The photo section has been redesigned and updated with lots of lovely new photos including some great out-take shots from the Windblown Kiss promo photos by Susan Jennings. The interview section has been updated with new links and better content descriptions. Enjoy!
Been kinda quiet
Hasn’t been a whole lot to post about since the Mexico tour… Finally had a bit of time to slow down after a whirlwind year for the band. Lovespirals played as many live shows in one year as Love Spirals Downwards did in their whole 8 year history. Not to say that’s a lot, but it puts it in perspective. Chances are good that we’ll continue to play live much more regularly from now on, since we actually enjoyed ourselves with it. : )
Over the past month or so I transferred a number of audio interviews to digital format and put them up on mp3.com/lovespiralsdownwards. (note: now on soundclick.com/lovespiralsdownwards) Its funny to hear the old interviews with Ryan and I before I was in the band. Its even funnier to hear the older interviews with Ryan and Suzanne squabbling!
Gracias Mexico
Wow, what a great week we had in Mexico. Thank you to everyone who came to see us in Leon, Morelia, and Puebla. We’ll be back! And very big thanks all the show producers and Aldo, our Manager in Mexico! This was by far the busiest of the several times I had played in Mexico before, having to travel several hours each day to get to the next city each day in time for interviews and soundchecks. We were lucky if we could get five hours of sleep each night. But the enthusiastic crowds each night energized us for some of our best performances yet.
Adios Mexico
Well, we’re back from our little Mexico tour, but we’re already making plans to go back and do some more cities. The response was amazing at every show, from both the fans and the press. We did TV, radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews every day. I can’t tell you how strange it is to be featured on the front page of the newspaper alongside Mariah Carey and Kim Basinger! Ryan says I’m a sex symbol in Mexico, and I can’t say I disagree. The boys seem to like me quite a bit more than here in America… I’ve never been kissed by so many different people in my life! But then again, people seem much more open and expressive in Mexico. Crowds are much warmer at the shows there in general, it seems. The three venues we played were all very different, with a different vibe, but all the shows went very well and I know that I gave the best performances that I ever have. I was inspired to give my all to the people. All in all, it was a crazy 4 days, but very good.
Mexico Tour Photos Online
Photos from Lovespirals Leon, Mexico show are now available on
the nightlife information site antropolitan.com. The 3 page photo album includes concert pics, backstage shots, and crew and fan photos.
Leaving on a jet plane
So we leave for Mexico tomorrow. We’ve had several last minute changes in venues and travel plans, so it’s been pretty crazy. Not sure if we’ll end up doing any of that promotion after all, since we’re travelling much later and arriving in Leon. Oh well! Hopefully plenty of people will show up, anyway. Our manager had asked for a video to use in commericals, but we don’t have one! It would be cool to make one sometime, though.
Hope I don’t get scared on the flight. I’ve been much better about flying since I’ve been with Ryan, but I bet if he weren’t there with me, I’d be terrified. I also hope that screening and such at LAX isn’t as huge a hassle as it was when we travelled for ProjektFest. I had to keep taking off my shoes and Ryan had to keep unpacking the guitar effects and explaining what they were. UGH. I heard it’s a bit more lax at LAX now, thankfully.
Lovespirals featured on Forever 21 Site
Fashion retail store, Forever 21 just launched a brand new website which features an all new recording of the Lovespirals song, “Hand in Hand.” A clip of the track is used as a loop for the company info area (click the green dot), but the full song is also available in the Featured Musical Artists’ area. Just click on the speaker icon, then scroll over the band’s photo for a band bio and option to play the full track.
Hot Topic/Projekt Holiday Compilation
Projekt has paired up with Hot Topic for a special Holiday compilation CD. Comprised of the best tracks from the popular Excelsis series of releases, A Dark Noel includes songs by both Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards, plus many other Projekt favorites. This CD is sold at the budget price of $3.98 from Hot Topic stores nationwide.
Exclaim! Reviews ‘Windblown Kiss’
A largely positive review of our debut album was posted by Coreen Wolasnki of Exclaim! It reads, in part:
The gothic past of Lum resurfaces with those airy, sparkling guitars that fans of the Cocteau Twins will relish. Ethereal/ambient goth music is one of my favourite things, and this duo (Ryan Lum and vocalist/songwriter Anji Bee) captures the nuances of the genre while putting their own signature on it. Lum’s guitars are the driving force here, as he flips easily between electric and acoustic, classical, Latin, and goth/folk styles. Bee’s vocals are gentle and understated, but it would have been more memorable to hear her out of her comfort zone, just belting it out once or twice. I do like the jazzy edge she shows in some tracks, giving the disc that lazy, “stay in bed until three kind of feel (see final track “I Can’t See You”). Gothic jazz? Hell, why not?
Read the full review of ‘Windblown Kiss’ on Exclaim!
FREE Amazon Mp3 download
Amazon.com is now offering a high quality mp3 file of Lovespirals’ song, “Our Nights” from Windblown Kiss in their Free Download area, the under Digital Discoveries section.
Mexico, here we come!
Well, it’s finally finalized. We’ll be going to Mexico next month for 3 shows and a day of promotion. Apparently we’ll be interviewed for TV and newspapers. Sounds very busy, all in all. I hope we’ll still have time to enjoy the 3 cities we’re visiting. Ryan’s told me so much about Mexico City. He’s happy to be able to see a few new places this trip. Guanajuanto is said to be very beautiful. The club in Leon looks very, very nice too! Should be a good time.
Frequenicas Alternas Interview Lovespirals
The following is a transcription of Lovespirals November 9, 2002 interview Iohann Rashi from Frequenicas Alternas airing on Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico stations WRTU 89.7 FM and WRUO 88.3 FM. The questions of the DJ been translated from Spanish to English. Apologies for how rough they are.
Lovespirals is a group that has had a long history and is currently in a process of transformation, formerly known as Love Spirals Downwards. They face a new change, a new facet and new perspectives in their way of creating and producing music. For tonight, listening to the cuts of the album ‘Windblown Kiss,’ we will have Ryan Lum and Anji Bee, the members of Lovespirals, talking to us about this new creation. We will listen to Anji Bee, commenting in a brief and summarized form the historical process that Lovespirals has suffered from Love Spirals Downwards to today with this new production, ‘Windblown Kiss.’
ANJI: Let’s see, Lovespirals first started, I guess, in 1999. Ryan had started working on some solo material with the saxophone player, Doron Orenstein, who appears on our album, ‘Windblown Kiss.’ He was working on some drum and bass club songs. He and I had met through KUCI when I interviewed him for the album ‘Flux’ –I think I also interviewed him somewhat after ‘Ever’ came out– and we kept bumping into each other at different events around L.A. and we had a lot in common. I dunno, somehow he invited me into his studio to show me some of the music he was working on, such as a song called “Beatitude,” which is an instrumental, and the song that later became “Love Survives.” So he played me two tracks and we just kinda started talking about the possibility of me singing on some of his new tracks.
Continue reading Frequenicas Alternas Interview Lovespirals
