"Damien vocal about clip" news.com.au 29/11/06

[dededom]

Damien vocal about clip

From Sydney Confidential
news.com.au

November 29, 2006 08:25am

DAMIEN Leith has wasted no time using that golden voice to put his own stamp on his newfound music career.

While previous Idol winners have struggled to be heard in the frantic early days of their recording career, Leith said he had been encouraged to speak up about the video clip for his debut single Night Of My Life.

The popular Irishman spent 12 hours in a blocked-off Chippendale street in Sydney yesterday shooting the video after only four hours' sleep in two days.

"When I read the original draft I wasn't keen at all. We chatted about it and they came up with a different idea," he told music writer Kathy McCabe.

"We gave it a go and I hope it's the one they end up using as we've taken two directions with the clip. It was a good day, I really enjoyed it."

Leith said he would be discussing plans for his debut album with SonyBMG executives tomorrow and was hopeful more of his self-penned tunes would make the cut.

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nb When I read the original draft I wasn't keen at all. We chatted about it and they came up with a different idea - good to see him trying to exercise some creative control

[dleitful]

Yeah just read that. Bit of a worry. Hopefully he gets his way.

[Mi chiamano Kami]

It's good that Damien is getting some say in what he's doing so early on. SonyBMG must realise that people are interested in seeing work that is true to who Damien is, so I have faith they'll take his ideas on board.

I'm actually really curious about what they had planned for his video clip that he "wasn't keen" on... if previous winner's video clips are anything to go by it must have been... interesting. Would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that little conversation.

[hyperrune]

Go Damien! Keep on fighting! I wonder what he means by "we talked about it". Euphemism? hmmm....
For god's sake let the boy be! He won! Let him decide for himself how to do it!
I hope it doesn't stay like that for long, or we might have to wait until the 2nd album to here pure Damien. He did his own thing on the show, and he won - why not now?

[dededom]

Must have been a really fun conversation at 4am in the morning.

They blocked off a street in Chippendale [near Sydney Uni] for 12 hours to do it apparently.

[-- Janny --]

man I hope Damien gets his way!!! Surely we don't want Damien to have cheesy-Idolesque video.

[Bahamagirl]

They showed some of the filming of the video clip on the Today Show this morning. Damien had a guitar with him. Maybe that's one of the things that he insisted on. He's certainly been stressing in his interviews that his genre is acoustic rock and he sees himself as performing playing a guitar or the piano. Didn't he say in one of his backstage idol interviews that after disco night he was going to stop trying to please the judges and be himself and play his style of music? I think that will carry through to the videos.

[ravengrace]

Good on him for having the guts to say what he wants and what he thinks will work. He shown that he has a great feel for what works for him time and again (don't think he would have chosen to do disco if it wasn't a requirement of that particular show).
I wonder if Sony will wonder about the decision to widen the Idol range to include more mature performers. Older performers will be less likely to do things they aren't comfortable with than say, a starstruck 17 year old would be. Stick to your guns Damo! Don't let anyone thrust mediocrity on you.