http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/s...5E10431,00.html Tsunami in a Lee-cup15dec05
AUSTRALIAN Idol punk Lee Harding isn't worried about offending people with lyrics in his debut single, Wasabi.
In the opening, Harding sings: "She's like a tsunami, could wipe out an army."
As the first anniversary of the Boxing Day tsunami looms, there has been some suggestion the lyrics could offend people affected by the natural disaster, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.
"No they haven't," he said when asked if there had been any negative feedback to the lyrics.
"When I first read the lyrics, I was like, hmm.
"It has settled down enough for people not to sort of jump on that I think and ... it (the word tsunami) is not made out in an offensive line."
The 22-year-old made it down to the final three contestants in the last series of Australian Idol, but was ousted from the competition to make way for an all-girl final between Emily Williams and eventual winner Kate DeArauge.
He was a crowd favourite throughout the competition with his bright coloured punk hair, make-up and punk outfits.
It was his unique style that secured him a recording contract with Sony BMG Australia.
He released Wasabi this month and plans to have an album out by February.
"We are just in the studio now," he said.
"I have got about five songs through at the moment so we are roughly half way through making the album," he said.
While he has enjoyed working on the solo project, Harding has no intentions of remaining a solo artist and will form a band for his second album.
"I want to be a band. It has to be a band," he said.
"The reason I have come out with Lee Harding, and they (the label) discussed this with me, is because of my profile from Idol.
"So I am coming out first as Lee Harding with the single and the album and the second album will be when we start promoting the band name."
Harding fronted covers band Bedrock prior to auditioning for Australian Idol but has no idea of what his new band will be called.
"I am tossing up ideas," he said.
"I am looking at band names with two words in it, something punchy that jumps out at you, something that rolls off the tongue nicely."
Asked about his trademark mascara and the large amount of foundation he was wearing, Harding said he didn't wear make-up all the time.
"I don't always wear make-up during the day because that can just get to be too much sometimes," he laughed.
"And the colours in my hair, I get that done every six weeks or two months."
And with his ripped jeans, studded belt and graffiti'd shoes, Harding said he didn't have to try too hard to fit the punk look.
"I just fall out of bed and chuck on whatever I see in my line of fire," he said.
