea i had from the beginning of making the album. Before the lighting and flower people moved in below my studio there was this large cavernous warehouse space that no-body was using. I'd come up the stairs in the morning and sing a loud note through the open door and listen to it echo. It was a little ritual. I really wanted to record something in there. When i heard this amazing trumpeter Arve Henriksen - listen to his piece "viewing infinite space" on this web page - was coming to London to do a show i pounced on the chance and asked if he'd come to my studio which he did. He is AMAZING live. You HAVE to see him if he ever comes by your town. I don't get all teary too often at gigs but i was blubbing hard that night. Just sooooo beautiful. There was this one particular piece where he improvised for about 10 minutes (it was just him on stage with his sampler). Recording his voice and trumpet as he went along. Playing over himself. My oh my I was very emotional! You can buy his Chiaroscuro album on iTunes too.....So...
back to the b-side. There was this small musical idea I had and i asked him to play over it. We recorded it in that big room with trains passing by every 3 minutes. Which was amusing to start with then rather annoying. The natural reverb was perfect though. What he played that day was just gorgeous but when it came to writing some lyrics for it i just couldn't find anything. So it got left behind and i felt bad that i didn't use this cool stuff he did on the album (i did use a little in "i'm in love with you" but not nearly as much as he should have!)
So there we go. Arve finally trumps loud and proud on this as yet unnamed b-side. Another wonderful musician came to my studio t'other day. You know my friend justine... ...well she's got this really cool friend called Linda Neil aka Lula Bliss (she's got no website at the moment soz). She writes and sings songs (she played me one while strumming her violin like a guitar! very cool) and she is an AWESOME violinist. It's can be a little tricky sometimes when a good friend comes at you with a "my mates a musician, you should meet" conversation but Justine really does know her stuff and wouldn't have recommended anyone if they couldn't cut the mustard. So Justine, Linda and I arrived at my studio last sat morning. The day began by me tinkling around on the mbira and Linda singing her violin away. I really get can't into words how exciting it was to be playing with her at that moment. I really felt like i'd met someone i want to improvise and make music with over and over. She has such a sensitive, expressive touch. Not too over the top which is easy to do on the violin. The tone is really lovely. I couldn't wait to press record! We recorded some 10 minutes or so of us improvising me moving between mbira and piano. It's not too often i get to just improvise with somebody like that. One day i'll get around to doing something with what we did while messing. Linda played some violin on the Temposhark remix and then played over the b-side and gave me tons of great stuff to play with. The next day she was zooming back to Paris where she'd be for a few days then off back to India to play in the mountains for a few more months. Lovely, spontaneous, big hearted, slightly crazy lady.
Tour...tour tour...this week i'm going to be frantically getting ready for these upcoming shows! I haven't even bought the gear i'm going to need to do the gigs and my first one is in less than 2 weeks. Shite. Better get it together quick sharp. You can find the tour info on the iCal page of the website. We're going to keep that updated now.
So there we go. That's pretty much it folks. I can't wait for you to hear the b-side. It's very different to anything i've done before. I hope you like it xxx love fluv xx 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.
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...
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.
Yay! I went down early monday morning and bought one all for myself. Keeping the receipt. Somewhere i've got the receipt to my iMegaphone too bought in london 8 years ago when it came out. Wow...where do the years go?!
So. After all this time you guys. You've waited and waited (sorry for those outseide UK! getting there) and have one now in your hands...was it worth it? Is it everything you've hoped for? I really hope so. I am so grateful for your patience. Some of you have even longer to wait i'm afraid! We're working on it though. Don't you worry.
Some of you have been emailing in telling us it's not in the shop you went to. If you're going into shops and asking for it (even if you already have it!) this is the best way for me to get them in there. Shops have to decide whether they're going to sell something before accepting them off me. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation but if enough people ask for it. Shops'll get it in then it'll be there for someone to stumble across.
It was definitely worth the wait for me. I got it just the way I wanted it for the first time. I LOVE the packaging. It's so touchy feely. Lots of things to look at...(mainly me and a green dog!) Any of those reading the blog back in December will know where this pic comes from.
Now i'm sure a few of you are responsible for Speak for yourself being at no.11 on the UK itunes chart. THANKYOU BIG TIME! This is really exciting for me. What a great beginning. Kisses! xx
Funny...had such a great day wondering round the shops buying me a couple of albums and seeing where they weren't and where they were...beaming...light footed. Like things are somehow, cliche, but clearer. Noticing how the air, feels. How the clouds lie. All that time waiting and here it is. In and out in a day. I had a really great night too on Monday where i invited some friends to meet me under Waterloo bridge (nicer than it sounds!) outside the NFT all sit together on the big wooden pews, drinking. I bought quite a lot of champagne too when i heard that Zane lowe played Hide and Seek on his Radio 1 show as the "hottest record in the world today" and then it got chosen for an Encore out of everything he played that night! THANKYOU! So many thank yous!
on that note p.s. Sorry steve for getting your last name wrong! Bevis not Bevin! DOH! we love immifont.
oh and another thing i've forgotten to mention was the bike trip i did! Well in brief I had a great time and i'm doing it next year. Maybe see you there? Hopefully it won't be quite as hot next year. Again, thank you all who donated some money for the BHF. You raised £250! Not bad for a days notice. All sent off and put to good use i'm sure by now.
Ok...you know that Tori tour...well...erm...it's not happening. I'm really sorry for anyone who's already bought tickets in the hope of catching me play. Some of you know I STILL haven't signed a licensing deal for the states yet (my goodness these things take time!) and it's now only 3 weeks until it would have kicked off. Also due to the exchange rate it's almost twice as expensive for a US label to fly me out as ususal and at the start of the album US campaign that is a lot of money gone... I am going to tour the States. YOU BET! I will make up for it. A little later in the year i'll be over there in some form or another and it'll make much more sense timing wise too. I hope you understand. I feel bad that i may have pissed off Tori too. I'm sure she'll understand. She's a Pro!
OK... I'm off for a spot of gigtasticness in shoreditch for some heavy ROCK at "on the rocks". Plus, not dressed yet and i have a feeling it's going to be one of those "all the clothes pulled out of cupboard" evenings.
Love to you all. Sorry about Tori again. Will tour there by the end of the year...and a big one hopefully in the new year. I would only have played for 30 mins anyway. I know you can hold out on me! ;)
So...what is going on! there is sooo much immi love in the house! Jo Whiley and this evening Zane lowe plays Hide and Seek on radio 1! WICKED! who'd have thought one TV spot could cause such crazy ripples! I love it i love it i love it. I made a few promos to give to radio and press etc as this is kinda like a single. I designed this little promo CD and i saw it finished for the first time today. Oh my! is it lubberly. if there's any left over i may put them up on the immi shop. but not before.....SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!!! Oh my! it's coming...it's finally coming ....OUT ahhh..the relief, the joy. It's taken sooo long to get to this stage!
The first pic on this blog by the way...is a still from something that me and this VDJ guy called Mox is doing with me. We are gathering together a load of visual stuff for live shows. This is taken from about a minute worth of other frames like this of me dancing around with these coloured balls flying off of me. They are meant to be a bit like the dots around me on the front cover of SPEAK FOR YOURSELF WHICH IS COMING OUT HERE IN THE UK THIS MONDAY AND I CAN"T CONTAIN MY E X C I T E M E N T ! ! ! sorry...that just blurted out! This week and next week, amongst other things can be found wondering the streets of london taking pics and video clips for him to mess with for other footage.
and we reached 20,000 posts on the babble baord! COOOL! thankyou all for making the babbleboard such a great place! 20,000! Originally uploaded by immi.
I've booked Aggie's (competition winner!) and her friend's flights and accommodation (that took a while to find the perfect place) for the 27th until they leave...OH my! the apartment is sooo cool! i won't go into it now coz i want to surprise them...but they are going to LOVE it!
what else? oh yeah...great reviews have been popping up here and there about the album i'm pleased to say! more good news!
erm...US deal is still not signed (sigh) but getting very close now. it WILL be released this year! It will. It won't be much longer but until i have signed the deal to license the album i won't know for sure when exactly as we all need to sit around a big table and choose a date. I'm sorry everyone else has to wait for so long. Usually it is the other way around though. Normally, i don't know why..people release in the states first.
But..for those of you who are in the know you can order it from UK sites....i'm sorry it will burn a bigger whole in your pocket than normal though.
Looking like iMegaphone will be available for download on my ishop too soon. Which is REALLY great! Coz it's out of print...and even though i wrote it bla bla bla i don't own it...my old label Almo Sounds do and they have kindly agreed now to let us sell it on my site! YIHAAA!
About a week ago i was ichatting with this girl called Marisa (who amongst other thins is mainly responsible for getting Hide and Seek into the OC so we all agree she totally ROCKS!). She had been talking to these guys who are making this film called "Just like Heaven" starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, coming out in september. The music supervisor was in a bit of a 2 and 8 as he was running out of time and needed a cover of this song called "spooky". If you read up on the film you'll see why this song is very apt. Marisa knowing i've got my own studio and i can pull something together pretty quick mentioned me and he was on the phone quick smart to me talking about it. So the long adn the short of it is I have done a cover of this song called "Spooky" for this film "Just like Heaven". I really like it and hopefully you'll all hear it soon. It's quite a departure from my usual (whatever that is!) but that was part of the fun/ challenge of it!
Oh...and another thing. I have sent off nearly all of the competition runners up prizes too....this is a pic i took of a few of the things i made 75 cards out of! That took me AGES! I really was wondering why i started doing it in the first place after the 30th one! anyway. they all looked lovely and i almost didn't want to send them off. They are really little BIG THANKYOU cards xx Blocks Originally uploaded by immi.
OK. my hands ache. Love to you all and thankyou all for helping me get this far!!! More soon! BIG HUG xx immi
Hey there you x What a couple of weeks this has been. So UP and DOWN. Not just for me...but for everyone in london and beyond. The Olympic news had me jumping around on the pavement when a friend rang me and told me we'd got it! I am sooo happy about that! I can't friggin' wait! I'm not too into sport but i do really love the Olympics. Even at school learning about it's history fascinated me.
I almost feel bad for having all this good luck with my stuff at the moment with the London attack last thursday. Like everyone i was emailing, texting and calling friends and family, checking everyone was ok. Which i feel very grateful to say they were. I did an interview today and the interviewer told me one of his old work mates has gone missing and he'd seen a "have you seen this girl?" poster in london with his friends face on it. How awful. I felt heavy and got shivers all down me. It brings it all back. That it IS real. It really did happen. Right here in my town. Our beautiful city. It still hasn't sunk in how HUGE this is. I don't know what to say. My thoughts are still very much for the families and friends of people who have been caught up in this. Today it was very moving to see London come to a halt in remembrance and in solidarity for two minutes. (everyone that is apart from the guy at Waterloo East station who quite obviously hadn’t heard about the 2 mins silence and was blaring out on the station tannoy about how some train was late throughout!)
I was in Israel on holiday with my mum and sis when i was 16. On one of the days we were in a building that's entrance was off from a market place in Jerusalem when a suicide bomb attack happened outside. it was horrible and though i didn't see anything I really FELT it. Heavy and shaken. Even though we weren't really sure what the noise was because we were told there was a ceasefire. Everyone was on their mobiles ringing loved ones. I couldn't get my head around how people could get to that state of mind. To do something like that. I don't remember leaving the building. I remember playing a piano that was in the room we were in. I needed to do make something. Fill the air with the sound of something i love. The next day people were going about there business in their beautiful city. It had become a part of the everyday. Still after all that we did have a wonderful time out there and felt very welcome.
It doesn't feel right to put these good immi happenings i want to tell you about within the same blog...so i'm going to write another x
Album release is set for 18th July over here in the UK on Megaphonic Records. Whopeee! Having 5,000 manufactured just for starters then once they're on coffee table and in ipods I can get some more made. Having your own label you get to find fun things out like how much It costs just to get them nmanufactured and into the shops! Don’t kill me US peeps. The licensing deal in the States still isn’t finalized so no release date there yet I’m afraid. I am going to make a limited amount available for mail order though from my site for those of you who just can’t wait!
Lots of little hot topics to talk about...
Hide and Seek download Wow...this gave the whole campaign a nice little leg up. Getting to 32 in the billboard download chart! That is waaaay cool. Even billboard rang us up to find out what was going on coz it’s so unusual for an indie label (my megaphonic label) to get into the top 100. Not bad for a first release! Thank you to all of you out there who bought the song. It’s enabled me to pay for a few other things. Amazing what one spot on a TV show can get you. A BIG thanks to the OC guys and to Marisa and Sanne from Zync who pitched for and nabbed the slot. Big kisses! The OC episode airs over here in the UK on 11 July, (timing!). I am pretty excited to see what will happen over here once it airs. Hoping it’ll have the same effect. I'm going to radio with Hide and Seek in the UK as a really low key intro to the album. You gotta use what you've got and we got the OC baby!
Indtroductions... I'd like to welcome a few new members to the team. Bjorn - our National Radio plugger...so the first thing he'll be doing is taking Hide and Seek to specialist shows to hopefully get some spot play. National Press gal - Judy Shaw. Regional Press girls - Maureen and Mandy from Momentum PR. The guys who are manufacturing the GORGEOUS digipacked "speak for yourself" as we speak Clear sound and Vision. I'd just like to add that i actually designed a whole new digpack pattern for this album! The layout I needed for the artwork i wanted didn't have a pattern so I got one made. oooo. see how much i care...
Funny note: a while back you may remember I mentioned I’d produced Nik Kershaw's single off of his forthcoming album “then and now”. Predominantly a “Best Of” album but with 4 new tracks. The one I did is called “What it is”. I was asked a couple of weeks back, along with Richie (my boyfriend who I got in to play drums on it) if Nik could use us and my studio for a day. His record company wanted to get together a TV commercial for his new album and wanted to get some footage of him “signing and recording” in the studio. So if any of you UK ers do catch it…that’s my studio and yes that is me at the computer and Richie on the drums! Pretty funny really. It’s good to have a varied diet you know. I think that relates to all things in life. His album's out this monday if any of you fancy hearing my first go at producing someone else's stuff!
