“In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes…how do you measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife…? How About Love?”
Seasons of Love, Rent

It’s been a year since I joined el-live, 52 weeks of nonstop showtime with over 300 performances, where the parties don’t stop and audiences keep growing. What happens behind the scenes is kept tightly closed and any live mistakes not acknowledged. Yes live performance is based on ‘picture perfect’. It’s the thrill of getting it right, the frustration of not being on form, detesting any distractions, the controlling of consistency yet the wonder of doing it ‘just one more time’! But surely there has to be time for just ‘Lisa’ not just wholly focused on her as an artist?

This last year has been so much of what I expected and very much the unexpected as well. I probably take it all too seriously because it’s not just a job…it’s part of a very long journey I decided to do away from everything that is home to me. However, now I know that home was always within me to keep me grounded, level-headed and happy when I am everything but that.

From July-August 2010 was a sweat, panic, ironing out the hiccups, the fast-track learning curve of how-to-do what-to-do and when-to-do it. The show was 20 times faster than other shows I’d been in, so it was imperative to get my butt in gear and fast! September-December was bootcamp in learning to work diverse audiences of the extreme. Moving into 2011, January-February was the set-up, the preparation for the gig I’d visualized. March-May was incredible, challenging, the glory and I wanted more of it. However, June and July have not been as good months for stage-life; I have cried a million tears of ‘I quit’, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘I want to go home’…my personal life has caught up with me, the loneliness kicked in, and inevitably am now sitting with a box of tissues nursing a nasty cold. You see all I have done is protest for seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, a year that I have no time for months like June and July as ‘the show must go on’!

But honestly, in these last two not-so-sunny months I actually felt growth on a personal level for the first time in years. I left home from a young age and always been self-sufficient, never really needed anyone else’s opinion in making decisions, and always bounced back on my own. It’s not been the case this time. The night I cried all the way through singing ‘Love The Way You Lie’ to the audience in Xiu, I bared my soul through that song, those were real crocodile tears! And it brought me back home, to the real me, who I really am and to what I want to be. That is, that I will always perform from my heart, not that I stopped doing this, but it really reinforced that I am not programmed to sing or perform any other way. My family, friends, loved one and Liquid band mates, with their ongoing support and strength, are the people that have pulled me through this journey. I really could not have done this without them and realise it is okay to be a little dependent now and again! Their encouragement, strength, patience, kindness and love have been unending during all the highs and lows and I am so grateful to have them in my life. They have put me back on track, rebuilt my faith and helped me to channel new energy. And to the people in the audience (including fans from afar) that have approached me at the show expressing kindness and excitement about what I do – thank you, it really does mean a lot to me.

“In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes…” In phonecalls, sms, photos, videos, blogs, shopping sprees, international banking trips, friendships, love, gym sessions, vocal warmups, rehearsals, performances, tears, laughter, fears, adrenaline highs…these four words really sum up my life in this year: Love, Energy, Attitude, Delivery.

I’ve seen a lot of musicians come and go in various jobs for various reasons but the ones that persevere are those much to be admired because they worked that hard for it, regardless of the challenges. A friend from the UK I’ve got to big up is – Juan Zelada,http://www.juanzelada.com – for being an unsigned songwriter on BBC2’s radio playlist…a massive achievement…well done and keep rocking honey!

With one month left in Xiu Bar, Beijing and another few months on the road to go…here’s to the next chapter!

Remember! Share some love…we’re nothing without it and yes it’s the only way :>

LT
XXX

My childhood was filled to the brim with life on stage until the age of about 23, however a couple of years after moving to London I just lost my way. No auditions came through, the rejection letters from record labels kept coming and working as a singing-waitress was not a long-term career. So I guess I just put my music on a shelf. I half-heartedly dipped my head in the music world for about 6 years until a life-changing incident happened.

