Friday, October 28, 2011

Oh Oh Oh Oh OK Magazine

OK Magazine interviewed Anthony Callea. about his new single and the ups and downs of being an independent artist . As always, click on image to read full sized.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Remix it up

Time for all you Callea fans to pop on over to iTunes to partake of Anthony's latest offering - Oh Oh Oh Oh - The Remixes.

Choose the '$5.06 'Album' option of the original single plus both remixes and your purchase will count as a sale for the single on the ARIA Chart.




CLICK HERE










Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Anthony out and proud

Anthony out and proud in life and in music

Star Observer
Posted on 18 October 2011










Anthony Callea returns to music this month with an infectious new club track, Oh Oh Oh Oh (or ‘Oh squared’, as he shorthanded it to the Star Observer in his umpteenth interview of the day), almost five years after his last album release.

But given he’d spent half a decade away from the fast-moving world of pop, did Callea ever worry his music career might be defunct rather than dormant?

“Not at all. Especially in this country, I think it’s so important to be versatile, so I did live TV, I was a mentor on a show for Foxtel [Ultimate School Musical], I toured with Whitney and Celine, I did Wicked and Rent,” he said.

“Then I got to the point within the last two years where I decided I wanted to get back into the studio, but take my time doing it.”

On first listen, Oh Oh Oh Oh sounds like a pretty standard pop song circa 2011 — autotune and all.

“Autotune has a bit of stigma, but if you use it in the right way, it can be great. Obviously you still have to sing in tune — I didn’t sing out of tune and use autotune to fix it!”

Listen closely, though, and you’ll notice a few individual quirks to the track. Firstly, the sweeping disco strings of the chorus, courtesy of producer (and Black Eyed Peas tour DJ) Poet.

“It does have that nostalgic ’70s feel with the strings. It makes me want to put on my rollerskates and wear flares.

“Actually, no — a shortarse should never wear flares. It’s all about a skinny leg jean and a point on the shoe — hence what I’m wearing today,” he said, pointing to his carefully selected outfit. “It’s all about elongation.”

Secondly, there are the lyrics — “You activate my soul, boy” among them — that acknowledge that the Callea of today is openly, happily gay, as opposed to the closeted pop star of his previous albums.

“I’m definitely a lot more comfortable in my own skin. I did Australian Idol in 2004, so you’d hope in the past eight years I’ve evolved both creatively and as a person.

“References to ‘boy’ are naturally what I’d say anyway, so why wouldn’t I put it in a lyric? I’ve got nothing to hide, I’m an open book.”

In keeping with that, he’s been plugging ‘Oh squared’ for predominantly queer crowds over the past few weeks, including a performance at Sydney’s Homesexual White party, opening for Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Fans were treated to the single and another new floor-filler called Last To Go, a track that’s been getting such a strong reception Callea said it had shot to the top of his pile of possible second single choices.

It’s one of a bank of almost 50 songs Callea will choose from when putting together his upcoming third album, the fruits of many successful writing sessions both here and in the US.

“In this country, there aren’t that many writers and producers, so basically within three weeks you’ve worked with everyone. You go over to LA and there are a shitload of people to work with — it’s so inspiring,” he said.

Oh Oh Oh Oh came about after a particularly relaxed three-hour recording session with DJ Poet.
“I sat there on the couch with a coffee in one hand and my mike in the other — that’s how casual and easy it was. I just had fun, and hopefully that comes through in the track.”

The fun extended to the song’s video, shot at swanky Sydney nightspot Beach Haus.

Now an independent artist, having left Sony BMG, Callea cheerfully admitted his video budgets had dropped (“My mum came to the video shoot and, God love her, she started helping out with the catering. When you’re doing it all yourself, Mum’s gotta help with the catering!”).

Fun though the video is, Callea said he still hadn’t quite got the hang of hamming it up for the camera.

“I enjoy doing clips to a certain extent, but I do get very self-conscious. Making love to a camera in a club for eight hours is not natural, particularly when you’re not a blonde with big tits. It’s harder than it looks.”

Perhaps it’s because Callea long since gave up clubbing for a happy, settled home life with partner Tim Campbell in Melbourne’s suburbs.

“We’re such nannas at times. Sometimes we’ll look at each other and go, ‘We should really leave the house, shouldn’t we?’

“But honestly, after a long day in the studio, by the time I get home, I just want to put my ugg boots on, sit on the couch with Tim and open a bottle of Yering Chardonnay.”

