Hey everyone it's Labrinth here... blogging on The Huffington Post once again!
It's been another mad week in Labrinth land. I don't know if any of you heard but I threw a big party last week at my restaurant in conjunction with Raymond Weil watches. I don't think Wood Green has ever seen so many people! And I definitely never knew I had so many friends... I was really pleased to see so many familiar faces turn up, we had Tinie (Tempah), Plan B, Emeli Sande, Alexandra Burke, Wretch 32, Mr Hudson, Gary Numan as well as some up and coming names such as Shakka and Bluey Robinson as well as my own Odd Child family, Etta Bond and Raf Riley.
The atmosphere was buzzing and it felt more like a house party rather where people were just milling around chatting, having some cocktails and generally having fun. It felt really good. Although I must admit at the beginning of the evening it was all a bit overwhelming and I hid upstairs in my studio making some beats... there were so many people in my little restaurant! So many people and famous faces that some of the restaurant staff got a little star struck and forgot which tables had ordered which dishes! So the food came out a little later than expected, but to be honest I don't think anyone really minded as everyone was playing musical chairs and swapping tables! The food is definitely worth the wait though... and no I am not just saying that because it is my restaurant!
After all the guests had been fed and watered it was time to clear away the tables and have some fun. We had a bit of an open mic session and one of the girls that got up to sing is called Kyria who is under the same management as Wretch 32. I think she's going to be one to watch out for, you know, I'm going to work with her a bit over the next year, so I can't wait to see what comes out of our sessions together.
It was a late night and I think I turned in at about 4am... and had to be up about five hours later for a full day of promo! No rest for the wicked ay! I saw a lot of nice feedback and comments on Twitter throughout the whole evening thanking me for inviting everyone over and all my guests saying what a great time they had. Fans were sending in comments too - it kind of felt like they were there too. Isn't it mad to think what we did before Twitter and Facebook? I mean, how did artists find out what their fans were thinking before? For me it's important to stay grounded and stay close to my fans. Team Lab all the way!
You will have heard me talk about my own own label, which is signed to SYCO, called 'Odd Child' and over the weekend I took a couple of my artists into 1Xtra to meet some of the guys there. I took two of my young protégées, a singer called Etta Bond (who features on the latest Wretch 32 track 'Forgiveness') and a producer called Raf Riley (who makes some SICK beats!) into see Ronnie Herel on his show. So I took a bit of time out from 'me' and spent a bit of time nurturing Odd Child and showing the other side of Labrinth as it were.
Talking about 'showing the other side' of me, I think people are going to be surprised about how many different sides I have to my music and how this is reflected in my album. It's gonna be a real variety of sounds to keep you all on your toes. Everything I've put out so far has showcased a different 'part' of me as a musician and I just can't wait to you all hear how all the parts of the jigsaw fit together on the album!
I also saw some snippets of the new video for Last Time and oh wow... I'm not gonna say too much apart from the fact it's in a whole other league from Earthquake and really will bring the song to life! If you loved the video for Earthquake you are gonna love this!
So that's pretty much it for me this week... I've got a busy couple of weeks ahead, I have a session with John Legend and I've been chatting to various people including Usher and Busta Rhymes about featuring on their albums... so watch this space!