Q & A with Damien Leith

2006 Australian Idol winner Damien Leith is back with his brand new album, Remember June, a CD already has the industry buzzing. I caught up with Damien today to chat about the album which he calls “a labour of love,” his new novel, and why he’s itching to get on the road.

I heard you say that creating Remember June is the proudest you’ve been since winning Idol. What is it about this album that’s really excited you?
I think really the biggest thing about this album is that right from the onset, I had a concept that I wanted to work off, and everything I did towards making the album, towards writing it, stuck entirely to that concept all the way through. So the whole album hasn’t been swayed either way by thinking “I might need this sort of song” or “I might need that sort of song.” It’s just an album which I personally really wanted to make. Thanks to Sony I got to do that. It’s kind of a labour of love in a way, this album.

Your new single “To Get To You” has a bit of a pop-rock feel, which is something we haven’t really heard from you before. Is that indicative of the other songs we’ll hear on Remember June?
It is. You know, the album’s got a story from start to end. It’s got an intro and it’s got an outro. And to have a story, it’s definitely allowed us to have more up-tempo stuff on the album. But at the same time, I’ve still got some slower songs. But I think overall the sound of the album is big; it’s a big epic or anthemy sort of sound throughout the entire album. So even if it’s a slow song, it’s a big slow song.

So it [“To Get You To”] gives you a taste of the album, but there are some really intimate songs on there which I think are even stronger. They’re probably the stronger songs.

It was produced by Stuart Crichton, who’s worked with the Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, and so many other big names. What was he like to work with?
He was fantastic. There’s a couple of co-writes with him as well. We did the song “Forgive, Forget” with him and a mate of his, Blair [McKichan] from the UK. He’s not only an amazing producer but he’s an incredible writer as well.

We’ve become really good friends as a result of it as well. We’ve continued to write more and more songs together. He’s just a genius. I can’t get over how quickly he works. He makes a decision and he goes for it. There’s no second-guessing. He just goes for it. I was in awe of the way he works.

It’s been three years since you won Australian Idol. How do you feel about that experience looking back?
To be perfectly honest, for one thing it seems like a long, long time away. The last few years have been so busy with so many different things going on that it seems like a long, long time ago. But I have to say I have no regrets about my time on Idol. Without it I wouldn’t be talking to you today. I would never have broken through.

I think at that stage I was at a turning point in my life where I had to decide: family commitments and work and all the rest, or am I going to give this one more shot. I’d been chasing it for years and years and years, it had been all the usual stuff of demos and gigging here, there, and everywhere for years and years.

It’s not 100% profit-driving, and it does have a negativity associated with it as well, but overall I’m grateful for having been involved.

You mentioned that negativity. A lot of people in the music industry and the media tend to pan Idol and the contestants who forge careers after appearing on the program. How do you respond to those critics?
I think it’s easy to knock people without giving them a listen. It’s weird because a lot of times I read different articles about different things, and I have to say there is a lot of really good support. The negativity, it’s a real minority out there. Maybe they speak a little louder than everybody else. A lot of time when I read the articles and see different things, it’s normally people who haven’t really done their research too well on whoever they’re talking about. You often read things where the facts aren’t right.

I’ve got to say, having spent time with other Idols, people who’ve competed on the show, they’ve done the hard yards. A lot of them have to varying degrees. Some people are quite young and they’re giving it a shot, and I say “Why not?” When I was 16 or 17, I would have loved that opportunity. But there are the people who are much older who’ve been doing it for years. They’ve done the same things as everybody else and they’re probably still in bands at the moment, they’re doing it as tough as anybody else. So I just want to say, give them a break.

The other thing I was thinking is that the music scene in general is struggling right now. I think it’s really important that the whole scene gets behind each other as much as possible. Otherwise it just gives more energy and strength behind the international acts that are coming in instead of our local acts. So I think it’s really important that everybody in the scene fights together for local music, no matter where it comes from. We’re getting wiped out by the international stuff.

It’s one of the few places where you can see live music on TV every week, isn’t it?
Yeah, you know, it’d just be great to keep pushing for local music, whether it’s on Idol or the band down the road that have been playing for years. Everybody’s got their place, and the main thing is that it’s good to see Aussie music doing well from one area or another.

How did appearing on the show prepare you for a career in music?
My story’s a little bit different. I did get signed many years prior to being on Idol in New York with my family band. It was a long, long time ago; we were very young at the time. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. It was a real baptism of fire, because we were thrown in the deep end and it just didn’t work out. But I think I learned a lot from that, from the things that happened to us there.