Tori Tour Most of you will have heard rumours of a Tori Amos support tour…along with the Ditty Bops…who are REALLY great for those of you who haven’t caught them. I saw them singing alongside a girl called Jesca Hoop at The Hotel Café in LA on my last trip there. A lot of you may have been wondering why we haven’t plastered this news about the tour all over the website. Well…. Because the licensing deal hasn’t been sorted yet it’s been difficult to say 100% whether it’s going to happen or not. However we have been speaking to the interested parties about the tour and all have said they will pay (within limits) for the tour if and when we do sign with them. One slight bummer in this situation is that because the dollar is $2-£1 £ it is twice as expensive to tour in the states as the UK so I’m really having to par down the live show. Originally with all the guys I wanted to come on tour with me plus equipment plus tour bus, flights, visas, crew, tour manager, etc etc it came to ….wait for it…$250,000! Which I’m sure you’ll all agree is a little excessive for my first US tour! So for those of you that do come, expect a completely different version to any of the songs you may have heard already. It’ll be me on the piano with a few geeky bits, vocal sampling live and all that will still happen…plus my mmmmmmmbira…Plus a double bassist who’ll be accompanying with some deep luscious string textures who'll also be sampling the instrument live, building up harmony and counterpoint. I’m actually going to be designing a piano to take on the road with me. The picture in my head is one that kinda looks like the shape of a really squished grand piano but see-through with little fairy lights that relate to the notes on the keyboard and instead of a music stand a flat screen! Oh yeah…we’ll see if it ends up really looking like that or not. That’s the dream now though, I like the idea of using the classic curved body of the grand piano but being see through so that you can see all the gadgetry going on inside it. The guy who I’m going to talk to this “piano” about lives in Brighton…which leads me to my next piece of news…
The BHF's London to Brighton Bike Ride Tomorrow I am taking part in the London to Brighton bike ride. It’s a charity event (it would have to be really to go that far in one day!!!) for the British Heart Foundation. The total distance is around 60 miles and there are a few gruelling hills thrown in for good measure. One of them I know quite well as it’s just at the bottom of the road where my mum lives so she’s going to be waving me on. It’s going to be a test of willpower not to take a slight diversion to where there’s always nice food and a log fire! I know it’s a bit late in the day but if any of you would like to sponsor me you can do here. Now I haven’t exactly been very organised with this event because I only found out about it from a friend a couple of weeks back and missed the chance to officially register as all the places had been taken up already but people can still tag along who haven’t signed up. They’ll be getting an extra cheque they weren’t expecting which I’m sure they won’t mind. It’s going to be 30 degrees tomorrow too! Yikes and I'll be taking pics from my phone and sending them to my Moblog so you can all see how red faced i'll be!
What else… Oh yeah! Tomorrow we’ll find out who I’m cooking for! I wonder who’s going to win the competition…mmm…. There's still time to muscle your way into the top 75..just. I’ve got 25 little Cds I’ve made for the next 25 runners up and got a cool pic for those next 25 again. I’m going to be cycling on the announcement day but James will fill me in I’m sure on my mobile whislst bombing down a country lane somewhere between here and the coast. Thank you, all of you for taking part in that contest, It REALLY made a big difference to the amount of people that heard and bought Hide and Seek and general immi awareness. I’m going to be working on another emaily thing for the UK album launch too. That’s only a month away…I’d better swap to skates.
This is turning into quite an essay….i wonder if anyone’s still reading this? Anyway…I gotta go “tune” my bicycle and dig out the padded pants.
Oh oh before I go. A few of you have been asking how I got the song came about and how I made my voice do what it does… well
Late one night. A night that followed a day of computer hell. My spanking new computer had actually blown up due to a faulty power supply. What a big fat waste of a day that was. Just about to get on my bike and head for home… defeated in battle…when this piece of gear, nestled on the disused radiator kinda caught my eye. Not really wanting to leave with nothing to show for myself, I quickly hooked it up to a keyboard and mic and set it up to record onto my 8 track mini disk recorder as Pro-Tools was being held captive by my recently deceased computer…This piece of gear makes a noise only when you sing into it. It has no noises of it’s own. The only sound you can hear on Hide and Seek is my voice (apart from some backgroujnd noise). There’s no keyboard sound. All those harmonies are a result of what notes I play on the keyboard which then tells the harmonizer which notes to make my voice appear to sing. I can choose the amount of effect (harmonies) to show through. I used about 50/50. So you hear unaffected natural voice too.
The first thing I sang (luckily set to record) were the words “where are we? What the hell is going on?” I carried on playing and singing, reacting to the chord inversions the harmonizer was throwing at me (It was set to 4 note polyphony, 4 notes a time, but using most or all fingers on the keyboard the box is forced to choose which notes to use out of a chord) and before my very ears a song had emerged out of nowhere. The words “Hide and Seek” a theme I’d toyed with a while back came into play, seamlessly, appearing from the vast undergrowth of abandoned lyrics. In one spontaneous improvisation of a few minutes the song was there. The theme, melody, timing, a performance and production direction. I then immediately after that take recorded an answer line coming in from the 2nd chorus, again, as it is on the album exactly as it came out. Where she breathes and holds notes It was perfect except the lyrics weren’t all there. I loved it. Like it was someone else’s coz it happened so fast. Dropped right into my lap. Such a nice surprise. And to top it all off on the last note I sang a train went by the window. The sound you can hear under my voice on the last note is the squeaking of a key on the keyboard followed by a commuter train tailing off into the distance.
The next day I came in and started to finish the lyric. Then spent the next week learning the chords that had randomly been played into the harmonizer and all everything else that made the demo so great. I didn’t want to loose a moment of it. I actually ended up using most of the breaths from the first recording that night and slotting them in. It was the timing. The urgency of it.
So there we go. Now you know. I'm all typed out and you probably need to get back on with whatever it was you were meant to be doing! xxx love love speak soon xxx
Hello there...'tis I. Heap... I'd like to welcome all those new crazy people that've been babbling on the babble board since the OC airing last night...You found me! now...never leave me...i'll be good to you and make lovely noises in your ears.
For the regulars...dudes! I think we're getting somewhere...it's been a while...but i feel the beginning is really here...and gathering pace already. I like it...i feeeeel good. m mm mmmm. It's so great. I love that you can all see the video and if you haven't already got it there the world's coolest email EVER is about to come your way. It may explain why I have been so absent from you all recently..but i have been thinking about you and about how much I have to say to you all! Goodness...where to start. For those of you who have got the email i have something special to say to you...
A few days back I was cycling up mount Negomi on my bicycle... as you do...i was soo looking forward to breathing in all that fresh mountain air after being in LA for so long making the Hide and seek video. Unfortunately when i got up there, I could sense the air had a high concentration of Nitrogen. These was an extraordinary experience. Being up on the peaks of Negomi breathing Nitrogen...really something. You must try it someday...
Eh hem...got slightly sidetracked there..
you know when you spell your name to someone over the phone, like for a reservation or something. I never really have trouble with my first name...it's always my surname - Heap - I think people feel like they'd be insulting me to think what I said was Heap? so they always say...HeaT, is that H E A T for tango?...i'm like no HEAP, H E A P for Parallelogram...then they get it.
I must have eaten something funny tonight..anyway... i think i'm over that now...soooo
This guy i met one night...Nick Stewart..is this coool illustrator/ animator. He came round to my studio a while back and got me dancing around like a real pansy and making funny vowel noizes for mouth movement so as he could get some good footage to work from. He's designed a little mini immi...ahhhhhh. AND she's wearing my favorite red dress! Except when she's out on her bike, when she's donning her fave red coat and shoes. The one's at heathrow airport for those of you who read that blog...He's been working really hard and I absolutely LOVE her! She is a little dudette. So thank you Nick. Nice one.
What else...yes...Mox. This guy who's also been round my studio last saturday has this wicked idea for a part of the live visual look. It involed me dancing around again...all in black, black gloves, black socks, trousers, top...against a big white wall...so he could take me back to the studio - on DV tape - and cut me out into shapes. Sillouettes. Turn them into little segments. So when i'm on stage the idea is going to be...when i move about on stage, cut out immi is going to be shadowing me. We're going to be able to dance together. Mox is going to be responding to me "moves" on stage with his fingers on a qwerty keyboard. little dances assigned to letters. Coool ha! It probably doesn't make much sense actually...but...it will...in time...
What ELSE have i been doing? weeeell. A hair away from finally finishing the artwork for the album. Looking like an 8page digipack, 16 page booklet...very sexy! Spot Gloss...oh yeah. I am my own freakin' record label now so I can do what i want! OH YEAH. Looking at a mid july release in the UK and not long after in the states. I figured it was time to give little ol' home the first go for once. USA always gets it first and...well...its only fair. It'll be on my site for download like a week before. SO NOT LONG NOW! If you like H and S and G and G you are going to DIE when you hear the rest of it...well lets hope not, coz i want you to hang around a few good more years yet...
So my little ol' shop is up there. Rocking it's litle retail boots. Hope to get all frou frou stuff, unreleased stuff...urban species...LHB...everything i've ever done up there basically in the end. INCLUDING i Megaphone which is not proving so easy, even though I made the dam thing. calm... breathe... and out...
Had a brilliant time out in LA for those three weeks. Met sooo many amazing people. Creative people. My mind is spinning from all that's going on and all that's about to happen...It was great to take a friend out there for a change. Justine. She's a pretty darn cool chick if you ask me. Justine was with me for the whole time with a video camera attached to her face. Documenting this whole process, from making the outfit for the video to the video shoot, to the editing to the post to the small very quiet, only for peeps who i'd met up with in LA this time...gig at the Hotel Cafe. Wow...it was a tough one. Haven't played live for over 2 years! I was rehearsing at a studio nearby on thier piano coz i was sooo nervous i'd forgotten everything from my rehearsal's a couple of days before. I don't get nervous if i'm prepared. I also had a stinking cold lurking...but...It was fine. I had fun. Thge video looked great on the projection screen and we had wine...and wine ot?
I am really quite tired of typing now...
So...basically Justine's going to be filming me for this DVD i wanna bring out. This whole business of getting a record out is such a long process and i think kinda interesting. I'll finish doing this DVD footage as soon as I see my buy my first US copy at a shop...in my hand...then that'll be a good place to finish up.
Wow... I'm really bored of typing now!
I'll speak soon. Have a good one. I won't leave it sooo long next time. Love fluv immi xxx
hey you guys...wow...i've been sooo out of the iblog loop...sorry...this is just a little mini blog as an hors d'oeuvre for my marathon catch up i'd planned on doing today but time got the better of me... i have really got out of the habbit of taking photos too coz Justine's been doing such a great job of that while we were away...but here's the last one on my camera phone and it's from the Coachella festival in california watching Matmos...they were fookin aye.
right then... you are going to be soo flooded by news updates, photos, video, shop and crazy email thing you won't know what hit you by this time tomorrow!!!
The OC mix 4 is out and it's got me on it! So go get it and make me some money! ha ha...This is the first record that's out and i OWN it! Whoppeeeee....i can do whatever i please! so exciting...the beginning. Thank you The OC...Next...a video for Hide and Seek coz this is going to be in a BIG slot in TV worthy of it's own little release and video. Got to squeeze as much good fortune out of this opportunity. All these appearances add up to get it bubbling...All will become clear.
STILL haven't signed away on the licensing deal for the states but am sooo much closer. Not long now! UK distribution looking really good too. Almost almost done on the artwork side too...too much to tell...
then I decided I needed a new hat to go with my new hair to go with the new jacket that i don't have a picture of but it's gorgeous...oh wait..I do... me, mileece and the Array M'bira Originally uploaded by immi.
there's the coat...on me...at Mileece's very cool new flat down the road, so to speak. Took some ingredients and cooked up a nice Lemon and rocket Risotto...mmm mmmmmm mmm. had some wine, listened to some new music she's been making (wow...wow...) and chatted about all these great ideas she's got about transforming music venues around london to cope with her mutli surround speaker set up/ touchy feely music, literally! You squeeze things, put your hand in boxes, shake objects and you make beautiful music...she's soooo talented. rrrr
Making a video in a couple of weeks in LA with Joel Peissig and his most awesome cinematographer Claudio Miranda for Hide and Seek...getting flights together and outfit! here's David, Siobhan and my coffee cups...wait there's only two...anyway..building up the design and colours and fabrics oo oooooo...
Close up drawing of Siobhan's first sketch... Got to RUN RUN now, get on the bakerloo line to her house for the final fitting...I'm going to bring the dress home tonight...will send piccies xxx zoooooooom
Hello y'all...long time...SO much has been going on...where to start? Let's begin by telling you a little about this photo here and how it came to be...
About a month ago..i had an idea one afternoon...I wanted to get some action shots of me and my bicycle scooting about london for the inside of the album booklet. Now I had the bike, I have london...but i didn't have a photographer. So...the search began. I went onto the flickr site, which is where I keep my photos for this blog. This is SUCH a cool website and though it began for me as just a place to put my funny little mobile phone pictures up to accompany these texts...I started to really get into it as a site. Such a hive of great photographers on here! So...i typed in "London" in the tag search bit on Flickr to find photos of london and to see which ones I liked. Some people are great at shooting people some prefer taking photos of buildings. I really wanted the photo to mainly be beautiful london and me somewhere in the corner or something. The journey I take to and from the studio is so pretty by the river....anyway...So there were about 2,000 photos just in the last few days or so! I looked through about 1,000 of them! Took a good two hours or so. While i was looking through them, i'd be taking notes of the names that kept cropping up. No.1 on my list was this guy who called himself Lomokev. I read in his profile he lives in Brighton, which is not too far from London and then emailed him from the site...saying...something like..."hello...love you photos, bla bla bla...would you be up for taking some of me on my bike around the southbank sometime soon...i've just recorded an album bla bla...here's my website...here's my idea....the shots would be for the booklet...are you interested....x immi?" Luckily he was online and within 30 secs he's replied with..."yes would love to"...so there you go! Isn't the internet bloomin' brilliant! A couple of days later he came up to london, we met up, on our bikes at the NFT on the southbank then went to look for locations. A few days on...he came up to london again and we did the shoot...this one was taken while he was cycling too...from his lomo (camera) name kevin...get the lomokev mm mmm....So many great shots came out of the day...and the FREEZING night! brrrrr...out until 2am i think...wait until you see the main one that's going in the album! you are going to LOVE it!!!
here's a photo taken by Vicky Dawe at the shoot we did for more album pics and also for press shots..taken at my studio. Just to give you an idea of the mess surrounding us!
So...what have I been doing since my last post...well...More artworky things. Trying to figure out how to make a font out of my handwriting...I have a sheet of paper here with the alphabet in capital and lower case written in a black biro I just wrote out...if anyone knows by the way, please email me at [email protected]! or if you'd like the job of making into a font...that'd be cool to!...sidetracking.. meetings about UK Distribution, fixing computers, missing friends birthday parties....sorry guys... garlic watching...(for those of you who noticed this on the where's immi bit...I'm afraid it is nothing more exciting than for a little giggle on my part...I don't think there is such a thing...well at least not until now. Maybe there is a secret society of garlic watchers!) ... The main thing I have been doing is producing a song for Nik Kershaw! Really? i hear you say...what? when? why? how did that come about?...well...another little circle has come full.
