naomiland

ICA and other stuff...

oh my....it's SO tempting to torture myself with google these days. i never thought of it as a torture method, but let me tell you - it can be painful!

in speaking with other people in the music business and other artists, i realize that everyone likes to say they don't read their reviews. the truth, however, is that most of us do. some more than others. i'm sure they do exist, but i have yet to find someone who is completely immune to late night curiosity.

it's so strange, too, because i can tell myself all sorts of truths about reviews (every artist has people who like them and people who don't, every artist has had bad reviews, i don't write my music for critics, etc etc etc) and it's not even like the reviews are so bad - most are good, especially in the more important london papers and music magazines - but every so often i come across some unknown blog that decides to say mean shit about me. and some barely read, run by bitter ex-musicians, insignificant website can seriously bum me out!  the lesson in this is never read your reviews!! not even the good ones! it's so dangerous to let people's assessments of you influence your own opinion of yourself! and as much as i know this, as firmly as i believe this, i still have a hard time with it. curiosity can be a really bad thing. i am getting better every day, though, and very soon i will not care anymore. i am almost free.

so......moving on....

the ICA show was incredible.  thank you to everyone who came out to see my first headline show in london. it was sold out and the audience was great. i love the ICA. fantastic sound, great stage and lighting...it was so much fun. i can't wait to play there again. not sure when that will be...waiting to hear some news about upcoming tours. my fingers (and toes) are crossed and i'm hoping to be on the road for the next couple of months.

i know this will all happen in the best possible way. maybe not in exactly the way i imagine it, as that seems to be the case with everything in my life, but it will happen. i am moving forward every day. we're filming the video for the 2nd single next week in LA. should be really cool. as long as things keep moving and growing and progressing, then i am happy.

i hope to have tour news for you very soon...
xo
terra

today

well, here it is.

it's sept 17th and 'under the influence' is now available in stores in the UK and online worldwide. except for the US. you guys have to wait, i'm afraid. or you can buy it here:

BUY 'UNDER THE INFLUENCE' ONLINE!

we're designing tshirts which will be available at the ICA show this thursday and also on the official website in the 'shop' section.

i don't really know what to say. i'm sitting in bed, about to get up and go to the record store to buy my album, and it's really just another day. i guess that's a good thing.

maybe i'll feel like writing more later .
til then,
xo

i'm wide awake it's morning

technically. 1:44am.

can't sleep. very excited. album coming out monday. shit. nervous. elated. completely freaked out!!!
just found out that it will be released digitally worldwide, which is awesome news. i'm not sure when the physical album will be available in stores worldwide, but at least people will be able to download it. more info will soon be available on the official website.

need to go to sleep!

but i have so much on my mind. mostly good stuff. 

i hope to be able to share some exciting news for you soon....i can't say what it is, but i will post on here as soon as i can.

oh - this blog, btw, might soon be moving over to the official message board. i'm told there will soon be a "blog" section, and i'll post the info on here again as soon as it actually changes over.

sorry for the scattered thoughts....that's the way my brain is working tonight. and as anyone who has read this blog for a while probably knows, you basically get whatever is on my mind, in whatever form it decides to take.

so i guess this is what it's like in the few days before an album release. trying to stay cool and not think about it too much. i've done everything i can do, worked hard on everything within my control, and the rest is out of my hands.

goodnight
xo

i am a nerd.

it's 1:30 am on thursday night. i'm waiting for my video to render. at least i think that's what it's called. see, i kind of know how to do stuff on the computer, and i kind of know what the stuff i know how to do is called, but not really. so when i say "render" i think i mean that i'm waiting for the little video i just made to turn into an mp4 file. and when i say "video i just made" i really mean the 4 minute video clip i exported from my camera to imovie and then made it fade in at the beginning and fade out at the end. et voila - je suis une artiste de film et musique. (that is probably not real french, by the way. probably not even close.)

so - the new website is up and running at www.terranaomi.com.
it's really exciting for me for some odd reason. probably because i'm a big nerd. and it has its own social networking thing. like myspace. but it's on my website. and it's not myspace. well, i guess it technically is my space. wow. cool. go join it now! it's free.

the single is coming out this coming monday, although i have been informed by my label that i am not what they consider to be a single artist - meaning they don't expect this single to  enter the charts at #5 or anything nutty like that - it's apparently more of a "hey hello world, i'm terra naomi and this is a song from my album!" kind of song, as opposed to "hi! i'm terra naomi and this is my one hit, so my record label has put everything they have into it and mortgaged their office in order to promote this thing and if it doesn't do really well in the first week then i'll be back to waiting tables!" kind of song...which i'm told is a great place to be at a record label....though a big part of me wants it to do so fucking well and come in at #1 even thought hardly anyone knows who i am yet, and therefore how the hell could they buy the single, which is the only thing that would cause the song to go up in the charts. that's the competitive part which only sees what's in front of me, and not necessarily the big picture.

like the day before yesterday, when i did a bunch of interviews at radio stations in scotland and england...and there was this one station in manchester that did this thing called "30 second challenge" and i had to answer as many questions as i could in 30 seconds. i was trying to beat fergie's score of 7. (which, you will be happy and hopefully not too surprised to know, i did, with a score of 9.)

