Hi! We are I Know Leopard. We are a 4 piece dream-pop band from Sydney and originally the Adelaide Hills. We like to write lullabies with big grooves behind them and have always been a big believers in pop music. We also love the idea that setting pop music against a wall of pretty noise and ambience can trigger a whole new emotional response to a song. We have our debut EP Illumina ready to release very soon as well an east coast tour in November so we are a little excited.
Four years ago you moved from the Adelaide Hills to Sydney. How do you think the move has changed you as musicians?
Initially, the move made us more conscious of the industry. When we first arrived in Sydney, it was for our previous project and I think we started focusing too heavily on being successful rather then simply making music because we loved it. I suppose the peaceful, care free nature of the hills along with the fact that we had been sheltered, by distance and naivety, from the industry was what enabled us to be organic and productive as songwriters. The realisation of this a couple of years ago, catalysed the decision to start a new project. I had started to write different styles of songs which were reflective of these times both sonically and lyrically. As a result, I Know Leopard was born and our love of writing music together was rekindled.
Compared to a one-pub town the Sydney music scene must seem pretty great. What is it about the scene that makes it stand out?
Even though we lived in the hills, we still played our gigs in and belonged to the Adelaide music scene. Don’t forget Adelaide is pretty small. I think both scenes are great in their own right. Every time we visit Adelaide there are always new and exciting acts emerging. There’s a lot of amazing progressive and psych oriented music that comes out of Adelaide and I feel that the mighty ‘Wolf and Cub’ are champions of that.
The Sydney scene is definitely impressive. The immense variety of music is one of stand out features for me. There are so many eclectic acts here from the established to those who are playing their first gigs. I think also these days bands in the Sydney scene share the common sentiment that although its pretty tough to break through in the current climate, we do it primarily cos we love it and nothing can or should detract from that.
Any local Sydney bands you’d like to recommend?
We are really fond of Dr Goddard. They originate from the Blue Mountains and they write these little psych-pop gems that are just so infectious. You must check them out.
You’re touring around the country in November. What can the uninitiated expect from your live shows?
We’ll basically spit out a bunch of pop songs at you and endeavour to make some pretty sounds along with it. We like to push the dreamy wall of sound thing a little further in our live shows compared to on record. Generally there’s a lot more reverb and Jen’s angelic voice features more heavily.
Your debut EP, Illumina, is coming out soon. Can you give us a rundown on what it will sound like and when we can hear it?
It is basically a pretty concise dream-pop record with quite punchy, almost urban style beats. We spent a lot of time on pulling drum sounds to get that dynamic yet pillowy kick and snare sound found in a lot of early 90’s hip hop. Beck and Metronomy albums were also a big inspiration in our choice to blend these romantic, celestial sounding indie songs with urban style beats at mostly 90 bpm. We will be releasing the second single from Illumina very soon and we will be releasing the whole EP early next year.
We’ve already heard the gorgeous ‘She’ and you’ve also shot a video for the song. How did the clip come about? And what inspired it?
Well I think we just wanted to keep the clip simple and meditative much like the song itself. Our good friend Hari Jago, who shot the clip, had recently done some location scouting for another project at the Malabar headland and he remembered it had looked quite magical at sunrise. He dug up the footage of it , we played the song over the top and it just worked perfectly. The tempo and pulse of the song is not unlike a march so we decided to film one shot of us trekking ‘march-like’ across the headland at sunrise. We strapped a big white marching drum to Booty, our drummer’s, chest and away we went. (Booty looks a bit like a colonel naturally with his slick hair and massive beard so that added to the concept nicely.) Looking back at the rushes we noticed there were all these little sun flares appearing on the lens throughout so we further distorted them in after effects. The result, not originally intended, was that half way through the clip, these flares take on a life of their own, dancing all over the screen like little organisms that have just spawned.
What records have you stolen from your parent’s record collection and why?
Mainly their Beach Boys records. That series of albums they made from the mid 60’s through to the early 70‘s have remained my most important musical inspirations. It is probably due to The Beach Boys that I have always preferred accomplished songwriting over instrumental dexterity. If you look through the entire Beach Boys catalogue there is rarely ever a guitar solo or any other solo. The structures, melodies and sound pallettes are so strong that the songs simply don’t require anything else. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Talking Heads – Remain in Light, Blondie records, Bowie records and of course Michael Jackson are among others that I stole over the years. All these contributed to the big love and respect I have for pop music today.
What Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with and why?
This maybe a super cliched response but without a doubt, Kevin Parker. Only because I think he is one of the most exciting musician/producers in Australia and, I think its fair to say, in the world right now. He really is a master at achieving sonic transcendence through largely organic methods, which is what we strive for with I Know Leopard.
What’s on the cards for I Know Leopard for the rest of the year and early 2014
We will be touring the east coast for most of November and playing as many summer shows as possible over December and January. We also plan to tour again around February to support the release of the EP. All the while, we will demoing and writing our little butts off. We have a bunch of new songs we’ve been working on but I think we get better with every new song we write so its all about wrapping up the crap to get to the good ones. We want to get back in the studio as soon as possible and get a new release out mid next year.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
Our tour kicks off on the 7th of November….
I Know Leopard Tour Dates:
November 7 – Prince Public Bar, MELBOURNE
November 8 – Mynt Lounge, WERRIBEE
w/ Sons Et Al
November 9 – Workers Club, MELBOURNE
w/ DEJA
November 15 – OAF Gallery Bar, SYDNEY
w/ DEJA
November 16 – Trainspotters @ Grand Central Station, BRISBANE
w/ The Murlocs
November 22 – The Ed Castle, ADELAIDE
w/ DEJA
Listen to‘She’ and the first 3 track sampler here
