Jamie Edward Lenman (born 9 November 1982) is an English musician and illustrator. He was the lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter for British alternative rock trio Reuben from 2001 to 2008. He also works as an illustrator, which he made his primary focus upon Reuben disbanding. In 2008, Lenman began releasing and performing as a solo artist and has gone on to release five .
As an illustrator, Lenman worked full-time for The Guardian from 2007 until 2014. He has also frequently contributed to the Doctor Who Magazine under the pseudonym "Baxter", releasing a collection of his work so far for the magazine called Whoah! in 2014.
In 1996, after taking guitar lessons for some time, Lenman was introduced by his guitar teacher to Jon Pearce, who attended the same school as Lenman: Collingwood College, Surrey. Pearce had only been playing guitar for two weeks, however the pair, along with another student decided to form a band. Whilst at school Lenman studied both music and graphics. Lenman has reflected that he was a "good boy at school", and that he found it difficult to let go of extracurricular activities such as the Sixth form and organising activity days when the band began taking up more of his time.
Lenman's jobs included working in a fish and chip restaurant, and at a music instrument & equipment shop. Lenman would continue to work these other jobs whilst in Reuben.
Pearce and Lenman were in various bands writing both their own material and playing covers of Nirvana and Green Day before eventually forming Angel with drummer Jason Wilson in 1998, which would eventually become the band Reuben. "GETTING INTO: Reuben". Dead Press, 26 January 2012. by Gavin Lloyd Angel were originally managed by Eve Houseman and Jim Bowes (1998–1999) who ran the live music promotion company Gigmania, which was prominent in establishing the then thriving music scene in the Camberley, Farnborough, and Reading areas.
In the long period spent getting their debut album out, Lenman already had songs lined up for the second album and in September 2005 the band released Very Fast Very Dangerous on Xtra Mile. To make being in a band more financially viable Lenman continued to work at a fish and chip restaurant as well as being in the band. In 2007, after parting ways with Xtra Mile Recordings, Lenman along with his bandmates set up their own label Hideous Records to release new Reuben new material, including their third album In Nothing We Trust.
After releasing In Nothing We Trust in 2007 the band were becoming increasingly strained financially, with the groups savings running out, which Lenman found particularly difficult, "everyone that worked with us ended up doing things for mates rates or on a promise, it didn't feel very good to always be asking favours", Lenman felt as if he was not able to give enough back in order to compensate and pay people for helping him and the band. Trying to support the band and their lives, the band were continuing to work second jobs, with Lenman now full-time at The Guardian as an illustrator. Lenman was also finding the groups increase in fan following difficult to deal with, recalling that some fans would complain about the band failing to play their particular song preferences, "the longer you go they become bigger and bigger fans and I really felt the weight of people's expectations". Relationships between Lenman and his bandmates consequently had deteriorated, eventually to the point where the band were barely speaking, Lenman reflected on this in a 2009 interview "if I said something it would always be negative, which is terrible. I could feel myself creating an atmosphere a lot of the time". In June 2008, the band went on an indefinite hiatus, Lenman had "burnt out" and had no desire to make or perform music in any capacity.
Since the band's split, Reuben have released a compilation of b-sides, unreleased and rare studio and live material titled We Should Have Gone to University in 2009, and a tenth anniversary edition of their debut album Racecar is Racecar Backwards in 2014, featuring more previous unheard and unreleased demos and live sessions. Lenman has commented a number of times during press for his solo-album in 2013 on the possibility of Reuben reuniting in the future, stating he wants to give it more time before properly considering it, as "it's only been five years".
On 23 September 2013 it was announced Lenman would be releasing his first record, Muscle Memory through Xtra Mile Recordings, as well as going on tour in the United Kingdom for the first time since Reuben split. The announcement also saw the release of his first double single "Fizzy Blood" & "Pretty Please". Both single tracks began receiving radio and videoplay on XFM, Kerrang! TV, Scuzz and Amazing Radio amongst others.
The 23 track album was released on 11 November 2013, with one half featuring "extreme, aggressive metal" and the other half "all folk and jazz". The release day was celebrated with an instore performance at Banquet Records. Lenman's first tour in 2013 saw him accompanied by a three-piece band, including Angus Cowan who worked both in the studio and on tour with Reuben, Dan Kavanagh on drums and Chris Coulter on guitar. Lenman's wife Lena also accompanied him on the tour, singing on the tracks "Little Lives" and "If You Have To Ask You'll Never Know", whilst an extended choir would join the band for the performance of "A Day In The Life".