When I was 17...OMG 10 years ago...was it really? am i? oh...my. I am...I was still at school. The first producer i ever worked with was none other than Nik Kershaw. It was such a cool couple of weeks hanging out at his big old house in Great Bardfield. Had a little "wing" all to myself...very nice. It always seemed to be sunny there. I thought he was hilarious ...and quite cute too...mmm...so eh hem. He heard all my AWFUL cringeworthy demos...out of them we chose a couple to work on and one of them was Come here boy...cool ha!? he taught me so much about songwriting just in those few days with him. More than I would have learnt in a whole year at school. I have always been very grateful to him for that big creative leg up. 10 years on (have seen him around since, also done some vocals for him) he gets a CD through the post form miss Heap...with her new album. Wanting, waiting, secretely, desperately to hear what he has to say about it...He loves it! phew...a week or so on I hear he's been asked by Universal to put out a best of, coz he's never done one...he's got sooo many great songs! He wanted to do a few new songs to stick on there too. to cut this already long story short...he asked me to produce the single! Scary! I've never produced anyone else's stuff before! what do i do? where do I start? He made it very easy for me...turned up to my studio armed with a great song...(he wrote in about an hour....sickening) pre-recorded perfectly sung vocals and the basic chord structure already in a Pro-Tools session. Then he left me to do the fun bit! the music...it was so nice just to do the music. It's such a pain in the ass writing lyrics 99% of the time. So I had fun with it. Over the course of a fortnight (with a week doing my US trip) it was done. He came over for a couple of days to finish the mix with me and to give me some guitar he'd already recorded at his...I loved it!
Now i've got the bug...I'm kinda waiting on various record companies in the states while lawyers talk back and forth about the licensing deal (takes sooo long!). No point just sitting around... So now I'm writing a song with this girl called Alex Parks for her new album. I really liked the songs she's already recorded for it. I like her voice. If you know anything about her you may think it a tad odd I'm working with her. I just simply really liked her when I met her for the first time... We have the melody and structure for the song now. We did that on friday and tomorrow hopefully the lyrics...rrrr...will flow out like a watery dream...Been noodling on the music over the weekend. It's nice and dark...
Erm...also got a great idea for Hide and Seek video...more about that soon!
Basically things are gong well. I'm really confident we'll have decided who we're going to go with in the States by the end of next week. Sorry we haven't released the downloadable version of the album like I said we would by this time...it's a tad tricky before I sign a deal. If I release online now I may piss off a few record companies...don't want to do that...well at least no until after I've signed to them! can you wait a little longer? please?
what else? oh that's gotta be enough now..my fingers hurt!
On a jet plane…Just woken up…I’ve actually been sleeping…almost seven hours…I don’t think I can say the same for Mark my manager. I did wake up briefly and saw him lying on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket in front of his seat to try to get some kip. I thought I’d fill you in while I’ve got an hour or so before touch down.
These last few days in the States have been totally fun packed to the brim with meeting after meeting. Not that I am complaining! It’s been such a great trip. Well worth the dollars. The general consensus seems to be everyone LOVES the record and after Mark and I have had a good old chin wag about all the various goings ons we’ll have our chosen choice of US label announced in no time. There is of course all of that contractual stuff to be dealt with because sadly not all relationships in life are based purely on trust. Such is life in the music industry. So I’m SUPER excited at the moment. We’ve met some really good people this week re: licensing this album. When the lawyers start to chit chat we have some pretty creative suggestions too (touches nose in a I know something you don’t kind of fashion). We were wined and dined pretty much throughout the trip too which kept the pennies in pockets. Mm mmmm…Lapping It all up.
Also while we were there, we did manage to squeeze in some time for a couple of good friends…won a game of darts?? Er, um (may have had a slight handicap), bought a crazy expensive red fluffy hat I’ll probably never wear to make up for all those pennies I’d saved from the dinners, did plenty of cross-Atlantic video ichatting, so cool, did a small photo shoot with Michael crook, feel a bit bad though for Michael coz we only had a couple of hours between meetings and I’d had about 4 hours sleep and didn’t look my usual radiant self to say the least…but hey. I’ve had a look at the contact sheets and we’ve definitely got a couple of really good ones. We must do a PROPER, lights and stuff shoot next time I’m in LA so you can show off to me coz I KNOW how good you are! Got given some very sexy little “bootlets” by a very talented lady who lives in Toronto who fed-exed me four pairs for the shoot. THANKYOU! I loved the pink suede ones the most…fit me perfectly. Have a peek at what she does here .I’ve also been working on the artwork for the album. Before I left the UK I did a couple of photo shoots, so I’ve been sieving through those piccis too and piecing it together. Showed the w.i.p artwork in some of the meetings and it went down really well too…so basically ALL GOOD!
Saw a film just before I got on the plane to the UK. Went to a place in Hollywood to watch this movie in an editing suite, just for me, I felt very important….I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention it but I will…it was called “The sisterhood of the travelling pants”. I did actually bawl my eyes out at regular intervals throughout. I’m such a big 6 foot baby. I really liked the film. They are looking for songs. Of course the success from Garden State doesn’t do any harm in situations such as these…incase you didn’t know…Garden State won a Grammy for the best soundtrack while I was out there…HOW COOL IS THAT!
Hooked up with Jeff Beck in LA…we found ourselves in a secret (not anymore) studio in the basement of the Sunset Marquee listening to,….yup, you guessed it…me me me. It was really fantastic hearing the album on a HUGE system in someone else’s studio for a change. Jeff bought in about a dozen other people and they all clapped at me…ha ha. All the attention…it’s too much, si can’t take it! Not... Ended up at singing a couple of songs on a keyboard in one of the live rooms by about 2am…The night bizarrely ended up for us all in Jamie Cullam’s hotel room armed with much vodka. Met up with Joel Peissig (Dumbing down of Love video) too that night talking about more video ideas….nice…
What else…erm…hooked up with the guys who choose what music goes in the OC. Nice peeps…we met at Zync music, another VERY important part of this whole album into the big wide world of coffee tables and ipods thing. Shout out to Marisa and Sanne! I think they may have something up their sleeve for you and me…all rather hush hush right now but let’s just say I came home to some REALLY good news.
Also hooked up with Jenna at CAA (my agents for gigs) which was cool. I’m glad she’s into this record. She was Frou Frou’s agent too. Responsible for all those cool spaceland gigs for all you LA folk. Also Brian, who hooked me up with that film thang. Fingers crossed they dig something on the album. Me thinks it could be another Garden state! I sholdn’t tempt fate…forget I mentioned it.
Erm… Happy belated valentines day...here’s some more wise words from ze frank
Um. I think that’s gotta be about it. Phew I’m all typed out. Speak soon you guys. I’m on top of the world right now. Love love Immi xxx
Hello there mi darlins...I am in heathrow...STILL..after 5 hours! ugh... thank goodness for wireless internet and my booofitool laptop. These are my new red shoes for walking the streets of New York City baby...here I come. I'm over for a week in the states (NYC and LA) to find me a US label to license my beloved "speak for yourself" ASAP! Looking good... I've had 1/2 an hours sleep. Wasn't counting on the plane being cancelled...was up all night tying up loose ends. Trying to find my frequent flyer card, finishing some studio thangs, packing...deciding what lurvely outfits to strutt around in...
Going to be hooking up wiht sooo many people! I can't fit everyone in...so if anyone's reading this and is like "why hasn't she phoned me"...i'm sorry! I'm coming back mid march...let's do lunch...
Got I am sooooo tired!
Gonna be late for our first meetings thatnks to stoopid aircraft being diverted. Must have had about 10 coffees by now.
I am soooper excited. I feel all grown up. Me and my manager flying out to the states to find us a gaggle of people to take the record into great hights...think BIG...I am the eternal optimist. Going to hook up with old friends too and a birthday lunch in hollywood with a mate from London.
Did a couple of photo shoots over the weekend. Came out really well. Very happy. Looking through all the shots now. Will get one of them up here soon. Going to do another photo shoot in LA wiht Michael Crook. (girl who took the bed shot if me in my green japaneseee top). Crashing a Grammy party or two...gotta be done...
We have found a press agent for the record over here in the UK. Her name is Judy Shaw and she ROCKS! she LOVES the album which is best of all...I'm really happy she's on board. Yippeeee...and so it begins...
Also we have our UK marketing guy in place too...Dave Mather...very excited to have him on our "team" too...still looking for TV and Radio peeps...and distribution. Been hearing back from lots of keen parties so all in all...we're rollin rollin rollin rawhide!
what else...er um...Have been getting various peeps to take video footage of stuff going on like the photo shoot-thank you Emma (leon)...she did my hair and make up too, lookin good...she's a DOLL!- also Emma did the hair and make up for Good to be in love video (up on the site soon i hear!) and tons of other shoots for me over the years...
that's as much as my concentration is going to let me have...I'm fading...fading...
A tad late in wishing y’all the best for 2005…but no less heartfelt…
Happy Happy New year you oo oo!
Check this out
I love that guy…
Now before we start I would like to say a BIG 6 foot thankyou to DREW for reclaiming www.imogenheap.com! Hurrah! It’s always been slightly infuriating that some random guy had STOLEN it from me about 6 years ago, Over the years I’ve tried every now and then to get it back off whoever it was but it was quite difficult when the guy demanded I send him, not a photocopy, but my actual passport! Yeah, right…like I’m going to do that. Very bizarre…anyway about a week ago, out of the big lucky blue I received an email from this guy who said he was in the process of buying imogenheap.com as it had been up for auction and that he needed to get our details of us so he could transfer it over as as a gift to me! WOW…thank you! Such a sweet thing to do. MWAH! again in public!
It’s been a strange start to the new year. Trying to find some other rhythm to my days. For the last year I’ve had a mission to accomplish. Must Finish Record…no matter what else was uncertain in my life that was the absolute no brainer. I’ve been itching to get it finished for so long, I don’t know what I expected would happen once it was (apart from jumping for joy and perhaps a spot of celebratory catch up binge drinking) I guess I thought I’d just come to that part once it was done. So what do I do now and In what order?
My heart is now firmly on my sleeve…
I’ve started by making CD after CD to send out to various people. I’m beginning to rally together a team in the UK to help me get this album off it’s arse and out into the big wide world. If I can get my ‘dream team’ together to work this record, then I really believe I/ we can do this. So right now I’m looking for distribution, press, TV and radio people to come onboard, UK only, just to start with…
I’m not taking on the world just yet. I’ve decided to get the artwork and my band together here in London. I have my studio already and it seems silly to let the space go unused while I dissapear off. I’m starting over here for once. For some reason I’ve always gone to the States first but this time I thought I’d give it a bash on home turf to begin with. I plan to get the album out on all major legal music download sites by the end of February, then I’m going for a UK release mid April. If countries around the world want to pick up on licensing the album then I’m all for it…bringing people in along the way who really love the record and who want to work with it. Giving the attention to places who take an interest. To “GO where the LOVE is!
Ever since I decided to do things differently, great things have come my way. There are a dozen or so people who’ve hopped on throughout the journey so far who have been so fantastic and helped me beyond the call of duty that I feel like I’m just going along with the current and I don’t want to get in the way of a good thing.
I’m going to try and film as much of this as I can too (it’ll be head shots of me until I work off that studio belly and tan). Got a great DV camera for Christmas (thanks everyone!!!). I wonder how it’ll all pan out??
Hey you guys! Have a wicked christmas! I hope your 2005 is as good as I plan on mine being!!! I also plan on being two stone heavier at the end of this week...I am going to STUFF myself stupid. You gotta let a few belt holes go once in a while... I like most, also plan on going on a fitness craze come january...but this time I'm really gonna do it! Yeah right...Enough silly talk..
Thank you all sooooooo much for all your babblings, poems, love, jokes, questions, musings and impeccable taste in music! Your being here has meant so much to me. I really am gonna give you such a corker of an album to get your teeth into ASAP! my....I can hardly wait. This year has been a year of me mostly in a room with me trusty...well mostly, compuwder 24/7...not that i'm complaining coz I strangely love to do that but I plan OUT and ABOUT like never before next year to make up for it. I'm gonna try my damnedest to get to every one you somehow! If only I could borrow Santa's reindeer...he does the world in one night...hmmm...i'll get my manager on that. I have to eat, drink and be merry. Catch up with old friends and family, do lots of hugging, laughing, dancing, partying and LIVING and perhaps even a few moments of carol singing...Crackers, TURKEY, candles, wine wine why not...oh yay...Gotta go snuggle. Love to you!!! MWAH MWAH! Really wishing you all the most amazing year to come. I for the first time and taking some of my own advice and doing exactly what the hell I like this time round. I'm going where the happy is. ugh...bordering on cheezy...quick get a hold of yourself heap...More love...all the good stuff...this is OUR YEAR! You heard it here first...or not..anyway...really gotta go now...BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE....jingle jingle, flop.
This is it. The cream from the last year in the studio. The frothy bit, the haiku, the winning formula, the stuff that stuck, this it what it boiled down to. I made it! I made it though to the other side, smiling. I had no idea what I was going to make before I started. It just all came out. I love it i love it i love it. I could have gone on and done more to it but there has to be closure, sometime. A quote Guy said to me once..."an artist's work is never done, it's merely abandoned"....ahh yes...i like...don't know who said it originally though.
So...12 songs. the order has slightly changed. we have
Headlock Goodnight and Go Have you got it in you? Loose Ends Hide and Seek Clear the Area Daylight Robbery The walk Just for Now I am in love with you Closing In The Moment I said it
From vocoder acapella to electro pop, lyrical piano to glitch, angular bit crushed guitars to wide-screen orchestral score. Whopppeeee...what a journey it's been. It's like a compilation of all the records I should've made by now. Almost schizophrenic. If there was one thing I wanted it to be, it was everything. Not just one space but many places. My album after this is probably going to be an improvised hour of piano and vocal if just for balance!
In mastering it was quite a tricky decision we had to make. Most records these days are mastered (basically the process of placing all the final mixes into order, adding, subtracting frequencies and compression to the whole to make it sit as one body of work) very LOUD. This means though that to play the loud game all the time in a song the quite bits sounds good and upfront but the dynamic in usually the chorus (the loudest bit) gets lost and loses impact. We tried to go down the LOUD route and then I got all fidgety because what I love about this record is it's dynamic. So we went back and started again. This time being true to the original. Which means that some songs may sound quiet compared to the last but as a song in it's own right it wins. It lives to it's full potential. I learned a lot these last few days in mastering it. I hope i did the right thing! I did my own thing. So far that's served me well. It got very tense though! Thank goodness I was with a guy who was willing to spend an extra day or two so I was happy. COOOOL...and did i mention he has a round studio...good Chi!?
It is strange to look at it and know that squashed inside is that rollercoaster of a ride I'm still dizzy from. I'm almost at a loss now. Need to find another rhythm. Perhaps the shopping rhythm or maybe i should be a good girl and attack the get fit rhythm! Maybe after christmas...Walking for 5 hours across Dartmoor with an intensely enthusiastic dog a couple of days back certainly tightened up a few forgotten muscles...actually their still pretty tight...so tight it's tricky to get out of bed in a hurry. It was a good way to start off my new year! Thank you everyone by the way for my Birthday wishes! Even poems...really lovely..cheers!
