Tim Leffman is a London born, London bred singer -songwriter now based in Tokyo.
After turning professional in 1990 Tim has pursued a career which has taken him
from England and the London pub circuit to appearances all over the world
including long stays in France and Germany, as well as playing in America,
Australia and New Zealand before reaching Japan. Tim has a powerful voice and an
equally strong acoustic guitar style, developed from years of solo playing and
from busking in Europe prior to becoming a full time musician. Known in Japan as
"The Human Jukebox", due to his enormous repertoire of over 1000 cover songs,
Tim has nonetheless forged his reputation here on the strength of his original
songs. These cover a huge variety of styles, all based upon his intelligent,
searching lyrics which deal with a number of themes,celebrating life, love, loss
and renewal. Influences include Neil Young, Keith Richards, Jethro Tull,
Beatles, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Cat Stevens and, more recently, Crowded House,
Radiohead and The Verve. Such is the impact that he has made here that he has
recently released his first album , "Shaking Hands", entirely funded by friends
and patrons of the Warrior Celt pub in Ueno , where he has become something of
an institution and where the regular sessions on Friday nights, accompanied by
Akira Taguchi on drums, have attained legendary status. The success of the album
gave way to an unprecedented 3 month bus tour of Japan, in tandem with the
Warrior Celt, which started in April and took popular music to the four corners
of the country bringing together Japanese and foreign musicians at grass roots
level without the connivance of the J pop industry.
CONTACT: 0705 731 4418
TEL/FAX 03 3408 2088
Juice Magazine Interview March Issue (99)
Tokyo's Rising Star
Tim Leffman is going to be Tokyo foreign community's first international star.
This city's finest songwriter has a busy year lined up: a ten week Japan-wide
bus tour to promote his album, "Shaking Hands", a scheduled appearance at the
Glastonbury festival in the UK, a new album for the autumn ("Warmaker"), and the
two day UK SOUND 99 festival in Tokyo in October.
With the release of "Shaking Hands", Tim has repaid the faith of the people who
made the album possible. It was his fans who demanded that he get into a studio
with his band and guest musicians. It was his fans who underwrote it. This grass
roots support is at the heart of what Tim is about. "We're real people doing
something for the love of it. I didn't ask for "Shaking Hands" to be made. It's
all the people at The Warrior Celt who asked for it, funded it."
The Warrior Celt in Ueno is Tim's spiritual home in Tokyo. The Warrior's owner,
Andy Stark, has galvanised the local live music scene by nurturing an
environment that draws talented musicians to perform in scheduled and ad hoc
sessions at his pub, and he has supported Tim from the very beginning.
Andy and The Warrior are one reason why Tim is at home in Japan. Tim himself
draws many parallels between his native Britain and Japan: the sense of
tradition, the respect for protocol, the fact that both are small islands
sitting off large and populous continents. "They are the same country on
different sides of the world. "I love Japan. It has only been good for
me...Living in Japan is much easier for gaijin than for the Japanese."
Tim learned to play songs on the guitar after his mum brought home a fourteen
pound guitar from Woolworth's. His musical inspiration comes from such eclectic
sources as The Beatles, Keith Richards, The Verve, Jethro Tull, and Neil Young.
In fact, it was Neil Young who gave him the confidence at the age of 19 to write
and sing his own songs.
"I'd like to be compared to Neil Young, to his attitude to convention, humour,
perseverance...He's the one I most admire. He's still fresh, at the top of the
tree. In fact, he keeps on getting better."
"Shaking Hands" shows Tim's own perseverance and humour. It is the result of ten
years of playing gigs and writing songs. The main theme of the album is the
importance of resolving grief and rejoicing in all the good, bad and ugly things
that life throws up between bands.
"The album's very genuine and valid. The lyrics are important. In fact, it's not
like anything else on the market today. It's very organic, uplifting and
beautiful."