You see over those 6 years I landed up working as an Event Manager steadily climbing the corporate ladder, and one week the company went on a business trip where plenty of team building activities were put in place. One of them was a little chat from this motivational speaker…during his speech he asked for a volunteer who wanted to change their life, so I furiously waved my hand in the air for this opportunity (because deep down I really wanted to be a fulltime musician and songwriter). So he chose me to come up and asked what I really wanted to do in my life and what were the three things stopping me from doing this. I answered him and then he said to me that he was going to place the silver tip of a wooden arrow in the soft part of my throat and he would hold the other side of the arrow…whilst doing this, I needed to channel the things stopping me from doing what I want out of my head until all I could see was my vision and then step forward with all my might…this step would snap the arrow in half and represent me breaking through to my vision and without these fears ever holding me back again. As I stepped forward with a great force the arrow snapped in half!

From this moment onward my life did change and now these fears no longer stop me:
1. Myself
2. Dependency and security of a stable income
3. My relationship and the commitment it required in the future

It took a few years to re-establish myself working days in corporate life and nights in the music world until eventually I went fulltime music. After writing and launching my own album HerStory (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=278657583), I found that I needed time to break out and rediscover and improve on the real performer in me. After seeing Alicia Keys in concert and how dynamic she was, I was blown away as how Miss Keys could be so captivating whether just playing on the grand piano or singing in a fully choreographed dance routine…that’s what I needed to do next…to gain experience as a lead singer whilst dancing and occasional playing an instrument to wow my audience.

I needed to surround myself with great people that inspire, develop and push me to work harder, reach for the top and be a star.

Eric-Jan Harmsen of Teatro Pereyra, Ibiza was the first person who really saw something in me so took me under his wing and brought me to life. Then I worked for Titus Raj from Music for Asia and London for GHotel in Penang. For the 10 months, I have worked for Georges Elchakieh from el-live Productions in three of his bands; Maximum, Magenta and Liquid.

It’s been a fantastic journey since May 2009 performing 6/7 nights a week, singing hit songs and recreating what the original artist does by adding my own mark. One thing I have learnt is that if you do not DELIVER, the audience does not BELIEVE you. There is no time for faking it or lack of confidence; if you don’t genuinely mean what you’re singing, how can your audience feel it? It’s simple they can’t. There’s no time to waste on thinking how great the audience thought I was doing P!nk last Saturday, because today I need to do it again for a completely different crowd, and they might need even more convincing than last Saturday. With this mentality in mind, no negativity can filter in from the outside world and I mean nothing. The energy I need to project is always a positive, heart-felt one.

Whilst performing at Xiu Bar, Liquid Band received some wonderful news that we have been voted the ‘Best House Band’ in Beijing by The Reader Bar and Club Awards. An incredible feat to have achieved and we can only work harder and harder to be the best that we can. [Attached photo]

As a songwriter I always ask is it your performance or the hit song/artist that help bring the house down? It’s both; one cannot be live without the other. So many hours of pure sweat, brain power and creativity mould each art form with such furious delicacy! Having being both the singer-songwriter and performer, this is exactly what I wanted to do and am accomplishing daily, always working closer and closer to my vision. I am living my teenage dream and am so blessed …check it out:

Lisa Theunissen in Liquid Band, el-live Productions
Working for El-Live Productions in Liquid Band with Rob Varro, Michael Muellerleile, Robert Angelow, Blue Rooney, Eric Carlos and Marie-Denise Chalut. Voted by The Reader Bar and Club Awards as ‘Best House Band’ in Beijing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHNtesSam7M

Now it’s still a long road ahead but I know improvement is ongoing and no real success comes without extreme hard work. So keeping on, keeping on!

Love to all my family, friends and fans across the globe…your belief is my driving force :>

Love and light
LT

The Teen Years

Growing up in my native Trinidad was a unique experience due to the many cultures that find a home there. The island is an amazing melting pot of East Indian, African, Asian and European cultural and musical influences, and its close proximity to South America made for an even richer brew of musical styles evident everywhere you went. My mother worked at one of the two radio stations operating at the time, and by the time I was a teenager, music was a fiercely dominant force in my life. I had access to the music library where she worked, and would spend countless hours in a tiny listening booth while waiting for her after school. By thirteen, I formed my first band, and was always an avid listener of all styles. Today, I want to share 5 of the most influential “albums” (Vinyl……before CDs and Mp3s) of my early teen years. (If you do the math now, you’ll see that I was a classmate of Moses)