That said, going on Idol was such a different world as well, from what I had been doing. I had to learn so very fast about so many different things. Probably the biggest was being in the public eye so much. The thing about Idol is you’re instantly recognisable before you’re known for your singing; in a way you’re sort of known for your appearance, your personality before your singing and then gradually people get to know you as a singer, you as an artist. So your public persona is very important; you’ve got to learn that really, really fast, what you say and what you do and how you present yourself and all that sort of stuff. It is really, really important. It’s a learning curve.

I heard that despite massive sales of your first album and single, the contract’s fine print meant that you didn’t see a cent. How hard was it to continue to pursue music under those conditions, especially with a young family?
It was an unfortunate circumstance of that particular year. There was a couple of things that just didn’t fall into plan. I’ve got to say, things did pan out then afterwards. As 2007 came along, things improved. We went out touring, we just worked really, really hard, the same as everyone else does, you know? You just get on with it. Unfortunately, when that all came out recently, probably the important thing is that it’s something we put away a long, long time ago. It was just a conversation I was having about the album more than anything else, and it happened to come up. But you know, it was an important thing.

It certainly wasn’t pleasant at the time, and it makes you wary of things that you do, but moving on from there we’re very happy with where we’re at right now. We’ve worked hard, the fan base has been very strong. It was a little difficult to begin with, but we’ve got beyond that and certainly with this new album, it’s many years later, but from a creative point of view this is where I’ve always wanted to be. So I may not have done it 100% back then, but three years later the album’s done and it’s exactly what I’ve always wanted. So I think I can’t really complain with that. Everybody that does music wants to make that ultimate album and, for me, I think I’ve done that. People have got to listen to it and see whether they like it as well, but I love it and I think we’ve got to that point in the end.

You’re playing shows in Melbourne and New South Wales in the coming months. Will the rest of Australia get to see you live soon?
Absolutely, yeah. We’re planning a national tour February. To be honest we would have done one this year as well, but things got pushed back and unfortunately our timeframes changed quite a lot with the album, just because a lot of extra things came our way that we had to deal with. So it left us a little bit too late to be booking the tour. It was only for that, we would have gone out and done a national tour in the lead-up to December, but it’ll have to be February.

Well at least your fans know that there’s something on the way!
Oh definitely. Last year we did 70 shows, all around the country. We got to a lot of places. We definitely didn’t get everywhere, but it was fantastic. We got to lots of regional spots, and next year no matter what comes along I’m going to try to push that even further and get out as far-reaching as possible. I have to say the regional gigs especially were incredible. I really enjoyed them last year.

What do you love most about being on stage?
I love the vibe that you get off the audience. I’m very much an audience-driven performer. If the audience is really getting into the show and really vibing off it, then I get a real thrill out of it as well.

And I love the energy between the band as well. It’s great this year, we’re back with a full band. Last year I was with a three-piece. And it’s just great, the bit of fun you have with a band as well.

Nothing compares to playing live. It’s something I’ve been doing for so long that you miss it when you’re not doing it, you know?

I believe you’ve just finished writing your second novel. What can you tell me about it?
There’s definitely a link between the album and the book. I wrote the book at the same time, and it’s kind of where the concept of the album came from, it’s kind of following aspects of the book. Basically the book’s about a father and son, a nine-year-old son, coming together after six-months of being apart. It’s set in Ireland. And basically, the reader discovers these two characters and tries to find out what it is that led them to this point in their life, why have they been apart for such a long time. And it basically goes through memories and also the present day, following the journey of the father and his brother travelling down from Belfast. Escaping the troubles, and how they both got involved with the same lady, and all this sort of stuff, there’s alcoholism, and a bit of romance through it, Irish themes that people would relate to when they read it.

It’s quiet a sad novel actually. There’s quite a bit of romance and things like that, but overall it’s got a sadness. It’s kind of got an Angela’s Ashes vibe about it. It’s the best thing that I’ve written to date, without a doubt. It’s a major improvement for me.

With the flourishing musical and writing careers, do you ever miss your former life as a chemist?
You know, the only thing I probably miss from being a chemist is the reliability. With the music, as anyone who’s doing music knows, when you’re a full-time muso you don’t know what’s around the corner. So you’ve always really got to be planning that your money lasts a certain amount of time, you’ve got to plan the next set of gigs so that you can keep on moving. So I think that’s the main thing I miss. At least being a chemist, it was nine to five. It had a timeframe. That said, I wouldn’t change it in a million years. This is where I’ve always wanted to be, and I love it. I just think it’s fantastic.

Remember June hits stores on October 9th.

Image used with permission from Sony Music Australia