Hiya Leo Brazil, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
I’m from near Huddersfield right on the edge of the Pennines. I got into music originally through listening to cassettes of The Beatles, Bowie and The Beach Boys my dad made for me. I started playing violin in the youth orchestra before picking up a guitar later on. I started recording my own stuff on a tape machine as a teenager and I’ve never really stopped.
What’s the live music scene like in Huddersfield right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
It’s good, I think like a lot of Northern towns we’ve suffered from the years of austerity but there’s an amazing creative community producing some great stuff. We’ve still got some amazing venues – The Parish, Northern Quarter and Amped that are promoting original music. Check out Here’s The Steeple, The Will Yates Experience, Slo Blome and Easy Stride Band for some of my favourite local original stuff!
Do you think it’s easy to become a victim of our surroundings sometimes?
Absolutely. There are several songs on my new album that touch on personal difficulties with doom scrolling and finding the balance between caring about what goes on in the world and being dragged down by it. It’s an ongoing battle and social media and the internet have a lot to answer for, I’ve known people get sucked into weird internet rabbit holes that have destroyed lives and relationships.
What are your ambitions for the future?
I’d like to reach more people with this album and get back out playing up and down the country supporting the current album and building towards the next one. I’ve also got an album coming out in the summer from my prehistoric inspired psych-rock band Bone Wars, I’m busy mixing that at the moment.
I’ve also got a couple more side projects I’m working on. I like to be constantly creating and I just hope to continue building momentum and the community of people who like what I do through my label – Birds and Beasts Records.
Whats your favourite social media platform to use and why?
I suppose it would be Facebook, I’m trying to get more into Instagram though. I generally have better engagement on Facebook and some groups can be amazing resources of knowledge on repairing old musical equipment, connecting with like minded people and following bands you love. Also, I’ve found quite a few amazing musical instruments at incredible prices thanks to Marketplace!
We believe its essential to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram and X to introduce yourself to all the different types of audiences out there, what’s your thoughts on that?
I agree but would leave out X. I left that platform a long time ago due to the proliferation of misinformation and platforming extremists. I found it a negative place for my mental health and it didn’t do much for me musically really either!
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
It’s complicated. I think in some ways it is a golden age…the technology we have access to means so many people can create and share their musical ideas with the world. On the other hand this means it’s that much harder to get noticed and build a community – but then this rewards innovation and uniqueness. Like I said, it’s complicated.
Musicians have generally been getting shafted by the big corporations since the beginning, all the way back to composers relying on wealthy sponsors, money talks and huge monolithic organisations that have some very dubious business practices. Then again it has perhaps never been easier to start your own label, record something on your phone and share it with the world!
What are your thoughts on AI generated music?
I think it’s awful. It’s already having a massive impact, especially on people who create music for sync. I hope that the soulless nature of it will lead people to seek out the weird, unusual and unique wonkyness that humans are capable of though.
It might seem this negative attitude doesn’t sit right with my previous positivity about making music being more accessible, but for me using AI is a shortcut that misses out the fun parts of making music and it risks leaving us with less people who have put in the hard graft of learning and refining your craft over many years.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
I guess to try and worry less. The internet can be a path to despair if you’re not careful, comparing yourself to others and getting frustrated can ruin what is a beautiful thing, the act of creation. I think most musicians can probably relate to that feeling at times. The internet can also lead to beautiful collaborations, connections and friendships though. I’ve still got people I’m in touch with who I originally connected with on MySpace, that’s priceless. Do not despair and don’t give up on your path!
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
I listen to a lot of different stuff but just recently I’ve been absorbing a mixture of psychedelic Bollywood sounds, Turkish music from the 70s and golden era hip-hop…none of which is anything like the current album I’m promoting but I’m implanting sounds into my brain for future inspiration!
What was your worst experience on stage?
I once supported The Blues Band in a large theatre venue – a band made up of some pretty legendary figures from UK 60s bands like Manfred Mann. I broke a string about 30 seconds into the first song and it was a very rare gig when I hadn’t brought a spare guitar. I bantered my way through changing the string in front of hundreds of people but I never quite recovered my composure after that!
Got any fun, funny stories from life on the road?
Like a lot of musicians I’ve done the odd bit of work in function bands to help pay the bills. One time we went to the wrong wedding and then simultaneously had a phone call telling us the admin team hadn’t booked a drummer for the date, it was like a scene from a comedy film.
We arrived in the nick of time at the correct one and met the dep drummer we’d somehow managed to source at the last minute and it turned out to be one of my favourite function gigs. Another one was when I got kicked out of a gig I was performing at for eating a bag of crisps…Jim Morrison eat your heart out!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
It’s a slightly odd and lo-fi album that is full of heartfelt songs that mean a lot to me. It came out of a very turbulent time in my life but it was making music that saved me from myself. I was alone and isolated in my home studio recovering from the end of a marriage that was entwined within a band. I’d tied up my musical identity with that for a decade so this was my way of finding myself again and starting to build some green shoots of growth.
What was the recording process like?
It was weird and esoteric and that’s part of the sound and story of the album. Early on I made the conscious decision that I wanted quite a raw and paired back sound so I gave myself some limitations. The first was that each song would start with a performance on an acoustic instrument with the vocals recorded at the same time, this is quite unusual but it gave the honest live sound I was after.
The other was that I wouldn’t go crazy with overdubs and try to stick to only a couple of other instruments to add more atmosphere and texture – I also tried to record backing vocals at the same time as overdubbing other instruments so it added to that live feel. I don’t make things easy for myself! 🙂
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
Oh, a billion things but I learnt to let go as part of the process of making this album. If I was spending too long agonising over things that didn’t really matter I’d remind myself how much I love recordings by people like Daniel Johnston – atmosphere and emotion trump technical perfection for me every time! I suppose the main thing that I would change would be to have allowed these songs to have evolved from playing in front of a live audience but I just emotionally wasn’t ready and that would also totally change what the album is about.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I suppose just head to my website www.birdsandbeastsrecords.com– check out some of the videos of the acoustic tunes from this album, maybe some of the heavier psych rock from Bone Wars and join the mailing list if you’d like to follow what I get up to!
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