Oh Oh Oh Oh is out now on iTunes.

source - http://www.starobserver.com.au/play/entertainment-play/2011/10/18/anthony-out-and-proud-in-life-and-in-music/63998

Monday, October 17, 2011

OH OH OH OH it's a bit of S&M!

On the publicity trail to promote his new single Oh Oh Oh Oh Anthony stopped by the offices of noise11 for an interview...

http://www.noise11.com/?vinterviews=anthony-callea

and for something very . very special

http://www.noise11.com/?vsessions=anthony-callea-sessions

Oh Oh Oh Oh - The Remixes

Not content with making us go Oh Oh Oh Oh once, Anthony Callea announced today that he intends to make us feel Oh Oh Oh Oh again this Friday.


Yes folks it's Remix time with the release of The 'Khaled' and the 'DK Club Mix' available on iTunes from this Friday.


The single debuted on ARIA 's 'Australian Singles' chart at no 17 - the only truly independent song to chart, and at no.6 on the Jagermeister Chart - the official chart for Independent releases.


You can listen to a sample of the Khaled Mix below.

Latest tracks by AnthonyCallea

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Inside Story - Anthony Callea

Singer Anthony Callea on how to make the perfect roast chicken plus why his jelly-bean machine runs low every few days.













Who -Award-winning singer and songwriter. Anthony’s latest single, Oh Oh Oh Oh, is now available for download from iTunes

Born - Melbourne, 1982

Lives - In Melbourne with partner (actor/singer) Tim Campbell, dog Oscar and two fish.

Typical Saturday morning - A sleep-in, walking to the local cafe, ordering coffee and breakfast, and reading the papers.

Your idea of luxury at home - A few really nice bottles of wine, the kind you would normally only have if you went to a restaurant.

Signature dish - I’m not the best cook. Still, I do make a nice roast chicken, along with my signature peas. It’s my mum’s recipe, but I’ve added a few things to it.

1. Award - I won this ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) award for The Prayer (the highest-selling single in Australia in 2005). As a kid I always watched the ARIAs and thought it would be great to go. That was all I wanted. So it was very cool to actually walk away with one. It’s very heavy. I know because I dropped it on my foot once. I’ve won a few awards and it’s great to get these things as an acknowledgement of what I do – but the ARIA is the pinnacle of all of them.

2. Jelly-bean machine - A friend brought this for me from Italy. It’s quite large and it’s a really nice one. Whenever I fill it up, it only lasts about two days and then I’m left with a jar of black jelly beans, because I hate black jelly beans. And I’m on edge from all the sugar.

3. Yoyo - I love a good yoyo and I found this Coca-Cola one in a vintage store. I like to think I am pretty good with the yoyo but sometimes I hit myself in the face with it, especially when trying to do the ‘around the world’ trick. There was a stage at school when it was a really big craze. I was totally obsessed. Even now, I take it to gigs with me and when I have time to waste backstage, I play with my yoyo.

4. Piano - When I bought this piano, I intended to write songs and learn to play it really well. Really, though, it’s just great for massive alcohol-induced sing-a-long nights. They usually start about 11pm and we go through all the classics. Our poor neighbours! My mum sent me to piano lessons growing up but I was really slack and never practised. I just wanted to sing. Do I play any other instruments? Well, I can hit a good tambourine .

5. Dog - We think Oscar is a labrador-cross-kelpie. We had just moved into our new home and went shopping for furniture and lamps one day and instead came home with a dog. We had decided to stop at the RSPCA on our way home, just for fun, and we ended up playing with Oscar for an hour. We just had to bring him home after that. He is the most beautiful dog. He was found at five weeks of age with barbed wire around him and his tail chopped off. And yet he’s a placid and fun dog. Tim is really good with him; he’s like Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer.

source -Herald Home Magazine Liftout

Friday, October 7, 2011

Anthony Callea Interview

Anthony Callea - Out In Perth Interview
Out In Perth 8th October 2011



You’d think Anthony Callea would be used to the limelight by now but the 28 year-old admits he’s not the most confident person when it comes to shooting a video clip.

‘Oh my God, I’m so self-conscious when it comes to things like that,’ said Callea.
‘As much as we had fun recording it… it’s just really hard making love to the camera for eight hours really,’ he laughed.

The video clip in question is his new dance-pop single out this month, Oh Oh Oh Oh.

The single is the first we’ve heard from Callea since his 2007 single, Addicted to You. Callea has been busy working in Los Angeles on his new album due out next year.

‘I didn’t put any pressures or restrictions or barriers on me creatively and I just wanted to take it as it came.’

