SBL Europe: Dear Lea, it is a pleasure to be interviewing you today. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer these questions.
Lea Roy Haworth: It’s a pleasure to be asked to answer these questions! Hopefully the answers won’t bore people.

SBL EU: I say, we’ll start from the beginning. What is the first song/kind of music you remember?
L. R. H.: I had two favourite songs when I was younger, I had no idea who was singing them and now I have no idea where I heard them. Anyway, they turned about to be Earth Song by Michael Jackson and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I was destined to enjoy karaoke nights from a young age.

SBL EU: How did you become interested in music? Any particular song that stayed in your mind and compelled you to play yourself? Any influence from someone in particular?
L. R. H.: Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the first song I went out and got the tabs for, I just had to know how to play it. Each song has a different mindset when you’re playing it in my experience, every song has its own feel, and learning how to play Under the Bridge gave me this whole new connection to the song and to how I hear music in general. John Frusciante has been one of the biggest influences for me, anything I learned about guitar is what I picked up from copying him play. Spencer Bell gave me a whole new perspective on music, his songs redefined how I wrote my songs.

SBL EU: How long have you been playing the guitar?
L. R. H.: I had a few classes when I was around 10 years old, enough to pick up three chords and your basic strumming pattern, but then didn’t do much with it until discovering good music at the age of 14. So almost 14 years in all.

SBL EU: Apart from the guitar, do you play any other instruments? Maybe some strange ones?
L. R. H.: I have a couple of thumb pianos that I got for Christmas, they look like a cross between a guitar, xylophone and a coconut, I had no idea what they were. Aside from those, I play the ukulele, and a limited amount of stuff on the piano…I really want a banjo, though. And an accordion! I think accordions sound great, everything you play on them sounds French.

SBL EU: When did you start composing your own songs and how did you come to do so?
L. R. H.: I’ve never been very good at writing my own songs from scratch. The first memory I have of composing anything was adding a couple of phrases to Chopsticks on the piano, all very simple, but there you go. A beginning. The first composition I ever recorded was Romeo’s Bleeding – which in fact was a re-write of a song that I did with an old band in high school…so technically that could be considered a cover! The first completely original song would have been Carrion (from my CD, available at no good retail stores – but email me and we can sort something out) which I wrote after coming back from the first Legacy show I went to in 2009. Around that time, I used to walk a beautifully secluded way to work which ran inbetween a river and overgrown fields, so every morning I would have have this half hour of scenic contemplation before the path joined up with a main road, and dirty mechanical civilization. I was feeling displaced after coming back to England, unable to sink into that numbing routine needed in order to get through another working day. The feeling of despair, of being forced to put one foot in front of the other just to hold on to a job that meant nothing to me or anyone, to earn money for rent, for food, all the stupid things that we must have to survive, just suddenly became so overwhelming that I didn’t know what to do. I wrote down what I was feeling, went to work, came home, slung on the guitar and went through some minor chords, and that’s how Carrion was created.

SBL EU: A dreaded question for artists but one that has to be asked. What are your main influences and how would you describe your own compositions?
L. R. H.: I would say my guitar chords are stolen from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the progressions and narrative structure lifted from Spencer Bell, and the lyrics are an amalgamation of anything that I’ve liked from anyone I’ve ever heard. I do drop my guitar every so often when recording, you can hear that on some songs and that’s all me.
I get influenced by anything that I hear. If I think it’s terrible, I probably will try to avoid sounding like that. If it’s good, I will…probably cover it at some point, it seems. I love Man Man, I’d love to write something nearly as good as Rabbit Habits.

SBL EU: Not only are you a talented songwriter, but you are also very good at drawing. Your songs are very original, for example Sasquatch, The Jackals, or one of my favourites that used to be on your myspace, Romeo’s Bleeding. The same can be said for your drawings. I personally love the doll (with the button eyes and one of them is falling a bit NDLR:in here) and your cute “Pen Head”, NDLR: in here. Where do you find your inspiration for as you say “Artsy Stuff”?

L. R. H.: Well, thank you! I’ve given up on the idea of originality. At least what I originally thought it to be. Apparently the human brain can’t visualise a completely new face, so any you may see in your dreams is either some kind of hybrid of all the people you’ve ever met, or someone you passed on the street twenty years ago. I kind of think of art, music, writing, any kind of output really as the same thing – anything you write, draw, or sing is pieced together in your mind from anything you’ve ever encountered. That’s not to say that everything we do is a copycat version of something else, just that we work with what we know. Picture a colour you’ve never seen. Incidentally, the Pen Head is a doodle on the phrase coined by Spencer Bell whilst musing on the addictive nature of writing.

SBL EU: All your covers always have a great success. I personally prefer your version of Smoke from the original 100 Monkeys song. (Don’t tell them…*wink*) I know that Bill Bell is very fond of your covers of Spencer Bell’s songs. This is probably because you really make each song yours. How does this process work? What I mean is how do you adapt the song and avoid being trapped in the influence of the original version?
L. R. H.: The secret is to be not very good at guitar. The musicians that I cover are far more talented than I am, so when I play a version of their song you are often listening to something that is just a very simplifed version of the original. Most covers I do start off pretty sparse, it’s only when I start recording and adding in bits like harmonies and other guitar parts that my musical inclinations get indulged. Bill Bell has always been much kinder to me and the Spencer covers I do (as well as my original stuff) than I would ever have the right to expect, and he’s one of my seven favourite people in the world. In all honesty I cover the songs that I love, and there are still so many of Spencer’s that I have these ideas for and I’m excited to be able to try them out – I’m thinking orchestral versions of Kumbayah, bluegrass Bistro…there’s so much I still want to do.

