Jamie Lenman

Jamie Edward Lenman (born 9 November 1982) is an English musician and illustrator. He was the lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter for British alternative rock trio Reuben from 2001 to 2008. Following the band's disbandment, Lenman shifted his focus to illustration. In 2008, he began his solo career, releasing and has since produced five studio albums. As an illustrator, Lenman worked full-time for The Guardian from 2007 until 2014. He has also frequently contributed to the Doctor Who Magazine under the pseudonym "Baxter", releasing a collection of his work so far for the magazine called Whoah! in 2014. Lenman grew up in Camberley, Surrey, England with his mother and father. At a young age he began reading his uncle's collection of Peanuts, as well as reading Garfield comics which influenced him to start drawing. This was encouraged by his mother, who was also artistic, and by his father. His parents also encouraged him to learn a musical instrument, with Lenman learning piano, saxophone and eventually the guitar. The first rock album that he owned was Swagger by the band Gun, however the first album he owned was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle soundtrack, at the age of eight. It was a "dodgy cassette tape copy of Queen's Greatest Hits from a market in Bulgaria" that led Lenman at the age of nine to aspire to be a cross between Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury and guitarist Brian May. In 1996, after taking guitar lessons for some time, Lenman was introduced by his guitar teacher to Jon Pearce, who attended the same school as Lenman: Collingwood College, Surrey. Pearce had only been playing guitar for two weeks, however the pair, along with another student decided to form a band. Whilst at school Lenman studied both music and graphics. Lenman has reflected that he was a "good boy at school", and that he found it difficult to let go of extracurricular activities such as the Sixth Form Council and organising activity days when the band began taking up more of his time. Lenman's jobs included working in a fish and chip restaurant, and at a music instrument & equipment shop. Lenman would continue to work these other jobs whilst in Reuben. Pearce and Lenman were in various bands writing both their own material and playing covers of Nirvana and Green Day before eventually forming Angel with drummer Jason Wilson in 1998, which would eventually become the band Reuben. Angel were originally managed by Eve Houseman and Jim Bowes (1998–1999) who ran the live music promotion company Gigmania, which was prominent in establishing the then thriving music scene in the Camberley, Farnborough, and Reading areas. After recording a number of demos with Pearce and drummer Mark Lawton the trio changed their name from Angel to Reuben, releasing an EP titled Pilot in January 2001, this was followed by a string of singles, which gained airplay on BBC Radio 1, MTV2 as well as press attention from Kerrang! magazine, Rock Sound amongst others. The band began gaining attention from larger record companies, and negotiated with a number of different labels both in the United Kingdom and United States, including Andy Ross at Food Records, who was keen for the band to sign to his label. The band ultimately decided to self-finance the recording of their debut album, it was only after its completion that they signed with Xtra Mile Recordings, who released their debut record Racecar is Racecar Backwards in June 2004. In the long period spent getting their debut album out, Lenman already had songs lined up for the second album and in September 2005 the band released Very Fast Very Dangerous on Xtra Mile. To make being in a band more financially viable Lenman continued to work at a fish and chip restaurant as well as being in the band. In 2007, after parting ways with Xtra Mile Recordings, Lenman along with his bandmates set up their own label Hideous Records to release new Reuben new material, including their third album In Nothing We Trust. "In the last year or so I had a bit of a confidence crash. I think just because we got a lot more popular very quickly – which isn't to say we suddenly reached Bon Jovi status, but lots more people tuned in – that meant the scrutiny was a lot higher and people would come to shows with such high expectations" — Lenman After releasing In Nothing We Trust in 2007 the band were becoming increasingly strained financially, with the groups savings running out, which Lenman found particularly difficult, "everyone that worked with us ended up doing things for mates rates or on a promise, it didn't feel very good to always be asking favours", Lenman felt as if he was not able to give enough back in order to compensate and pay people for helping him and the band. Trying to support the band and their lives, the band were continuing to work second jobs, with Lenman now full-time at The Guardian as an illustrator. Lenman was also finding the groups increase in fan following difficult to deal with, recalling that some fans would complain about the band failing to play their particular song preferences, "the longer you go they become bigger and bigger fans and I really felt the weight of people's expectations". Relationships between Lenman and his bandmates consequently had deteriorated, eventually to the point where the band were barely speaking, Lenman reflected on this in a 2009 interview "if I said something it would always be negative, which is terrible. I could feel myself creating an atmosphere a lot of the time". In June 2008, the band went on an indefinite hiatus, Lenman had "burnt out" and had no desire to make or perform music in any capacity. Since the band's split, Reuben have released a compilation of b-sides, unreleased and rare studio and live material titled We Should Have Gone to University in 2009, and a tenth anniversary edition of their debut album Racecar is Racecar Backwards in 2014, featuring more previous unheard and unreleased demos and live sessions. Lenman has commented a number of times during press for his solo-album in 2013 on the possibility of Reuben reuniting in the future, stating he wants to give it more time before properly considering it, as "it's only been five years". After Reuben disbanded, Lenman concentrated on his work as an illustrator but would still receive letters and meet people who praised his work with Reuben, which encouraged him to get back into writing and performing. Lenman first hinted in 2010 that he would "probably finish the songs in my head" at some point and release them, although stated he did not know if and when that would be. Over the following years Lenman quietly worked away on new music, being in full-time employment at The Guardian – as well as working on other freelance projects Lenman worked "bit-by-bit" over around four-years with producer-friend Harry Goodchild. Early on in the process, Lenman assembled to practice his material with. Initially, Lenman found that he was writing and recording material that sounded like his previous band Reuben, and became interested in making a more pronounced leap in musical style. On 23 September 2013 it was announced Lenman would be releasing his first record, Muscle Memory through Xtra Mile Recordings, as well as going on tour in the United Kingdom for the first time since Reuben split. The announcement also saw the release of his first double single "Fizzy Blood" & "Pretty Please". Both single tracks began receiving radio and videoplay on XFM, Kerrang! TV, Scuzz and Amazing Radio amongst others. The 23 track album was released on 11 November 2013, with one half featuring "extreme, aggressive metal" and the other half "all folk and jazz". The release day was celebrated with an instore performance at Banquet Records. Lenman's first tour in 2013 saw him accompanied by a three-piece band, including Angus Cowan who worked both in the studio and on tour with Reuben, Dan Kavanagh on drums and Chris Coulter on guitar. Lenman's wife Lena also accompanied him