For those unfamiliar with I Know Leopard, how would the band best describe its sound? Groove-driven lullabies.
Hold This Tight is the whimsical second single from dream-pop purveyors who are due to release their debut EP later this year.
The band is currently on tour in support of Hold This Tight, is there a particular venue in Australia that the band love performing at the most?
There are lots of venues we love but I would have to say The Workers Club in Melbourne holds a special place in our hearts. That turned out to be the best show of our last tour. There’s just a great intimate vibe in that room and it really feels like the people that come to The Workers Club are there primarily because they love music.
What’s one of the craziest on-tour stories you can share with us?
Nothing that crazy yet. We’ve only been on one tour but we’re hoping for a near death experience or two on the next one.
You’ve toured and performed with some great Aussie acts – are they any in particular that have stood-out as favourites?
In terms of more widely known bands Deep Sea Arcade and Miami Horror were both standouts. But our favourite Australian band would have to have been Rapids, a Sydney band that have now called it a day but they were a band we were honoured to play with a lot. They always knew exactly how to connect with an audience regardless of the venue or size of the crowd. Musically they blended these super unique pop hooks with the tastiest of grooves. They were a big inspiration to us while we were making our EP. A couple of the members have a new project in development called ‘Mossy’ which we have no doubt will be next level so keep an eye out for that!
The film clip for Hold This Tight appears to be an incredible location. Is this a frequent hangout for the band?
Yeah Parsley Bay is one of our favourite beaches in Sydney. Its peaceful and never overcrowded. It beats being eaten alive in Bondi.
What was the concept behind the clip?
We like to keep our clips really simple and meditative much like our music I guess. When listening to the song, Todd had an image in his head of us all drifting along on the ocean in Lilos. We told our filmmaker friend, Ben Timony and he revealed that had just bought a ‘Quadracopter’ – which is basically this amazing remote control, toy-sized helicopter that houses a camera below it and takes super stable overhead footage. So we went put to Parsley bay and because the Quadracopter is limited to 22 minutes flying time, it was literally wrapped up by 22 minutes but we were pretty excited by the result.
As band did you decide the clip had to bestow some form of ‘meaning’?
Kind of. We decided to make sure there was no sign of the shore of in each frame of the final cut. The effect being that it looks like we could be in the ocean in the middle of nowhere. The song is kind of an ode to a collective of artists in various fields that we belong to in Sydney. When you devote your life to making art of any kind, it is often at the expense of a conventional, balanced lifestyle. At times, it isn’t uncommon to feel a little ‘adrift’ or isolated so I guess the idea of floating in lilos in an ambiguous body of water seemed symbolic of this.
You have an EP set for release later this year, what can we expect from the release?
We all big fans of the lush and celestial in music. We set out to make a record which sits somewhere between the melancholic and the romantic.
Has there been a particular influence for the sound of the upcoming release?
Various influences. The rhythm section for most of the EP was inspired by a lot of early 90’s hip hop such as A Tribe Called Quest and Pete Rock. Everything else was inspired by purveyors, old and new, of music that transfixes you with blissful melodies and big, heady walls of sound. Brian Wilson, Cocteau Twins and Washed Out come to mind.
We noticed bloggers as far as Norway are posting your music! What is the band’s reaction to those so far away digging your sound?
Yeah we’ve only recently noticed this too! The internet is a wonderful thing. It is amazing to be able to connect and communicate via music with people of all cultures around the world.
For a bit of fun, if you curate your own festival, what three bands would you have on the bill?
Deerhunter
Beck
A Tribe Called Quest
What does 2014 have in store for I Know Leopard?
After the tour in March we will be releasing our EP, Illumina and we will be doing an April, Saturday night residency at The Beresford Upstairs in Surry Hills. In the meantime we are soon to start production on a new record so we should have some new stuff ready for you by the end of the year!
I Know Leopard ‘Hold This Tight’ Launch Dates
Thursday March 27th – Workers Club, Melbourne
Friday march 28th – Rocket Bar, Adelaide
