It’s been a busy few weeks. Listening to me…. reading about me… talking about me… Let me catch you up with some highlights from Radio, Reviews & Interviews!! RADIO… Houndstooth Radio – ‘Slingshot’ spinning on rotation since mid-September on one of the coolest playlists around; Houndstooth Radio. Handpicked by tastemaker DJ and programmer Kurt St. Thomas. Last time we checked (early November) ‘Slingshot’ had moved up to high rotation, getting a spin every 4 hours surrounded by the best of the best Alt and Indie Rock heroes. Lopsided World of L – ‘Sunshine’, ‘Kickin’ Doors’, ‘Slingshot’ and ‘Choking On Halos’ playlisted to air across FIVE WEEKS worth of Lopsided World of L, by radio legend Jonathon L, whose bonafide place in the history, (possibly invention of !?) Alternative Radio in the USA is verified by Wikipedia. Lopsided World of L is broadcast round the globe to 8 countries from 8 stations, with multiple repeat airings. Go Deep with Bruce Rave – Repeat plays for ‘Sunshine’ on ex Capitol Records A&R exec Bruce Rave’s syndicated weekly “Go Deep” radio show. Appearing on same playlist as David Bowie’s new single was a definite career highlight. Just Another Menace Sunday – ‘This High’, ‘Sunshine’, ‘Saviour’ and ‘Diamond’ have all enjoyed spins plus I had the pleasure of an interview with discerning San Francisco radio icon, Dennis The Menace on his syndicated weekly show Just Another Menace Sunday. LISTEN to our INTERVIEW followed by the “Musical Sandwich” I had the privilege to program for the remainder of the hour. Selecting these songs was a joyful, unexpected adventure in time travel to the centre of my psyche, where I rummaged round to find and retrieve the very building blocks that made me. REVIEWS… Rara’s Rock Farm Magazine. (FL, USA) – ‘Choking On Halos’ won a cracking album review from Rara’s Farm Rock Magazine including such generous phrases as: “Kingwell is an Aussie chanteuse just dripping with potential…”, “… worthy of significant radio play“, “… consistently strong, powerful and attention-grabbing.”, “… quite captivating…” and ” … a damn good offering in a day where solid albums from start to finish are increasingly difficult to discover.” READ the FULL REVIEW here. INTERVIEWS… All 4 The Music – “Leanne Kingwell…an Australian musical treasure!” READ the full INTERVIEW here. TPPC.tv – The Pet Podcast Channel – Had a lovely chat to Robbin and Joseph Everett of TPPC.tv – ‘The Pets Teach Us So Much Blog’ in Jersey about using my music to help animals. READ their BLOG POST and LISTEN to our AUDIO INTERVIEW here (chat begins @ 21:35). WEBSITE: https://leannekingwell.com/ iTUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id898805049 AMAZON: http://tinyurl.com/nlhb3yu
Radio show “Just Another Menace Sunday”, shines a light on Feral Cat Care in the Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. You know you’re sharing the planet with some good humans, when an esteemed icon of radio, with an impressive career spanning four or so decades, including: a noteable debut at 13, as “New York’s Youngest D.J.” with his own “Top 25” show on the first U.S. cable radio station, frequent interviews with worlds biggest rock stars for likes of the “Rolling Stone Continuous History of Rock and Roll” and his own syndicated radio shows, plus a busy role as Founder / Creative Director of DTM Radio Networks and PopCult Radio… … that guy… when he offers to deviate from an established broadcast format and recording protocols, in the name of Helping Homeless Feral Cats in his local area, that is one seriously likeable fellow passenger on Spaceship Earth. That radio icon is Dennis The Menace, and the female behind the legend, is one gorgeous fluffy black philanthropcat, who answers to the name of “Velvet”. The plight of homeless cats is a cause is close to both hearts, having found each other in a shelter, where a patient Velvet had waited 8 long months for her human soul mates to walk through the door. But it was well worth the wait when Dennis and daughter Kate, swept her off her paws and into their home for a life of love and luxury. Her history prior to shelter life remains unknown however, and likely includes some difficult time on the streets. Not the kind of cats to take the past, nor subsequent good fortune for granted, Dennis and Velvet, kindly offered their airtime to help save feral friends. For the first time ever, deviating from the preferred intimacy and sound quality of an in person