| Sadly, the album didn't turn out to everyone's
liking, least of all Lee's. Nearly £750,000 and a disastrously swampy backing
track later, the relationship soured and future publishing of some of his best
early songs
sneaked out of his naïve hands. Lee was cut adrift. It seemed this unique
talent had had its shot but, instead of soaring, had crashed and burned. "I
spent two years recording an album with no focus, written while we were recording.
It was done all over the place: Los Angeles, Bel Air, Hook End Manor, Soundwest
Studio One. All over, and at ridiculous expense. It was over the top. I had no
idea what the fuck I was, or anything. I always believed that playing live, on
acoustic, it was magic and that was me - a star. But Trevor never came to see
me play live. He just didn't get it," says Lee, ruefully shaking his head. Forward to 2006, and someone else important did get it; Take That impresario Nigel MartinSmith. During a visit to Smith's Manchester club, Essential, Lee got a demo into his hands. Martin-Smith called, disbelieving that all the songs on it were Lee's compositions. A deal was struck and development began, but was derailed as a result of attention-grabbing litigation between Robbie Williams and Martin-Smith. Lee, still respectful of Martin-Smith's talent and friendship, and encouraged by his enthusiasm and belief in him (but realising he wasn't going to get the 100% involvement he needed to bring his project to fruition), took it back into his own hands. The result of that is Armchair Anarchy - a full, rounded and passionate collection of hardboiled, soft-centred songs, steeped in a rich musical heritage that's more than the sum of its parts, yet uniquely Lee's. Sometimes, it seems, when you add two and two, it does make five. Top one! Armchair Anarchyis released on iTunes on July 9th Lee plays two special live shows - London: Mon July 9th at The Fly, New Oxford Street, Manchester: Tues July 10th at Retro Bar, Info: www.lee-griffiths.com www.myspace.com/leegriffiths |