I was just so excited on the train coming home. Just had to let you guys hear one of them at least! Goodnight and Go seemed like a good idea for loads of reasons...1, coz it was in the OC on the 9th, 2 coz it was one of those melodies that came out of nowhere, 3. coz it took me months to get the verses right 4, coz Jeff's on it! 5...coz it f'in great mate. So happy to hear some of your reactions on the iblog.
I still don't have a title for the album. When i was first starting up on this one, gathering ideas, the folder i put them all into was called "Speak for Yourself"...not sure though. Maybe it's too like i megaphone? I'm sure it'll come to me....eek.
Made a spag bol last night. Sooo good to eat a home cooked meal. Had many a microwave meal the lat year. Of course the first thing i had when i got back into London was okonomiyaki! how could i resist? My lovely man took me there. mm mmm.
So now...who to do? where to go? Artwork, live, radio, video...friends if i still have any! Party? Buy records! Make christmas cards, but pressies...Go to gigs...travel!!! OH OH ...gotta get dressed and get out there! Love to you all....thank you soooooo much for hanging in there. More soon. Go see Garden State you UK peeps, out yesterday...it's a great film!
YIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
heap out xx
oh oh...note to myself...must answer iGrill questions!!!
4am! But geeeez louise does "I'm in love with you" sound goood! there is of course that possibility that it's because if's 4am it sounds good...but for now I'm rocking in the studio...I've really gotta get my skates on....it's the little vocal things you want to add or change. Matching up the sound of a previously recorded vocal form a different room, different compressor..very time consuming! I much prefer the way I've sung it now. quite naughty...but nice.
I've gotta get some kip. Doing well on 5 hours a night it seems. Loosens up inhibitions when your tired and i become more spontaneous and it's all about the broad strokes.
Sorry about the iGrill guys...It's just gonna have to wait 'til I'm done! I have to go to Devon to get the album mastered which is a few hours on the train, so on my way back i'll get stuck in on my laptop...xxx
Love and all the good stuff!!! xxx Happy thanks giving for those of you Stateswide. xxx
Hey you guys...I have been a tad slack in the blog department... but i've been rocking in the studio. Here's a photo of the piano I was recording...sounds MUCH better than it looks here...it's great to have it on the record, it's the "Sleep" piano. I'm SUPER excited coz this week the new website'll be up with some samples of the album to wet your tastebids and make it almost unbearable to wait any longer to hear the rest of it! I couldn't decide what was worse not playing you anything at all until it gets released...hopefully Feb/ March next year...or let you hear little bits leading up to it...It was more me not being able to keep it to myself actually...but hey. It's set up so that two 1 sec samples will go up each day. There are 5 in total I have put up...I don't want to let you hear all the songs coz it'll ruin the surprise completely. There's a good mixture there though.
I've booked the mastering date for 6th December so ready or not...I've gotta go there to put this part of the new album's journey to bed. It's a place in Devon...you can have a look at the website here... Crikey I'd better be ready! There's no real reason to get it done by that date, only if I didn't set a deadline it simply would NEVER get finished! Also...that'll be almost exactly one year since I started work on it. Then I am going to party my little asssss off and celebrate! YIHAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Oh my....I can hardly contain myself. The website looks soooo cool. Sample plant and all...I really hope in a couple of days for it to be up. We're still working on it. Eventually we'll have all the videos I've ever done up there, a full discography, loadsa photos of my ugly mug in various situations. Bits of all the songs I've been on, collaborations, games and whatever else I can think of.
er...ja...so i'm afraid that's about it...I've just had my head down basically.
Goooooooooooodness. Dial up....ugh. Once you've tasted the speed of broadband you just can't go back. one hour just to get to this stage of writing the blog. brrrrr.
Anywayz...I am listening to a cat coughing up a furball in my dad's living room right now, now he/ she of the cat variety is sneezing. cutie. There are almost a zillion (that is another word for four, right?) cats here at my dad's. I am alone in this house where we all grew up. Same old squeeky floorboards and the grandfather clock, still going. The coutryside is silent apart from the wind knocking at the windows and the odd motorbike racing round the lanes at silly mile an hour.
Dad's up North for the weekend so I thought I'd take my chance, come down here armed with some mics, a little mixer and my laptop. I'm going to record the piano that lives here too. The one I grew up playing. It's suffered a bit over the years and is getting a touch arthrytic. Siezing up. It needs to be played (hint, dad)...I've come to warm it up again. It's a grand Steinway. A few of the ivories have come loose and the action's not too great but I still love it more than any other on the planet. We go a looooooong way back. It even has my name "engraved" on it. I was slightly younger than I am now. It was midnight. It was a biro. A blue one. Three times on the lid, just to be sure everyone knew it was mine... i wasn't too popular in the Heap household after that. It's the piano I recorded "Sleep" on for i megaphone.
Good to be here. Will try and get a minute or so of me improvising something for you tomorrow and pop it up here. May not get it up 'til Monday though.
Love to you all xxx Good to get back to your roots every now and then.
Heap, out
p.s
Heap in fluffy rug photo taken by Vicky Dawe at my studio a few days back for a bit o fun x
it was lunchtime...it was the local studio cafe, I rested my bicycle outside while I went in to get some nosh...not ten feet away from it...as I have done nearly everyday for the past 10 months. I had a brief chat with Atomic Rob. said my goodbyes armed with a salad box and a freshly squeezed satsuma juice, headed for the door, to my bicycle to the studio...but...NO BICYCLE! Totally confused...but it was here, it was heeeeeeere. waaaaaaaaaaaaa.
BASTARDOS
Some geezer had been seen speeding off into the distance on MY BIKE. MY BIKE who'd been sooooo far with me...and been pranged and survived with me...not happy.
I feel like I let my bike down. I was meant to look after it and I failed. We were buddies. We'd come a long way together. I feel lost. Please, whoever ends up with it, be nice and try to love it as your own...EVEN THOUGH IT"S TOTALLY NOT, WHY YOU LITTLE...IF I GET MY HANDS ON YOU...YOU..YOU...
censored...
ugh...
sick...
However...I have been a theremin for Sean Lennon. And that was gooooood. On a song called Spectacle. Not sure when the album's coming out but it is already mixed so he'll probably beat me to it. I've heard some stuff from the album and It's really lush sounding. I love the way he plays with chords. They sent me over the choon via, iDisk, then I brought it into Pro-Tools, sung a ton of vocals, made them lovely and then sent all 9 tracks of my vox back to them. All within the space of 2 days, him in LA me in London, on a record mixed and all. Wow...how we move these days.
I have a wardrobe now. Spent all weekend sewing the cover for it, reds, pinks, blues, silks..mmmm. Breathed in a ton of MDF filaments from the sawing going on by the guy who built it, then spent hours and hours hoovering it all up. Painted the bedroom...white. it was kinda grey looking, fingerprinted upon.
Somewhere in all this, finishing the album. Working song by song in order as they will be on the album, some harder than others. Loving my new monitors...M & K's.
and my big knob. eh hem.
These photos I'm putting up are getting pretty dull eh? Will try to brighten it up over the next few days.
Taken from two photos and put together coz the rainbow was just too big to fit into one! wow...i love rainbows...soppy I know. Feeling better...I know my sofa better than ever now. About to begin doing my quarterly VAT return. yay, I can hardly contain myself with excitement. That's about it...have a great weekend. kisses
Everyone around me has had it already. It comes out of nowhere and then pins you to the floor, nose like a tap, brain of mush, I have surrendered to the force of the flu. It tickled around 6 last night and by midnight it had me in a stronghold. Thought i'd sleep like a log, but instead spent most of the night naked, half awake, in front of a crowd of people waiting for me to sing. I couldn't leave 'til i'd sung and I couldn't sing 'til I was clothed. I also couldn't reach the piano and it was all highly embarrassing. Eventually I realized I was awake and all this was taking place in the bed with a tissue stuck to my nose. I gave up trying to go to sleep and at 4am got out of bed for some honey and email.
I am moody and immobile and have gone through two bog rolls already. I've reluctantly decided not to do the gig on Friday, I'm really sorry if anyone has bought tickets to see me. i can't rehearse and I don't want to go up there for the first time in donkey's and sing like one.
I have been going through a phase of eating these crackers whenever there is a moment free. Marmite at the top of the topping list, next peanut butter, cheese...like water. Like I'm eating them to get out of whatever it is i'm putting off doing.
Anyway...strange.
I've been doing a few things here and there but the swing of the "nips and tucks" has not yet commenced I'm afraid. I seem to have had a week or so of seeing friends, a wedding, buying gear - won the ebay auction for the Dangerous 2-bus i was going for. Got it for a STEAL! mmm mmm...it's an analog summing unit for digital audio mixing incase you were curious! - Plus been testing out some new monitors which I think i'm going to get...not cheap though so I hope I'm getting the right ones...eek.
Also....quite a few of you have emailed me asking for me to release the "petunia" song i did for Six Feet Under. As some of you know there were three versions of the song. They are all 57 seconds long coz that's the amount of time it took for the credits to roll. I made three so the guys at SFU had a choice. They are not really all that different from one another, only the first half of each is different. One is all hummed, one is singing lyrics into the distance and then hummed and one is sung in full up until the B section then hummed. Also some of you were asking if this was a smaller part of a bigger picture but alas, no. It stays at 57 seconds. If any of you want to have all three we are setting it up so you can for a quid. up in a few days.
erm....oh yeah, also going to be playing at the new Marque in Leicester sq this Friday for the "Time for change" gig, all proceeds go to Make Trade Fair and Democrats Abroad. Everyone's doing three songs. Probably just me and piano (except i am going bring along my harmonizer so I can do "Hide and seek". May also get something up on the laptop to play along with, perhaps headlock - stripped down though). There are loads of other people doing it. Have a look here for info.
Also went to an amazing concert the other night in St Georges Cathedral near where I live. They played probably my favourite classical piece of all time, Arvo Part's "Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten". Oh my did I shed a few tears! It is sooooooooo beautiful.
air....I love the summer but I LOVE it more when you feel the first days of Autumn. The change in a season always gets me excited. People moan about British weather but It keeps me on my toes. A new feeling in the air, the feeling you've been here before and it was good. It gives me energy like a new beginning. Plus I can wear a scarf, my fluffy leg warmers and hats again! It's all in the layers...ja.
So...today I'm waiting on an ebay item. I can't buy it new coz there is a long back order waiting list and I'm not into waiting much...so it looks like a good buy and so far the price is low. 1 hour to go. If I get it I'm going to go fetch it somewhere in London....I WILL get it. The finishing of this album depends upon it!
Went to see a friends band play last night. Nemo. I get mixed emotions when i see them. They are really brilliant, look great, sound wicked, play as tight as humanly possible and have unbelievably cool songs. Excellent lyrics...on and on. So obviously that side is the good part...the down side is they have been doing this for donkey's, well as long me at least, so say been on the London circuit for 7 years, my age and still no interest... WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE!? what do these talent scouts go and do all day? How can they miss them? I call to all London record company dudes, or people with a bit of cash, to help these guys make a fab record (i hear actually that they are putting something together with chris from I am X ) and get them out there. It's so annoying. I don't think they have management either, so any managers out there looking for something new, come on down. I know there are thousands of bands who are in their situation. Why has it become so hard for good bands to make it? grrrrrrrrr. Anyway...if anyone's interested they are playing a club called Parker Place on 25th Sept in Holborn (London) and the new Marquee in Leicester Sq on the 7th. I don't think I and a load of their mates are the only ones who'll like them! They don't have a website right now as they are updating it. I just spoke to James (singer) about how people can get in touch and he said for people to just ring him...if you think you can help or are interested, email me and i'll send his number to you x
G'day, G'devening. We are all clear for the final stage! We have a surprise last entry "Just for now" for the Heap album. It is a small member at only 3.02 min but really does make up a rather dishy dozen. I had the vox down at my last entry but still had to pull everything together with that tune. I was so ecstatic because I had got so close, 6 times, to being content with the lead line on and off over the last year but never totally satisfied. Once I had that i knew i could finally finish it and enjoy arranging the music to complement it. A circuit bent Speak and Spell (thanks to Richie's soldering!) even features! Nice...so this other track came out of something I tried to pitch to a TV show a while back but didn't get it..shit happens..but all was not lost it seems. That little piece has blossomed into a really sweet song. So if have a rough album sequence!
headlock Goodnight and go Closing in Loose ends Hide and seek The walk Just for now Clear the area Have you got it in you? Daylight Robbery I am in love with you The moment I said it
Even though Daylight Robbery hasn't ended up lyrically matching it's title it still has a link. I really like the title and I want to stick with it. I figured it justified seens it has taken me soooooo long it has robbed me of daylight. A lot of the summer got swallowed up in my seasonless studio. I think it was totally worth skipping a few days of sun. These last few weeks have been really tough coz of that darned song. If i can get through that one i can get through any song! Let go and I had a similar experience. That's one of the reasons why it went first on the album. If we hadn't done that we wouldn've have got garden state and many of you wouldn't be reading this, so there you go! all good.
Well this weekend I've spent catching up on things, like partying and iGriling. I spent four hours yesterday answering those questions! Phew! Some really fun ones. There's even a recipe in this one! Now you're worried...
Just as i'd finished Daylight Robbery i came back home on Thursday night, opened up my email and found that Marisa ( v cool lady!) has got "Goodnight and Go" into an episode of the OC, around December. Is being played not once...but THREE times! Groovy...very exciting for me! More to come hopefully too.
So now..the final stage. The icing, the tweaking, the extra love to bring this album home and gleaming! Checking all parts are being heard and that none are there unnecessarily taking up space.
Need to by a couple of extra bits and do a bit of work on the acoustics in my studio to make sure it's "dead". (no nasty peaking of frequencies)
Until next time. A very happy and raring to go Heap xxx
WOW....I have emerged from the darkness of daylight robbery and come through triumphant! I have beaten it with persistence alone! That has to be a record, my...what a PAIN in the rectum that has been...Yeee ouch.
It really is plain sailing now...the melody and the lyrics are all there. Now all i have to do is slot it all together...You have no IDEA how much this has done my head in. SOOOOOO Frustrating...
My i'm so excited i can't type spending more time correcting than typing...
In brief... it's about this feeling I've got now and what I'm about to do...cycle down the south Bank of the Thames and look at how beautiful the city is at night.
Thank you all for your help on this one! x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Went to see Soulwax play last night at the Scala. Such a great band. Lot of people know the brothers more from their "Too Many Dj's" guise. Had a wee chat with Steven the singer after the show so I was well chuffed. I loved their "Much Against everyone's advice" album. Haven't heard the new album yet but from what I heard last night...I'll have it my bag by the end of the week.
Been eating a lot of Okonomiyaki lately. I can hear all those of you who saw my photo of it a while back gulping hard. That photo didn't do it justice but It's so TASTY. I just can't keep away from that stuff! It's such comfort food.