Talking Book – Stevie Wonder (1972)

This just blew me away. I was in love with “Music Of My Mind” and was just coming to terms with the idea of Stevie performing all the parts on the record when this hit. The list of hits was tremendous. “Superstition”, “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, “You Got It Bad Girl”, “You And I” and the funky “Maybe Your Baby” and “Tuesday Heartbreak” all bore testament to the genius of Stevie. Every song here was incredible to me. This album saw Stevie showcasing his amazing clavinet and Moog bass work, along with astonishing songwriting and sophisticated arrangements. It shot him to #1 and opened up new audiences everywhere, becoming his first smash hit LP. This was commercial music that was artistically pure.

Stand – Sly And The Family Stone (1969)

Sly and the Family Stone brought “psychedelic soul” to the world with such force that many musicians and producers had to change their sound completely. A deft blend of wah-wah guitars, slap and fuzz bass,  gospel-styled organ and funky horn riffs was the backdrop for decidedly gospel-influenced vocal arrangements. The band also borrowed liberally from rock music and their costuming was outlandish and really delivered the psychedelic edge. Larry Graham’s slap bass technique would change the face of funk forever, and Sly’s brilliant songwriting stands today as a cornerstone of the future soul and hip-hop artists for generations. This record lists “Everyday People”, “Sing A Simple Song”, “I Want To Take You Higher”, “Stand”, “You Can Make It If You Try” among its tracks, and is a great listen to this day.

Chicago III – Chicago (1971)

This is Chicago III, their third record. It was a double album of extended jams and well crafted pop songs. I was drawn to this band from their first record, the overall musicianship and James Pankow’s great horn arrangements, Robert Lamm’s lyrics and Terry Kath’s killer guitar work and vocals. A heady blend of pop/rock and jazz, this album for me had several standouts. “Free”, “Lowdown”, “Sing A Mean Tune Kid”, “What Else Can I Say”, “I Don’t Want Your Money”, “Travel Suite” are all monster pieces. This was a huge influence on me musically and I remember memorizing almost all the parts to every song here, I had listened to the album so many times.

Sex Machine – James Brown (1970)

This album remains to this day one of the quintessential live dates ever recorded. I remember my cousin and I dropping the needle when we first brought this home, and for several minutes being unable to move. It was that intense. Then, as if we were somehow subliminally directed, we were dancing with the biggest grins on our faces. This is JB at his finest, with arguably his best band ever, pouring raw, funky soul and bringing pure energy. With much of today’s music being offensively pointless and bland, you would do well to take this for a spin. This is a record for the ages, all ages, any color. It brought decades of black music to one blinding point and can shake a dancefloor today as well as it did when it was released. The grooves are monstrous, the guitar lines are razor sharp and the horns are a disease unto themselves. I would list tracks, but that would be of no use. From beginning to end, this is classic.

Headhunters – Herbie Hancock (1973)

By the time I heard this album, Herbie Hancock already had enjoyed much career success as a member of Miles Davis’ classic 60’s quintet and as part of the exploratory and innovative electric period of the late 60’s and early 70’s, also with Miles. Herbie would go on to mirror some of these directions as a leader with outstanding recordings, both acoustic and electric. This album saw the pioneer move to a funk-oriented rhythm section. (Harvey Mason, Bill Summers and Paul Jackson) Bennie Maupin was the only horn, covering the reeds. This is my life-changer, charged with funk and jazz and mesmerizing performances. The standouts, “Chameleon” and “Watermelon Man” opened the floodgates to what would eventually be called “smooth jazz”. This, however, was not so much “smooth” as it was breathtaking. Hancock played no acoustic piano on this, but brought the Fender Rhodes forward as a bona-fide improvisational voice. I listen to this still and always marvel at the brilliance and mastery.

I will continue this with 5 featured albums each month, all of which have had an impact on me musically, and I consider to be essential listening.

Namaste,

The Lazy Monkey