TASMANIAN TIMES - Milltown Maestro
Nov 20, 2013 10:22:10 GMT 10
Post by thebraff (Braffy) on Nov 20, 2013 10:22:10 GMT 10
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Milltown Maestro!
Paula Xiberras
20.11.13 3:43 am
Damien Leith says sometimes his audience has him stumped with their requests. Yes, he’s often asked to perform favourites like his Bob Dylan’s ‘Times they are a Changin’ and Chris Issak’s ‘Wicked Game’, from ‘Catch the wind’, and ‘The Winner’s Journey’ respectively,the predicted ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘22 Steps’ but on this recent tour he’s be jolted a bit by being asked to perform Billy Ray Cyrus and Gene Pitney. Gene Pitney in fact, has been requested more than once! It’s testament to Damien’s eclectic musical ability that he is garnered with such requests. Damien grew up in County Kildare in a place called Milltown and there is an irony there, Damien is industrious in being both songwriter, performer, producer of his music, author Chemist and as he describes himself to me when we chat ‘Entertainer’.
Tasmanian audiences will have their chance to stump Damien this Friday and Saturday when he performs in Launceston and Hobart.
Damien says he’s eager to see what requests the Tassie audiences throw at him and tells me that there will be no set list. He will showcase songs from his new album, his seventh, appropriately called ‘Chapter Seven’ ( a name drawing on both his song-writing and novelist background) but he is also happy to revisit favourites from his past albums.
Damien has a soft spot for Tasmania. He can’t exactly pinpoint it but suspects it’s something about the countryside which reminds him of Ireland and of course he tells me the main reason he loves performing in Tasmania so much is the audiences here are always fantastic, ‘big shows’ or ‘small shows’, he always gets a great reaction.
When he’s here for tours its a case of fly in and fly out but Damien enjoys spending time in Tassie with his family including checking out the markets. Of course one thing he always enjoys is the scenic drive from Launceston to Hobart.
Damien’s total commitment to his new album ‘Chapter Seven’ will be a new challenge, as on this album Damien has much more control, in all facets of production including instrumentally and all original songs leading to less comprises on this album.
In a revisit to his Roy Orbison tribute album, Damien has collaborated on two songs with Joe Melson ‘an incredible writer’ who wrote Orbison’s classics like ‘Crying’. Damien believes this collaboration ‘from Sydney to Nashville’ via skype helped hone his skills and spark ideas.
I ask Damien about Morris Gleitzman’s idea of the ‘magic spaces’, the place where writer and reader meet. Damien also believes the same applies to songs and is often approached by fans who tell him what his songs mean to them. Damien wants to give audiences what they love and believes when he does this, something magical happens.
Damien’s own foray into writing books has been sidelined for the moment, while he has been giving 100 percent attention to creating and promoting ‘Chapter Seven’ but he lets me in to a little secret project with which he has been satisfying his story telling skills in another way to music and novels.
Damien tells me that his son Jager is just starting to learn to read and not that enthused about the process, so Damien has taken it upon himself to read a bedtime story ‘a 21 story epic’ in fact, every night to his kids. He’s created a magical world that moves between present and past dimensions and Damien tells me that by Christmas he aims to complete the story and then he’ll see where he takes it, perhaps to the book shelves!
You can see Damien on his ‘Without a fight’ tour at Launceston Country Club on Friday 22nd November and Hobart’s Wrest Point Casino on Saturday 23rd November.
‘Chapter Seven’ is out now.
aka @just_Leithal on Twitter 