Yawn, snore...Still on that darned song. Sometimes everything pours out and a song is written, sung, played, mixed and produced in a week...sometimes it takes a year! (well not all at once but this idea did come to me about last November!) Also coz it's the last one i guess i'm trying to cram in all the things i feel i haven't said or done on the record yet. Of course you can't fit everything on one record, but that's what it's like for me right now. I am going up the wall here trying to wrap it up though.
Just got an email from my friend Jon Hopkins (aka Mr Roque). He's been working on an album "Contact Note" to follow up his debut “Opalescent". I sang on one of the songs. You can hear it at here. The one i'm on is "Second Sense" .It's out now, you can get it on Amazon here. A bit of trivia for you. Jon played Keyboards in my band back in the imegaphone days. When we were 18! ahh...The main keyboard he uses is the one we bought for the live shows. Amazing what he does with it. Actually the keyboard i used for those shows is still tinkered with every now and then.
Good luck John! He's also playing at the Ocean in hackney/ London 17th Sept if you're up for it.
Garden State is doing great! I can't WAIT to see it...Over here in November. People who've seen the film are going mad for Let Go. Great reaction on itunes and the frou frou album is picking up as a result. WE LIKE! It's funny how things happen when you least expect it.
Love to you all. I'm off to prod Daylight Robbery again. Hope he comes to life this time x
Unfortunately for me I don't have a full string orchestra tucked behind the sofa in my studio when i'm not using them...which means I have to make do with the virtual kind. I spent most of the day trying to get the string part for the chorus of daylight robbery sounding as real as i can. I wanted to get three glissandos (sliding between notes) in the melody. It never sounds good just using the pitch bend. If I had a mullet, we were 20 years back and I had a red strap on keyboard (well actually i do..erm) that was acceptable but I want this to sound like a real orchestra backing me up in the chorus. It's quite eastern sounding. I'm into it and i think it's pretty convincing too. It's a great contrast to the playful beats underneath and super chopped up, spliced and blended wall of amps guitar riff. It also totally (even though it was a good safe distance already) takes the song away from any shoe gazing memories.
Thank you so much to those of you who took part in the poll! Tomorrow I'm going to have a day of stringing words together on paper...(wha? no computer?). Haven't checked the weather but if it's nice i'll be perching somewhere by the Thames watching and listening praying for "the flow"....eek.
I may be some time! Get back to you with progress on that front hopefully within a few days.
well yesterday i wrapped up Hide and seek...very happy about that. That means just one more nut to crack but boy is it a toughie! Daylight Robbery....i'm coming for you. You will not escape me this time. I have you in my sights. There is nowhere to run. No unwritten songs to get in our way. It's time for BED!
I have attempted to fit a top line over this great backing track i've had for sooooo long now time and time again. Every time i think it's it, it's not dammit. There is no choice now. No more time. It MUST be this idea. If I don't go with the one i had at the end of tonight this song will defeat me..forever!
Tonight It's taken me somewhere i never thought to go. It has a really angular feel to it. Choppy, bouncy. Instead of trying like i have been to bring a melody in a similar vein to it i've gone the opposite with a really w - i - d - e melody. Stretched right across the chorus. Sining along with a counter melody to the main riff. I didn't think it needed any other music but when i came up with this string/ piano/ harp melody for the chorus it all fell into place! ahhhh. I do hope i feel the same way in tomorrow when i get back to it.
Now i just need to decide on the lyrical direction. Out of all the different versions the two lyrics I've liked most have been these...the best night of your life kinda idea...an actual Robbery where I fall in love with the guy who robs a bank and spend the rest of the song trying to track him down...or the last which i haven't tried yet...a night cycling back from the studio... all in very broad terms you understand!
All very up. I need a very up song on this record. Not that it's all slit your wrists stuff...far from it! Just a good old knees up kinda song...oh balls, i'm just digging myself a huge hole here aren't I?
So if any of you have a preference I would appreciate perhaps your vote?
hello there...just to let you know again that I haven't been doing anything that would translate into exciting iblog material so rather than just "fill" i've opted on the silence...But rest assured my head is firmly down in what i love doing and this Hide and seek song will officially be finished tomorrow! I've never been so anal about a vocal effect before! Seen as there is nothing else on this track but vocals I'm allowed... Have also been seen wondering around playing the song back in various locations recording the natural effect the music has on spaces. Also getting some nice little background ambience, from cutlery to cats.
Garden state is looking good! Can't wait to see it. A few friends in the states have heard the song "let go" in the movie. I didn't realize quite how much of a great spot the song got in the movie. Very much in favor of that! It's a really good movie too apparently which is a bit of a bonus too...
and i've been singing quietly into my little laptop...new ideas...have to store these guys up now for the rainy season.
xx
love love love
will get back to you when i have something a bit more exciting to tell you! xxx
Deep in the depths of Hide and seek. Nothing much to report really except that I wish i'd finished the lyrics before I'd sung it into a mic the first time. It's getting there though. It's like nothing i've ever done before. So exposed. Just me and the harmonizer. I love it coz the harmonizer patch i've made has been limited to four note polyphony (only four notes played at a time)> So when i play a chord on the keyboard I'm using to trigger the box, which has more than four notes, the chord surprises me every time coz the notes are fighting for one of the four musical chairs. Decided to opt out of the blippy bits...even though they were rather cute, i've always wanted to do a weird take on an acapella idea. So vocals only on this one...
Had a great weekend in the country which set me up for this week nicely.
It was sooo hot in my little vocal booth, specially because of all that extra gear in there to do the harmonizer effect live, bought the keyboard in there also now. Plus the fact it is soooo humid in London, feels like enough rain to double the pacific needs to fall on us tonight.
I did a rough vocal the other day of "Hide and seek", just to hear if I was going down the right way with the melody and such. I didn't have all the lyrics finished when i sang it and the recording was not very good quality coz it was just for me to get a feel and play it out in a different environment. I have spent all day trying to get the "feel" of that version now i've got the lyrics. Darn....it's so tricky. It was just so wonderfully spontaneous and it feels buoyant. I'll have another go tomorrow.
On my way in today i decided to walk. It was so nice and warm and it's good to get on my two feet every now and then. There is a small fun-fair on the south bank of the Thames by Tower Bridge. All the other rides were being used except no-one was having a go on the merry go round...so I did..It was great! I was waving my legs around and smiling from ear to ear! ha ha...was slightly nervous as the chair was squeaking quite a bit on its hinges.
Took a little clip of me on there...click here to see it...just for a bit of fun x
I love singing through the harmonizer. Makes me sound like an army of heaps. Instant four part robo harmony. I love the effect. If you have no idea what i'm talking about, the sound of the m8 flicks vocals is the same kind of thing.
Again, lyrics...ra. They really don't come easy to me I'm sad to report. If i had no lyrics to write i could have finished this record MONTHS ago!
Because it's the last full lyric I have to write it's tricky. Shh was the last song on the frou frou album we wrote. Spent so much time sweating over the words...then literally out of the blue..sky..on an aeroplane they came to me. All in a flood.
I've been hearing nice things back from you guys about the movie. Cheers! Sorry some of you are finding it a pain in the ass to load up.
Also did a load of those igrill Q's today. Took me ages! Stgill got a few to go...should have them in your inbox by the end of the week!
So i stuck together a load of little video clips i made on my mobile phone while i was on that cycling trip following the River Thames with the original version of "lonely little petunia" i did. Some of you saw it lst night on the "Six feet under episode "the dare" last night. I had a few emails to hear it again. This is the version i did that I like the most xx if some of you prefer the one you heard i'll get round to sticking that one up too...
I went to an amazing Prom tonight at the Royal Albert Hall. Evelyn Glennnie was the percussionist for this amazing piece by a composer called Tan Dun (also wrote the soundtrack for "crouching tiger hidden dragon")
They were playing his Water Concerto: for water percussion and orchestra. They were playing these amazing instruments called waterphones. I'll try and see if i can find a photo for tomorrow of one. We had one on the Frou Frou record. Amazing sound. Evelyn entered the albert hall into the "pit" where we were, playing the waterphone in amongst the crowd. Quite an entrance! Such an incredible piece of music.
A bit wobbly! off to sleepybyes...hope you like the movie! xxx
that make words that occasionally make nice sentences if you're lucky! Most of this gets written when i'm out of the studio. The red one's mostly from Switzerland while i was touring with Mich Gerber, the one with the river thames is from when I was in-between houses living in a cheap hotel in London to tie me over while we finished the Frou Frou record, the beige one is the one I took on my little cycling trip...and so on...
Wish i was in the States so I could watch Six feet Under tonight! Make sure you guys stay right 'til the end and you'll hear me singing a little nursery rhyme! I didn't write it, it was a song the guys at the show asked me to do a version of. It relates to the theme of the program...you'll see! I wonder which version they used? I did three variations. One with lyrics, one with half lyrics that faded into ahhs and one just ahhs...this one was my favourite.
Putting together my video phone footage of the trip i went on through the countryside along with the music. Should be done by Tuesday...
Love to y'all....today i just put together some instrumentals of the songs i've done so far. Good for trying to get stuff in adverts and film... x Got a meeting tomorrow about a possibility... keep you posted x
I think that's the impression i have finally come to today. I got part of my hard drive back...checked to see I had everything then finally went about just erasing to start a fresh with it...no hard feelings. So now there was nothing on it but It was still misbehaving when i copied a song on it...so I cut of it's life support and put it to hard drive heaven...it's a gonna...
Set up my vocoder with my keyboard all ready to sing into when the gear's back on track...a few more lyrics...mmm
sooooo....not how i'd intended to spend today. I thought i'd go and do something useful like...go to the cinema! We went and checked out a midnight showing of Fahrenheit 9/11. if you haven't seen it GO AND SEE IT!
Got some good ones today...i do and do don't want to put them here...coz funnily enough they sound better coming from my larynx than typed here and read..but...well maybe just one line...
"crop circles in the carpet"...
Just incase you're wondering it's not about an alien upholstery invasion...
it's partly about going back to a house you're very familiar with...that emotionally for whatever reason you haven't quite left behind.
Now that is really trying to figure out what's missing...for some strange reason I have nothing in E, F, F# ? hmm...all other keys accounted for!
Working on a song called Hide and seek...it's actually around 55 bpm...now that's slow! Going to try and keep it REAL simple. At the moment it's just me singing through a vocal harmonizer and a few snips i drew in as waveforms for rhythm..very blippy! It's about catching someone off guard, drifting off somewhere.
Been using Garage Band to lay down the bare bones of the idea coz my G5 is still a bit sick...boo...bought another disk doctory thing and it's basically telling me that drive is for the cleaners.
So a new drive me thinks...sometimes it's good for me to have no Pro-Tools, no technology...it means the piano gets a little dust shaken off it. Once upon a time i couldn't go on holiday for more than three days without playing the piano. When i was 14 me and my best mate were on holiday with her mum and her girlfriend on a greek Island and i drove them up the wall so much they found me a piano! It was in a market place, just for no reason sitting outside, neglected in the heat..It was all I needed though!
Now i can't go for three days without the glare of my computer screen...sounds sad but i can "play" the computer! Sometimes i'll do a day in the studio and wonder how the hell i made all those sounds? Like playing the piano for hours getting lost in the music, this happens to me when i'm making music on my computer..ok ok...loony bin for me..
Anyway...i'm starvin' marvin. I have eaten today but i just can't seem to get rid of this hunger? weird....
I've had one today...rrrr....one of my hard drives has gone walkies. Well it's still there it's inside the damn thing but the computer just can't seem to see it. Tried using Norton 7 to find it but a little tip for those you installing this version onto your G5...DONT! rrr...who would have thought a program that is meant to help you can cause so many problems! Then my computer wouldn't boot up at all...i eventually downloaded the current version from my laptop but by then the damage had been done...I wish it would tell me it was going to mess with my system drive. At least to give me the option to DELETE it's ass out of there...luckily for all of us the one part of my life that is orderly is my back up system, so nothing is lost. Just a days work...
So no whiteboarding but i did find a gem of an idea while i was checking i had everything. hmmm...could it be the beginnings of the missing song? I do hope so...
how can a cheque take 28 days to clear? another annoying theme to my day...
yup, tomorrow sees the beginning of box ticking. Going to listen to the songs from where I left off make me a big chart with the songs at the top and the list of ingredients down the side and see what stays, what gets the boot and what need a lick o paint.
I've just emailed the song i've been working on for this pitch. Fingers crossed x you'll be the first to know if i get It...if i don't well..i don't i guess!
Sooooo...did a wee interview today for a radio station near where i grew up. I had four minutes and too much to say so In order to cram it all in I ended up speaking like i'd just swallowed a big balloon full of helium. I don't why we talk higher when we talk faster...less space taken up in the larynx? Do low words have a wider width? dpn't be silly. So if any of you reading this heard me for the first time today. I don't talk like that usually..
I have to do some homework tonight. The DJ, Simon Baldock has given me a few questions to answer by tomorrow coz he also writes for an Essex paper.
If you're just on the web doing nothing in particular like me at the moment...go have a wee look at the Ninja Tune video page...tons of cool videos to browse...
More of the same today. Lyrics all done for this tune i'm working on...not sure of the title yet...could be "Just for once". hmmm..i think i like it...it's soooooooo short...at a measly 3 minutes! goodness me...if that what the song wants to be then so be it...they decide not me.
Loving that the ibabble is bubbling...I need to get me an avatar. Keep those questions coming in! It'll be good practice for me.
Don't seem to find the time to read but audiobooks are going down well on my short journeys to and from the studio. Listening to Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's My Country" on my ipod. Shocking! Can't take it all in...so much bad stuff going on! Thanks heaven for people like him to seek the truth.
wow...i love this night at the NFT...a short walk from me being in Waterloo. It's a night held bi-monthly at this cool cinema by the river with reclining seats... I went there two months ago because "Dumbing Down of Love" was one of the videos being shown and Joel Peissig (the director) came over to the UK to be on the panel. What it is basically is a night of about ten music videos, the kind you WISHED they played on MTV, Hits, or whatever except they're to infatuated with Usher and Avril Lavigne
(not that I have anything personal against these guys!) to play any of the more interesting videos in this world because the powers that be assume this is all their viewers care to watch. So this seems to be the only place I know of where you can go see these little gems. Stuff from the more well known guys like Zero 7, to the streets, to Frou frou of course! and to guys I've never heard of like Shakedown and Wagon Christ (the poster art has a still from this video. Then in between a few of the videos a panel of four discuss them and themselves (usually one or two of the directors are up there). Really great stuff...
More lyrics for this song today. I actually really like it. Because there's no pressure, no worries about it going on the album it's totally freed me up. I love the lyrics for it. They are a little cheeky.. Might even go on my own album when I'm done. Will need to make a few lyrical tweaks as there is a reference to the program in it...Happy about it...