but anyway - the point of the story is i got so intensely competitive and i lost myself in the game. about 3 questions in, they asked "what would you do if you were invisible for a day?" to which i blurted out "PORN!" and continued answering questions. of course, the hosts of the show did not let that one slide by...

and a sound bite is created.
how nice.

there are obvious logistical issues with my answer. like the entire concept of "invisible porn." wtf is that? oh well. i was trying to win the competition. i didn't get a trophy, or a prize of any sort....but i know i won. and that's more valuable than any prize, right? (hhhmmmmm...ya....i'm sure it is...to someone....somewhere...)

today i played 3 songs on hit40 uk. it's a big radio chart show which airs on sundays on 120 stations or some absurd number like that. i'm sure i said many embarrassing things. i usually do. parts of the interview should be on the hit40 radio show this sunday and the next few sundays. tomorrow i have an interview with jo whiley. she is a lovely looking woman who interviews bands here in the UK. i find her to be a bit intimidating, but i won't tell anyone. except for all of you. and i'm sure it will be cool tomorrow. and if not, at least i know that soon after it starts it will be over. but really, i watched some youtube videos of jo whiley interviewing bands (because i'm a nerd) and she really does seem lovely. i'll let you know after tomorrow.

here is my favorite song lyric of the day. it comes from bright eyes:

"And so I've learned to retreat at the first sign of danger
I mean, why wait around, if it's just to surrender?
And ambition, I've found, can lead only to failure
I do not read the reviews
No, I am not singing for you"

i'm not saying he should have killed her, but i understand.

night night.
xo

i'm not looking for a new england

that has absolutely nothing to do with anything i was thinking about prior to 5 seconds ago...but i suddenly remembered a moment which occurred a few weeks ago when i was in rome.

it was my 3rd day there, was staying with an italian friend, listening to lots of italians speak italian, trying to pick up little bits here and there...went into a public toilet and saw the lyrics to that song written on the bathroom wall. the entire set of lyrics. in english, of course. and for some reason, seeing the lyrics to that song, which really is an amazing bit of poetry and music, had a profound effect on me at that moment in time. i've heard it many times before, obviously, and read the lyrics, but sometimes certain elements combine to make a special moment. and that was, for me, one of those moments. in the bathroom in rome. go figure.

anyway - i'm contemplating getting up and finding some food. my refrigerator is a barren wasteland of  a few old vegetables, a small carton of milk (for tea) and part of my dressing room rider from v festival - a few cans of stella and some sprite and ribena which are serving the valuable function of weighing down the little tray at the bottom of the fridge which has somehow filled with water and keeps floating up, thus preventing me from closing the fridge door. (yes, i am still so excited by the concept of free stuff in my dressing room at shows. seriously. and no, i was not filled with shame as i walked out of the backstage area at v festival, past the foo fighters and paolo nutini and jarvis cocker and primal scream and loads of other people, carrying out a giant plastic bin filled with little water bottles and beer and packets of crisps and fruit and anything else that wasn't nailed down. my friends and i are still living on the ribena.)

things are getting exciting with the single...maybe soon i'll be able to afford my own ribena, actually! well, maybe not that soon. but ya - just heard that more regional radio stations are adding 'not sorry' to their playlists. hopefully some of you reading this will have heard it on your radios. i have not yet heard it, but i guess i should probably try turning on the radio. that might help. got a lot of time in the car this week, so i'm sure i'll listen a lot and maybe even hear my song. that will be cool.

going to glasgow tomorrow night for a short radio promo tour which starts up north and then winds back down to london. it's only a few days, but i'll stop at a bunch of stations, spend 30 minutes at each, play one song, do an interview....so it should be pretty intense and crazy. pete, my guitarist, will be there with me.  we're doing acoustic versions, both of us on guitar and pete singing backing vocals.  it should be really cool. actually, i might post a video from our rehearsal at my flat the other day. nothing too exciting, but will give you a sense of what we'll play on the radio shows. the best part will be when pete pulls out the terra hand puppet and answers all interview questions for me, speaking through the puppet. just joking, but what an image, eh? and i'm sure there will be moments over the next week that i will wish it could be an option!!!

i'm incredibly excited about the ICA show. if you live in london or are coming to london and want tickets, you should definitely buy those soon, as the show will sell out and tickets are going fast. we have special things planned - well, not too special - it's just a gig - but i have a few ideas, maybe a guest or two, and i think it will be a memorable night. 

i also learned that 10,000 terra naomi 'under the influence' condoms will be distributed at university campuses across the UK this month during orientation week! they are very cool - i think they say something like 'be safe while under the influence' and i rather like the whole concept....i don't really like thinking about anything past the initial giveaway - not such a nice thing to think about my photo and artwork discarded on the floor next to beds in uni dorm rooms nationwide....but i guess that's a good thing.  :/

i bought a playmobil noah's ark yesterday. it looks like this:

and it's massive. good to know i'm using my limited space wisely in this tiny flat.

i think that's all for now.
hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.
xo
terra