interview, for an Aussie to USA Skype call to chat about my “Sunshine” IndieGoGo Fundraiser set up to help the Feral Cat Foundation care for homeless cats in their area. In another historic first, Dennis completely rearranged his “Just Another Menace Sunday” syndication setup, to create a “hybrid” version, broadcasting our interview specially to local stations, with a regular version of the show beaming to other Countries and U.S. States. To hear our chat and find out how you can help Feral Cats, TUNE IN to….. KEGR RADIO 97.7, Concord CA. www.kegr.org at 10pm PDT, Friday October 10th, and; BFF.fm- Best Frequencies Forever in San Francisco http://bff.fm/ at 8am PDT, Sunday October 12th. Following our chat, I was awarded the honour of programming music for the remainder of the hour. Yippee ki-yay, motherfuckers! Don’t touch that dial, ’cause we’ll be serving up an incredible musical sandwich. Which happens to double as a public dissection of my deepest psyche, DNA code and possible alien celluar structure. Quite frankly I was blown away when told I was to be entrusted, without limitation, to drive the airwaves belonging to this respected, rare breed of DJ, who’s highly anticipated playlists are built the way they should be, (but so often aren’t these days) on pure heart and the discerning, solid gut instinct of a native New Yorker. I spent a delightful and invigorating afternoon trawling my record collection to find 14 tracks for you. On completion, I felt as though I’d spent the day visiting the most valuable, life changing friends I’ll ever know. I’m not going to tell you which 14 songs I selected. I want you to tune in and take the ride. But back to the cats for a minute… Having adopted a feral born kitten, self-appointed “Feral Cat Ambassador” TIGER KINGWELL, I am fully qualified to enthusiastically recommend these special, sensitive, beautiful…
Dizzy on Houndstooth rotation. Much excitement at Kingwell HQ, since tastemaker station Houndstooth Radio added Leanne Kingwell to regular rotation last week. The station’s creator, curator, owner and DJ, Kurt St. Thomas has certifiably platinum ears. St. Thomas gave Nirvana’s album “Nevermind” its world premiere by playing the album from start to finish over the WFNX FM airwaves, at 7pm on August 29, 1991, in Boston, MA. The album “Nevermind” went on to sell over 10 million copies in the US and 26 million copies worldwide. Kurt has DJ-ed and programmed some of the hottest airwaves in the US, including the world famous KROQ in Los Angeles, CA. He is currently the Executive Music Producer for the legendary WFNX, and launched Houndstooth Radio, to showcase his personal picks for current and next new cool. He’s chosen “SLINGSHOT” from the “Choking On Halos” album, to be played on repeat alongside alternative heroes like the Pixies, Nine Inch Nails, Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Daft Punk, Jack White, Moby, Lana Del Rey, Gorillaz, Sleigh Bells and more… how fucking cool it is to be a peer in such company. Kurt may be “broadcasting to the world from one man’s garage”, but it’s one heck of a facility, with one heck of a playlist, and one heck of a renowned musical seer and prophet at the helm. The Houndstooth Radio playlist is cooler than outer space and live tweeted from @HTRPlaylist. Highly recommended listening RIGHT HERE –>> www.houndstoothradio.com WEBSITE: https://leannekingwell.com/ iTUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id898805049 AMAZON: http://tinyurl.com/nlhb3yu
Making “Sunshine”. College radio station KACV took the leap last week, adding “SUNSHINE” to regular rotation, proving worthy of their catch phrase “Amarillo College’s cutting edge”. Only four songs were added to regular rotation and the other three names on the list were Gerard Way (singer, My Chemical Romance), Broken Bells (Danger Mouse and James Mercer’s band) and the band James, whose excellent track “Laid” was one of the best songs of the nineties. Leanne admits to being a little bit excited about the band James, liking and favoriting her posts and tweets on the radio company she’s keeping. “SUNSHINE” is enjoying repeat plays from early supporters, including 101.1FM Riff 2 Detroit, also adding a few new stations to the growing list, such as KGNU in Boulder, Colorado. Houndstooth Radio, took “SLINGSHOT” for a spin, prompting us to google and happily discover an incredibly cool playlist and radio station. Created and curated by Kurt