Music .
September 1, 2010 - 19:55
An Interview & Review With the Amazing Leddra Chapman
Tags: Gylly Beach Cafe, Leddra Chapman, Wig & Pen, Zero Lounge
Area:
Falmouth This summer Cornwall played host to the insanely talented voice of Leddra Chapman. We witnessed two of her gigs in Cornwall, both at The Zero Lounge in Penzance and at the Gylly Beach Cafe in Falmouth. Two of Cornwall's premier venues for a singer with a premier voice.
Both events had the venues to capacity and if you were there you'd agree these are the once in a life time gigs you get to see of people of this quality, because as her career develops she'll be performing at venues across the globe to thousands of people at a time. If you missed her you really did miss out.
Our very own talented Joanna Lloyd took some time out after completing her MA in professional writing at University College Falmouth to find out what the future has in store for Leddra and how she ended up spending the summer in Cornwall.
The Interview
This is your last date on your mini Cornwall tour, I see you’ve had a cocktail named after you, so it must have been good! How have you found it?
[Laughter] yeah it’s been great, me and the boys have had a lot of fun. We’ve been to St Agnes, Penzance, Truro and of course Falmouth. At the moment the best gig so far has been The Wig and Pen, last night, it was a very nice atmosphere, I felt really at home on stage there; it was like playing gig in someone’s living room!
You’re ambassador for Quiksilver, how did this come about and what does it entail?
About two years ago I got a message on my Myspace from the Head of Marketing at Quiksilver. They were just about to launch a new, more sophisticated range, aimed at women between 18 and 30. They wanted to picked models to represent the brand, young, independent, creative women who were following their dreams [fellow singers, Charlotte O’Connor and Ellie Lawson are also Brand Ambassadors]. They wanted to help support us, by giving us exposure. We get free clothes and in return we wear them at gigs and promote the brand. They’re a really, really lovely company to be involved with, it’s a real privilege to be an Ambassador for them, they really look after me, it’s like one big happy family. They helped me design my album cover, and designed some bags that they sell as merchandise. They promote me in their stores. It’s great exposure and they’ve taken me to Switzerland, Belgium and France, Spain. Their help has been indispensable.
If you could duet with anyone, alive or dead who would it be and why?
Apart from Joni Mitchell?! I’d love to do a collaboration with someone whose music is completely different to mine, so I could do something rock out on stage! My music is very chilled out, so I’d like to work with a rock band or maybe someone like Jamie T would be amazing [Leddra actually covers one of his songs – Sheila].
You first started songwriting aged 12 – who and what inspired you to start?
I’ve always been a singer and loved singing. I get my singing voice from my dad, he’s always been in bands. I wanted to learn the guitar so I could accompany myself, the first song I learnt on the guitar was Macy Gray’s ‘I Try’, then I got bored of playing other people’s songs and I wanted to try my own ideas. I was having a bit of a hard time at school, I was only 14 or 15 and I was being bullied, as a lot of kids are at that age and I found song writing a really good way of chanelling that hurt and upset. Song writing really helped me release a lot of it. As I’ve got older I’ve started writing about love and relationships, my family and experiences.
You’re currently studying at the London College of Music, how do you manage to juggle your studies and your music career?
I was really worried about it at first. I left school at 16 as I really wanted to pursue music as a career and I was getting quite a lot of attention from the industry and I wanted to give it my all. After a couple of years, I was still developing, but I still had a long way to go with my song writing. I still didn’t have my sound and I didn’t know what sort of music I wanted to sing or what my style was. I really missed education so I applied to the London College of Music even though I had no A Levels, to be begin with they weren’t sure, I really, really begged them! I went to my audition and played them some of my songs and they accepted me! I’m now about to go into my third year. As I’m studying music they’re so supportive when I’ve got to go off on tour, my tutors will send me things that I miss. I recorded my debut album in my first year and I really learnt some valuable techniques in that time by being at the London College of Music, I really came into my own.
You’ve got a great following on Facebook and Twitter, keeping in contact with your fans is obviously important to you, how do you keep up?
I don’t know. I’m so lucky to be a position where my music is reaching a lot of people. People write to me to tell me what they think of the music. My fans mean the world to me, it’s so important to keep in touch. I know a lot of them on a first name basis, especially if they turn up to my gigs, I’m on Facebook everyday and if someone says I’m coming to your gig tonight I’ll know their name and face and I can introduce myself. I like being honest about things on my Facebook page, if I’ve had a bad day I want to talk about it, it just shows that I’m like everybody else!
