This week’s Mashup Monday serves up something even more meta than usual: The Downtown Fiction‘s frontman Cameron Leahy is not only serving up a musical contradiction in the form of his Alanis Morissette cover; the song he chose — “Ironic” — fits the series to a T, particularly because he puts an acoustic pop-rock spin on Alanis’ upbeat, multi-instrumental original. And listen for an extra “ironic” lyric change about half-way through as Cameron sings about meeting the “girl of my dreams and meeting her beautiful wife.”
“Growing up I used to listen to [Alanis’ album] “Jagged Little Pill” all the time and I really respect her as a songwriter” the frontman says why he chose the Alanis hit, which climbed to No. 4 on the Hot 100 in 1996.
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Photos: The Downtown Fiction’s Mashup Behind-The-Scenes
“I think everything about the song is hilarious,” he says. “I think maybe deep down Alanis wrote the song knowing it was ironic she was writing a song called ‘Ironic’ that wasn’t ironic.”
A longtime Alanis fan, Leahy says he hopes his band, the Downtown Fiction, can take a page from her prowess as a songwriter, and possibly see some of the success she has. They are certainly off to a good start: the Fairfax, VA trio — rounded out by drummer Eric Jones and bassist David Pavluk — managed to get signed to Photo Finish Records only a year after forming in 2008. Last year the Downtown Fiction released debut EP, “Best I Never Had,” and they are currently on tour through early April 2011 opening for The Ready Set.”
MORE VIDEO FROM THE DOWNTOWN FICTION’S BILLBOARD VISIT:
Q&A with The Downtown Fiction’s Cameron Leahy.
The Downtown Fiction performs the band’s song “I Just Wanna Run” at Billboard.com’s studios.