Original Copy for Double Page Spread

Original draft:

We all know the famous hit indie sensation, Levi. With his debut single “Inside” shooting straight to number one in the UK Top 50; we knew he would have much more to offer. Gen held an exclusive interview with Levi to find out the truth about his recent embarrassing moment. 

On March 28^th 2012, Levi won the Saturn Prize for his talent in the nationwide show ‘STV Awards’ Following his exceptional cover of ‘Beauty’ by Justice that he performed, the download rate of his cover shot up and caused it to become number one.

Gen caught up with Levi in an exclusive interview to find out all about his actions whilst he was on a break from filming his new video. Many different versions of the story have been flying around the social networking site ‘Flitter’ so we caught up with him to find out the truth once and for all.

“Well, everyone knows the reality TV show ‘Pranked’ and as it happens I regularly watch it in my free time. However, when I was with my best friend Ash in Guilsborough, we decided to go into the casino just for a laugh.” We asked Levi what happened next. “Well, as we were playing on the bandits, the alarms sounded and security guards came rushing over to us. It was the most embarrassing thing of my life.” We asked Levi how he had managed to be out in public without his fans following him and what happened next. “Well, I was disguised a little, I wore a long black coat and thick scarf to hide my face and it seemed to work until the alarms sounded and we were accused of trying to break the bandit to get the money! As soon as the alarm sounded, the public began to realise who I was and started crowding me, taking photos and stuff,

I couldn't believe it, I was so embarrassed!" 

We asked him if the guards took him away and how he got out of the situation. “I tried to cover my face whilst the guards tried to get through the crowds of people. Once they had, they guards took us in handcuffs through to the back of the casino where we were left in a locked room, awaiting someone to come and seek us. I couldn’t believe it! We hadn’t even touched the bandit never mind stole the money. It was a disaster.”

“Afterwards, a man told us we would have to pay £1,000 each to the casino for the damages. And of course, me being me, I wasn’t going to pay for something I hadn’t done so I started to argue with the man and he argued back. I refused to pay, I was red in the face by this point and I couldn’t believe he had us both handcuffed. I was appalled.” We asked Levi how they revealed to him it was all a prank. “Before something bad happened, the man began laughing, and disguised camera men came in from every angle possible, filming what had been a vicious accusation. The man told us we were on Pranked and that we had to smile for the cameras, how embarrassing?" 


Final Draft:

We all know the famous hit indie sensation, Levi. With his debut single “Inside” shooting straight to number one in the UK Top 50, we knew he would have much more to offer. He told us about what else we had to look forward to and gave us some spicy secrets about his new video! Along with revealing his most embarrassing story yet. Gen held an exclusive interview with Levi to find all of this out.

On March 28th 2012, Levi won the Saturn Prize for his talent in the nationwide show ‘STV Awards’ following his exceptional cover of ‘Beauty’ by Justice, the download rate of his cover shot up and caused it to become number one. Many different versions of what happened to him have been flying around the social networking site ‘Flitter’ whilst on a break from filming his new video. So we caught up with him to find out the truth once and for all.

So Levi, what are we to expect about your new single? “It’s very different to my usual style of music actually! Is that right? We asked him how the video is going. “It’s going amazingly well, everything is starting to pan out because it is all just in parts and you don’t know what to expect! But the producer of my video, Van Luca, put it all together last week and it is looking amazing. There is a few changes that we decided to make at the end so they are to re-film which is going to take about a month so it should be ready soon!” What are we expecting in the video then and how long have you been working on it? “The whole cast have been working on it 12 hour days since the beginning on August until now, so it’s been quite strenuous. It’s all been totally worth it now that I’ve seen it all together. I’m just so excited about it!” We bet!!

 ”Included in my new video

       is...”

some dancing, animals and unusual costumes. Even though I’m not meant to be saying what it includes, that’s just a teaser.” Isn’t it just! Is his girlfriend in his video? “Yes! She is in it, but that’s all I’m telling, no more.” Wow, now we can’t wait! Can he not tell us anymore? “I’m afraid I can’t really, I can’t contain my excitement for it being released, it is going to be totally new and different.”We asked Levi what the truth is about what happened to himself and his friend. “Well, everyone knows the reality TV  show ‘Pranked’ and as it happens regularly watch it in my free time.  However, when I was with my best friend Ash in Guilsborough, we decided to go into the casino just for a laugh.

