SANDI THOM FINDS WIDE WORLD OF SUCCESS ON WEB.Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer Buying a webcam rather than fixing her beat-up old car was probably the best decision of Sandi Thom's early music career. Though the soulful soul·ful adj. Full of or expressing deep feeling; profoundly emotional. soul  ful·ly adv. Scottish singer-songwriter already had built a
sizable siz·a·ble also size·a·ble adj. Of considerable size; fairly large. siz a·ble·ness n. fan base through regular gigging, she says it was nowhere near
the 70,000 hits she got at her Web site earlier this year while
streaming a live concert from the cramped cramped adj. 1. Uncomfortably small or restricted: cramped living quarters. 2. Difficult to read, especially for being crowded into a small space: cramped handwriting. basement This article is about the section of a building. For the foundation, see Basement rock. A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Slab-on-grade buildings do not have basements. of her South London South London (known colloquially as South of the River) is the area of London south of the River Thames. Some neighbourhoods north of the Thames have South London postal codes (SW), but these neighbourhoods are classified as West or Central London. flat. ``But that's what the Internet is like, isn't it? It just spreads the word,'' says Thom, 25, who is appearing in concert tonight at the Hotel Cafe in support of the album ``Smile -- It Confuses People,'' featuring the singles ``I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)'' and ``Lonely Girl.'' Two weeks after her 21-show virtual tour came to an end in March, Thom reappeared on her Web site alongside an executive from RCA See RCA connector and video/TV history. for what the label calls ``the first webcast signing in major record label history.'' RCA released the album ``Smile -- It Confuses People'' a few months later, although Thom says it was actually recorded a year ago October before inking the contract. Thom says she wrote all the songs from the point of view of an observer, which is how the once-shy schoolgirl from the small fishing town of Banff thinks of herself. ``I've always been the sort of person who'd rather observe people, and so I'm more than likely to not talk but to listen and watch what it is people do; really just the strange little things,'' she says. ``And so most of the songs are focused on the funny little things that go on in relationships rather than the big things. But it's always subconsciously sub·con·scious adj. Not wholly conscious; partially or imperfectly conscious: subconscious perceptions. n. The part of the mind below the level of conscious perception. Often used with the. about yourself, isn't it?'' Before becoming a recording artist, Thom was just another graduate of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts trying to make it in music. She worked as a session singer, scored a publishing deal and signed with the independent label Viking Legacy. She later opened for bands like the Proclaimers and headlined a few of her own shows. It was between gigs, in fact, when her car broke down and the idea of installing a webcam in her basement popped into her head. And the rest is history still in the making. Sandra Barrera (818) 713-3728 sandra.barrera@dailynews.com SANDI THOM Where: The Hotel Cafe, 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . When: 8 tonight. Tickets: $10 at the door. Info: www.hotelcafe.com. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: ``I've always been the sort of person who'd rather observe people ... and so most of the songs are focused on the funny little things that go on in relationships,'' says Sandi Thom. |
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