interview – Page 14 – TINSEL and TAP SHOES

An Interview with Musician Damien Leith

Damien Leith first came onto our radar taking out the title of Australian Idol back in 2006. It’s been almost a decade since – and this ARIA-winner sure has been busy recording a total of 7 studio albums and publishing 2 novels. This month saw Damien release his 8th studio album Songs From Ireland – which is just that.

Congrats on the new album, Songs From Ireland. Why did you decide to record this kind of album this time around?

I’ve been meaning to record an album like this for a very long time. A number of years ago I wrote a play called The Parting Glass for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and that show features a lot of these songs – seeing the reaction the music got was definitely the catalyst for recording this album.

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An Interview with musician Amber Lawrence

Firstly, congratulations on your Female Artist of the Year win at the Golden Guitars. Is it true what they say that it’s an honour just to be nominated or are winners truly grinners?

It’s both actually. It’s really an honour to be nominated but winning is pretty cool as well.

Also, congrats for your CMC Female Oz Artist of The Year win the other day!

Thank you very much! That was amazing!

Is winning a fan-voted award are better than winning industry award?

To be honest, I wouldn’t want to hand back either. The Golden Guitars has a lot of prestige and history associated with it [so] it’s an honour to be part of history. And then, of course, fan-voted is crazy-exciting because what the fans say, that’s what matters – that’s what keeps our career going. I am extremely excited that enough fans wanted me to win that award.

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Interview: Grand Illusionist Cosentino

Having been awarded the prestigious honour of being named Magician of the Year in 2013 by the International Magicians Society, New York (the International Merlin award) and with 4 prime-time specials under his belt having aired in over 40 countries; Australia’s favourite performer Cosentino returns with his new live show Twisted Reality – which promises to deliver his signature blend of street magic, grand illusion and death-defying escapes with dance and humour.

How does your upcoming show Twisted Reality differ in relation to your previous shows?

Well, it builds on the pillars that exist – my show is made up of street magic, grand illusion and death-defying escapes. However, it’s all new material. The illusions have obviously got to become more baffling, street magic gets more tricky, and the escapes, they become more death-defying. In essence it’s Cosentino, but it’s all new. Which is great!

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An Interview with Leo Sayer

Leo Sayer has a career that has spanned over four decades. He’s written for artists such as Roger Daltrey, Dolly Parton and Tina Turner, and had numerous classic hits such as the Grammy Award winning You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, When I Need You and More Than I Can Say. With the new tour and album Restless Years, I spoke to Leo about touring the country, competing with DJs and the importance of powerful songwriting.

Hi Leo. How’s touring going?

It’s all going really well. I’m on the Restless Years tour and this is Day 17 we’re here in Dubbo. I’m doing the New South Wales lot now then into Queensland and then finally Hobart.

This is your first solo tour in over four years; how does it feel to be back on the road?

It’s nice to do the continuity. Technically it’s really nice as well because we’ve got the same truck traveling all the way through with all of our gear everywhere we go – everywhere we go, we’ve got the same speakers, microphones, harmonicas, guitars and keyboards – so that makes it easier to perform and you can really sort of guarantee the quality of the show. It’s great and that’s very comfortable. But the trucks been everywhere! I mean, right across The Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain and then back again to do Western Australia.

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An Interview With Adam Brand

Adam Brand is one of Australia’s most loved and recognizable country music artists. The 12-time Golden Guitar winner is heading to Thredbo to headline the Snowy Mountains Country Music Festival this month.

What can people expect from your show at Snowy Mountains Country Music Festival?

It’s actually my very first time playing at Thredbo at the Snowy Mountains. I know they’ve had a lot of festivals down there before, you know [the] CMC festival?, but for some reason or another, I was always away or on tour or something when those festivals were happening. So I’m really excited about going there. My shows are always high energy. [When] we walk off the stage, there’s nothing left in the gas tank – put it that way. We’re going to give it our everything! My show is, obviously, I’ve got the new album out My Side Of The Street so there’s a few of those new songs in there but I definitely play songs ranging from my very first album, which came out in 98, and songs off every each album through the years. So what can they can expect is a pretty broad cross section of songs spanning my ten albums.

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An Interview With Morgan Evans

I firstly just wanted to congratulate you on your possible Logie nomination.
It’s pretty funny! I think it’s funny anyway. I think it’s awesome but it’s funny! It’s a huge deal. It’s something that’s never even crossed my mind. A friend of mine took a photo of the Sydney Morning Herald article when they announced it and texted it to me. I consider myself a musician and I do the TV stuff for the Country Music Channel obviously but I always considered it in a musical-way rather than a TV-way, I guess.

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Interview: Musician Craig Heath

Frontman of rock-group Velvet City, Craig Heath is set to release his first solo single off his recently launched own label, Global Records. His first single All Because Of You featuring Rick Springfield, was co-written with Keith Urban and Monty Powell is out this March.

On His Solo Music: “I don’t think it’s country. It has the full banjo and the twang with a crossover with a bit of pop in it. A lot of the records done these days in Nashville are rock and pop so I think it’s country/pop with rock elements in it.”

On Working With Rick Springfield: “[It was] very enjoyable. He’s been through his ups and downs so it was just a really great, nice experience. He’s just a really nice down to Earth guy. When cutting the song, I just sounded like it deserved to be a duo. We sent it to Rick and he loved it. He put his voice on there and it just sounded great together. Rick’s voice suited my voice quite well and I think it’s turned out really well.”

On His Solo Ambitions: “I’ve always gravitated towards that kind of writing – you know, from the heart. Nashville, their motto is ‘three cords and the truth’ and if you can make a song stand up by just sitting there playing it on an acoustic guitar then you know its good without adding all the bits and the production and trying a bunch of stuff to make it sound like a good song.”

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Interview with Hayden Tee

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Hayden Tee is currently starring as Javert in the Australian production of Les Misérables. I spoke to Hayden about his take on Javert, what he likes most about the production and what his future plans are once Les Misérables comes to a close.

You’ve been involved in a lot of musicals from South Pacific to My Fair Lady and Jekyll & Hyde. Is there one or a few personal favourites or career highlights for you so far?

I love what I do and am generally very happy in any show as long as I am working. Personal highlights are definitely Les Misérables – which is a big part of why I have returned. I also loved doing Cats – there is so much room for improv that it never ever got boring.

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