St. Thomas, I’m told it isn’t easy to catch his ear. Recommended listening. You’ll find Houndstooth Radio here: www.houndstoothradio.com It’s great to know there’s still decision makers in the music business, willing to take a chance and back their hunches based purely on merit of the music. Thank you to all of those people. The “Choking On Halos” video celebrated an exclusive World Premiere on PureGrainAudio.com before announcing the launch of Leanne’s “Other People’s Shoes” peace promotion. Centred on a peace wish embedded in the song and short film she made, the #THISisme #OtherPeoplesShoes campaign intends to focus attention on the value of empathy and goodwill. Timely thoughts for a world at war, fast approaching World Peace Day. Find out how to JOIN in, promote PEACE & WIN here: http://wp.me/p3XquD-5L PRIZES include: Autographed physical CDs, plus digital versions of the “Choking On Halos” album. Meanwhile back in Australia, heartfelt thanks goes to Georgie Fitzergerald (Huon FM), Nick Swainson (Radio Port Douglas) and Julie Reynolds (FIVEaa) for their continued unsolicited and 100% appreciated on-air support. WEBSITE: https://leannekingwell.com/ iTUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id898805049 AMAZON: http://tinyurl.com/nlhb3yu
Heating up the US airwaves with “Sunshine”. Cutting edge College station KACV have given “SUNSHINE” the thumbs up from Amarillo, Texas. Brian L Frank, KACV Program Director says: “Fabulously hooky – grabs you from the opening line and won’t let go! So you dance, nod your head or whatever turns you on to it, and then it’s over. My advice is to play it again and again and again…!” And San Francisco Radio Icon Dennis “The Menace” of DTM Radio Networks/PopCult, says: “If you are looking for another pop diva, then you can skip Leanne Kingwell. If you are looking for powerful, anthemic female Aussie accented rock with hooks, layered but not over distorted vocals that most definitely don’t fade into the background and when heard live, sure to get festival crowds fist-pumping… Dig her out of the stack in the near future.” “SUNSHINE” is enjoying recent and repeat plays in a growing number of states including: 101.1FM RIFF 2 (Detroit, MI), KACV FM90 (Amarillo, TX), Indie 103.1 (Los Angeles, CA), WSUM (Madison WI), WKZQ 96.1 (Myrtle Beach, SC), New Rock 104.7 (Fresno, CA), DTM Radio Network (syndicated in 5 US states & internationally), IND.FM & KX 93.5 (Laguna Beach, CA), KEBF (Morro Bay, CA)… and more. All this support helped us climb a couple of ranks on the KKBB Specialty Charts: KKBB Specialty Album/Artist Chart Rank: #14 KKBB Specialty Singles Chart Rank: #12 THANK YOU Dead Air Dave – Dead Air Dave Time, Dennis The Menace – Just another Menace Sunday, Tim Pyles – FTP, Naughty Dog – The Indie Show, Jade Springart – Undercover Sound System, Mase – The Flight Test and Bruce Rave – Go Deep for your support. WEBSITE: https://leannekingwell.com/ iTUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id898805049 AMAZON: http://tinyurl.com/nlhb3yu
Kicked off well at US Radio this week with airplay across several states… plus two “bonus” countries. “THIS HIGH” hitched a ride in the ethers with Dennis The Menace on “Just Another Menace Sunday”. Syndicated on the DTM Radio Network across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Gothenburg, Sweden, New Zealand and more… this adds two “bonus” countries to our radio reach. “SUNSHINE” enjoyed spins in Los Angeles from the FTP Show on IND.FM, also on KX93.5, Laguna Beach and KEBF 97.3, Morro Bay, CA. Thanks for your support Early Adopters… Great Leaders create more Great Leaders! Special round of applause to Dennis The Menace, for jumping in first. True to form stated on Menace Attic Website : “if DTM thinks it’s great songwriting, and melody, adding up to the kind of music that makes him say “Omigod!”, he plays it – usually days after he gets it! Which means that the audience tends to hear a lot of “firsts” and they like it that way!” Omigod! Thanks for the thumbs up, DTM. IN OTHER NEWS… Carrie Fisher and William Shatner replied to my Tweet (see pic). The moment was surreal and magical. I’m no Sci-Fi expert, but believe it safe to say, a personal tweet from Princess Leia and Captain Kirk is a Sci-Fi Jackpot of sorts. Excuse me while I add “Best Friends With Intergalactic Royalty” to my curriculum vitae. WEBSITE: https://leannekingwell.com/ iTUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id898805049