I’ve been listening to your album today, it’s very uplifting and catchy you have been compared to Alanis Morrisette and Joni Mitchell, who do you think that you’re like, who are your influences?
I absolutely aspire to be like Joni Mitchell! I love her voice, I love her lyrics, melodies, literally everything – she’s amazing! Whenever I hear that quote about Alanis Morrisette and Joni Mitchell it’s a privilege to be mentioned in the same sentence.
The X Factor started again last night, what do think about this talent shows, searches for new pop stars?
I don’t really have a view on it. It is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine though. My family lifestyle is very important to me when I ‘m not working and my mum and my sister we love doing normal things. On a night in it’s so nice just to cosy up and watch it on TV with a glass of wine. But I don’t have any particular view. I don’t know if they’d like me on it, I don’t know if I’d get through!
You’ve just released your second single Summer Song and have been getting airtime on Radio 2, what’s next?
We’re doing a radio edit of the next single [this hadn’t been announced yet, so sadly Leddra couldn’t tell me what it was], which is really exciting as it’s quite different to the album version. I’ve got a week off and some writing sessions planned and then I’m going away with a really talented songwriter called Ed Sheeran. He’s a really good friend of mine and we’ve done quite a few gigs together. We’re going away to the South of France to stay in the Quiksilver house to do a load of writing and then we’ve got plans to go on tour with each other towards the end of the year. My album’s just come out in the Netherlands so I’ll be doing a little tour there and I’m hoping to go to the Quiksilver Pro France 2010, which is at the end of September. It’s all really exciting!
The Review, Gylly Beach Cafe, Falmouth 22/08/10
The rain thudded relentlessly down on Sunday night, but the appalling weather did nothing to stop fans packing out the Gylly Beach Cafe for the final date of Leddra Chapman’s mini tour of Cornwall, which saw her visit St Agnes, Truro and Penzance before finally coming to Falmouth. As well as being a talented, young (20) singer/songwriter, she is also about to start her third year at the London College of Music, as well as being a Brand Ambassador for Quiksilver so Cornwall was lucky to fit into her busy schedule.
Prior to Leddra coming on stage, we were treated to an unexpected 20 minute set (so unexpected that he didn’t know he was doing it either!) by Ryan Ashley Jones, a young singer/songwriter who is from Cornwall, and is, as yet unsigned. He has also played at Eden Daytime Sessions, so he’s definitely one to watch. People had come to see Leddra, but this was an unexpected bonus which the crowd appreciated.
By the time she came on stage at about 9.15pm it was standing room only. Leddra was accompanied by Lewis Newsom on the guitar and Kit Rice on violin, whilst Leddra herself played the acoustic guitar. Her summery music and pure voice, certainly made up for the weather outside. She started her set with her debut single ‘Story’, and then took us on a journey through the whole of her fabulous album ‘Telling Tales’, including ‘Picking Oranges’ and ‘Fooling Myself’ amongst others.
When she sang ‘A Little Easier’ every word was crystal clear, lots of the audience were singing along and it was not difficult to see why she has been compared to Joni Mitchell and Alanis Morrisette. She chatted to the audience throughout her performance, and had clearly enjoyed her time in Cornwall, engaging us with the stories behind the songs, ranging from lost love (‘Fooling Myself’) to the way an old boyfriend held a wine glass (unsurprisingly ‘Wine Glass’!). She also included a cover of Jamie T’s Sheila, which showed her diverse range of influences and gave a nice contrast.
She also treated us to two new songs, one of which ‘Fallen from Grace’, which included the brilliant line, ‘with a fish for a face’ and she finished with ‘Tongue Tied’, which by the end of it the entire audience was singing along to the chorus.
Gylly Beach Cafe is a lovely little venue and it was an intimate and atmospheric gig which was full of humour and there was sense of really getting to know the person behind the music. It is easy to see why she has such a devoted following: one group of people sitting next to us had travelled to Falmouth especially to see Leddra and had booked into an hotel for the night. Another man in the audience had been to every one of her Cornish gigs.
If the queue to buy CDs for Leddra to sign at the end of night was anything to go by, she had quite a few more fans after that gig. Count me in.
Interview & Review by Joanna Lloyd
Joanna Lloyd has just finished studying for an MA in Professional Writing at University College Falmouth. She is soon off to London to enhance her professional writing career and is currently writing her first novel. She hopes to make her mark on the writing world back in London, is available for freelance work and will miss Cornwall dreadfully!
Visit Leddra's official website
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