Ja...so there we go. Great to see the ibabble coming to life!
there's now an official little talking spot for all things Heap related...hmmm...i feel special...babble to your hearts content here...i think our James is going to stick a link up on this iblog page too.
So...today....
The guys for this TV thing heard a minutes worth of what I put together last night and they're really up for it...so today I began finding a few other minutes to add to it...a couple of chorus' some lyrics...the usual suspects...
I've got a deadline of the 1st of August...i hope to be done with it by the weekend though..really am dying to hear where I left the album...and FINISH the DARNED THING!
And another thing....iGrill
Quite a few of you write in with questions like what certain songs were written about, what's the recipe for my irresistible coconut chick pea chilli mushroom ricey concoction, how long is the middle finger on my right hand...stuff you just HAVE to know...well i've decided that if you write in to [email protected] with your Q's i'll pick a few each month and email the A's back to those of you on our mailing list...Eventually we'll put them up on the site when it's fit and well for all to see...
So we are slowly piecing together all things Heap....getting all the videos i've ever done ready for streaming this week...there are quite a few too when you add them up. Surprised myself...Ready for when the site's primed for action...
this is a photo i took on my way back home from the Thames Barrier on Sunday night. A big Orange Sun decended from the clouds to wrap it up beautifully.
So as you can see..I made it. Did 450km by the end of it. Sounds impressive but it was over 9 days and I was taking it nice and slow. Loads of walking in the evenings too, usually past a good old english country pub, it was great...hope you enjoyed my moblog....it's a readymade photo album...I like..
Bit gutted to see that none of my headers to the photos came up. hmm...You may have been scratching your heads at a few of those piccies...anyway...
I'm really aware of all the pollution in London after all that lush country air. Really noticing the sounds of the city too. the constant background hum of forever moving traffic...
Back in the studio today. Had a request while i was away for a new song for a TV program/ poss song for an album they're making for it. I was working on that. Got something over the states before the end of their day...we shall see. It's not exactly what they asked for but I wanted to do what I wanted to do...hopefully they'll find a home for it...All very secretive isn't it!
And that is about it for today! I'm sleepy eyed...just scoffed some toast and marmite. Been one of those can't stop to eat days for fear of losing the thread...
OOhhh....For those of you States wise...watch Six Feet Under on the 1st August...wait 'til the end and you should hear a little bit of me over the credits! It's that nursery rhyme thing I told you about. I wonder which version they'll use?
Lots of love....
meow...
oooh..and also saw Shrek 2 while I away...so funny! I love the puss in boots hairball bit! I laughed my socks off!
I did something really embarressing at the end of the flm. I couldn't contain myself. I turned to the person next to me and said "this is me! I'm singing this!!" He was like yeah right...i felt a bit of a twat...
Never mind...
I was so over the moon to hear to hear it on the big screen!
I'm off now! Hurrah! Took me so long to get things together to go. This was meant to be a little fun cheap week off but with all the cycle gear i've bought i could've gone to Mexico! Well not quite but i had no waterproofs, no trainers (which I'm going to go out now and buy on the way), no maps, no spare tubes, no water bottles, no mudguard, no...well you get the idea.
So ears..I am a gonna...off i trot, check ya later, skidaddling...aye.
If I'm not back in a week call the search brigade! Probably at the bottom of a large hill somewhere between here and Kemble.
While I'm away I am going to be posting photos from my mobile phone here at my moblog page. So if you'd like to see a bit of english countryside and perhaps a few of it's inhabitants have a gander...
Don't really know what I'm doing where I'm staying or anything...one day at a time xxx
Hmm. It's pouring with rain outside but it's warm and the air feels fresh now the thunder and lightning have passed. I love it when it rains really hard. Feels so cosy being up here in this little flat watching the rain bouncing off the red busses' roofs below in the . The sky is a dark orange and I"VE GOT MY LAPTOP!!! wooo hooooooooo! I have wanted one for SOOOOO long and here we are together at last. All wirelessly networked up and everything! So i've been playing non stop with it.
I haven't actually started on this biking expedition yet. Since we last spoke i've been knocked off my bike by a crazy excited tourist who seemed to forget that roads were meant for vehicles for a moment and I happened to coincide with that moment unfortunately. We were both ok only i was aching for a while and had to tie a sock around my ankle to stop it bleeding on the way home...then I got a message from my sister's flat-mate saying they were in the hospital coz a blister she'd got just from some new shoes had gotten infected and she had something called Cellulitis! agh! She's fine now though...poor thing...
this doesn't do the dish any flattering favours.
Found an Okonomiyaki restaurant in London (the only dedicated Okonomiyaki place in EUROPE!) Oh god i love this stuff. It's just like a huge omelette but with noodles, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, some magic sauce, and whatever the hell else you want to put in it...me... asparagus, prawns, chicken, and Kimchi (Japanese cabbagey thing) Hot dang it was good! Best of all you get to cook it yourself on a hot slab in the middle of the table...washed down with a couple of very tasty beers. Done my VAT finally...bought a compass and loads of OS maps for my trip. Not that I'm going to need them! I can't do anything by halves me...
Saw Guy on Monday. It was great to see him again...been a long while for us after spending so much time together busy being frou frou...really nice to see Sean too (guy's engineer/ pro - tools operator) They played me some stuff they'd been doing. Mostly with this Norwegian girl called Kate Havnevik.This is show she did for the infamous morning becomes eclectic show last week.
And some other stuff o won't bore you even more with!
Hope to be going on Friday weather permitting,,, i'm so glad i checked before i left. %0 mile an hour winds, thunder and lightening would've made for a good start to the holiday wouldn't it!
Ja...
So er...
that's about it really...i yo yo between the can't drag me away to as lazy as they come...can't believe how much daytime TV i've watched! HELP! what's happening to me...come friday i'll be out and about getting a sore ass following an extremely long watery snake.
Really had a great day today, finished off the walk, did bits and bobs to a few others, then made a CD of the 9 songs to keep for when I get back from my little break down the Thames from it's source in Cirencester...not going to give it even a peek of a listen...Not a sausage. I really want to come back and listen afresh. Once I had them all together I was just ajusting the levels and doing a poormans version of mastering (what we do when we've finished the record to pull it all together. Adding and subtracting frequencies, compressing, giving it the full pollish, squeezing as much goodness into it as possible) of each song so it sounded a bit more consistent and like a record. I really don't feel as far away as I thought I was. I think perhaps a few edits here and there, a bit of general sonic pruning and toothcombing for fluff and...well the issue of lyrics for daylgith robbery and the mystery tune...but I hope to have it really almost there within a month from when I get back. This may seem like a long time but when you do make a record on your...it does take longer!
So I'm feeling good about everything. I love making records but I also REALLY love finishing them!
Every now and then, usually when I've finished something i've been fiddling wth at the studio I treat myself to the longer and way more scenic route home. Along the southbank of the River Thames. I just absolutely LOVE cycling after the pubs are well shut for the night and there's hardly anyone around. Just as likely to see an urban Fox as you are a person! Just the murmurs of traffic on the streets I usually travel on the way home. The occasional boat party on the Thames, the lights of the North bank, the dome of St Paul's cathedral, the bridges all lit up. Everything with light reflecting in the river. Tonight It was a really high tide so I felt even closer to it and quite still too. The big illuminous plastic green tree by the City hall. HMS Belfast, the Oxo tower, the huge dark brick Tate Modern with the Purple light on the tip of it's chimney. It's just all so pretty! The little girl with the balloon. Zooming through the tunnels and over the various ramps and winding through old iron lamposts. I really love London like this. I was absolutely ravenous too so when I got near home I got my once a year chicken kebab from our local. Which is extremely tasty I might add...have a hint of garlic, onions and jalapeños on the breath though at the moment.
Got back around 1.30am and plonked myself infront of the telly for a different bit of screen action. There was this great documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Had a long chat with Guy today about tons of stuff. A good old catch up. I'm going in on Monday to say hi and also to work on something together for another artist...let you know if comes off who it was...
maybe I could sneak a photo of him in his studio...hmmm...
I'm am going to be very good and do my VAT tomorrow...tie up TONS of loose ends...go see Guy on Monday then head off for a bit of much needed English countryside! Got something called a moblog (mobile blog) started so when I go away I can phone in photos of where I am...
love to you all. I hope you all see the London like I did tonight one day. It's just the best...x
mmm....looking good Heap...well I said I'd get a wee photo...but I only remembered on our way out the door...next to the door was a wall...and hence this beautiful photographic composition. Breathtaking...Nik wouldn't be on his own and I hadn't done my make up...not that I ever wear any of course. It seems I am actually paler than the wall which is a tad worrying!......but hey...an iblog entry without some icandy! imagine...
that's better...
It was great to hear his stuff...I loved this one song in particular...so much that I can't recall the title but it had Sun in it and about 6 other words...There was a hint of some bendy Indian strings...always a hit with me...I sang five songs for him...just backing vocals...I wouldn't normally, but I really like Nik and like I said yesterday, we go back to my 17th year on this planet...
Long time...
when you're 26...
Ahh...26...
Anyway...
oh...that is beautiful!
Coming in thin and dribbley we have some Jeff beck photos...a couple here taken by a Jeff Beck fan who put this together....this was the first night out of the two. Thank you so much for that Chie!
ja ja...
Soooo...some of you who are in LA have been hearing the W.I.Ps ha? (work in progress)...hmmm...i bet the radio compression does wonders for "I'm in love with you"... glad you're liking it... plenty more where that came from...the one's they've got are the first few I sent out to a couple of close friends...little did I know..ha ha...KCRW have their ways...If you're into those you're going to have eargasms when you hear the new stuff!!!
I'm finding it more and more difficult to make decisions and its really slowing me down. I couldn't decide whether to stick to the original verse melody or the one I had largely modified...went for the latter in the end...I figured if it popped into my head there must be a reason...that was the only way I could decide! The new vocals sound sooooo much better! Makes such a difference! All sparkly sounding. I don't know what I was doing when i recorded them before. They had loads of headphone spill and what sounded like a huge boiler in the background...
Last night I dreamt I was a guitar riff...in a car...that couldn't get started...over and over...I desperately tried to get the riff/ car going but I kept stalling..very frustrating especially as I'm convinced I didn't sleep at all...that was the other part of the dream...three in one...I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until I had played this riff...huff...puff...
On 'the walk' again today. It's been worth the effort. I really like how it ends now... Just before I left the studio tonight I got a flash of inspiration re the middle and a vocal line...I think tomorrow I'm going to re-sing the whole song. This was one I recorded before I got my much loved Avalon 737. The new vocals I sang today sound so much brighter and fresher. It'll be nice to sing against the song now all the music is in and the dynamics are set. Usually I try to get the vocal sounding great before I put too much of the music around it but this song has become a different animal since it's first incarnation...looking forward to giving it a new coat of paint...
Spoke to an old friend today. When I was 17 the first person in the business I did a track with was Nik Kershaw! He's working on a new album and he would like some heapy warbles. I learnt so much from him in the early days. A week in the studio with him taught me more than two years at school! Invaluable. He's a right laugh as well. At the time I remember he kept reciting bits from the Pink Panther show..."not now Kato, this is not the time!", type thing...for absolutely no reason. He's a brilliant songwriter.
When I first met him I had no idea who he was. My brother on the other hand couldn't believe I was going to meet him. I think he had some of his records. I'd played Nik maybe 12 songs I'd written...one of the ones we worked on was "Come Here boy"...such an age ago. After I'd played him all of my majorly embarrassing home recordings of me and my Ensoniq TS12 I demanded to hear some of what he does. He was a little shy about it but decided to play me this song of his called "The Riddle". As soon as it came on my heart pounded furiously and butterflies flew into my stomach...I was star-struck. This is a song I'd been playing since I was really young. I must have heard it on the radio one day and picked it up. I always used to play the chords of that song at the piano. It's very cyclical and easy to improvise over and I used to a lot at one point. Anyway I would ask and ask people what this song was that I was playing (obviously very badly coz no-one recognized it!) and it was his! Isn't life a funny thing...
So he's coming over on Wednesday...looking forward to hearing his new stuff. He's going to be mixing in a week or two so he'll beat me to the finishing post this time round...
hello y'all..."I don't believe it!" in full Victor Meldrew force...another...that's two in two days...drat...
Went in today to have a little fiddle with "the walk". I haven't touched this song since January and for quite a while now I've been feeling like the first two verses should play into one another, building the song up more gradually...and skipping the first chorus. I'm happy with the way it is now up until the middle 8, where because of the slightly different travels beforehand, feels like it should be in a different chord progression. It's structure has ended up more conventional than before I touched it...but it's for the better....the chorus shines now...before it sounded a bit apologetic...
When I was trying to get the chorus music a little bolder I found a sound that I'd placed really low in the mix. Back then it was just meant to be an organy type texture that sounded like part of the kick drum. Syncopated exactly with it...I've really made a feature of it now..Put a load of delay on it and tuned it so it plays a third to the bass melody. It gives a good width to the chorus without filling it with loads of stuff. Also I found that if I took out all those backing vocals I spent an age singing...the chorus lyric sounds more sincere...strange...
I really wanted to try this major cahnge out before I go away for a week or so...Hopefull when I come back I'll know if I was right to change it.
I was on my way to the studio today just about to pass by Tower Bridge when I noticed a load of people standing around waiting for something while lining the streets with flags. Police were keeping the traffic at bay and the sightseers on the London Tourist busses got more than they bargained for. I'd completely forgotten that the Olympic flame was in London today. First time since 1948....so I was waiting for a bit and eventaully I spotted someone parting the crowd. The person carrying it at the time I saw it was Sir Ian McKellen. I got a couple of sneaky camera phone shots...
Had a bit of a non day in the studio today. I find it really difficult to switch back and forth between Live and and the recording studio. They're so different from one another. I was listening back to stuff today and I felt like there's something missing in "the moment I said it" and tried to sniff out what it was...tried a load of things. It's right near the end of the song. It just feels like it's missing a high vocal melody. Annoying coz I feel like I've said all I need to say in the lyrics. Keep on fiddling with that one. It's so close.
I put together a CD for myself with the nine songs (excluding the lyricless Daylight Robbery) to see where I am with it all. Tried out a few orders. That is sooooo important in a record. The order of the songs. How the keys and tempos work together can make or muck up a record. I haven't put them all together like this before on one CD. It feels like I achieved something today 'cause they're all together as a body of work, even though I didn't really. Maybe hearing them like this will help me figure out what's missing from TMISI. At the moment it feels good to end the record on this song...I don't know why I always seem to end records with a pianoy song...
Maybe MISI is trying to tell me something...maybe I should go on that break now...? hmm...it has been nearly 8 months solid on my own in the studio...that's enough to drive anyone round the bend!