Lenman's second double single featuring the tracks "It's Hard To Be A Gentleman" and "All The Things You Hate About Me, I Hate Them Too" premiered on 24 February 2014 on Rock Sound and featured reworked versions of both tracks. The tracks received airplay on BBC Radio 1, XFM, Scuzz, Kerrang amongst other media outlets. The single was released as a limited 7-inch vinyl for Record Store Day on 19 April. Lenman continued sporadically playing shows across 2014, including 2000 Trees Festival, Southampton's Takedown Festival, GuilFest in Guildford, Download Festival, ArcTanGent in Bristol as well as supporting Kerbdog at their London show on 16 November 2014. Some performances, including his own second headline tour included an extended seven-piece Heavy/Mellow band, featuring a horn section from Pete Fraser and Rob Piper. Lenman's final show of 2014 was a Christmas special at the West End Centre in Aldershot on 21 December, which included his Reuben bandmate Guy performing drums on their track "Moving to Blackwater".
Lenman has stated that he has no long-term plans in regard to releasing and performing music, and that it could be anywhere from a year to ten years time before he puts out another record, with illustration still being his primary focus. In a 2016 interview, Lenman once again discussed releasing new music and expressed his interest in working with a label and producer in the hope of being able to reach a broader audience.
Speaking on releasing a second album, Lenman stated that he is constantly working with Space, and that "we're just going to release these tracks as they become available", although did follow this comment up by saying he is "still quite wedded to the concept of 10–12 tracks as a piece of work".
On 27 October 2017, Lenman released his second solo record Devolver through Big Scary Monsters, preceded by the release of single "Hell In A Fast Car", which premiered on 30 July 2017. On 11 November 2018, Lenman headlined his own 'Lenmania' festival, accompanied by acts including Employed To Serve, Palm Reader and Hannah Lou Clark.
On 8 June 2018, Lenman put out a double-a side single, featuring the tracks "Long Gone" and "Irrelevant", with Justine Jones of Employed to Serve featuring on the former and Arcane Roots' Andrew Groves on the latter.
On 15 September 2018, Lenman opened for Biffy Clyro in Dublin and the following day in Belfast on 16 September, as well as supporting Marmozets on 19 October in London.
A year after the release of Devolver, Lenman announced plans to put out a live album, Live at St. Pancras. The show was recorded at St Pancras Old Church on the day of Devolver's release and would feature the complete recording of the show, including the question and answer section.
Lenman announced he would release Shuffle on 5 July 2019. The album would be made up of covers, with Lenman influenced by the "technical deconstructions" from the likes of Biffy Clyro and Arcane Roots, Shuffle would see him cover songs by The Beatles, the theme song from Popeye, Bernard Herrmann's theme for the 1976 film Taxi Driver and more. Lenman laid out that it had long been a career goal of his to put out a covers record and that he had in fact wanted to originally do it after the release of Muscle Memory. Discussing his song and style choices for the record, Lenman described the piece as an attempt "to redefine the concept of a covers album – not just lazy sound-alikes of '80s classics, not just ironic metal versions of pop tunes".
On 9 April 2019, Dan Kavanagh announced that after ten years of working with Lenman, he would be stepping down as his drummer, but affirmed that he hoped the two would make music again one day. In June, Lenman performed in Belfast and Dublin, with his former Reuben bandmate Guy Davis on drums.
Lenman performed at various festivals across 2019, including Bad Pond Festival in April, Smithdown Road Festival Handmade Festival in May, Glastonbury Festival in June and Trebur Open Air Festival & Two Thousand Trees Festival in July.
On 11 August 2022 Lenman released a new single, "Talk Hard", from a forthcoming album. It was described as "Vibrant... instantly catchy" by Rock Sound, and "Uplifting... Anthemic... Excellent" by Kerrang!.
Jamie toured the Atheist as well as headlining Lenmania III at the Manchester Club Academy and Strangeforms Festival at The Brudenell Social Club.
On 21 February 2024, Lenman announced his retirement from the music industry, stating no further plans to tour or make any more records. Any further appearances will be "Quarterly live stream"
Lenman has used a Fender Cyclone and Fender Stratocaster HH guitars for Reuben performances and recordings, going through a Laney Tube Fusion TF300 amplifier. Recording and performing Muscle Memory Lenman purchased a banjitar and also used a banjulele that belonged to his Great Uncle Arthur. Lenman also predominately uses Fender and Gretsch acoustic guitars live. Lenman has rarely used effects pedals, mainly relying simply on the overdrive setting on his amplifiers. Whilst performing in Reuben however, Lenman occasionally used an Akai HeadRush loop station.
