Leanne on me

Young Dublin rocker Leanne Harte is officially the most popular Irish artist on Bebo. This was confirmed to Ho Tpress in a statement from Bebo’s Emma Carlsgaard who looks after the Bands Section on the hugely popular on-line community and social networking site.

“Leann Harte is the biggest, bona fide Irish band on Bebo according to page views with 47,357 views as of today,” she said. “No other Irish rock band created by the actual artists surpasses her.”
Twenty-year old Harte from Sutton in North Dublin released her well-received, eponymously-titled debut album this year and has surprised many in the industry with her rapidly surging fan-base. Signed to an independent management deal at 16, after forming her first band she sold over 3,000 copies of her debut EP Eradication, engineered by Paul Thomas (U2, Phil Lynott). Her nine-track debut album was recorded during the summer of 2006 with legendary producer Chris Tsangarides (Lizzy, Sabbath etc.) and featured members of Gary Moore’s backing band.
With her classic hard-rock guitar style and powerhouse voice, Harte is a unique figure on an Irish landscape chock-full of singer-songwriters and indie types. Having grown up on a diet of Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Neil Young and Jimi Hendrix, she decided from an early age to make a career in music and demo-ed her first original songs aged eleven!
She added herself and her backing band – The Well Worn Routine – to Bebo when the website began to feature a bands section last June. Though she has been touring heavily both here and abroad over the past few months promoting her album, she says she was taken aback when she first heard the news of her burgeoning Bebo popularity.
“It’s really strange, especially when you think that it was MySpace and not Bebo that started out as much more of a music site,” she says. “Bebo was more for friends keeping in touch with each other. I had my own regular Bebo page and I just thought, ‘What the hell, I’ll put up the band on it as well’ and it went crazy from there. I think it’s reached something like 50,000 hits by now and there’ve been a lot more hits to my own website. And I’ve noticed the album selling quite a few copies on-line in America. It’s a great outlet for people. It’s great that someone like me as an independent artist can reach such a wide audience.”
Despite her growing international profile Harte continues to tour, with more dates in Ireland announced for December.
“I love being out on the road,” she says. “I did an Irish tour in September covering all the major cities, which was cool, and we had a gig in Dublin which saw a good turnout. For the band too it was great, as there was pretty much a gig every night for about three weeks and they were really tight by the end of it. We’re now working on Europe and looking at the States next year. Doing it ourselves makes it more difficult, so if a major record company comes along we’ll definitely talk to them.”
In yet another development in the Harte camp, a recent acoustic show in Paris is to be released in the New Year showcasing a more gentle side to the talented performer. “It was just such an amazing experience,” she beams. “I’ve been playing acoustic a lot more lately, even though I really love playing electric and rocking out. But any time I played an acoustic set in Ireland it was hard to get people to listen. But in Paris they were so quiet and attentive it was a bit scary. But I really enjoyed it.”
“But I’m also looking towards the next album proper and I’m going through an inspirational period at the moment in terms of writing. I think my influences have developed along the way. In the past I tended to listen to mostly old stuff, but lately I’ve been trying to find stuff that’s more current. Joanna Newsome is one artist I’ve been listening to a lot. She’s very different – she plays the harp and it’s kind of like alternative folk, almost fairytale-esque. You either love her or hate her, but I’ve really gotten into her mellower stuff.”