It's been a mad couple of days. Been on cloud 9! Still up there a bit. It feels a little like it was all a dream. Last night on stage was just one of the most amazing experiences for me...The musicians are brilliant...Jan Hammer, Michael and Mark Mondesir...and Jeff was as incredible as ever. I was floating on stage. No worries about monitors being the wrong balance coz I knew they'd have it perfect, a wireless mic so I could really leap about and The Royal Albert Hall! I walked on in pink stilettos a rather expensive beautiful black evening dress I bought for an Oscars party I never went to in the end, another skirt underneath beige and green, net and linen, strange contrast! A circular red feathery clasp thing on my head that kinda looked like a tiny 1920's ladies hat. one long armlegging with some pink and blue flowers attached to it with an elastic band (that nearly cut off my circulation!) and some bright pink net leggings peaking out from underneath it all. Hair really back combed to hell, bright blue and green eye makeup and big glossy lips! Somehow it all worked? To top it all off the crowd were fantastic!!!
I know both the songs so well I just relaxed and enjoyed it so much! I took off my heels after Blanket (which you can now buy on the itunes UK website!!) coz I felt like going a bit mental on "Rollin' and Tumblin'. Jeff and I were smiling from ear to ear! I wish you were all there to see it! (thankyou for all the complementary comments from you who were there!!)
The photos I've got here for you now are just a couple I took while the sound check was going on to give those of you who haven't been there an idea of this wondrous venue and the live one was taken by Richie on his phone. No-one in our gang had a digital camera so you'll have to wait a little while longer for those to be processed. Hope there's some good'ns. Mark (my manager) Took a couple at the after show with Jeff Beck, Ronnie wood and Jan hammer...also with the brothers and one of me holding the flowers Jeff gave me on stage (smelling and looking glorious and colourful in my Kitchen window) straight after the show on stage with the Royal Albert Hall behind me. If anyone reading this took some good photos of last night I'd love to see them! It was such a big night for me...
Oh my...I am sooooooooo dying to do some live shows of my own now!
There was a weee party after and the drinks were on Jeff...a few famous faces and some old pals I hadn't seen in a while. It was a good laugh. Hence the title...I rolled out of bed at 2pm!!! Spent the day cleaning my bicycle in the sunshine on my balcony, cooking some lovely nosh writing this and that's about all really! It's ok to be lazy once in a while...
Love to you all...back in the studio tomorrow for more musical goings on...
Played at the Royal Albert Hall tonight. My oh my soooo amazing!! I'll get some photos together for you tomorrow. I absolutely loved every nanosecond of it! Great crowd. Still in shock! Gotta go to sleep, tell you more tomorrow when I've calmed down and I'm not so shattered...
Love to you all...in five years...i'm going to write a piece of music to be premiered at the PROMS...you heard it here first! Been a lifelong dream. Thankyou Jeff for such an incredible opportunity! LOVE LOVE LOVE
That's whatcha get when you cycle home in the rain...(recognize the carpet?)
Well...I'm going to be leaving "closing In" now for a while. He's got to that stage of 80% there...He's not come out like any of the others. He's quite live sounding compared to the other songs. Actually most of the songs sound pretty different to one another. That's what I like about it. I didn't start this record with a "right...now I'm going to make THIS kind of an album". Every tune has taken me somewhere different. It's worked out that I work on an two or three songs at a time. If I get stuck on one, just load up one of the others and keep diving in and out of them. So I guess this way they ended up even more on their own paths cause I'm always A/B ing..
I've decided what I'm going to do for a week or two before I settle back in the studio for stage 2...I've got nine songs now I'm pretty happy with...The Walk, I'm in love with you (an old song I always liked...sounds TOTALLY different!) Goodnight and Go, Loose Ends, Closing In, The moment I said it, Headlock, Clear the Area and Have you got it in you...then there's Daylight Robbery...I'm still struggling with that one...and the final 11th mystery choon...
Going to have another play with Daylight robbery before I go...but what I'm going to do after is take my little bicycle and cycle down the Thames Path (path alongside the River Thames...incase you hadn't put two and two together). The source of the Thames is 107 miles from our flat. If I do around 15 a day I should get home in a week...It begins in Cirencester. The two major towns it winds through are Oxford and Reading. I've always wanted to do it. To watch it grow from a tiny weenie trickle out the ground to a busy City River. All kinds of things on the way. Just gotta hope there's not a week of rain planned! Take a good book or two, a map, my ipod...and I'm sorted. My plan is I'll be fresh and ready for action when I get back. Not going to listen to what I've done at all while I'm gone...
Had a little rehearsal with Jeff again today. I'm sooooo excited that I'm going to sing at the Albert hall tomorrow! WOW! It's soooo beautiful...WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR!!!?
Well....this is what "Closing In" looks like at the moment! Well she has around another 20 or so tracks if you could scroll down the page...Top right hand corner needs some slight alteration...looks to much like the bit before...
hmmmmmmmm.
So had a strange weekend. It was great coz I spent the weekend catching up with friends and actually talking to someone other than the computer. Makes for better conversation....it was bad coz a friend really upset me this Saturday too. You know who you are, don't ignore me...
eh hem.
Sorry to involve you in my trivialities!
If any of you live in London and have a bit of spare time go to Central St Martins on Charring cross road. It's an exhibition of all the Fine Art degree students and fashion students final work. Some of it is really great..and if you're feeling itchy to spend some spondoolies you can buy the art too...There's sculpture, musical sculpture, painting, film, documentaries, clothes...and various concoctions of these. Watch out for synchronized swimmers on the ground floor!!
I spent four hours updating most of my plug-ins for Pro-tools today. Somebody was having a little crashing fit today and throwing his toys out the pram so I set him straight once and for all. Now he's all up to date and running (fingers crossed) smoothly again...
my lunch...
Congratulations are in order to a certain "Guy" for getting the the number one spot with Miss Spears! Nice one gov'ner. She never sounded so good!
I am off to count sheep...hopefully I won't get into the thousands...
This is that little 9 second bit of jittery phone video footage of Richie playing along to "closing in". You can't see from this crappy video but there were three mics into three seperate compressors before going int Pro-tools...the combined of all of those were then sent into the Pod XT for a bit of live action knob twiddling. What you'll hear is Richie just as he went in. Thanks darling! (i love watching him play!)
I know it's just a silly thing but putting this little movie into Pro-tools got me quite excited...makes me want to get a little video camera now... more gadgets!
I brought a CD home today of Closing In to listen to it in another environment. Something about having it on a CD that even though it's not done yet forces you to be purely a listener...zoom out. Easy to get sidetracked when listening in the studio. I usually end up fiddling with something again and forgetting the bigger picture. I need to sing the final chorus now I know where it ends up...in a pile of cellos and not much else. It's a real journey of a song. Those carpet tubes are quite a feature in the first verse. They kinda sound like a pulsating 20 foot giant rubber band being twanged...which is exactly what I'd intended of course!
I've decided to cook a BIG FAT English fry up tomorrow to celebrate...a bit prematurely...the back of another song. I totally know what to do now in order to wrap it up. This is where we sail through to the end...Well at least to it's pre final touches stage which I'm going to do along with the others when i think i have all 11 of them...
COOL!
Love to you all! Have a wonderful weekend. I may not sign in tomorrow...speak soon though.
Hugs
immi
p.s. someone wrote in today to ask what I'm into listening to coz they're in desperate need of some good new music and figured I may know some. So I'm going to stick a page up on the new website with this info (when it's ready) and update it every month or so. I need to do a bit of research myself. I've spent so long hermiting in the studio I haven't had much time to seek out new music. Dying to buy the new Avril and Cursor Miner CD...gonna get them tomorrow.
Didn't get round to doing the little sync of the drums phone video thing today. It is only 9 seconds and I'm sure it's really easy to do if you know how but I've never synced music to video before. I know you can do it in Pro-tools though...just a bit bleary eyed now. Going to call it a night...Drums are working nicely but now I've recorded these drums and spent some time spicing up the rhythm track in general, the rest of it sounds a little dull...so tomorrow I'm going to start bringing all the parts up to par with these new drums...it's a pain in the arse 'cause I thought I was closer on this one that I am...it's gotta be done right though...no cutting corners. I couldn't live with myself!
A little question for you peeps...
I was looking a little closer in the mirror today coz something shiny caught my eye and I went nose close to inspect...it was ANOTHER grey hair! Well actually it's quite silvery...I got my first one about a year ago. Forgot about it but now I'd say I have around 15...I'm 26? What could it mean? When you get say...15...for instance...if it's 1 to 15 a year that means 15 by 15 is 225, and 225 by 15 = 3,375, 3,375 by 15 is 50,625...and that by 15 is 759,375...and that by 15 is over 11million!! Have i got that many hairs on my head? I hope this isn't the formula for silver hair growth rate or i've got 6 years 'til complete coverage! Goodness...it'll be easier to dye my hair weird colours i guess..no need for bleaching...
Anyway...I'm sure you really wanted to know that...
I posted this photo up coz I really like it. It was taken by a friend of mine, Miss Michael Crook..yes she's a she...Up and coming I think, most definitely! x Shot in February this year in my hotel room in LA the morning I was leaving for the airport to come home. She only used the light from the windows. I think it's great. I have a few more too from her. Will put them up on the website when it's done...
The building we live in is not the prettiest to look at but it gives great view! Taken one evening by Richie on the Polaroid...
He came in today and played some drums for me. I made a tiny little phone video clip of me recording him banging away ...will post tomorrow coz I want to sync it up with the drums we recorded rather than the crackly phone recording.
Did some more cello. I'm into it now. So far we've got cello...the first time ever I've braved playing on a record! mum would be happy about that...the daughter of Gustav Holst is a cellist called Imogen Holst...I wonder? Carpet tubes, drums and I think one of the more ambient sounds I made began life as a guitar through a pod way back when...
So I'm going to make Richie part android tomorrow and keep some of him human...I love doing the beats. Could spend hours shredding and twisting...
Jeff called me up again today on the off chance I was at my studio (he's rehearsing next door) So I popped over to go through the two songs we're doing again. One being "Blanket". If you haven't heard it...try and get a hold of it...it's the tune I wrote with Urban Species. I always liked it. Did my bit - melody and lyrics and sang - all in a day with one of my more deadlier hangovers. I think that's why I got it done so quick, I just needed to go home and sleep it off ASAP!
I took this of Steve Jobs giving his slick presentation at the itunes launch today....dressed like he was going to buy some milk for breakfast...and why not! It was packed full of media and their enormous zoom lenses... This is so brilliant! itunes in the UK finally! This is going to change our musical world for the better! May he live long...Only 79p a song! I love it...the ultimate in the MP3 download experience is almost perfect. We just need you to add Frou Frou in the UK and Cursor Miner and readymade and stereo Total and Neutral Milk hotel and bla bla bla! Goodness me..I'm on their case don't you worry! Going to get our videos up there for you to watch..as you can imagine every artist dead or alive wants to be on this so we may have to be British and stand in line...but we'll get there. They so far have 700,000 songs on there,,,I bet that's not even 0.1% percent of recorded music though! From every obscure German blip guy to Mongolian chanting...one day it'll all be on there i hope and all the out of print music. We'll be able to really study music like never before! So cool xx Can't wait...Into this Rendezvous thing they've got going too on the itunes page. So if you haven't got it already, go get it! It's freeeeeee.
After the talk I walked to the studio over Tower Bridge. Took about 3/4 hour. Beautiful day today! ...took this of Tower Bridge on the way...
Well..today I actually played an instrument! Shock horror! Programming was set aside for a while as I dusted of my old cello and made some reasonable noises with it. I'm nowhere near as good as I thought I used to be...the memory can play tricks of course...but thankfully my computer skills have rocketed so it balances out i guess. The cool thing about the cello is no matter how crap a player you are you look great playing it!
All the parts in "closing In" are working pretty well now except for the drums...just need to get them recorded, put them though the grinder and hopefully it'll all slot into place! Plus the usual hours of nipping and tucking... so that all zeros and ones are living happily and harmoniously together...
Off to bed now...had an early start and last nights iblog kept me up until 4am!
I feel like a naughty school girl coz I haven't written anything for the past two days. The reason...I've been having far to much fun! Did a spot of music making on Saturday. Mainly programming in a sexy bass line on my EMX (lovely little blue number a few blogs down). Then tidied the studio up a bit...coz it doesn't always look like it does in the 360s funnily enough...infact it's only ever looked like that the day I took the photos - tangent- I hired the 360 degree lens, the camera and a tripod for the weekend. I thought it was going to take a photo like those old cameras that they used to have for the school photos with all the pupils in. left to right in 15 seconds or whatever. There would be one kid at both ends...looking a little more worn out on the right hand side...anyway. This was a one shot wonder. The lens pointed at a half an egg shaped mirror directly above it and took the whole photo in one click...I did manage to run into the little room though...(as some of you noticed!) - anyway..
So I was tidying up for Fred and Matt. Fred's a guy I met at the TED conference, Guy and I were lucky enough to be a part of, in February this year. We had a giggle and a few bevies! It really was an amazing few days. Held in Monterey, CA. Talks on flying cars, super eco energy efficient buildings that give out more energy than they consume, A vertical space tram idea where vessels get lifted from the earth to just beyond the pull of gravity to get you into space without the need for 5 zillion tons of fuel, the latest 3D images from Mars (we all wore those attractive red and blue lens glasses), the guys from google did a talk, a demonstration given to us by the inventor Woody Norris with his amazing ultrasound system Instead of sound dispersing in all directions which it does form the speakers we're used to his one directs sound like a laser points light. He waved it around the room (looks kinda like a small square solar panel from a distance) with the sample of a waterfall. Nobody could hear a thing until he pointed it at you and it really sounded like were standing right by one. VERY COOL! I want one... considering how amazing it is and all they're not actually that much to buy. They're about a $grand I think! Be fun to point at the kids on my block and scare the living daylights out of them! I wouldn't do a thing like that...Woody was in our Tech Joy session. Each speaker had 18 minutes to do their thing! that included us. All that way for 18 minutes you say...It was SO worth it! Also speaking in Tech Joy was this guy called ze frank He made me/ everyone, HOWL! Please check out his website and hold on to your sides! "Dance Properly" is how it all started with this site. He made a little ecard invite and sent it to a handful of his mates. Next thing you know his site's getting millions of hits!! You'll see why...
That's where the photo's from..Those long haul flights don't do much for the Bags! that's my excuse anyway...
Sooooo...these guys, Fred and Matt, came into my studio and got a little sneak heap preview... They both work for apple..and I LOVE all things APPLE!! hmmmm...these boys have got me into this thing that's going on tomorrow in London. It's the Launch for itunes in the UK..I am MAJORLY excited! Going to hear all things new and up until tomorrow secret in the land of Mac...It's V.I.P only so I am REALLY lucky to be going! If I'm allowed to take photos I'll put some up here tomorrow...we went out for dinner at my studio local Italian and were the last one's to leave. Then we walked along the south of the river. They went over tower bridge, we...a short arm in arm walk to Waterloo.
