Interview with the Band Leaf (UK)
By Mick Michaels
The Cosmick View: Hello, and welcome to The Cosmick View/MBM Ten Pounder! Thanks for taking some time to chat with us!
CV:
Describe your definition of the band’s
sound and style and how does that definition uniquely describe the music?
Leaf: We are a band rooted in our surroundings, dragged
down by the malaise that surround us and railing against it. We have roots in
grunge but throw in hard edged riffs mixing melody and aggression in a very
British sounding mix. Our influences are there but we do not copy anyone, we
are a mélange of all of the influences that the four of us have had over the
combined +100 years of music loving, making and destroying that we have had. We
concentrate on the song, first and foremost so that our music is catchy and
stays with you…a bit like a venereal disease. Herpes?
CV:
Today, everyone talks about artist and audience connection. Is such a level of
connection actually achievable for an artist and if so, how have you made the
connection to your fans?
Leaf: Live we always connect, so yes that level of
connection is achievable. There has not been a single gig that we have not had
people blown away by the aural onslaught and honest energy that we give off. We
always get requests to come back soon. Now that we have the internet and social
media, we are spreading our earworms further than before, the USA, Australia,
Europe and a whole host of others including Russia! Personally, I absolutely
hate social media for the pillaging that it does to the young, robbing them of
innocence and time to just ‘be’, but we cannot deny its power and we engage and
try to connect in whatever way our fans want to. However, we don’t have the
army of tech savvy hangers on to help with the process and I am in a band with
some technological Neanderthals!
CV:
Is fan interaction an important part of the
band’s inner culture?
Leaf: Inner culture? Ours is to want to please everyone
and to interact is paramount. The feedback that we get is essential in the
process of dissecting ourselves musically. If you don’t read the vibes of the
people listening, then how do you gauge the level of success? How do you move
forward? We are determined to produce the best music that we can do, and we
invite all fans, wherever and whoever they are to give us the feedback and tell
us what they want.
CV:
Can a band truly interact with its fans and still maintain a level of personal
privacy without crossing the line and giving up their “personal space” in your
opinion?
Leaf: Depends on what level you are at. Massive bands
with unlimited funds can do it as they have the strategic support network that
will filter the crud and protect a certain level of ‘privacy’. My worry for the
younger bands, lower down the rungs of the success ladder, is that they give so
much of themselves away that they morph into an online persona (to the point of
parody) and the division is blurred. For us the skeletons are fighting for
space in the cupboard, and we have made mistakes, given too much away at times,
but ultimately have decided that the personal space is so important for mental
health. I can’t imagine Jarad having a stalker, but anything is possible!
CV:
Is music, and its value, viewed differently around the world in your
opinion? If so, what do you see as the biggest difference in such
multiple views among various cultures?
Leaf: I have lived and worked in a number of countries
and whilst the cultures have been massively different, I actually don’t think
that the attitude to music is different at all. Globally we all want the same
things from our rock bands, the escapism, the connection, the emotion, the
satisfaction that the music gives us. The responses might be different, a
holler in Texas, a scream in the Far East and the restrained nod of the
English, but that is culture driven, whilst the love for music and its underlying
appeal is universal and innate. I would hate to live under a restrictive regime
that controlled my listening, wouldn’t you?
CV:
Do you feel that a band that has an international appeal, will tend to connect
more so to American audiences? Would they be more enticed or intrigued to see
the band over indigenous acts because of the foreign flavor?
Leaf: We definitely have international appeal – you
should see the traffic stats for our website! I think we could connect with
American audiences, the sound, the heaviness and the melody are there for a
broad spectrum of listeners, but some of them may struggle with the Englishness
of our lyrics! Then again, that is an appeal all in itself, and we underpin our
tunes with a lyrical mélange of the universal themes of suffering, angst and
frustration that are felt across the globe, right? Our English slant/take on
rock with always have an appeal to America, just as American bands have an
appeal to ‘Kevin’ from Huddersfield – just different and not from home!
CV: Has modern-day digital technology made everyone an artist on some level in
your opinion? Have the actual lines of what really is an artist been blurred?
Leaf: Digital technology is a godsend. I was a sound
engineer at the start of my working career, humping great reels of Ampex 456 2”
tape about. Recording was so expensive and so many bands passed through the
studio that had reams of excellent songs but could only ever afford to record a
couple of songs. I love the explosion of amazing music that reaches me so
easily. Not everyone is an artist, but the digital revolution has enabled us to
hear so much talent. Dross still surfaces, but I don’t get as frustrated these
days because I can find so much great stuff.
The other guys in the band still love their CDs and vinyl by the way, and they have a good point that the digital revolution has made artists poorer. However, I would prefer to poor and listened to, than well off and no one can get access to my music.
CV: How would you describe the difference between an artist who follows trends
and one who sets them?
Leaf: Artists that follow trends are the norm,
plentiful and boring. It makes me cry when I hear the same syncopated drums,
time shifted, autotuned bollocks. Artists who set trends are the ones that you
remember, that mean something to people. I,
of course, put us into the second category. We don’t copy, we just play what we
want, how we want with energy, enthusiasm and with no particular artist or
trend in mind. We have just played with a very talented band (not naming them)
that had one major influence and it was so obvious. If they let their minds
open to all the amazing music out there, they could go far.
CV:
Has music overall been splintered into too many sub-genres in an effort to
appease fan tastes in your opinion? And has such fan appeasements, in
actuality, weakened music’s impact as a whole by dividing audiences?
Leaf: No. Not at all. It is not about appeasing fans it
is about the global nature and accessibility of music these days. The youth
today are less factional about music; you don’t see Mods and Rockers fighting
any more, do you? When I look at 18-year-olds they are far less ‘factional’
than I ever was. Music permeates their whole being as it is now so accessible
(thank s to the digital domain). My daughter listens to a whole universe of
music from Pierce the Veil to weird pop shite that I just don’t get. She just
picks quality over genre. Do you think I am too swayed by close association to
youth? I work with 16-18 year olds in my day job. Kathy Burke summed it all up
for me the other day when she had a pop at John Cleese. Most people of my
generation because just don’t get it because they’re old. She said, “You’ve had
your time, it was great, now fuck off!” This is the new world we are in,
embrace it or just sit there in a puddle of your own piss moaning about it. I
better get a towel.
CV:
What can fans expect to see coming next from you?
Leaf: We have unreleased stuff that needs going out,
but we need to coordinate the PR with that…difficult when you have to work, to
survive, to be able to make the music that you love. We are back in the studio
soon with our young producer Jonny Price…look him up -what a talent! He gets us
and can’t understand why we are not dominating the world!
Gigs – wherever and whenever we can get them! Come and see us, enjoy us and
spread the word!
CV: Thanks again for taking some time and talking. It is greatly appreciated.
Check out Leaf at:
Leaf Website: www.leafband.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leafbanduk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leafbanduk/
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/leafbanduk
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4FyIQoYVDTeQf7KqVXD6ae?si=fIw7fLseQE2E5o4S4Nm8Pg
Bandcamp: https://leafuk.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/leafbanduk
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