ACCIDENTALLY turning up at the wrong bar has resulted in a record deal for former Warrnambool singer-songwriter Leah Senior.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Further proof of the adage that success in the music industry is all about being in the right place at the right time, Senior joked that “being a bit vague one night” landed her a deal with indie labels Flightless Records and Remote Control Records.
“I had just played a show and had a guitar with me and I called a friend and said let’s go for one last drink,” she explained with a laugh.
“I got a bit confused and accidentally went to the wrong place.”
Instead of heading to Smith Street venue The Grace Darling, Senior inadvertantly ended up at the John Curtin Hotel in Carlton, where psych-garage band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard had just finished a gig.
“I tagged along with that group – I didn’t know who they were – and we ended up having this crazy night,” Senior said.
Sometime around 4am, Senior pulled out her guitar and played a cover of Big Star’s Thirteen, leaving an impression on King Gizzard drummer and Flightless Records head Eric Moore.
“He was really into it and I became friends with him and he asked me to send him my album,” she explained.
The album, Summer’s On The Ground, will be released by Flightless and Remote Control later this year.
Recorded in an old hall in Point Lonsdale in early 2014, the album showcases Senior’s captivating voice and her love of melancholic folk.
“I think all of my music comes from a place of melancholy and nostalgia and I don’t think that will change,” she said.
“It’s going to be good to get this out because I’m already working on my next one.”
The first taste of Summer’s On The Ground is the song The City Is A Stream, which matches moody saxophones with her plaintive singing and fingerpicking.
Senior grew up in a musical household in Warrnambool – her mother and siblings are all musical – and played in bands such as The Axis, as well as appearing in Brauer College musicals.
After leaving Brauer seven years ago, she moved to Melbourne and has been making her name in the city’s folk scene ever since.
She joined Glen Hansard on stage at the Melbourne Recital Centre in 2014 and has featured on Fraser A Gorman’s cover of Blues Runs The Game, which has been getting radio airplay in the UK on BBC6.
Senior has also been running a folk night at Fitzroy’s The Rook’s Return, and will play at the Leaps & Bounds Festival’s Songwriters In The Round concert on July 14 and supporting Ella Thompson at the Shebeen in Melbourne on July 30.
