Imogen Heap interview

From Acacia to Frou Frou, work with Bon Jovi and Jeff Beck, and of course her own solo career, it’s fair to say Imogen Heap is something of a veteran when it comes to this music business malarkey. A career littered with chart topping albums, Grammy nominations, and film and television scores, the release of her latest single, First Train Home, might be more of a milestone for her burgeoning directorial career (she directed the single’s accompanying video) than a musical one, but it begs a question of longevity in an increasingly commercially cut throat industry. “I’ve managed to keep going because I believe my songs stand the test of time.” The 31 year old singer from London, seems at war with herself, whilst with an exuberant confidence there seems an underlying tone of nervousness, a lady that continuously questions herself and always tries to reach targets that some would question were too high for her. That being said her latest single provides glimmers of encouragement, befitting modern day standards.

Heap has a dedicated fan base, one that had to wait for over two years for her latest album Elipse, “It was horrible, messages kept flooding in, when’s the album coming? How far have you got with it? All I could do was regularly give updates on my Twitter; people were growing impatient, then on day of release, the positive responses I received kept me up all night long, it truly was the highlight of my career.” Elipse is enchanting, fresh and vibrant and Imogen Heap has struck gold with her latest instalment. With the furore of illegal downloads around and having opinions spouted seemingly all the time by Lilly Allen, Imogen has a slightly different view “ I understand the concerns of some artists, but I think if my music wasn’t downloaded, I wouldn’t be here today, at the end of the day, word of mouth is the key to filling venues.” When mentioning gigs, the Grammy nominated singer/songwriter oozes excitement and whether it’s her first performance or her last, the same adrenalin and enjoyment remains.

In, 'First train home', Imogen appears to reach out for a much wider audience, whereas in previous album, ‘Speak for Yourself’, each and every song was directed at her safety net fan base.
“To be honest, I continuously question each and every song I release, for example, the song ‘Hide and Seek’ was a self indulgent attempt, one of which I really had to work hard at. For ‘The Walk’, which for me sums up my outlook and approach to releasing material, I had five different sections in the song, there was management and critics saying ‘cut this down’, and I milled over it for ages before thinking screw it, lets keep them all.”

Heap states that her song lyrics come from personal experience, but are encoded rather than being directly confessional.
“With my latest single, it goes way back to when things were all going wrong. Eight months ago we all sat down in a half-built studio, it was a really bad atmosphere; I needed to get out. I remember getting a call from my friends and we decided to go and party, more than a few drinks later, I was dancing, or should I say trying to boogie like my idol MJ. After the odd moonwalk or two I decided it was time to go home, then the whole depressing day started flooding back to me in my drunken state and I started to have a panic attack. I just wanted to get home, I rang up National Railway enquiries and pleaded with them to tell me the time of the first train home. As soon as the call finished I began writing and now here I am chatting about it”.



Words by: Sean Downs

Review:- Noush Skaugen

Forgive me for being ironic but when told this female singer songwriter was a quirkier version of Alanis Morissette, I felt excitement similar to a churchgoer being given backstage passes to a Marilyn Manson gig. With a last minute change of venue, the beautiful siren from Surrey seemed a little dishevelled, but from the opening chords of her seven-song-set, all previous qualms were soon settled and the reasons behind her million-strong Twitter following quickly became apparent.

Skaugen has achieved a lot of success stateside and is about to embark on a tour down under, so performing first on the bill at a fifty-person venue should seem like a proverbial slap in the face - not that you could tell by her performance. Her enjoyment was there for all to see and the intimate confines of the setting became an irrelevance. With emotionally charged lyrics, which felt enchantingly improvised, it should only be a matter of time before she’s making waves on our shores. However, with her mix of fast-paced tracks and melodic ballads delicately balanced, the contrast of her set, at times, screamed for resolution.

Leaving the venue satisfied not to have seen another Natalie Imbruglia wannabe, I felt torn as to whether she’d be better sticking to her easygoing commercial sound.

SEAN DOWNS

Darts: A sport in progression

Ten years ago in the corner of smoky working men’s clubs around the country stood a bunch of inebriated men standing at the oche in front of worn and torn dartboards; this was the state of what many considered a joke sport. Fast-forward a decade and things have changed dramatically.

The O2 arena has recently displayed the vocal delights of Prince, the raunchiness of Lady Gaga and the showmanship of Jon Bon Jovi, yet three weeks ago the dome played host to six men and ten thousand of their adoring fans, darts appears to have finally made it to the big time.

A catalyst in the ever-growing popularity of the game is Barry Hearn, embarking his sports promoting career in the mid seventies, Barry became a world-renowned boxing promoter representing acts such as Chris Eubank, Naseem Hamed and former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Currently the chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), Hearn has created a similar atmosphere to that of boxing with the players’ exuberant walk-ons and the ubiquitous glamour girl on the arm. An ever-constant stumbling block in the game has been the struggle to unify both the PDC and the original council BDO (British Darts Organisation). Despite the efforts of Hearn, an agreement has never been reached, which has left the sport in some disarray and with players jumping ship constantly, the game has lacked the stability that it deserves. With the PDC having the most lucrative financial appeal it has become the organisation where the sports top players want to ply their trade, including a one Phil Taylor.

Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, heralding from Stoke-on-Trent, is what Michael Schumacher is to motor racing, with fifteen world titles to hand he is one of England’s most successful sporting stars. With all his success, Taylor has never been in serious running to win the sports personality of the year award, which maybe the reason why darts has not quite reached its pinnacle. One contributing factor to darts not achieving its full potential might be lack of global interest, with Holland being the only other nation to embrace the sport.

As the snooker world championships begin next month, Barry Hearn has been asked to freshen up a game which some say is losing its character, traditionalists might not agree. The O2 arena waves goodbye to the darts for a year and says hello to Dizzee Rascal. The working men’s club may be no more but the sport of darts is viewed no longer as a joke.

Sean Downs