Leilani
ZTT ruled the world with Orwellian brilliance in 1984, and for some people that was enough, and will always be enough. But what about the music fans that were born in 1984? By the mid-nineties they were ready to be serviced with some kind of pop, or wonky pop as we’d call it in 2008. So along came Leilani, a soft-core Anime cross between Tank Girl and all four of B*Witched rolled into one.
The principle writer behind the project was Philip Jap, who had almost signed to ZTT right at the very start. “I first met Trevor through my then manager who was working with him in a small publishing company called Everblue,” Philip remembers. “I was going to sign to ZTT when he and Jill set it up but A&M made a counter offer. I spoke to Trevor about it and he and I decided it would probably be better for A&M to sign me but he take the production.”
Trevor produced Phil Jap’s Save Us at the same time as ABC’s Lexicon of Love and Buggles’ second album. “The recording sessions were fun and exciting,” he says. “The first time for me in a ‘serious’ studio for any great length of time. Also Trevor took me and a member of the band to Paris to pretend to be a Buggle for French TV. Great laugh! I also remember Trevor's intensity… breaking down mixes and starting again when I thought it was all done!”
“I came to be involved with Leilani through a friend. She wanted to sing, and Adrienne Aiken and I had a production company called Sonic and we started writing and producing demos. We wrote some ideas for her - we clicked and went from there. I don't think Trevor and Jill knew I was writing the material until we were close to signing with ZTT. I kept it quiet just to see the look on their faces when I turned up with Leilani at ZTT for a pre-signing meeting.
“The song was inspired by Honeymoon in Vegas with Nicholas Cage and 34 Flying Elvis’s. I could easily imagine Leilani going for someone who was a part time Flying Elvis. Adrienne and her co-producer Ash Howes pulled in an orchestra, we knew the players through our production company so it was a bit of a party atmosphere. Great to hear the song with real instruments pushing the air around…”
Adrienne Aiken: “Generally speaking, all the Leilani songs evolved with Philip coming up with the concept and, having got to know Leilani and immersing himself in her crazy world, I'd then work with him on song structures and arrangement. We then demo'd them at our studio in Primrose Hill, with me producing. The masters were then completed with myself and Ash Howes. Leilani’s was a crazy, crazy world! She was real fun to work with. Like delving into an alternate world, worthy of Terry Gilliam.”
Ian Peel
extract from the book accompanying
Zang Tuum Tumb, The ZTT Box Set