Tim will be previewing the Shaking Hands tour at The Celt in Roppongi on March
6. The buzz is out there and we can all be a part of it.
CD Review
Tokyo Classified 5/3/99
As a cynical music critic, words like "heartfelt" tend to stick in the throat,
but it's hard to find a better term to describe the debut CD - released as a
tribute to his deceased wife - of Tokyo-based folk-rocker Tim Leffman. Financed
by friends at the Warrior Celt in Ueno, this collection of mid-tempo rockers
rolls nicely along, Tim's gravelly voice riding high on a cushion of acoustic
guitar, Fender distortion, bass and drums. Check out the glistening strains of
"Wordless" with its warm cello accompaniment, the funk-jazz of "Hello Jonathan"
and the caution-to-the-wind pain of "Cold." Tim Leffman performs every Friday
night at the Warrior Celt, and Sundays at the Celt in Roppongi. To get your own
CD don't miss the release party for "Shaking Hands" at the Celt on March 6. D.G.
SHAKING HANDS TOUR UPDATE!!!!!
WELL, THAT?S THE VEEHICKEL IN QUESTION SIR, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. LET ME TELL YOU, IT?S BEEN TURNING THE ODD HEAD AS WE?VE PLOUGHED THROUGH SOME PRETTY NETHERISH REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY.
THE TOUR KICKED OFF IN THE ACOUSTICALLY PERFECT SHIZUOKA AOI HALL, RUN BY SOME GIMLET EYED SNOTTY FOLK WHO DIDN?T SEEM TO WANT THEIR FIRST EVER ROCK BAND TO PERFORM THERE. WE HAD A BLOODY GREAT TIME THOUGH, ASSISTED BY THE INIMITABLE ?LOVE BUZZ?I.E ACE HANLEY AND STEVE, AND LOCAL BAND ?KABOCHACK?E AN ALL GIRL TRIO, BOTH OF WHOM RAISED THE ROOOOOOOOF!!!! THERE HAVE BEEN TOO MANY GIGS AND VENUES TO GO INTO GREAT DETAIL BUT WE HAVE ROCKED, SHOCKED AND SURPRISED THE GOOD CITIZENS OF HAMAMATSU, TOYOHASHI, NAGOYA, NARA, OTSU, KYOTO, OSAKA, KOBE, OKAYAMA, HIROSHIMA, YAMAGUCHI, FUKUOKA AND FINALLY MATSUE. HIGH POINTS INCLUDE THE ILLEGAL PERFORMANCE AT THE A BOMB DOME IN HIROSHIMA WHICH WAS HALTED BY A FORCE OF NO LESS THAN NINE LOCAL OFFICIALS AND POLICE OFFICERS, A RIOTUOUS NIGHT AT ?RUMOURS?EIN NARA, A THREE DAY RESIDENCY IN CENTRAL KYOTO WHICH REDEFINED OUR ATTITUDE TO FINDING A PARKING SPOT IN JAPAN, A MASS BUS SIGNING IN OKAYAMA, AND PLAYING THE BEAUTIFUL LAKESIDE AT OTSU WHICH LOOKS LIKE A PRIME SITE FOR A FULL MOON FESTIVAL LATER THIS YEAR(WATCH THIS SPACE FOR DETAILS).
MIDWAY THROUGH THE TOUR WE PARED DOWN THE OPERATION FOR ECONOMIC REASONS AND WENT INTO VOLUNTEER ONLY MODE SO THE BRILLIANT KAZ AND OGATA WERE RELUCTANTLY SENT OUT TO PASTURE AND THERE REMAINED THE DIDCOT DERVISH HIMSELF(MR STARK) ON BODRHAN, THE RENOWNED BRAZILIAN PERUVIAN GALICIAN KAT CHAN (POSSIBLY AINU)ON FLASHY LEAD GUITAR , AND MYSELF (TOKYO?S RISING STAR, ?IT?S HIM, IT?S HIM!!!!!!!!?E TO CARRY THE TORCH FOR INDEPENDENT MUSIC AROUND THE ARCHIPELAGO. IT?S TOUGH, BUT AS THE GREAT MAN FZ SAID, WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE WEIRD TURN PRO. ABLY ASSISTED BY THE EVER QUESTIONING AND CURIOUS JEOPARDY JAMES (STUNTMAN AND DANGER AFICIONADO) AND KOBE?S HUNK OF THE YEAR
JEREMY ?I?VE GOT ANOTHER QUESTION FOR YOU?E OUR INDOMITABLE AUSSIE ROADIES, THIS TOUR HAS BEEN A GREAT MISSION OF LURVE AND HARMONY AND ALCOHOL ABUSE. . WE ARE CURRENTLY ON A MID TOUR BREAK, GEARING UP FOR A FESTIVAL AT NAGANO THE WEEKEND OF THE 15TH OF MAY AND THENCE ONWARDS TO THE NORTH AND HOKKAIDO. SEE YOU ALL AT THE ?OH YOU?RE BACK?E PARTY IN UENO, JUNE 15TH, AND REMEMBER , WE?RE DOING THIS FOR YOU DARLING.
