CP NEWS: Leigh Nash on Southern Nightlife

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-Gina Grinstead

You might not know her name, but you certainly know her voice. Leigh Nash. Let’s travel back in time to 1999, when her sweet pixie-like croon freed Sixpence None the Richer from its Christian rock niche with the Billboard chart-toppers “Kiss Me” and “There She Goes.”

Now she's embarking on a solo career. Her first album, Blue on Blue, was inspired by the birth of her baby Henry and debuts on August 15th. She recently schooled Clubplanet about the thriving rock scene in her hometown of Nashville, the joys of MySpace, and singing about heroin in church.

Clubplanet: So do you still hit the bar scene in Nashville?

Leigh Nash: Yes! There’s this place called Layla Rul where I DJ for their Rockstar Nights. I love to dance, even though I’m really bad at it, that’s what I hear, but I can do that there, and there’s a venue called Mercy Lounge where we go to watch a lot of shows.

Okay, onto the drugs. Your Sixpence song “There She Goes” is a cover of a The La’s song about the lead singer’s heroin addiction. How did that end up becoming a hit for your relatively wholesome band?

Leigh Nash: We were fans of The La’s and loved that song and so we started doing it for live shows on a tour of churches. People instantly recognized the song and they’d start clapping in the right places, and it was pretty hilarious. Our label was coming to the shows and seeing this immediate reaction to the song and they were like, “Oh you’re putting that on your record.”

Did you know what the song was originally about?

Leigh Nash: Not until after it was on the record. When we were doing it in churches we had no idea. It sounds like it’s about a girl, and even in that case people were like, “Is she a lesbian?” It’s just a beautiful song and I always thought about my mom or my sister or my friends when I was singing it. I’m always singing about my mom doing heroin. Just kidding.

Movement Nashville is a group of indie, rock, and pop musicians trying to prove that there’s more to the city than country music. How did you get involved with them?

Leigh Nash: Groups that started it just sent me a message through MySpace asking if I wanted to be in their club. I didn’t know the caliber of the other artists, but I went to their pages and listened to their music and was completely blown away and really flattered that they asked me. It was a real godsend because I needed some support there in Nashville.

Obviously MySpace has served you well. How do you like the blogging aspect?

Leigh Nash: It’s amazing how fast you can get your fanbase to your page and keep in contact with them. Writing was something I never took the time to do before but now that I have a reason to and people seem to enjoy it so much. It’s really good to get your thoughts out and hear back from people.

The songs on your new album are on the mellow side, but they’re being remixed. Are we going to be hearing them in clubs anytime soon?

Leigh Nash: Yeah some of them are being remixed and if the DJ’s like them I guess they’ll play ‘em!

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