News: Opening Doors (Making of) video up on youtube! - 24th August 2010
Want to know what it's like being a glamourous popstar? Watch the making of Opening Doors now!
Blog: The carnage of the night before. - 5th August 2010
So, the last 48 hours have been PROPER MENTAL.
I think I made the universe angry somehow. Or, perhaps, it knew that I've been working non-stop for 4 months and was within just a few short days of being able to take a bit of time off to stop and take care of all the little things that have fallen by the wayside (like, for example, doing laundry).
Let me explain something before we begin: I was supposed to have two whole weeks free to prepare for the gig. That got swallowed by extra mixing and mastering sessions, artwork emergencies, my macbook breaking down for good and various other incredibly important and hugely badly timed things.
Honestly, time got away from me, no matter how hard I tried or how fast I ran to keep up. Four days before the gig, I was in a dorm room in London preparing for the video shoot for the second single video and trying to install all my gig software onto the new macbook before I could start rehearsing.
I ended up with just over 36 hours to prep the entire live show. Fortunately, I am good and know the songs backwards, so it was just about doable, I thought. If I didn't stop to sleep or eat too much, I could just about pull it off. My entire PR team and several journalists/radio people would be there, so I couldn't fuck it up. I would focus. I would be OK. And then I could come home and sleep for a week.
And then my voicelive broke. It is entirely responsible for my onstage vocal sound. That was 3 hours of my life gone (and my friend Joris's too as he googled like mad trying to find a solution). I gave up, exhausted, panicked and frustrated, at 1am and went to bed fearing the worst. Joris, like the wonderful trooper he is, stayed up til 3am and, when I woke up a few hours later, I had an email in my inbox with a possible solution. It didn't fix the problem, but it made the box just about functional enough to get me through the gig (I hoped).
I practised like mad. My VJ came over while I rehearsed and ran through some of the projections he'd been making for the show. They are awesome and he'd clearly put a lot of thought into the symbolism. I was nervous, but I was just about holding it together.
The next morning, my VJ and I got on the road at 10am. I'd been up til 3am finishing the set prep. He'd been up til a similar time finishing the projections. It was bucketing down and our gear together took up most of the car. About halfway down the M1, the truck in front of us came to a sudden stop in rain so heavy I could barely see past him. We didn't crash and die. I was happy about this. We also didn't move very far very fast - good old stationary traffic.
Once we got going again, the car started making some funny noises. A clicking from the back, like we were driving over railway tracks. Weird.
However! We arrived at the venue only half an hour later than we planned, just after 1pm. We even got a parking space right outside the venue entrance. We unpacked all the gear and rang the RAC. I treat "weird noises" from a car that has to get three people and a shitton of gear 200 miles home that night very seriously. The RAC said we needed to park the car somewhere else before they'd come look at it, since the venue was in a residents-only area.
My best friend and I braved the Oxford Circus one-way system with a car that was quickly becoming very difficult to drive and making VERY loud noises from one of the back wheels. I was starting to get panicky about getting everyone home. We finally found an underground car park and, on trying to pull into a narrow space, I lost control and scraped the door of the car next to me. I'll be honest, I freaked out. I've never hit anyone else's car before - people have hit me but never the other way round. I got a bit tearful. I left a note, of course. I've never felt so guilty.
So, by that point, I have 45 minutes to get back to the venue ("where the fuck are we??" I said), calm down, pop-star up and be ready to be interviewed for The Selector. Oh, and I have to setup, decorate the venue, soundcheck and put on a great show.
No problem.
I can pull that off.
No problem.
And then we rang the RAC, who wouldn't come check the vehicle unless the policy holder was there - oh, and they wouldn't give us a time that they'd be there.
Shit.
We race around trying to get everything done and have a woman there to answer RAC questions. RAC say the wheel needs a new part but they can fix it in a couple of hours. They are given the keys.
Radio interview goes smoothly, except that the interviewer brings with her the news that Oxford Street station (the station people will use later on to actually get to the venue) has been closed because of a problem with a train in the station. Great. By this point, I'm accepting that someone will probably be seriously injured by the end of the day. Which is probably why no one would do laps of the venue with me to help blow off some of the steam.
Sound engineer and both DJs manage to make it, though both are quite late due to the station being closed. It's OK, guys. We'll pull this off. Cupcakes are iced, balloons blown up, leaflets folded, fairy lights put up, sound check done. We even have time to eat (just about, while doing 11 other things at once).
Then, at 7:30pm, the RAC calls and says they can't fix the car after all and, since all the garages are now closed, we'll need to be towed home. To Derby. And I have the wrong kind of cover for that so they won't do it.
Fortunately, I am saved by one of the DJs, who I am giving a lift home, and who has personal AA cover (the RIGHT kind). We give up on the car for the evening and promise to deal with it once the gig is over. I'm making train/hotel contingency plans and worrying about what to do with my gear.
Then BOTH the computers that the VJ brought to run his beautiful projections from die suddenly and without warning. I have started to find the entire thing funny. I text my manager (who is camping in a field with his two young children for his wife's birthday) to tell him what's been going on. I ask him if it's alright if I quit music now, since the universe is clearly trying to tell me something. He says no, there is too much good stuff to come. I say "If the good stuff doesn't happen, can I have a pony?". He says yes. You're all witness to that now.
On the plus side, it makes a great ice breaker of a story to tell people on stage.
