thailand success

DAVID USHER FINDS SUCCESS IN THAILAND

Author: Karen Bliss
Source: JAM! Music
URL: canoe.ca/JamColumnBliss/may10_bliss-can.html
Date: May 10, 2002

"I can't figure out what to eat now that I'm back. Everything's so bland. I'm just eating tuna and coffee," says David Usher, who recently spent 10 days in Thailand with his band, promoting his second solo album, Morning Orbit.

The Canadian-born Usher, whose mother is Thai, has toured the country twice with Moist, who have achieved gold status in Thailand. He then went over himself for a humanitarian visit for War Child Canada that was filmed for a MuchMusic documentary.

On this trip, his first as a solo artist, fans were waiting at the airport for him.

"It's pretty nutty," he says. "Now I walk down the street in Thailand and people seem to know me by name, which would never happen before."

In addition to doing interviews, Usher and his five-piece band performed three times: on MTV Asia; at the Hard Rock Hotel in Pattaya for about 70 members of the press, and a full concert at Ministry of Sound in Bangkok for about 2000 people that was televised on ITV.

Because of his family background, he can speak conversational Thai.

"I can get along," he allows. "Every interview I do on television they ask me, 'Let's talk in Thai.' I can't talk on television in Thai because it's slightly intimidating, but on the street I can get by."

EMI is on the second single, Black Black Heart over there, but Usher had dropped a version of the first single, Alone In The Universe, some six months ago, for which he re-recorded the chorus in Thai. He adds that he is considering doing all of the song in Thai and might do My Way Out, as well.

Usher was supposed to continue on to Hong Kong for promotion, but the trip was delayed because the release of the album was delayed by a week.

"It looks like we are going back. It looks like Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are all releasing (the album)," he says.

Meanwhile, Usher, who was in the studio mixing some live recordings the day he got back to Toronto, will be back on the road next week. In May, he has a handful of live dates, then June and July are full.

"We're touring almost solidly," he says.

Usher, whose band Moist has sold more than a million albums in Canada, has completed some 100 dates in Canada behind the platinum-selling Morning Orbit. His fall tour alone was 45 dates.

In February, he was in Germany with his guitarists Gerry Finn and Kim Bingham to do promo and showcase in four cities. The commercial single of Black Black Heart has sold more than 20,000 copies there.

The video and single are both top 10.

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