Here's an interview that I did with Leonie a couple of years ago. She was really funny and interesting.
Breakbeat Era. Blah blah blah the ashes of Roni Size and New Forms. DJ Die and, for the sake of this interview specifically, lead vocalist and frontwoman Leonie Laws. A charming lass meeting with us shortly before Breakbeat Era's set at Coachella '99, a two-day outdoor festival in Southern California.
Soundproof: What are your thoughts on transferring Breakbeat
Era from the studio to a live group-- How’s the tour been
going?
Leonie: We’ve played just about everywhere. We’ve played
from Japan through Europe and England and America. We’ve
had a really good reception everywhere we were. You were at
Los Angeles last night yeah?
Soundproof: Yeah.
Leonie: That’s typical of how we’ve been received all over the
place. We’ve had some really good gigs with Roni and Die. It’s
going amazingly. Basically, we’re on the up. We’ve done some
television in England. We did Jools Holland’s Later, which is
one of the best music programs on the BBC. It was wicked
yeah. So we’re getting good acclaim. We did a Radio 1 session
in England as well. Yeah, its all going pretty damn well. Well
the music’s so great isn’t it?
Soundproof: When you were working out the transition from
the studio to the live show, what was that transition like. Did it
come smoothly?
Leonie: Well from the beginning when we signed our contract, I
knew that Roni and Die were’nt going to be on stage with us.
There was a lot of talk about various different ways that I could
have done it by myself, but I wasn’t happy with that. I’ve known
Toby, the drummer that we have for us now, for over eleven
years. I’ve worked with him before. The first beats he ever
played were breakbeats. I knew that he was a breakbeat man.
He could play everything with his hands tied behind his
back…which indeed he does. So he was my start off. Basically
I said to Roni that I didn’t want to sing to a DAT. I didn’t want
any sequencers, because we can do it for ourselves. We’re all
good enough musicians. I know enough. So he let me run with
it, basically. Finding musicians is no difficulty at all. Liam, I’ve
also know for years. I’ve made music with him and he’s got a
fine pedigree. He’s made music with Derrick May.
Soundproof: He’s playing right now.
Leonie: He is? Aw shit! I wish I could be doing that. Derrick
May and Juan Atkins and all that lot, yeah! So we’ve got him
on the samples. We’ve got Joe on the bass. Obviously there
were natural tweakings that went on because we weren’t using
a traditional drum sound on stage. To get around
that…because we don’t have a lot of money either… you know
we can’t afford V-Drums. So we got a few de-bugs on the
drum…so as he hits his drum he’s triggering off samples. He’s
got a couple of little loops…you know…boom-cha,
boom-cha…on a couple of little bass pedals. So basically,
Toby is an island entirely unto himself. He can do whatever he
likes. Because the things is, I never wanted to limit our ability to
jam, which we do. As musicians, you can get very bored
playing things over and over again. I wanted the danger
aspect where we were really playing the music, like somebody
on a high wire. I mean really, it defies gravity. It gets easier and
easier as we do it. So apart from the purely technical things,
we were getting our heads around how to translate the things
that you hear on the stage, the things that you hear. That
wasn’t really that difficult. No, it was fantastic. The first gig we
ever did was in a place called Bath in a tiny little club. We didn’t
play Bristol until last week. We played this tiny club. We got the
essence of it even then. We did ten days of rehearsals. That’s
all the time that we had was ten days. We had the essence of
it down. Since then it’s just been going on and on and on. I felt
very passionately about the live thing. I still do and I know I
was right. I know I’m right. People come up and say, "Where’s
your sequencer?" And we go,"Who?" And they go, "Where’s
your DAT?" Looking at me like "What?" It makes me very
proud, because we are truly live. Also, it allows for anarchy. In
my old days I used to be really into Frank Zappa and used to
love it. I mean, like or hate his music; when you hear the way
his band used to play, it blows you away. That’s the kind of
thing. Ultimately in the end, I like the ways that DJs can jump
from one sort of theme to another. We’ve got themes
throughout our album. And to get the crowd revved up…I
mean you can’t do that if your constrained with sequencers
and DATs. We’re not. If we have a mind to, we can do
anything we like. Ha ha ha ha!