Then Sunday we went to a FEAST of a picnic,,,and I must say my coconut chick pea rice went down a storm! Especially with a certain One year old Lulu. A small cherry tomato she was nibbling on went down very well on my skirt too...
There was loads of us! Loads a sun and loads of confusing 2 frisbee, rugby ball and strange whistling thing that looks like Button Moons spaceship throwing going on and Jeffers was climbing trees. Congrats Justine on your finishing finally! Then Siren suite to night cap.
And today...amongst the general lark that is noise making, I could be seen playing cardboard carpet rolls in my vocal booth...You may be scratching your heads..what on earth? Well my studio is in a big complex with loads of other businesses. One of them is a carpet dealers. So each day instead of putting these broken ones in the churner, they leave these things out for this weird girl who wants them to make some kind of carpet tube organ...sound best when played with Ping Pong bats. You play the ends and they give off a really nice resonant tone. Each one different. I've so far only bothered to find about half an octave of them. You're probably worried now...I've stacked up two high and two low octaves of the same note. They pedal under the whole song at the moment in a high-hat type pattern. They sound suitably digitized though strangely...I liked them at the end of tonight anyway.
Humm. I think I have outdone myself. This must be the biggest iblog EVER!
Today I caught the ferocious Urban Brown Bear asleep and off guard. First ever recorded footage of this rare animal. This bear has been terrorizing the Waterloo neighborhood over these last few weeks. If you see this bear report it immediately. Guilty on numerous counts of time wasting!
Yeah...i did actually do some work today...but I got a new toy too! I love it! It takes pictures, videos, records music, plays music and I think you can make calls on it to or something.
Cool!
Ja...I've really got a much clearer picture on "Closing in" now. Went trawling through the Hard drives on the Mac today and found some wicked sounds I had discarded and left for dead on one of the older sessions of the song. So that was a nice surprise. I like it when I find sounds I've created and have absolutely no idea how I made them! It's so easy to get lost in the spontaneity of sound sculpture...yuk, that sounded so pretentious...sorry...anyway, when it happens it's really cool...I'm trying to think how to describe what I'm not explaining very well!...erm...I guess it's just like a great chat with an old mate. You're not thinking your just enjoying chatting away...and then out of the blue you say something and you're like...did I say that? Wow! ...hmmm...I'll just pretend like I meant to say it and that I say great things like that all the time.
You get me?
You don't get me?
Aye...
Got wireless internet action going on in the flat today...liking it..my man has his new laptop and I my new phone..so now, I'm going to be getting a laptop soon. I think I should get one coz I feel like each trip I make to and from the studio on my bicycle is half an hour everyday wasted on tarmac and traffic lights. I should be Pro-tooling on the bicycle move...oh yes...It's a technique I will master for the sake of me finishing this album!
Now I am going to love you and leave you before I fill your brain with anymore useless information...
Dunno who this is...such great natural style though for such a young kid...
Had an assortment of happenings today! In the morning I yo yo'd between different shops in search of this darn phone...seems as if everyone else is trying to get this one too. Found one eventually. Going to cycle in and get it tomorrow...Then, when i got into the studio i found I had had an email over night from the people that got me that six feet under thing looking for a piece of music for a new Samsung phone add in the states...they wanted something up tempo, dancy, playful and a little hook they can use for the feature of the new phone which is a slidey type thing? hmm...well I have this song called Goodnight and go (which is where that `Go" samples from in the previous post) which I thought would be good to send in. So I made a few 30 second clips of it and sent it over..you never know?...believe me...stuff like this can really help...I think that was the secret with Moby's last album. Radio wouldn't have played his singles so readily if it wasn't he fact that he'd had all the songs off his album synched either in Films, adds or TV. It's not an easy thing trying to persuade radio stations to play your music these days! Sometimes money helps apparently? I need to sell records before I get any though so that chicken and egg just keeled over on me. Bla...It is soooooooo hard to get music on the radio! That's why those ones that stick their neck out and play music coz they LOVE it...RULE MY WORLD! you know who you are! Why can't ALL DJ's just play music they like? It's so awful. All this amazing music failing to get head coz of a big chief and his round table... Sorry...
And then..after sending those off I unscrewed a couple of bits of gear from my rack and walked about a hundred yards to where Jeff Beck is rehearsing for his upcoming tour of the UK. He's playing the Royal Albert Hall (in london), which is my favourite venue in all the world! It's wonderfully circular! Maybe I have an affinity with it growing up in a Round (well actually elliptical) House?? So when he asked me if I'd sing a couple of songs I JUMPED at the chance! WOW WOW WOW..if any of you get the chance. In the summer go to one of the Proms. It's a classical music festival held at the Albert Hall every year. Go to see a really obscure concert...not anyone big like Mozart coz you can guarantee it'll be Rammed..maybe a premier of a piece of music written by a living composer (much more my cup of tea), lie on the floor and gaze at the mushrooms (accoustic reflecting thingies) on the ceiling. It's amazing! It's Huge and it's so darn ed beautiful! And it'll only cost you 4 quid! Bargain! This area is called the promenade and it's always been cheap so anyone can go and experience it! It's cheap coz you have no seat..but that's the cool part! take a pillow and stretch out...that's what I do sometimes...
So we're going to do Rollin' and a tumblin' which I sang on his last record and Blanket (the one I wrote with Urban Species) He wanted to do something bluesey.He came over to my studio one day and I played him this tune on the piano and went mad for it! Also he went mad for daylight robbery...but still I have no lyrics for it...It's such a great riff though that he's just going to play a band version of it at the gigs and ROCK OUT with it...Funny..
And then..after that came back to the studio and after an hour of crashing the computer got stuck into the music for closing in... I like...Haven't recorded much in the way of live drums coz I've been too busy geeking out..but this one needs some really powerful, crushed, compressed to hell killer live drums...and I know just the man for the job! Oh yes...Richie Mills! Currently in the process of getting a deal together for this band he's in called The Lucky Nine ...more about that soon...
Warble warble warble...tomorrow MUSIC! Yipeee! I was sooooooo bored of my own voice by the end of the day. Dying to move on! Did some cool chanty things for the chorus though...nice.
Going to go and get me a sparkly new phone tomorrow morning so I can take pictures and little movies to put on here each day...any excuse for a new gadget!
So you guys can appently leave me little messages now but this iblog page came about to give me a kick me up the ass so that I'd have to have something done each day to tell you about in regards to album progress... so even though I'd love to chat all day long...forgive me if I don't reply to them all..asuming there are some that is i guess!
lots of love to y'all and I hope this becomes a happy vibrant little iblog in time...
That's the only bummer with hot weather this time of year! Pouring! Where does it all come from? Tissues..been through packs and packs of them. Anyway...enough of my seasonal nasal habits.
Wow. This is a real vocal extravaganza of a song. HEAPS of
them...sorry...They've ended up sounding quite vocoder like as harmonies in the chorus coz they're really monotone. Cool effect. May double them up with my vocoder..hmmm..
I really can spend a week on vocals for one song! That's no joke...If i'd started writing this iblog a month ago I was doing more music than vocals. There is music on this album trust me! It just feels like I've been doing nothing but vocals for ages...That's what happens though. Music, vocals, more music, more vocals, mix, faff, mix...abandon...
Sorry about last night's iblog being posted kinda after the occasion...if some of you were searching to find CM live on radio one you may have found that you can 'listen again' here! We are trying to sort it so I can send these blogs directly from my computer right at cha because everything goes through the almighty medium who is James...Coz He da man wi da codes...
Tra la la
My oh my it's HOT HOT HOT...and the sky was blue blue blue...I stared at the sun for as long as i could in search of a black spot today on my balcony with four pairs of sunglasses stacked on top of one another. Alas...no joy. Why did I throw those welding glasses out? See that's what happens when you do a clear out. There's always something you wish you hadn't chucked. I wouldn't have guessed it'd be those though! Oh well...just a few hundred years to wait. In 2012 there's another one of these Venus crossings but we won't be able to view it from England...
Mary anne Hobbs every Monday night from midnight (UK time) is one of the best shows around. So if you find yourself scooting around on the net around this time let her keep you company for a couple of hours.
Cursor Miner is doing a live set tonight. He may do his DJ pleasing the crowd more dancy version of his album or his album...I haven't heard it as it is on the record yet...must buy it! I've been waiting long enough! His last album "Explosive piece of mind" gets constant ipoddery action!
Check it out!
Did more vocals today. Is that possible you ask?
Ah yes...the love and attention that goes into my vocals!
Did some de-essing (bringing down the volume of individual ss' and t's and other such piercing consonants. Also did some vocal effect rides. All at the moment just over a loop basically. Got to get the vocals slamming on their own with hardly anything else in the mix then pile it all on around the vocals. Mixing in other elements as you go. Just like baking a nice juicy cake!
Just been down the Old Bill reporting my stolen bag. Very nice policeman! He may even be reading this. I said I'd say hi... so hi there PC Dillon!
More warblings today. Did a half day of vocals and then sped off on my bicycle to Battersea to see a play a friend of mine, James Wolfe was doing the music for. It was great! Well done James! looking very brown...mmmm. Met up with some friends after then left there and went for a wee dinner on the south bank with my lovely man. Had a delicious meal by the river, outside
with all the best of London's skyline behind us. Beautiful, beautiful London Town! Gorgeous evening. Anyway. The bill comes for the meal I go to get my bag..and IT'S NOT THERE! You little S**T. Big fat Karma coming back right at you! This person must have got on their hands and knees so as to get below our eye level and stolen it from by my feet! rrrrrr...no phone, no ipod, no wads of cash, none of that so ha ha...dirty knees for nothing much. They would have had to wander around with a very girly pink checkered handbag too! So...obviously I couldn't pay my bit...which was possibly the only bonus out of that happening...went home cancelled all the cards within half an hour, fingers crossed...then made a break for Siren Suite and hooked up with a few mates and a few by accident too. Which was nice.
1. I have finished the lyrics, sung the lead vocal and laid down some bare bone music to get me started on Closing in. It's wide it's dark it's...the tenth song. Oh yes...the tenth! Ok so strictly I haven't finished Daylight Robbery but it was getting on my cup cakes and I'm not gonna let an absent lyric get the better of me again! Move on...to something you can do...wood for trees i hope. Come back to it and it'll all be clear as day...light...
Ja. So that's one...
2. Today i heard a distressing little piece of information. So I'm
closing in on some guy on ebay who is selling really shoddy recordings of me from 1998 playing acoustic versions of old songs completely unaware they were being recorded - by some crafty bugger in the audience on a minidisc no doubt-. He's not even a fan. One of the songs is written as Lidding on the titles...meant to be Kidding. So I call out to you as a working musician who has remortgaged her flat to make an album I am proud of..NOT to give this guy the satisfaction in receiving your hard earned cash for some CD he's cobbled together. He doesn't deserve it... I DO! Now i know that you just want to hear these songs, something new to you but this is NOT how i intended these songs to be heard. So for me...your friend...do me a favour and don't buy anymore! It's embarrassing for me. Stuff like this doesn't translate onto recordings unless it's done really well. Please save your pennies for a kick ass legit follow up Imogen heap album or somebody else's kick ass album for a tenner! I could name a few!
If you guys are really into buying acoustic versions of i megaphone I will try to get something together for you. We did make some GOOD recordings from the Desk at some of the gigs. I'll see what I can find. If I don't have them all maybe i'll just go and record them somewhere for you, maybe a gig for that purpose...hmmm...I'll have a think.
Now I know a couple of you have this CD...if you have any email address for this guy can you send it to James for me? I want to spank him...
That's all I need...i think this song has something against me. Each time i think i'm getting there with these lyrics for Daylight Robbery it turns on me. Gets me all rattled and unsure. RA! Today when i came in i thought i only had the second verse to write. Now the first line of the first verse is under trail again. The second line has taken it's place and now i don't have that one filled anymore...it's soooooo frustrating coz getting these lyrics is all that is between me and home straight. I SO want to finish this one. If i just didn't care so much about i may get it done but It's really got under my skin.
I am going to tell you the first line to make sure I don't change it again. This way that is one variable deleted.
pleasure the wave, synchronise in the swaying sonic joy.
Done. That is now hard as granite. That leaves 5 more like that coz the second verse is twice as long as the first.
I am going home. Defeated again!
We all have our bad and good days. It just seems so stupid that a few lines to a song can get me in such a deflated mood. I guess it's because it's something I'm meant to be good at and when even that doesn't work you feel a tad useless!
Bla bla...sorry for the rant.
Hopefully will have something tomorrow xxx
Love to you all..
on a more positive note actually. Cursor Miner's gig was like no other! He was wearing a white shiny boiler suite and goggles and Sarah the inflatable doll was also present...after a lot of pumping up! Some hilarious man and doll dance moves too. Sound wasn't very good. Not his fault of course, though I am partial to a bit of distortion!
His new album's out...if you like the sound of Aphex twin meets David Bowie meets Beck go get it!
The grammys (I sat 2 seats back from Prince!) Poor James Blunt was behind me and didn't see much past the garden patch of my hair. It really did just seem like a natural extension from the feather mohawk... and of course, the dress. Fantastic Pinar who pulled it together with Jackie in 5 days! Pinar got in touch with me through myspace about 8 months ago. She'd made a dress for me before (that I've worn for pretty much every gig since coz I love it so much) and when i heard I was nominated (the day before my birthday) I asked her if she'd make it. So..a couple of month's worth of emailing back and forth on ideas and this is what we came up with! We went and bought flowers and grass for my hair, fitted the outfit, chose the fabrics, bought shoes, fixed the parasol, named the frog (gary)...not bad and then they made it! All in the nick of time. Believe it or not, it didn't even cross my mind until I stepped onto the red carpet that I may be wearing something a little too adventurous for some. On a catwalk it'd be quite at home! People loved or hated it. Much like "hide and seek". But I sure loved wearing that outfit. It was so much fun. It's going into the soon to be opened for it's 50th anniversary, the Grammy Museum! haha...forever! Except Gary-the-grammy-frog stays with me. I even got to wear some rather fancy jewellery worth....wait for it....one necklace and one watch came to $600,000 on the form I had to sign for insurance reasons! My GOD! I had no idea. I went to this thing the day before that everyone who's nominated gets to go to. You get to wear really fancy stuff, they get it on TV...now because I was gonna be on TV with "best new artist" (giggle) I was important enough to wear all these glittery diamonds. So thank you
The US tour. Wow...what a trip! My birthday that we celebrated here! Some friends popped over to see me, we drank, soaked (all 20 of us) in the hot tub, looked at the stars, ate lovely home cooked food. Marble, where we stayed in this lodge, was pretty much inbetween Salk Lake City and Denver. Another google earth find! Thankyou for all the birthday love everyone and also for those of you who wrote me messages in the birthday book that Sam and Lisa from Map the Music put together for me. Really lovely to have that xxx
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"mini immi" for the 
this doesn't do the dish any flattering favours.
