Another cover of Songbird on the way

[Livia]

Q & A with Damien Leith

July 26, 2007 12:00am
Q: WHEN you won Australian Idol you were hoping you'd get to write some songs for your first studio album, Where We Land. How did it pan out?

A: It's worked out brilliantly. I've written 10 songs for the album -- more than I thought I'd get. I'm over the moon they liked my songs enough to record them. But in the process of getting to those 10 songs, so many songs I loved were annihilated. I was bothered by it at the start, it took some adjusting to, that's no lie. But to be fair, looking back, the stuff we've ended up with is much better.

Is it hard to be told your song isn't good enough?

When you play a song for years, you're so familiar with it. Then someone comes along and says "Nah, that doesn't work". Early on there definitely were times when I questioned that. At the start I'd go "No, that song's fantastic", but looking back, they weren't.

I remember I went home to (wife) Eileen and I was talking about this song I'd played for years and which was knocked from the album. She said "Well, it's not that good". That was a bit of a turning point. I relaxed after that.

Paul Gray, of Wa Wa Nee, is your musical director. Being from Ireland, you'd have missed his time as a pop star in the '80s.

Once Paul got on board I went on YouTube and searched him out. Sugar Free and all that. He was fantastic. I didn't know who he was. People kept telling me about Wa Wa Nee. He had all the dance moves, didn't he?

Does he still write songs?

We've written a song on my album called Alone.

He sounded like Prince in the '80s. What's his sound like now?

He's a huge Beatles fan and can play any Beatles song. So he has that side; that's where we meet really well. Not all of the collaborations on the album are written from scratch. They're songs I had already and which I've finished off with people.

You're also working with James Roche, of Bachelor Girl. Did you YouTube him as well?

Yeah, I did a check-up on him. Paul Gray's all over YouTube, but there's not as much from James on there. I've just got Wikipedia and a lot of stories about James.

The new single, 22 Steps, is a song you didn't write. Was that a compromise?

There was no pressure to do it, but I couldn't overlook it. I've learnt it's not all about your own songs. You can write songs you think are really good, really personal, that will reach a certain audience, but they may not reach the right audience. Even the likes of Damien Rice and a song like The Blower's Daughter -- that really set off his album. I'd sit back and ask "Do I have a Blower's Daughter on my album?"

And do you?

We didn't. I think we have a few now.

And they are?

Shine Like the Sun, All I Want is You and Not Just for the Weekend.

You set your songwriting bar fairly high for Idol, singing Jeff Buckley, U2, Damien Rice and Radiohead songs.

That's why we spent so long on the album. It was meant to be ready by March. We were still trying to find the songs. We've worked up some of the songs to make them more suited to a broader audience. There is a darker song, Blew It All Away, that's pleasant to the ear but it has a darker undertone, a little left of centre.

I tried to hold on to the elements people liked on Idol. There are some emotional ballads with strong lyrics on there, but nothing depressing. They're moody but not depressing.

Night of My Life isn't on the album.

No. We've gone in a different direction from that. That song is great but it was a little . . . it wasn't my lyrical style.

Would you like to write songs for other artists?

I'd love to. I've always wanted to get into that. It's hard, though. A lot of my stuff is so personal it might not be broad enough. I think I'm only just getting into writing properly now, it's only just kicking in. They feel stronger than what I was doing before.

What was the turning point?

It was just during the process of this album. Common things weren't working for me. I had a habit of writing too many words, rambling lyrics, like the way I talk. That sunk in. I started writing fewer words, got more to the point lyrically. That was an immediate improvement. I'm more inspired now. Some of the things I used to write were copycat songs. I haven't been listening to other people's songs lately.

Deliberately?

Yeah. I'd hear a great song and try to write one the same. Everyone does that, even if it's subconscious.

What was the most shameless copycat?

I've done it with U2 songs in the past. I'd listen to them and go "That's so simple, it works so well", and before you know it you're writing basically the same song. I did it recently with a Coldplay number. I played it to my producer and note for note it was The Scientist. I'd been listening to that album and I guess it was in my head. I clicked off then, stopped listening to music.

You sang an Alex Lloyd song on Idol then worked with him on this record.

Yeah, we hit it off straight away. He got in touch, he was interested in writing with me. We wrote six songs together. Two are on the album -- Beautiful and Blew It All Away. He lived literally around the corner from me. It was very easy-going. No strain.

Are there any covers on the album?

Only one -- Songbird, by Christine McVie (of Fleetwood Mac). My wife and I got married to that song. It's a different version. It's a really intimate song, totally sparse and empty. My sister sang it at our wedding. I'm more singing my sister's version, which is a mix between the Eva Cassidy and the Christine McVie versions.

Are you going to be released in Ireland?

22 Steps has gone to radio there now. They're excited about it. We're just going with the flow.

Your first novel, One More Time, is also being released in October.

It's set in Nepal. It's a psychological story about this guy coping with his environment. He has psychological issues that get worse through the story. It's not a thriller, but it's not far off it.

So you've had people cutting your songs and editors cutting your words this year.

It's not a time to be sensitive. If I were sensitive I'd be in tears over songs and books getting cut. I ramble an awful lot, in songs and the book, so that's all been cut out. The travelogue elements have been taken out too. I wrote it four years ago when we were travelling through Nepal. It's taken me two years to finish it.

Did you have a publishing deal before Idol?

I had sent it to a publisher and they liked it, but Idol helped to seal the deal, that's for sure.

22 Steps (Sony BMG) out now. Where We Land out August 18.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...006024,00.html

[David]

Thanks, Livia. And John Frusciante (sp?) has been singing it onstage lately, too. It's on YouTube.

[SortaSavageLike]

Originally Posted by David

Thanks, Livia. And John Frusciante (sp?) has been singing it onstage lately, too. It's on YouTube.

David comes out of FU*^ICKING NOWHERE!!!

[shackin'up]

That frusciante-version is the best. I love it. Check in more often david, I sincerely missed you.

Oh, and thanks, livia!