The Leisure centre
Getting together with chilled-out supergroup Leisure was the APO’s idea. “We knew who they were and about their music, and some of the staff here they thought it would work well to have some orchestral arrangements,” says Barbara Glaser. “There’s always an element of risk when you put these things on, but we’re fortunately in a position where we can take the risk with a good idea that is going to work and when it was announced, several hundred tickets sold very quickly.”
What did Leisure think of the idea? “We thought they were taking the piss,” says band member and producer Josh Fountain. “But it was a no-brainer. It would be a dream of any musician to have their songs played by an orchestra and be interpreted that way.
“It was six months before the show so it didn’t seem real. Then about a week out it hit us that we were going to be actually playing with an orchestra.”
The band were supplied well in advance with midi versions of arrangements by composers Claire Cowan and Hamish Oliver and rehearsed to those. But there’s nothing like hearing it live.
“We’d been warned that even though the players are world class musicians it would take a couple of practices. And there was a bit of getting used to the conductor and getting everything tight and in time. In Leisure, we have drum loops and effects, so if things are out of time you’ll notice it. After the first two practices, there were couple of adjustments to the score to simplify a few parts and then the next day it all clicked in.”
The experience has changed Fountain’s view of his own music. “To someone who doesn’t really read music or play an instrument very well, it was amazing what they can do,” he says. “It was amazing how different the songs felt and how much it supported them. It elevated everything. And I had no idea how it was going to work. When you listen to Got It Bad, it’s such a simple song, but they were able to do clever, intricate things with it.”
Paul Little