The gig itself was actually totally awesome. Nothing went wrong, sounded amazing, crowd was quiet and interested. Very very happy Leni.
The AA were happy to tow us back to Derby when we called them at midnight. To start with, everyone was happy and bouncy and jovial. Sean Eskimo had even brought extra clothes "just in case", like the scout that his isn't. We awaited recue in the form of a flatbed truck.
Turns out, since it was the middle of the night, the drivers are only allowed to do 45 minutes at a time. Tow truck for 45 mins. Dropped in a freezing cold service station for an hour and a half with a broken car full of everyone's gear. Tow for another 45 mins. Repeat. We got home at 9am.
Got the car towed to the garage this morning once we'd unpacked it and we all passed out, exhausted. Three hours later, I'm up and dealing with the mess that was the carnage of the day before. Garage says there must have been a fault in the wheel, since the drum was cracked all the way through and no kind of driving could have caused that. He compared it to a wing falling off a plane. Great for a woman with severe phobia of flying.
I think it might be about time I took a little break, so I've booked some time in Holland with my best friend, who lives in Amsterdam. See you in a couple of weeks.
News: Launch party in London TONIGHT - August 4th 2010
A quick reminder folks: Leni will be performing at her London launch party for "Opening Doors" TONIGHT at The Social, just off Oxford Street. She'll be onstage at 8:30pm sharp, so be the early!
If you haven't already, check out the official video:
Blog: Update: videos, album, single - July 31st 2010
Opening Doors is out on Monday! Yay! We have the single launch party on Wednesday and I am looking forward to playing the new material. A whole bunch of friends have gathered around me to help out and I'm aiming to make it a fun night. I'm on super early at 8:30, followed by the lovely Dawn Kinnard at 9:30 and then DJ sets by remixers of the next single: Iambic and Sean Eskimo.
This month, I have spent more time in the south of England than I have in my own home. For the last fortnight I've been slinging back and forth between mixing in Brighton, mastering in London, meetings in London and crashing in Kent with my dad, who used the few moments he saw me to pump me full of food. Someone has to, I keep forgetting.
Mixing with Jimmy at King Chubby's studio in Brighton. Jimmy is awesome. I love Jimmy. He has forgiven me my past production errors. Just about. He has also recently had a new baby who, when we were mixing, had no name yet.
There was a famous Banksy piece outside the studio, which the local council have clearly deemed Proper Art and put it behind perspex. Clearly, I was not the only person to see the irony.
My manager, who is based in Brighton, also came down to a couple of mix sessions and stood around looking proud/bemused. See?
Whilst I was in Brighton, I met up with Iambic, aka Guy, who did a remix for the next single. He's another one under Jonny's managerial umbrella. He's ACE. However, we quickly learned that the reply when asked in Starbucks "how big would you like?" should never be "surprise me!". They seem to take that quite literally.
Mastering with Tim in London happened a couple more times than I was planning it to, but the album now sounds great! It's off at the printers' now and I can't wait to hold it and then to show people. The single is also being printed and has an awesome cover of Frightened Rabbit as the b-side and some amazing remixes from Bright Light Bright Light, Iambic and Sean Eskimo. I'll be uploading them soon!
I also had an interview with Dean Jackson, one of my favourite people on earth. I took him a copy of the very very newly finished record secretly. We were very careful only to mention it quietly and made all his listeners promise not to tell my promotional team, for I would be in a LOT of trouble. Dean complimented my outfit. I popstarred up for him.
I also met up with my temporary PR guy (my main PR lady recently got married and went on honeymoon! Congratulations Luke and Leah!) in London. He took me for tea in a place with GIANT sofas. The mugs the tea came in each had slogans. The two I got said "Life Sucks" and had a picture of a tortoise with "work" written on it. I think maybe the staff were trying to tell me something, but I just can't tell what...
After 3 days of sleeping in my own bed, I'm here in London again for two nights while we film the video for the second single, I Want My Heart Back. We're filming all day tomorrow and I'll update you once it's actually happened. I even, thanks to a £1 upgrade, travelled down in first class. I got free tea. That made me happy.
I'm staying in the cheapest single room I could find in London, so I'm in a halls of residence belonging to the University of Westminster. The road is one enormous cocktease to a Leni carrying her own weight in shoes, clothes and all the other crap one needs for a video shoot. It's #50 on the road. Just after #49, at the bottom of a MASSIVE hill, it becomes a different road for what feels like A MILLION MILES. But it was worth it when I got here. Lookit:
Very mixed reviews on the sites I looked at before booking. Most of the complaints seem to revolve around the rooms feeling a bit too studenty. Um. Duh. As a recent student, I think it is WELL NICE. You want icky dorms, visit Aberdeen University circa 2002. Urgh. Rooms here are big and I've even got my own little hessian noticeboard for me to put notices on. If only I'd brought some pins.
My macbook died halfway through the weeks of travel, after 5 years of constant and faithful service. Spending my evening in the big city reloading all the software I need for the live show onto it. Yay! My life is super glamorous and you shouldn't forget it.
"This sanguine offering from the Derby-based multi-instrumentalist makes the most of Leni's fragile vocals. It's poetic lyrics ring with philosophical understanding, turning a break-up into quietly exultant opportunity, while its exquisite fusion of synths and harps create an air of hypnotic enchantment." - Music Week. See more quotes.