Soundproof: Speaking of Frank Zappa. If you had a third child
what would you name yours?
Leonie: I don’t think I’d have a third one. I don’t know. That’s really funny, because…Finnbar!
Soundproof: Finnbar? Why?
Leonie: I like the name Finn.
Soundproof: And why the Bar?
Leonie: I’m English and you’ve got to give somebody their full title. I could have said Finn, but that’s sort of like, Californian.
I’m only kidding! Well let’s face it. Zappa came from L.A., didn’t
he? I didn’t know. I was going, "Where’s the Valley?" What did
he say? "I don’t want to be free. I just want to be cheap."
Soundproof: Do you think you’ll be continuing along the same
vein as what you’re doing now and working with the same
people?
Leonie: (Burps) Do beg my pardon. Who let that goat in?
Yeah, with the next album, definitely. Roni and Die and I are
going to work again. We’re going to have more resources.
We’ve got the band for instance. Now, we actually have no
idea, just like we had no idea when we went into the studio
with Ultra Obscene. This really is experimental music. We’re
doing what we feel to do really. All I know is I’ve got high
hopes. You just watch this space really. I mean, who knows
what the new Reprazent album is going to sound like? Who
knows what Krust’s album is going to sound like, or Die’s?
Soundproof: Who are some of the vocal oriented bands that
you’re interested in seeing here at Coachella?
Leonie: Wow like Beck. Beck’s the dog’s bollocks as far as I’m
concerned. Beck’s written some really lovely music. Morrissey
as well, is the author of my world number one favorite track of
all time. It’s called, When is now? Do you know it?
Soundproof: How soon is now. Yeah they use it in car
commercials all the time now.
Leonie: Is it? Oh what a shame. Here you go. If it was down to
me…oh shit. I love that song. I love that, the way it goes…not
as much the words, but that "dun duh dun dun duh" thing.
There is no power in a Nissan! But yeah, Beck definitely. Are
there many other vocal groups? There’s quite a lot of DJs isn’t
there? We’ll go and see Beck. I mean if I get a chance, I’ll
have float around and see everything. At festivals like this,
you’ll get caught up. You’ll get to listen to music that normally
you wouldn’t listen to in a million years. But you get caught up
in the middle of a crowd and some things can be really nice.
Like, "Bloody hell! I never knew I liked country and western. I
better not drink anymore cider." But you know, that’s
happened to me at a lot of festivals. That’s why I like it. Get
everyone together and you can find things. I’m a bit eclectic,
basically. I like all kinds of things really.
Soundproof: Are there surprising reactions that you get when
you play festivals like this from people who might not normally
listen to the type of music that you play?
Leonie: No. In Bristol we sort of delineate things to a dance
tent and a jazz stage usually. It’s separate. The only surprise
that the pure drum & bass and DJ fans have had is that in the
middle of the DJ sets on the dance stage, out comes a live
band. We’re the only live band in the dance tents as far as we
know. So that would have been the only surprise. We’ve had
fantastic reactions. At Reading and Glastonbury it was
amazing. Reading was just phenomenal…people screaming. I
felt like a proper pop star. It was incredible. They all knew the
words and shit. It was like, "Fuuuck!" Millions of them! Millions
and millions and millions of them. Well, thousands.
Soundproof: Let’s not exaggerate.
Leonie: Why not? I played to a herd of wildebeasts stretching majestically to the skyline. Get serious for God’s sake!
-Derek McNeill
http://www.dublab.com
-----Original Message-----
From: wesley wesleyhongkong@earthlink.net
Sent: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 00:29:09 -0700
To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu, p5ml@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Leonie Laws
Could someone tell me info on Leonie Laws (of Breakbeat Era)? She's
gigged as a jazz singer in Kyoto and London prior to BE, so does she
have solo albums or work with other groups? thanks
-- wesleytokyo|konnect is | Sound Lounge http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TK
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