LEISURE heißt übersetzt „Freizeit“ – und das passt ziemlich gut zu der fünfköpfigen Band aus Neuseeland. Nach zwei erfolgreichen Alben kam Ende Oktober nun die erste von zwei EPs: LEISURE SIDE A. Entstanden in Paris und somit ziemlich weit weg von zuhause bildet SIDE A den Start eines neuen Kapitels.
Wer leicht verträumten Bedroom-Indie mag, ist hier genau richtig. Ich wage zu behaupten, dass sich Fans von den Rikas oder Parcels sich hier wohlfühlen. Denn darum geht’s den fünf aus dem fernen Down Under auch. Einfach Musik machen, die entspannt und zum Hängen mit Freunden einlädt. Damit wir sie alle ein bisschen besser kennenlernen, hab ich LEISURE zu einem Interview eingeladen. Es gibt eine sehr interessante und Bandgeschichte, sympathische Anekdoten aus der EP-Entstehung und ein Einblick in die Covid-Situation auf der anderen Seite der Welt.
LEISURE im Interview
Anna: Hey guys! First off, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. How are you?
LEISURE: We’re really good, thanks! Here in NZ we are currently covid-free (knock on wood) and have just played a show to a real live audience for the first time since the start of the year so we are stoked. Feels good to be back!
Anna: You’re five artists from New Zealand, coming together in you band called LEISURE. What can you tell us about yourself? What kind of music do you make and how did you find your way to making music together?
LEISURE: We didn’t start off wanting to create a band – it all happened very naturally. Jaden had invited us all away to a house he’d rented by the beach for a week to write some music. We weren’t writing for anyone in particular and we weren’t writing as LEISURE but by the end of that week we realised we had something special. Even though we didn’t even know each other that well at the time, we’d all played in other bands that crossed paths at some point, we just ended up getting along really well. We put a song on Soundcloud and then joked about doing a gig and it just snowballed from there!
We’re just 5 friends who enjoy getting together and making music. LEISURE is a project we do for fun. We all have our own careers so it means that we don’t have the same pressures as other bands/groups trying to ‘make it’ – we have the freedom to just release the music we want without worrying about the numbers.
“Definitely a surreal experience”
Anna: What is it that you aim for with your songs? What are the messages and vibes you want to convey/create?
LEISURE: Our best songs manage to capture the vibe of the 5 of us hanging out and having fun. I think we want to convey the feeling that we get when we go away to a secluded coastal town somewhere in NZ and can just be free to create. Hopefully when people listen to our music that’s the vibe they get.
Anna: You already released two albums, what was your process for this EP? What impact did Covid have on this project?
LEISURE: This EP had the same process as the other albums except this time we wrote a bunch of the songs in France. When we put out our very first single we joked about making the second album in the South of France so when we got the chance to do our European tour we booked some time at the end of it to write some songs. It may not have been for our second album but we did get there eventually – definitely a surreal experience. By the time we entered our first lockdown in March we had plenty of material to finish off. It was a lot of emailing songs back and forth and trying to do sessions over zoom. Not our usual way of working but we managed to get the songs to a place where we can meet up and finish them together.
“We have to stay optimistic”
Anna: I know that all the Corona talk is tiring sometimes, but as you’re on the complete opposite side of the world, I’m curious: How was the lockdown for you? Are you still concerned or optimistic towards the future, especially in the music industry that depends of being able to play live?
LEISURE: We’ve been through a couple of lockdowns now and this second one was a little tougher mentally. I think it’s because we got used to having things back to normal! For me personally, I quite liked lockdown because I was able to be at home with my 9 months old baby which was actually really nice. I’m used to spending all my days in a small studio anyway, so lockdown isn’t that much different!
I think we have to stay optimistic in regards to the future of the music industry. It’s going to take a while to get back to where we were (if we ever do get back to normal) but we’ll figure out a way. We’d love to do a European tour again sometimes in the next year or two.
Anna: Do you have a funny anecdote from recording/writing EP you could share with us?
LEISURE: We wrote Slipping Away the night the All Blacks (NZ Rugby team) got kicked out of the rugby world cup. I’m not usually a huge rugby fan but even I was gutted. It completely sucked the energy out of the night and we were going to wrap up our session when, out of the blue, Jaden started playing what was about to become the Slipping Away guitar riff, almost as a joke because we were all so depressed. Everyone got so excited and we ended up finishing the whole song that night!
Anna: Last question is always a blank space with us, so feel free to say anything you want here!
LEISURE: Wear a mask and wash your hands! We want to come and play some shows for you as soon as we can! 😊
Hier die EP zum Reinhören: mein Anspieltipp direkt Slipping Away
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