WITH LOVE
TIM LEFFMAN.
By Mark Austin
Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
Visitors to the UK Sound festival at Yoyogi Hiroba, Tokyo, on Saturday were availed of a r variety of authentic Britannica: Britpop, fish and chips, bitter beer...and awful weather.But performers and members of the audience, huddled under umbrellas and tarpaulins in this comer of a foreign field in the shadow of Yoyogi National Stadium, showed chat the British "bulldog spirit" was alive...and soaking.
The event, organised as part of Festival UK '98, featured two dozen bands and soloists, a hip-hop dance performance, a fashion show and an English conversation tent, as well as eye-watering examples of British cuisine and an array of superior alcoholic refreshments from the scepted isle
Having fortified myself against the inclement weather with a pint of Old Speckled Hen, I squelched off to the acoustic stage, where husband-and-wife team Anna and Shinji, aka Dead Flower Children, were belting out a plangent version of The Beatles' "Come Together." Australian Anna and her Japanese husband are a fixture on the Tokyo live circuit, and this experience was evident in their tight, stripped-down set.
Over on the main stage, meanwhile, Britpop outfit Minx had begun their successful attempt to pierce a hole in the clouds with an effervescent performance led by bare-chested frontman Brian, that featured songs from their new CD "Something for the Weekend."One of the highlights of the festival for this reporter was the 1p.m. performance by hip-hoppers Kick Ass Crew. The four young Tokyoites-Tetsu, Jun. Michica and echi- have been practising their whirligig routines together on the streets of Ikebukuro for the past year Echi is unarguably the star of the outfit-watching him fluidly kicking, shimmying and gyrating, was like watching Atom Boy playing Twister. At one point, perhaps to emphasise the democratic roots of his art, Echi jumped off the stage and cranked up his human-eggbeater act beneath the umbrellas of an appreciative audience.
Pogoing around the stage in customised school uniform, The Salinger assaulted eardrums with three-chord ditties so minimalist as to make The Sex Pistols and The Clash-the band's primary influences, guitarist Naoki told me later- seem decadently overblown. With no song lasting longer than two minutes, you almost expected vocalist Eddie to announce at the end of the set that 10 percent of the proceeds of the foursome's next CD their third-would be going to a charity for sufferers of attention deficit disorder.
The teenage girls gathered in front of the stage, however, displayed all the symptoms of attention surplus disorder. Goggle-eyed, open-gobbed and gamely umbrella-less, they shuffled and twisted obediently before their idols like tranquillised cultists.
If the degree to which the band seem micro-managed is any reflection of their record company's investment in their future, The Salinger seem destined for at least 15 minutes of fame outside Harajuku, whether they like it or not. When I went backstage to interview them, the four lads were standing stiffly in a line under the forbidding gaze of a middle-aged lady whom I took to be either the band's manager or their headmistress. "Go on, then-introduce yourselves!" she hissed.
Why, I wanted to know, had the band members decided to call themselves The Salinger? Had they named themselves after the reclusive J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye" with whose cynical protagonist, Holden Caulfield, generations of adolescents have empathised?
