Birmingham is on a serious roll this year. Having churned out bands like Peace, Superfood, JAWS and Swim Deep, to mention just a few, they've given birth to Leopard, "a 4 piece post jazz core, acid, baggy Korean, crabmetal, grunge destroyers." I interviewed guitarist Matthew Jenkins, who says of their style, "musically, we have no idea what we sound like, but people seem to like it." Why wouldn't you? To me, they sound like Arctic Monkeys jamming with Foxygen on some far off and exotic beach; their single Breathe gives off a chilled, relaxed vibe, added to by the distant vocals and the easygoing drum beat.
All of the new Birmingham bands seem to be very close and supportive of each other; "we met at one of the above mentioned gigs and that's how we formed Leopard. It's really weird being on the whole "in circle", everyone's so nice about stuff. It's odd, people who may not like your music still appreciate it and appreciate success." There definitely seems to be that sort of familial aspect to the B-Town music scene. All of the bands go to each others gigs, promote each others tracks and party together like there's no tomorrow. Just check Swim Deep's twitter feed and you'll see what I mean.
On the subject of the current music industry, Jenkins becomes very vocal; when I asked him what he thought about the digitisation of the music industry, he says "It's definitely a lot easier to get your music heard by people through Soundcloud and other services. I think it works both ways; both unsigned and signed bands want the same thing and that's just to get your music heard." He maintains that there definitely are real rock icons of the newest musical generation - "not strictly rock, but definitely Dev Hynes, aka Lightning Champion or Blood Orange. There's loads, it's just not obvious to enough people." When I asked him what could be done to fix this, he said "people just need to get outside their box and go to see bands every week." Simple as.
I wanted to know if Leopard felt any responsibility, as a new band, to improve on the musical trends from what the previous generation had achieved, and the reply I received was very pragmatic and considered; "to a certain extent, yes, but generally if you start writing music, it'll have its own features and elements that that make itself unique, even if you get compared to previous bands. Music works in cycles." This shows an observational and measured approach to the way that Leopard approach writing music, as seen in their newest single Quick History. The way that the track builds gradually throughout and the way that the original drum pattern is adapted whilst still maintaining the original feel reflects this notion of music working in cycles; the original motifs are returned to with a tweak here and there, making the track better for it.
As a blogger, it's very interesting to investigate the background to a band - their influences, the way that they view themselves. For Matt, the artist that has the most influence on their sound is "Kevin Parker from Tame Impala. Jake's would probably be Dave Grohl." Candidly, he adds, "no idea about the other two!", and if he could travel back in time to watch one epic gig it would be "Jimmy Hendrix at the Isle of Wight, but there are too many to pick from."
Forget all the musical stuff, this is what really recommends them to me as a band: if they could choose one movie to sum up their sound, it would "probably be the Iron Giant. I'm only saying that because I want to watch it again and because we're a big hunk of metal with attitude and super heroes." Can't say fairer than that.
As all new bands are attempting to do, Leopard are clearly trying to find their footing in the musical world. If they keep on in the same vein, however, they're certain to find success. Their sound is the complete opposite of their diplomatic mannerisms; it's loud, brash an unashamedly awesome.
Rating: 9/10
Recommended tracks:
All of the above, seeing as they're the only ones they've released.
