"The Journey's Next Stage" The Mercury 30/3/07
Apr 11, 2007 8:43:51 GMT 10
Post by dededom on Apr 11, 2007 8:43:51 GMT 10
The journey's next stage
Damien Leith's second album is building on his Idol image, KANE YOUNG
attitude.themercury.news.com.au/editions/2007/13/pulse.html
You mightn't pick it, but reigning Australian Idol Damien Leith was once a long-haired member of an Irish death metal band, screaming his way through Pantera and Ministry covers.
But fans can rest assured that his forthcoming second album will highlight his beautiful falsetto singing, not his death-metal growl.
''To tell you the truth, I think those days are long gone,'' Leith said with a laugh.
''Once I cut my hair, it was like Samson - it just went away.
''I was mad into it back in the day. I had the whole look, hair down to my elbows. I suppose it was one of those phases everyone was going through at the time.
''I was in a school musical just beforehand and these lads said 'C'mon, let's set up a band'.
''[Metal] was what everyone was listening to at the time, so I thought, 'All right, let's do that'.
''It was just ridiculous; I used to get headaches. I was screaming my guts out at top volume, but it only lasted about eight months and after that I never went back.''
Now the multi-talented Leith, a qualified chemist whose first novel will be published in October, is glad he abandoned the throat-punishing metal.
He is presently auditioning songs for his eagerly awaited second album, successor to his chart-topping debut The Winner's Journey.
He hopes the first single from it will be released in the first week of May, followed by the asyet- untitled album a month later.
''It's sounding really, really good,'' he said.
''It's been quite a long process, I suppose, compared to [making The Winner's Journey] last year.
''We've gone through every single song, dissected it to oblivion, to find out which ones are really working and which ones aren't. We're down to about 20 and I think they're all great, so the hardest thing is going to be working out which ones aren't going to make the cut.
''There's kind of a recurring theme and it's a very personal album. All but one of the songs come from me, so it's certainly got that personal element to it.
''I don't want to say too much yet but I'm pretty excited about it. So far it's everything I hoped it would be. It'll be interesting when I go in to record it to see if it continues that way.''
Leith admits to going through a period where he worried whether his original songs would match up to the songs he performed for Idol.
''All the feedback we're getting from producers and so forth [is that] they all feel the songs are really, really strong, so I suppose that has taken away any doubt,'' he said.
''I think they're strong songs in their own right and people will like them, hopefully, the same way they would if it was a cover.
''The scary thing is, having come from Idol, people know you for singing well-known songs. I definitely went through a patch where I worried, 'Gee, is this the right thing to be doing?'
''But now we're at this last stage, I really like the stuff, and for me, after all the years trying to do original stuff, it's something I've always hoped for.''
Something else Leith had long hoped for was to become an Australian citizen - a goal he achieved last Australia Day.
''After Australian Idol everyone was asking us, 'What are you going to do? When are you going to do it?' But it was always important to us because it was part of the original plan of coming to Australia,'' he said.
''[Wife] Eileen and I chatted in Ireland about six years ago and said 'What are we going to do?', because we were always down - either Eileen was missing Australia or I was missing Ireland. So we made a big plan and said 'What's the best thing for us?', never mind our families and all the rest.
''Australia is where we chose, and I'm proud that my plan was to become a citizen and go all the way. I made my first vote [in the recent NSW state election] as well just the other day, so I suppose I'm official now.
''It's been fantastic. Australian Idol was an added reason, but it was always going to happen anyway.''
I've got albums with 11 songs, that doesn't even feel like an album. I say put all 20 on 