"Well," volunteered Naoki, stepping forward shyly and, clearing his throat, as if about to own up on behalf of his mates for breaking a window in the school toilet, "I have read 'Catcher,' but that wasn't why we chose the name. We just liked the sound."I liked the sound of Osaka-based TRIPOD Jimmy, which can best he described as tongue-in-cheekily Pearljammy. TRIPOD more than made up for the unavoidable briefness of their set by cramming in as many decibels as possibleFollowing a refreshingly unpretentious fashion show featuring recent creations of 10 British and Japanese designers, which were showcased by a gaggle of gorgeous, pouting, amateur models, The Gladys made their entrance. Sideburned vocalist Mark Rathmell cut a Jarvis Cocker-like figure, a resemblance underlined by the nonchalant acerbity of his lyrics
With all due respects to all of the other performers at JKSound, Tim Leffman and Zep Tepi were in a different league in terms of musicianship. Leffman's songs, for want of a better metaphor, don't have sell-by dates, and many of them are probably whistleable. Guilarist Kaz'.s mellifluous Claptonesque solos perfectly complimented the lanky Londoner's Knopflerian tunes in mood and length.
Having debuted on the acoustic stage at 10 a.m., diminutive folksinger Maaya took the main stage at 4 p.m. Despite her petite frame, Maaya is possessed of a voice that surely could go the distance with that of any fuller-figured opera diva. Pacing around apprehensively backstage before her afternoon set, the pleasantly unaffected 22-year-old, who has just been signed up by Sony, told me that she always suffers from nerves before going onstage, but that the moment she starts singing, the tension evaporates. Judging from her stellar performance on Saturday, This is a voice with which music lovers in Japan are going to become very familiar, very soon.
Strangely, the top-20 Australian band Regurgitator headlined this daylong festival of British culture. Trampolining around the stage, the band members looked like the creatures in the mogura-tataki arcade game (the one in which you have to belt the moles' heads as fast as they pop up). The Brisbane-based band comprises bassist Ben Ely, who is of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, singer-guitarist Quan Yeoman, who is part Vietnamese, and drummer Martin Lee, who is Chinese-Australian. (What more eloquent rebuttal of antiAsian politician Pauline Hanson's daft blatherings could you ask for?) With their power chord-driven sound, declamatory lyrics, exuberance and humour, Regurgitator revisited musical territory The Beastie Boys first staked out in the ntid-'80s. God save the Queenslanders!
What is Shaking Hands?
Before recorded history, Britain was home to travelling fairs. Artists, actors, musicians and circus acts together with local traders enriched the lives of towns across Europe bringing colour and gaiety to hard lives. This rich tradition of eagerly anticipated annual ?Fayres?E rare in Japan but widespread in Britain, is the driving force behind ?The Shaking Hands Tour?E Towns welcomed the fayres which brought great benefits for traders, artists, and the public alike. We hope to do the same for the towns involved in this exciting venture/initiative, bringing British music, beer and culture to Japan and joining local artists and musicians in establishing a similar tradition here.
The colour of British Music
British music today has a disproportionally large influence on musical tastes throughout the world today for such a small country. There are many reasons for this. Since the Romans came 2000 years ago, and opened the eyes of ancient celtic musicians to the influence of distant lands, to the music of slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries, the great classical composers of Europe, and lastly through to the great waves of immigrants from the world over, India, Africa, North and South America, British music has absorbed and nurtured perhaps the most diverse blend of influences imaginable. Combined with the development of a secure stable government as shown by the unbroken monarchy of 1000 years, liberal traditions have emerged where diversity can flourish. For these reasons Britain can perhaps claim to be the birthplace of world music. In the world of rock few countries can boast bands to compare with the worldwide influence of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and more recently Oasis. As for our traditions, British and especially Irish music is prevalent and loved throughout the world. By comparison, international influences in Japan are far more recent and the fusion of local and foreign styles has yet to be developed by the Japanese music industry to reflect the growing foreign population here.
Pub Culture
The British pub! Along with the Queen, the Beatles and red buses, everyone knows about this central pivot of British life. No village is without one. The heart of any community (there are 61,000 in Britain today), the pub is not only a place for festivities, but a meeting place, and very often a record of local history. Pubs dating back to the 8th century such as ?The Fighting Cocks?Ein St Albans still operate today on the original site. Anyone can sell beer, but in a survey of 10,000 adults by the brewing industry, the friendly atmosphere is the most important reason Britons visit their ?local?E not the beer (a choice of over 15 is standard) or the excellent food. Two out of three foreign visitors prefer British pubs to their own bars.