‘There were so many nights that we went out with people and just had a great night when we went out to a club and I wanted to bring that feeling and that vibe into this track.’

DJ Poet, renowned for his involvement with the Black Eyed Peas and having worked closely with Will.I.Am, helped Callea put together the single in LA.

‘What better person to create some sort of track in terms of a dance pop track than Poet? I remember walking into that studio and in the first 30 minutes, I knew we were onto something and we just clicked. ‘He’s totally loopy but I say that in the nicest way possible, you know you have to be somewhat loopy to work in the music industry in LA and [be] part of the Black Eyed Peas.’

The Melbourne-born artist hailed the DJ as a ‘musical genius’. The pair wrote Oh Oh Oh Oh together in three hours and recorded most of it there and then.

Callea found his time in LA far more relaxed than ever before. He recalled sitting in the studio with a coffee in hand and recording vocals when his dad commented that Fergie, the Black Eyed Peas lead, had recorded some of her vocals on the same lounge.

‘If she’s done it, it’s good enough for me,’ he said at the time.

Since taking out the runner-up of Australian Idol in 2004, Callea has been supporting well known artists like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Diana Ross and Westlife on tour. He also starred in the first run of the Wicked in Australia as the lovable munchkin, Boq.

‘For me it was a completely different experience doing live theatre, you know, going out on stage and not being me and not doing my songs and not having my band and sticking to a script, it’s a completely different frame of mind.It was a great learning curve for me and it taught me a lot of discipline. Eight shows a week doing the exactly same thing and keeping it fresh, eight times a week is a challenge.’

Callea hasn’t forgotten his links to the gay community here in Australia, though – he recently performed his new single at the Homosexual White Party in Sydney along with British pop star Sophie Ellis Bextor.

‘It went off and it was great for me, you can spend so much time in the studio but I have to get out there and perform live…’ The 28 year-old was a little coy about the line in his new single, ‘You captivate my soul, boy,’ but said the line could be taken anyway.

‘Well I suppose you can take it two ways – you know, I’ve got nothing to hide and that’s what I would naturally say and as a songwriter, I’m just putting my words into songs…’ he said. ‘You can take it anyway you want really.’

As for his relationship with Australian television and stage actor, Tim Campbell, Callea said the couple wanted to keep it as a normal one.

‘We’re very honest about our relationship but it’s our relationship, no one else’s relationship and you know, that’s somewhat how we’d like to keep it. There’s no reason to throw it in people’s faces and at the end of the day, I do my job and he does his job. Like any relationship, when you get home at night you clock off and sit on the couch and have a glass of wine and just talk shit. We like to keep it a normal relationship, I suppose.’

For the rest of the year, Callea will be busy promoting the single while heading towards releasing his third album next year.

Callea appears to have gone all-out for the album, enlisting help from American songwriter Matt Morris. Morris has worked with artists like Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, having written Aguilera’s Fighter and tracks for JT.

‘I’ve always been a fan of dance-pop music and that’s something I listen to constantly, that was what I was surrounded by for the past two years and it really influenced my writing and my recording. The last two years I’ve done a lot of listening to people and listening to myself and being a fan of music again and putting that into my music.’

Anthony Callea’s latest single is Oh Oh Oh Oh and is out now on iTunes.

Benn Dorrington Photograph by Peter Brew-Bevan

http://www.outinperth.com/index.php/music/anthony-callea

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Oh Oh Oh Oh - It's time!



At last the long wait is over for Anthony Callea fans with the release date of his new single Oh Oh Oh Oh finally here!

Follow the link below and head over to iTunes to put a real party starter on your ipod, it'll be the best $1.69 you'll spend today.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

4 minutes with Anthony Callea

Four Minutes With... Anthony Callea


by: By Cameron Adams
From: National Features


October 06, 2011 12:00AM


CAMERON Adams interviews Anthony Callea about his new album release, Oh Oh Oh Oh.

1. OH BOY


For the first time, 28-year-old Anthony Callea sounds his age. New single Oh Oh Oh Oh is a party anthem written with DJ Poet (Black Eyed Peas). "I was writing R&B dance Euro stuff at 16," Callea says. "I still love ballads and pop, but this is what I'm enjoying now. If I don't do music I love, I can't expect anyone else to believe it."

2. AT THE END OF THE DAY


Callea is enjoying a musical challenge. "People say, 'It's so different to The Prayer, you've got such a big voice suited to the ballads'. This song is 10 times harder for me to sing than The Prayer. People underestimate well-produced, well-written pop/dance tracks. You have to think about your voice as an instrument."