SBL EU: An out of the blue question. You have at least one wonderfully artistic tattoo, on your shoulder/arm. I particularly like the colours of it. Would you tell us more about it if it is not too personal?
L. R. H.: Thanks! It was done by one of my best friends, Jo Burgon, as part of her tattoo apprenticeship. I like Mexican imagery, and the beliefs behind Día de Los Muertos…celebrating what people were, not mourning what they aren’t any more. I also like puns, which is why there’s some toast on there too.

SBL EU: Speaking of tattoos, and us being nosy, how many do you have in all and what are they?
L.R.H.:The Día de Los Muertos theme is mirrored on my other arm, I have a Mariachi skeleton man playing guitar, they call him Cervantes. I also have the logo on my back of my favourite band when I was 15. I had it done when I was 17 and didn’t think about the ramifications of having a pentagram tattooed on my skin. I don’t mean I accidentally cursed myself in some odd way, just that it wasn’t the best idea.

SBL EU: Let’s go on with the performance side of being a musician. What was your first gig and how did you feel about it? What do you think of it now? Awful? Awesome?
L.R.H.: My first gig would have been with one of the many bands in high school (best part of being in a band then was coming up with a name; Avoiding the Passing Storm, Chain Reaction…) the first serious band I was in was called Ellision, a sort of melodic hardcore band which I was the singer for, although it was more growling, really. I think the furthest we ever played from our hometown of Worcester was Yorkshire, which is around 2 hours away, and I remember our shows averaged around 12 people on a good day but those were some of the best times I’ve had. We recorded a CD in a proper studio and everything! Getting back to the question though, I’ve always had a big attack of the nerves before getting onstage. A good guy gave me the good advice that nerves just means you give a shit. The day I get onstage without seeing stars is the day I quit. My first proper solo performance was at the jam before the SBL show last year, and I felt incredibly lucky to be playing on the same stage as the bands that I listen to and admire, at a show to remember one of my biggest influences, with a whole group of people I have something incredible in common with. And I got to perform a song with Pierce Codina from Tin Tin Can… Who could ask for a better first show than that?!

SBL EU: You sold your first cd “Mountain vs Goat” to raise money for the University of Michigan and their fight against adrenal cancer. For our readers that do not know, this is Lea’s first actual CD. The SBL Cause is dear to your heart, and you were one of the very first Europeans to join the SBL Project. Maybe even the first one. How did you come to know about Spencer?
L.R.H.: I know that Bex definitely joined before me, as she was the one who pointed me towards Spencer’s music on the Legacy website (www.spencerbellmemorial.com) and that was a few months before the Legacy show in 2009…best thing to ever happen.

SBL EU: I am pretty sure you can already guess my next question: How is it playing at SBL shows at the Friends of SBL Show?
L.R.H.: Just incredible. I’m there to see some of my favourite bands, I get to hear some of Spencer’s music, and I get to go up and contribute some of my own stuff too, I just can’t think of a better way to spend a day.

SBL EU: Did you get to jam with other artists from the SBL during shows or between shows? If yes, would you tell us a bit about it?
L.R.H.: Before the SBL show last year, I ran through the cover of Big Blue Sun with Pierce just to check it was sounding ok, and as we were playing people were getting onstage, grabbing instruments and joining in, it was amazing. We had Chris and Myk from Tin Tin Can on guitar and some kind of keyboard instrument, and Ben Johnson on the bongos. I thought my heart was going to burst.

SBL EU: Last but not least, what do you see in the future for your musical career. New gigs? A new CD? I can tell you several people are crossing their fingers for more music from you!
L.R.H.: I’m working on a new CD at the moment, actually! The working title is “Moose” because I want to hear that word more in conversation. The sound quality is going to be a lot better, that’s something that I really dislike about Mountain vs Goat – the fact that all the songs have that hissy sound (…but please continue to buy it), so I’m looking forward to ironing those kinks out for next time. I think it’ll be around 11 – 13 tracks long, and it might be released under a different moniker, I’m not sure yet. In the meantime I would love to play more shows in my hometown of Worcester as there’s some amazing local bands here that I’m really enjoying listening to (Bella in the Wych Elm, Richard Clarke and the Rafters, and Robinson come to mind) so hopefully I might be able to sort out some shows with them in future!

SBL EU: Once again thank you very much for taking the time to answer us. We wish you the best for the future. And never forget you’ve got some pretty faithful fans among us!
L.R.H.: Thank you for asking me, and thank you to anyone who’s taken the time to listen to any of my songs. Another thank you if you liked what you heard! I love you. Marry me. No, wait – just love. Actually it’s more of a strong fondness. I fond you all. I’ll see you round.

More about Lea:
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/leahaworth
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lea-Roy-Haworth/133761569996096

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