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34 HIP HOP / RNB www.guestlist.net LABRINTH We met up to have a little chat prior to his Wrigley's 5 Gum launch show about his female following, his backstage demands and working with Simon Cowell. Jenny jenny@guestlist.net Hello Labrinth! You stood me up, you stood me up! Aw no, are you upset? Have you not been stood up before then? Was that the first time? I've stood people up, I'm the worst at standing people up so I can't really say anything! I have been stood up, I'm always in the studio so if a tune kind of comes into my head I think about everything, so quite a few girls have been quite upset with me like 'I've been waiting outside for three hours!' and I'm like 'Ohh shit!' So you have a lot of girls throwing themselves at you nowadays then? Erm, well I kinda have a girlfriend so she's gonna bat them away. Haha, so they know to keep quiet? When I do shows and stuff there's always girls who are like 'Oooh Lab!' but that's kind of like more of a fan thing. Some women, like when I do photoshoots and stuff they do get a bit pally and I kind of feel a vibe from them but, you know, I know to behave myself! Good, good that's nice to hear! So what's the most extreme situation you've had with girls like that? I've had someone take my number from some- one's phone before and then call me. She was like 'Hey Lab...' and I'm like 'Er, how did you get my number?' She was like 'Oh it's the girl you met today'. 'Erm, I didn't meet you or give you my number!' Oh, stalker! So... you're about to do a perfor- mance for the Wrigley's 5 gum, then? Yeah it's pretty exciting man, I never thought last year I was gonna be headlining loads of shows, it's crazy man. I've only been perform- ing really for a year and it's nice to see that my set has really had an effect on a lot of festivals and shows. So, yeah, it's good man it's healthy stuff. I barely got any sleep last night 'cause of how excited I am! I was listening to the finished version of my album and I was all excited like 'Ah it's finished, it's done, we're putting it out!' So does it feel good then for it to just be your stuff and not you working on someone else tracks? Like when you were producing Tinie Tempah's stuff? Yeah I produced his first two records and an- other single with Ellie Goulding and, yeah man, that was really fun. Of course I've produced a lot of records for a few artists and it's nice to be on that side of things. You've worked with Reebok before haven't you? You did adverts with them? The Reebok adverts were because me and Ree- bok are in bed together. We love each other. You know, I was stopping traffic in the West End the other day which was insane, they had a whole road blocked off for me so that we could do this advert which was like... I dunno, it was just kind of surreal 'cause I'm the little guy from Hackney in West End stopping traffic. So you don't see yourself as a big star then? I'm a bit weird like that 'cause I'll kind of be driving in the car and I'll stop and be like 'Ah I just quickly need to run into Tesco's to get some food' but then I'm like 'Oh, I forgot...' It's nice to see that people are recognising the music and kind of recognising what I have. Yeah it's good man. So Simon Cowell's your manager... do you work well with him as your label boss? Well, he's not really my boss he's actually like a good friend man, he's been really supportive. I have 100% creative control and he's just there to support me, especially in terms of business if I need any advice on that side and he'll just be like 'Lab, I'm not sure that's a good idea' or to push other ideas. It's like being a kid that's been introduced to millions of toys in a room and I get to get involved with all those toys and do what I want. Are you a bit of a diva now with all this new stardom of yours? What's your usual rider? Water at room temperature. Is that all? That's not very demanding of you. What's the most diva-ish thing you've done or asked for? I wouldn't do a performance 'cause I didn't have any scones on my rider. I love scones man, that's my thing, they're really important to me. I think it was more about that the promoter was being a bit of an idiot though, so I just found any reason to get on his nerves. "I never thought last year I was gonna be headlining loads of shows, it's crazy man." For more info on the Wrig- ley's 5 Gum launch show visit www.5gum.com / facebook.om/5GumUK Issue 37 / MAR-APR 2012 Fresh to Death OUT NOW ON ITUNES!