3. DO IT YOURSELF


The former Idol is releasing his music independently. "The business model of the music industry has changed. There was no A&R guy ringing up producers saying, 'We need a track like this'. I had no restrictions. I swallowed my pride, I emailed producers myself to write with them when I went overseas. It's liberating."


4. CALLEA PTY LTD


Being his own boss is scary. "I'm my own travel agent, my own everything. You're calling the shots. It's like I'm running my own small business. You haven't got six-figure marketing budgets, but if you concentrate on the music, hopefully that speaks for itself."
Oh Oh Oh Oh is available October 7

'>http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/four-minutes-with-anthony-callea/story-e6frfn09-1226159586421#ixzz1ZwDGhK7D">

Picture: Manuela Cifra

the auspOp interview - Anthony Callea


INTERVIEW : Anthony Callea

auspOpWednesday, October 5, 2011

It's hard to believe that it's coming up on seven years since Anthony Callea dropped the fastest selling single in Australian chart history - the all-conquering 'The Prayer'. Equally hard to believe is the fact that it's been almost four years since we've heard so much as a skerrick of new music from the former Idol star.But Anthony's back - armed with a new sense of independence and a collection of new recordings, some of which will form the tracklist for his forthcoming album.We caught up with the singer after his break from the music biz ("I just wanted to go away, not sing, not talk to anyone and just chill.") and discovered what's taken him so long to furnish us with new Callea tunes.

"There have been a few things going on," Anthony tells us. "But I’ve spent the past two years just going back and forth to L.A. I think I’ve been about four or five times. It’s been great because I really wanted to hone in on the songwriting, get back into the studio and have no restrictions," he says.

Anthony's enjoying plenty of creative freedom since he parted ways with Sony Music a few years back after his last album project 'A New Chapter'. But he quickly discovered that there's much more to being an independent artist than enjoying the benefits of creative freedom. There's also a hell of a lot of hard work involved.

"I swallowed my pride for the first time, because when you're with a record company, the A&R department is setting up all the songwriting and recording sessions. Everything’s done for you from even the tiniest things - like we have to book that accommodation, we have to book those flights. Basically I’m my own travel agent now. And of course, I've got a team working with me, but it’s my team.

"I went over to L.A. the first time and I sat at my computer and thought ‘who do I like? What music am I singing? Who am I listening to? Who am I digging in terms of production?’ and I simply sent them emails. At the end of the day they can only say ‘no’. Or they don’t get back to you.

"But I got quite a few responses and to be able to walk into a room and for them to have no preconceptions of what you’ve done beforehand and no restrictions in terms of creatives, it’s refreshing," he says.

Although Anthony does admit that being cut free from the relative safety bubble of that record company contract after such success was a daunting prospect.

"I suppose you’re just on your own all of a sudden, which can be scary," he tells us. "It’s like a relationship – when you’ve been in a relationship for a while and all of a sudden you’re on your own, it’s different."

Just to clarify, Anthony IS definitely still in a relationship.
"Yeah, I’m not talking about THAT one," he laughs. "It’s a different frame of mind that you have to get yourself into. But it’s a positive one and I’m happy at the moment. Obviously it’s always scary, but it’s good."

Anthony's new single 'Oh Oh Oh Oh' is released to digital retail this Friday. It marks a departure in style from his previous outings and sees him heading straight for the dancefloor. He explains the reasons behind the switch from ballads to dance/pop.

"That’s what I first started recording when I was 16," he admits. I remember being in a studio in South Melbourne. All those first demos and writing sessions that I did were dance/pop tracks."
"It’s music that I’ve always loved and I suppose that at this point in time, this is where I am musically. Like anyone with any job, hopefully there’s an evolvement with what you do."
We ask him if perhaps there may be the possibility of an Anthony Callea 'lost recordings' album somewhere down the track.

"No. I do have them in a little private folder on my laptop, which no-one hears," he says. "The funny thing is that one of the songs that I originally wrote as a ballad ended up on my first album. I recorded it when I was 16 and we never re-recorded the vocal."

We also probe Anthony as to whether he made a conscious decision to pop the word 'boy' ("You captivate my soul, boy") into the lyric of 'Oh Oh Oh Oh' instead of 'girl'.

"You know what? When we were writing the track, that didn’t even pop into my head," he admits. "A few people have picked it up. But you know when you make a statement you just exclaim ‘Oh boy’? That’s what I was actually thinking at the time. But I don’t care if that’s the way you want to hear it – it’s perfectly fine."

