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Sixpence None The Richer: There it goes again
Singer Leigh Nash in a recent performance in Jakarta
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Singer Leigh Nash in a recent performance in Jakarta.
Debuting with sweet yet powerful tracks like 'Kiss Me' and 'Breathe Your Name' as well as covers like 'There She Goes' and' Don't Dream It's Over', the band was at the forefront of the music scene in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Last Saturday, the band ' Nash on vocals, Matt Slocum on guitar, Justin Cary on bass guitar'got a chance to visit Jakarta, putting on a nostalgic and soothing performance at Java Rockin' Land 2013 in North Jakarta.
'The show was really good, people really sweet, they were a great audience; they listened well,' Nash told The Jakarta Post the day after the show, looking tired but still effortlessly gorgeous in her black summer blouse, mini skirt and a pair of stunning boots.
'You know, sometimes you have a listening crowd, sometimes you have a crowd that just wants to party. It was defi nitely listening,' said the 36-year-old Texan, who performed most of the band's hit tracks and some new songs.
'A lot of people were singing along. I even got emotional; I almost cried a few times. It was really sweet, and we were really, really tired. When you're tired you tend to cry a lot, but I made it, I kept it together,' she said with a mild laugh, referring to a cool 'Kiss Me' sing-a-long that caused goosebumps.
The band arrived in Jakarta last Saturday. They took to the stage at night, and the following night they fl ew for another gig in Argentina.
Sixpence was formed in New Braunfels, Texas, by Nash and Slocum in the early 1990s.
The band's fi rst album, The Featherless and the Widow, came out in 1994. It then released a second, This Beautiful Mess, a year later.
In 1997, it produced Sixpence None the Richer, featuring 'Kiss Me', which brought them worldwide stardom as the track was used on the soundtrack of, among others, Warner Brothers' hit TV series, Dawson's Creek.
The song also brought the band a Grammy nomination in 2000 for Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals. In 2002, the band survived the tough music industry by releasing Divine Discontent. However, it broke up between 2004 and 2006.
During the idle years of Sixpence, Nash focused on her solo projects, including Blue on Blue and the Hymn and Sacred Songs albums and 'Need to Be Next to You' single.
Sixpence reunited in 2007. It released an EP My Dear Machine and Christmas album, The Dawn of Grace, in 2008. The band made a mature comeback with the Lost in Transition album last year.
'We saw a lot of life in the years that we weren't making music together,' said Nash.
'My father passed away, which was one of the biggest things, and me becoming a mom. I'd been married for 11 years and the marriage ended in divorce. Right after that was when my father passed away, so I thought it was like an avalanche coming down on me.
'That was just me, and I've got other members in the band ' so we brought a lot more maturity and life to the recording and songwriting process. I think anything we do is going forward; doing it with more wisdom,' said Nash, looking worn out by the long trips and shows.
Nash and former husband Mark Nash have a son, Henry, who was born in 2004. The couple got divorced in 2007. Nash then married musician Stephen Wilson in 2011. The album's single, 'Sooner than Later', is a song that Nash wrote for her late father.
'That's what music is all about and songwriting ' trying to tell stories to people and get emotion across and experiences.
'It makes me happy because I know my father was a great fan of my voice ' biggest fan, and loved the band. I know that every time I perform 'Sooner than Later', I can feel that he's listening and I know how proud he would be,' said Nash. Henry also plays a huge part in Nash's creative work.
'It just makes you emotionally deeper, because I think you understand love in a different way, you become more intense when you have a child,' she said. After all the years in Sixpence, Nash described the band as something that she had always done.
'It's been a huge part of my life and I love the music that we've made. I love playing live, I love the guys in the band; they're like my brothers, I think they are my brothers at this point.
'So, I don't know what'll happen going forward, I'm just very grateful that I've been able to sing this long, and I want to continue to sing as long as people will listen,' she said.
So far, Sixpence has no plan to release another album. Nash, however, is preparing a solo album. 'I would love that [to have another record with Sixpence in the future], but what's next for me is a solo record, I'm working on that.
'I love to make old country-style music.
I'm writing for that right now, so we'll see what happens.'
' Photos by Wendra Ajistyatama
