The first time I met Uh Huh Her's Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey
together was at Los Angeles' hipster hangout, the Standard on
Sunset Boulevard, in the spring of 2007. Spring in LA is like high
summer in London but with more cherry blossom. The air was thick
with dusty light and car fumes and the sun's rays beat down hard,
creating that magical heat shimmer just above the roads and
pavements. It was my second ever visit to the fame crucible and I
was annoyingly star-struck. Pasty - for Los Angeles natives - and
perky, the duo were waiting for me in the hotel's retro-styled
diner. I slipped round the half-moon seats to face them, feeling as
shy as the pre-PVC (and lousy with virgin-it-ee) Sandra Dee, in her
pink pleated skirt and bobby socks.
Back then, Leisha was better known for her part as Alice
Pieszecki, the bisexual journalist in the seminal lesbian drama,
The L Word, and Cam was an up-and-coming session singer who played
bass and keyboard in a band called Mellowdrone. We focused more on
Leisha than on Cam because she was a Star in the lesbian TV
firmament. On screen she was cute, sassy, dorky and big-hearted,
off screen we knew she'd dated lesbian icon KD Lang and sang and
played acoustic guitar in bands Gush and the Murmurs. In the flesh,
she was just as sassy and upbeat - in that enviable American way -
and a little bit cooler and more self-possessed than Alice.
But the super-talented lead singer Cam - who's worked with Busta
Ryhmes, Kelly Osbourne and, more recently, out gay American Idol
winner, Adam Lambert - has always been a musician in her own right,
developing a truly beautiful, strong voice that swoops and eddys
around her instruments. Before I spoke to the duo again for this
issue, I checked them out online. Their recent livestream session
from cool Texan music festival SXSW shows them in superbly slick
and distinctly rocky form. Not that they've abandoned their electro
roots - far from it, as their new single Black and Blue will
testify - but there's a broader musical palette now, thanks in part
to Leisha being more able to focus on her music career for the last
few years. Just as Alice was the girl who kept her homies together,
Leisha's sweet, mellifluous tones are the glue of the ensemble they
make along with their band mates, Josh and Brad. Live, and at their
best, Uh Huh Her's music washes over you like sunshine. GoGo
ticket-holders are in for a treat.
READ THE REST IN THIS MONTH'S DIVA MAGAZINE PRINT OR DIGITAL