Since Lenman began performing as a two-piece, he has further modified one of his Yamaha RGX's to include a passive pickup, which is linked to Electro-Harmonix POG which takes his guitar down an octave. This is then linked to separate guitar and bass heads, allowing Lenman to perform guitar and bass live.
Before fully concentrating on Reuben, Lenman had taken graphics at A level, although it was through Reuben he began learning programs such as Photoshop to create flyers and other artwork for the band, as they could not afford to pay someone else for them. Lenman designed, created and co-created various pieces of artwork for the band, and eventually through Reuben he met and was ultimately commissioned by the then editor of Rock Sound magazine, Darren Taylor to create some illustrations for the magazine, including 'Rockbot'. In 2007, whilst recording and subsequently touring In Nothing We Trust, Lenman began working full-time as an illustrator for The Guardian, creating content for education websites, it was through this that Lenman further developed his skills as an illustrator, learning to draw with vector programmes like Adobe Flash and Illustrator.
Lenman has also contributed to the Doctor Who Magazine since around 2007 under the pseudonym 'Baxter'. A long time Doctor Who fan, Lenman owns a full size custom made Dalek which he can be seen purchasing in the Reuben documentary What Happens in Aldershot Stays in Aldershot. Lenman initially believed that the magazine weren't interested in his work, and didn't realise he'd been published until he saw one of his illustrations in the magazine "I nagged Doctor Who Magazine for a year before they published my cartoon, without really telling me. I thought they still wanted me to bugger off, and there it was in the shops!" On 9 November 2014 Miwk Publishing Ltd released Whoah! – From the Pages of Doctor Who Magazine which contains all of Lenman's Doctor Who comics from the past eight years.
Other illustration work from Lenman includes "Megabot" for The Spill Magazine, content for the Wellcome Trust's In The Zone website, Directgov Kids, EDF Energy's The Pod website, the artwork for Providence an album by Caretaker and various children's books published by A & C Black including "Hard Nuts of History" series by Tracey Turner, "A Dinner Of Smells" by Humaira Rashid and "Big Shot" by Sean Callery.
Lenman is teetotal. Lenman is married to his wife Lena, who is a burlesque dancer. Lena Lenman performed vocals on Lenman's first solo album, as well as accompanying him on tour to sing her parts, she has also appeared in Lenman's music videos for "All the Things You Hate About Me, I Hate Them Too", "It's Hard to be a Gentleman", and "Like Me Better".
Shuffle lineup (2019–2020)
Devolver lineup (2017–2019)
The Heavy/Mellow Band (2013–2016)
Occasional expanded Heavy/Mellow Band
Solo studio EPs
Solo live albums
Solo singles
2013 | "Fizzy Blood" | — | Xtra Mile Recordings | Muscle Memory |
"Pretty Please" | — | |||
2014 | "It's Hard to be a Gentleman" | — | ||
"All These Things You Hate About Me, I Hate Them Too" | — | |||
2017 | "Mississippi" | — | Mad Note Records | Devolver |
"Waterloo Teeth" | — | Big Scary Monsters | ||
"Hell in a Fast Car" | ||||
2018 | "Long Gone"/"Irrelevant" | — | ||
2019 | "Popeye" | — | Shuffle | |
"Killer" (Adamski & Seal cover) | — |
With Reuben
Guest appearances
2006 | "Save Yourself" | Left Side Brain | Action Potential |
2006 | "Captain of Lies" | Print Is Dead Vol 1 | |
2007 | "Ladies of London Town" | Frank Turner | Sleep Is for the Week |
2009 | "Are You Convinced?" | Sucioperro | Pain Agency |
2012 | "A Little Bit of Rapping" | The Black Dog Allstars | |
2013 | "Black Mamba" | ZIMT | Tube Killers |
2014 | "Again?" | King Canute | Cutting Teeth – EP |
2014 | "Clocks" | To Catch a Thief | Monsters |
2015 | "The Slaying Of Skeggi" | Down I Go | You're Lucky God, That I Cannot Reach You |
2015 | "Good Grief" | The Travis Waltons | Separation Season |
2016 | "To Take the First Turn" | Black Peaks | Statues |
2019 | "Omens" | The St Pierre Snake Invasion | Caprice Enchanté |
2019 | "First Words" | Haggard Cat | Common Sense Holiday |
2021 | "The Open Road" | The Hell | Joris (A Hardcore Opera), Pt. 2 |
Covers
2010 | "Mexican Wave" | Kerbdog | |
2015 | "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" | Green Day | Kerrang! Magazine: Ultimate Rock Heroes |
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