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| JANUARY 2003 |
| recent headlines |
> 01.31.03 The Australian > 01.25.03 Win Tickets > 01.23.03 Beth joined Flaming Lips gig unannounced > 01.21.03 Beth to appear on Charmed > 01.19.03 3rd single from Daybreaker > 01.15.03 Best Brit Female > 01.03.03 Beth's faves 2002 > DECEMBER
02 NEWS |
| January 31 > The Australian |
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Beth's up for an argument By Iain Shedden 31 January 2003 BETH Orton was struck by the muse in the middle of the night, which would explain why, phone in hand, she is climbing back into bed at 9am. Perhaps when the inspiration woke her the London-based, Norfolk-born singer absentmindedly leapt out from the wrong side. She's grumpy. "I'm delirious with tiredness," she explains in her Norfolk-meets-Cockney twang. "I got all excitable so I got up and started writing." Her contrary mood belies the breezy, good-natured chanteuse who charmed her way around Australia in 2000, partly with the Big Day Out entourage. Back then she was promoting her critically praised second album, Central Reservation, which confirmed her status as a songwriter with a modern take on folk, one informed by everything from dance music to the Beatles. Above that was a voice that fluctuated from assertive to fragile in a single breath. Since then she has toured the world and collaborated with the likes of the Chemical Brothers, Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris on her follow-up album, Daybreaker, which was released late last year. Much like her mood this morning, Daybreaker is a darker statement than Central Reservation and her debut Trailer Park, if beautifully so. Songs such as Concrete Sky and Thinking About Tomorrow are introspective and melancholy. However, on the eve of her Australian tour, which begins in Sydney next Wednesday, she baulks at the suggestion that she has gone all sombre. "I bet you a billion trillion pounds the next journalist I speak to says: 'Gee, Daybreaker is just so up.' It's just a lot of bollocks. Opinion, opinion, opinion. Everybody has a different opinion. It's weird." Hmmm. Coffee? "I'm not saying it's good or bad, that's just how it is. Then if I have an opinion, people say I'm bolshie. Sombre expresses darkness. I don't think I'm a dark person. I'm a light person. I write about life and life isn't straightforward, although to be a songwriter you have to be a bit simplistic." Simplistic and cranky, perhaps, although a change of topic quickly brings her more amiable nature to bear. She gets enthusiastic about her recent travels, particularly through Kenya, where she set off with just a guitar and a MiniDisc recorder and wrote as she went. Orton toured "like a loony" during the latter part of 2002 to promote her album. "So most people would probably rest after all that touring, but not me, oh no," she says, putting on a posh voice. "I had to go off and do the Africa thing. I love it. I just wrote and wrote and wrote. It's the only place apart from a desert island where the phone doesn't keep ringing." The fruits of her busman's holiday will hit the studio, if not the streets, when she gets home from Australia. Back with Daybreaker, two of the outstanding tracks are This One's Gonna Bruise (written by Adams) and the achingly beautiful God Song (with Harris). "I contacted Ryan to see if he wanted to do backing vocals and we got on really well," she says. "We ended up in the studio until 7am and he played that song to me, and we ended up recording it there and then. "I met Emmylou on my first ever gig in America, which was on the Lillith Fair tour in Nashville. She was so friendly and had heard Trailer Park. I went to see her sing last year, played her the God Song, and she agreed to be on it." Nice to have friends of such a musical pedigree, but then, she's picky about that. "I love being around my friends, but I don't like wasting time. I think time is so precious, so when I spend time with people, it's usually the people I love the most." These include her band, which for this tour is a return to the one she started out with seven years ago. "They're my main collaborators, especially [guitarist] Ted [Barnes], who is a total joy to work with. When you get that intimacy with a band, you lose all self-consciousness."
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| January 25 > Win tickets |
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VIP-24.com is giving away free tickets
to Beth Orton's Wolverhamton gig on 25th March. For more details, please go
to:
http://secure.vip-24.com/competitions.htm#wolverhampton
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| January 23 > Beth joined Flaming Lips gig unannounced |
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Beth Orton joined the Flaming Lips
unannouned at their Forum gig last night (Wednesday 22nd January). She
played a three song set - an unaccompanied untitled new song, "The
State We're In" (her track from the last Chemical Brothers album,
"Surrender") with Lips guitarist Steven Drozd and a cover of
Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". The Lips had been playing
their version on the last UK tour (June last yr) with Wayne Coyne singing,
this time Beth took the lead with the whole band backing her and Wayne on
backing vocals. An army of fans dressed as animals flanked either side of
the stage while they played. Suffice to say it was mindblowing.
Here's the NME's write up of last night's events... BETH ORTON and WAYNE COYNE teamed up to cover KYLIE MINOGUE's 'CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD' on the final night of the FLAMING LIPS' UK tour last night. As we revealed earlier this week, the group have been preceding their sets on their UK tour with a series of "secret" celebrity support acts, which have included Badly Drawn Boy, Tim Wheeler and Gruff Rhys. Last night, Beth Orton played a three-song set, which ended with Coyne and the rest of the Lips coming on stage for the cover. A fan at the gig told NME.COM: "Wayne changed the lyric so it was about Beth, and the whole song was completely reworked to be almost orchestral." Elsewhere, Wayne Coyne announced from the stage that Justin Timberlake will play bass for the band when they record 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt 1' this evening for 'Top Of The Pops', and hinted they will perform at this year's Glastonbury festival. The full story can be found here at NME.com.
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| January 21 > Beth to appear on Charmed |
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Posted by Justina
According to
Astralwerks: What can I say but yippie!! If I am not wrong, Beth Orton will be featured on the episode, "The Day The Music Died".
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| January 19 > 3rd signle from Daybreaker |
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I guess the wait is finally over (?).
Heavenly Recordings has mentioned that a 3rd single will be released from
Daybreaker. Thinking About Tomorrow is tentatively scheduled for release on
the 31st March 2003 when Beth Orton play her most important gig this year at
the Royal Albert Hall.
Here is the track listing: 01. Thinking About Tomorrow
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| January 15 > Best Brit Female |
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Beth Orton is up for another nomination
at the 2003 Brit Awards. This is Beth Orton third nomination in this
category and her fourth nomination. In 1998, Beth Orton was up for Best Brit
Female and Best New Artist. In 2000, Beth Orton won Best Brit Female for her
work on Central Reservation.
This year she is up against Ms Dynamite, Beverly Knight, Alison Moyet and Sophie Ellis Bextor. The winners will be announced on 20th Feburary 2003 You can view the other nominees at the official Brit Award site.
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| January 03 > Beth's faves 2002 |
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Happy 2003 folks! Thanks for visiting Beth-lehem in this brand new year. Taken from the Heavenly website, here's some of Beth's favorites in the year 2002. FILM
> Rabbit Proof Fence Well, ahem, here's my faves of 2002: TOP
5 ALBUMS What's yours?
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