The official video for the clip is due to premiere tomorrow night. It sees Anthony and a bunch of party-goers taking over two floors of an exclusive club in Sydney and is designed to show a less serious side to the singer.

"It's just a fun clip," Anthony says. "Every video that I’ve done in the past has been very serious and very straight to camera and very rehearsed, so I just wanted to have fun with this one. Let’s not be too serious about it – listen to the track – let’s not over-complicate it. At the end of the day, especially in this country, we don’t have the budget of a Lady Gaga video, so don’t expect a Lady Gaga video! I did have a few Coke cans that day, but I decided against it," he laughs.

Anthony co-wrote the 'Oh Oh Oh Oh' with DJ Poet, who's most famous for his work with the Black Eyed Peas, and he's gone on the record a number of times over the past few weeks describing the producer as 'loopy'.

"He IS loopy!" Anthony exclaims. "In a good way. I so mean it in the most positive way, because musically he’s a genius. I remember walking out of that session feeling mentally drained because he just doesn’t stop.

"I like to sit back and take things in and get my thoughts about something and then attack it, but he’s completely the opposite 24/7. It was really inspiring to work like that. Over there, it’s all about the music – and especially when certain writers and producers get major cuts with internationals. They’re not doing it because they need to, they’re doing it because they want to – and it makes such a big difference."

Poet isn't the only producer Anthony's been working with to craft his new album. There are more big names, both in the US and here at home, who've joined him on his latest musical venture.

"I’ve worked with Paul Mac, the DNA boys and I’ve worked with Jaakko who’s from Finland who did all the Bomfunk MC's stuff. And Matt Morris who wrote ‘Figher’ for Christina (Aguilera) and who works quite heavily with Justin Timberlake," he says.

"I was so scared the first day that I knew that I was going in to work with Paul Mac because obviously I knew what he’d done and I didn’t think that he’d want to work with me," he admits. "I walked in there thinking ‘don’t fuck it up, don’t fuck it up. Just be cool ‘cause he’s really cool and I’m so not cool’. And out of everyone that I’ve worked with, he was the loveliest, most encouraging person to work with. I wrote three tracks with him.

"Then Matt Morris, again I looked up what he’d done and I thought ‘I can’t work with this guy’. He’s an amazing singer as well and as a singer you don’t get to work with many people that are singers too, so he actually got it. He understood it from a male vocal perspective as well. I said to him ‘I need to come to Denver and write with you again – or you need to come back to Australia – I’ll just put you in my suitcase'."

We wonder how Anthony would go about explaining that kind of concealment on 'Border Security'.

"I also did some work with this DJ in L.A. called ‘Baron Von Luxxury’. He was very, very cool to work with. The sounds that he was pulling and the way that he produces tracks was just ridiculous. He was asking whether I liked what he was doing and I said, ‘I fucking love it all – just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll just sit here and have my coffee and when you’re ready for me to write the top line, I’ll do it’."

Anthony admits to having "forty to fifty" songs to choose from for his new album, but he says that his dedicated legion of fans will need to wait just a little while longer for the long player to surface.

"Obviously I’m leading towards an album," he says. "I’ve got the second single up my sleeve hopefully ready to go. What I would like to do ideally is release a second single early next year and then put an album out in the first half. Obviously when you’re doing it independently, you have to think about things a little more strategically."

His fans will also be heartened by the upcoming announcement of some live shows, which Anthony clearly gets excited about.

"I love live performances!" he beams. "You can only coop me up in a studio for so long! I’m all about live performances and we’re locking some in at the moment. The more of them, the better," he says.

Looking back on Anthony's already amazing career, it's extraordinary to think how much he's accomplished in his almost 29 years - not just through the Australian Idol competition, but through various stage shows, support roles for visiting artists, Channel 7's 'It Takes Two' and countless industry and fan-voted awards. On reflection, especially on the last seven years since his second place result in Idol, Anthony says there is nothing he would have done differently.

"Obviously if I did it now eight years down the track, I'd know better. You evolve and you learn things. Hopefully you learn things in eight years. Idol was overwhelming at the time. It was the biggest series ever – over three million people voted.

"I remember walking down that red carpet at the Opera House for the finale and it was a complete head fuck. I literally wondered what was going on. It was ridiculous, but I wouldn’t change it for the world."

Anthony's single 'Oh Oh Oh Oh' hits digital retail this Friday (including a global release on iTunes).His new album is due in the first half of 2012.

http://auspop.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-anthony-callea.html