citizen helene profile picture

citizen helene

Citizen Helene & The Racists

About Me

someone complained i had no biography so i thought i'd write something (consider it a placeholder for useful information). in response, here are a few things you might like to know about me:
i was born by the river in a little tent. (not really. it was actually a hospital in london, so i suppose the river part is vaguely true.)
i've been making music for yonks now, beginning with some very dodgy piano lessons as a child (by the amount of piano you can hear in my songs, i think we both know how well those went). inspired by, and yet, completely unlike the spice girls (?), i taught myself the guitar at the age of 13, and i've been writing songs ever since.
i love the beach boys to a fairly worrying extent.
i perform live with my girl group, the racists. you have about a 9% chance of seeing us play, but i'm not promising anything. the racists are (in order of racistness):
kazumi hirota - former lead singer of massive cult japanese band, the shinonome orchestra
rebecca jade - formerly of science
and jen hatt
they are all freakishly talented musicians in their own right - check out their pages in my top friends list for proof :)
my new album, twelve appalling songs will be released in spring 2008, by god! a tall order if ever i heard one but i suppose anything is possible.

not content with this 'achievement', i am currently working on the 'legendary' 'difficult'* second album, the gilded palace of gin.
cheerio!
CH
xxx
DISCLAIMER: if you genuinely enjoy my music, please feel free to add me! :) if i don't know you i would especially appreciate it if you sent a note with your request so i can see you're a person and not a spammer. and sorry but if you are someone with something to sell, or a death metal band etc with no obvious common interests, i will not accept your request.
*so difficult, i actually started it before the 'first'.

sign up to the mailing list here:


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/11/2005
Band Members: on record: just me, helene.

occasionally you may also hear the voice of martin lloyd chitty ('rough as a badger's proverbial'), or the lush string arrangements of mr wim oudijk ('the alex chilton song') :)

on stage i am joined by my backing band, a girl group called 'the racists':

rebecca jade
hat
kazumi
Influences: brian, carl & dennis wilson/the beach boys (the biggest influence of all), gin, whisky, the beatles, macca (RAM & mccartney), george harrison, joni mitchell, bob dylan, gram parsons & emmylou harris, the flying burrito brothers, glen campbell/jimmy webb ('wichita lineman' = best song ever), nick drake, leonard cohen, john & alice coltrane (RIP), van dyke parks, phil spector, big star, chris bell, alex chilton, laura nyro, nara leão, todd rundgren & the nazz, steve espinola, gene pitney, emitt rhodes, roger nichols, tom waits, ed harcourt, johnny cash, patricia crawford, rogerio duprat, penny nichols, townes van zandt, martin lloyd chitty, radiohead, hush the many, elvis (presley & perkins), eric carmen (;)), the raspberries, the left banke, the byrds, ben sadock, the moody blues, the box tops, elliott smith, tori amos, the move/roy wood (birmingham's answer to todd rundgren!), the flame, american spring/honeys (BW's wife/sister in law, not the awful 'r'n'b' band of the late 90's), loudon wainwright iii, curtis mayfield, smokey robinson, bacharach, the kinks, david bowie, barbara lewis, tim buckley, neil young, stephen stills, sam cooke, atlantic, motown, stax, sundazed, serge gainsbourg, randy newman, tenlons fort, the drifters, fairport convention, margo guryan, the cake, stephin merritt, gary usher, the free design, wondermints, marc bolan & t. rex, jack nitzsche, the small faces, billy nicholls, the end, jan & dean, the millennium, sandy salisbury, curt boettcher, lee mallory, joey stec, lou christie, "sneeky" pete, graham nash, yellow balloon, sandy denny, joan baez, martin carthy & dave swarbrick, woody guthrie, pete seeger, stevie wonder, led zeppelin, scott walker/the walker brothers... friends & foes, home & homelessness, misery, mirth and the general ridiculousness of life.

....but not james taylor!
Sounds Like: someone in serious denial of the decade they're living in.

Record Label: Fair Maiden Records
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Power Down IV - review in Tourdates

Hello everyone,Just a quick note to let you all know that my lovely friend Yasmin has written a review of The Racists’ set at Power Down IV on 1st March in free music paper Tourdates.  Brit...
Posted by citizen helene on Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:07:00 PST

idiot

whilst (;)) undertaking the nonsensical* to many (including myself), routine journey home from work last night, i had something of an altercation with a rather strange man.  the bus i had been on...
Posted by citizen helene on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:28:00 PST

women: bad for the environment

it's o-fish-al:"Synthetic oestrogens, which enter the environment through the use of the contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy, and natural oestrogens excreted by people are already subje...
Posted by citizen helene on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:53:00 PST

Power Down IV

Power Down is an evening of entertainment with a minimum carbon footprint (without offsetting, which is frankly a rather delusional waste of time and rubbish ;)) What this means - no electricity, whic...
Posted by citizen helene on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:14:00 PST

love and the environment

can the two ever be compatible?  where are the sustainably/locally-sourced, organic, recyclable condoms, hmmm? is it better to pollute, or to overpopulate? think about it, before you all go shagg...
Posted by citizen helene on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:44:00 PST

the white hart (24/01/08) - a review!

thank you to everyone who came along to my debut gig with band last week.  for those of you who missed it, here's an excellent review (thanks jacket!):The White Hart - 24 Jan 08Tonight Citizen He...
Posted by citizen helene on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:22:00 PST

Marmaduke Dando and The Mooche, The Green, Clerkenwell (02.12.07) - Photos and stuff!

hello all (five of you ;))the mooche played their second gig last sunday - photos (by the ever-innovative joe lee) are here and can also be found in my photos section on here as well.the green - beaut...
Posted by citizen helene on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:58:00 PST

Ultra-Secret Gig Footage

Hello all,Played a few songs at Ed Harcourt and Nick DeCosemo's all-dayer on Saturday 17th November at the Paradise Bar - amazing! Still can't believe it, I was so overwhelmed (see videos for evidenc...
Posted by citizen helene on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:37:00 PST

something for both ears!

hi all, some exciting news - ''til tomorrow' is featured on the wonderfulsound libraries' november show, 'something for both ears' . see below for more details and a link to hear or download the one h...
Posted by citizen helene on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 04:12:00 PST

album update

dear four people who read my blog ;)as most of the people who care already know, i've had to put the completion of 'twelve appalling songs' on hold while i attempt to obtain somewhere proper to live.&...
Posted by citizen helene on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:09:00 PST