“I planned to just play the

                   gig”

then go back to spend time with Ash but my manager persuaded me to stay and for him to come along. But I bet that’s why he told us to stay, because he set us up!” We asked Levi if he has a close relationship with his manager. ”Me and Dave are like best friends, with spending as much time together on the road we found out  we had lots in common. We asked him what happened when himself and Ash went into the casino. “We started to play on the slot machines then decided to go into the over 18’s area, we were the only people on this area and just sat next to each other, then the alarm sounded on my machine and security guards came running over, along with fans who were in the casino. So that was a complete disaster in itself! I tried to explain to the guards when they came over that we were just playing the game and no harm was done, but they weren’t interested, all they cared about was getting a hold of both of us!” How scary! How did he react? “Well, I looked at Ash in a panic, there were 4 guards, two escorted me and 2 escorted Ash, they were ginormous! They didn’t listen to a word I was saying and restrained myself and Ash until we were in the back room it was also a mystery why they left us there in the first place, but hey, we hadn’t done anything wrong. It was the most embarrassing thing of my life.” So how did he manage to be out in public without fans following him? With not even being to Guilsborough in my life, boy was I wrong. I wore a long black coat and thick scarf to hide my face and it seemed to work until the alarms sounded and we were accused of trying to break the bandit to get the money! As soon as the alarm sounded, the public began to realise who I was and started crowding me, taking photos and stuff, I can imagine that they were nice people but treating someone like they did me, you’d think I was going to give them a million dollars the way the were flocking around me and screaming. I suppose it shows how my music has impacted all over, and how much people like me as an artist. It’s incredible how they recognised me straight away, even though the coat and scarf when I never even heard of the place before then!” They do seem to love him don’t they? So, how did he get out of the situation? “I tried to cover my face whilst the guards tried to get through the crowds of people. Once they had, they guards took us in handcuffs through to the back of the casino where we were left in a locked room, awaiting someone to come and meet us, it was like we were animals! I couldn’t believe it! We had done absolutely nothing wrong, but we didn’t know it was a prank, it was very well set up and all the actors were incredible.” They must have been if you didn’t have a clue about it! Me and Ash were talking about how scared we were whilst we were waiting and the tension was just unreal!. All I could think about was getting to my gig on time because we on lt wanted to going quickly! Turns out that everyone in the casino were actors, even the passers-by, they must have thought I was a right idiot” So Levi, what happened once someone had come into the room to meet you and Ash? “Afterwards, a man told us we would have to pay £1,000 each to the casino for the damages which were mostly by the fans and not even us!  I refused to pay, I was red in the face bythis point and I couldn’t believe he had us both handcuffed for doing nothing except playing a friendly game whilst on the way to my gig!”  

 

 

 “I was appalled”

 

 

So just when was I that they revealed it to him that it was all a prank? Levi laughs. “Before something bad happened, the man began laughing, and disguised camera men came in from every angle possible. The man told us we were on Pranked and that we had to smile for the cameras. I couldn’t believe it, it was so embarrassing. We hadn’t even touched the bandit never mind stolen the money. They must have played it on a projector so the actors could see our reaction, it was awful!” I can imagine! Before the interview was over we asked Levi about what we were to look forward to next “Well, as you know I’m on a break from filming a music video for my new single ‘Beneath the wings’ which is coming out next month around the 18th of March.”

 

How exciting! “I also have more tour dates to release in the UK as they sold out so quickly! So to avoid disappointment, everyone should get their tickets soon!” Are you looking forward to touring? “I really cannot wait to start travelling around and making my fans happy. It’s a great feeling to know how many people you have made happy and how many people have made the effort to buy tickets and come to the gig.” It is incredible how quickly they sold out in the first place!” Well we do love you Levi. If you didn’t enjoy the experience, we certainly did!