The Final LEAP of Faith: From 20 People to Packed Venues
During their "The Downfall"-Tour, The Unseen Mag got the chance to sit down with the UK-based indie-rock band LEAP before their sold-out show at ROCKHOUSE in Salzburg, Austria. From talking about their upcoming debut album "Entropy", the story behind LEAP, memorable fan moments, and being stuck in the snow, they tell us about the leap of faith that ultimately led to their rapidly growing success, recognition and loyal fan base.
Consisting of frontman Jack Balfour Scott, guitarist Adam Mason, bassist Declan Brown, and drummer Hector Cottam, the four-piece seamlessly blends elements of indie, rock and post grunge, creating their signature LEAP sound. With their introspective lyrics, their music delves into themes of personal struggles and mental health, accompanied by powerful instrumentals.
The Interview
At the start of the interview, we chatted about the overall feeling of the band members, them being well-rested after a rest day in the mountains around Innsbruck, Austria. The band describes feeling “fantastic” and “in high spirits” for their show later that evening at ROCKHOUSE in Salzburg, Austria.
Laura: For readers who might not be familiar with LEAP, what are four words you would choose to describe LEAP?
Jack: I’ll go with Energy.
Hector: Sumptuous.
Declan: Love.
Adam: Bombastic.
Laura: If someone wants to listen to LEAP for the first time, which song would you recommend they listen to first?
Hector: The Downfall.
Jack: I think we have different answers for that one. I would probably go Exit Signs.
Adam: Yeah, I was going to agree with that one [Exit Signs].
Declan: I would say that [Exit Signs] or Energies.
Adam: *laughs* Certainly bangers!
Taking One Last Leap (Of Faith)
Laura: Let’s take a moment and go back to your beginnings: Each of you were involved in previous project before LEAP. So how did LEAP come to life? Was there a specific moment where you came together and thought “Yes, we’re gonna do this now”?
Jack: I think we just got very lucky with timing, because all the guys have been in previous projects before. Hector is a singer-songwriter, great fucking musician. Adam has done his own solo stuff as well. And I, after my last band, The Mispers, we got signed to Capital Records, it went pear-shaped and once that ended, I was looking to start a new project. Thankfully, the boys were available.
Hector: We *points at Declan* had just come out of a previous band. Jack and I have been best friends since we were like four years old. So we were here, we were ready and we jumped in.
Laura: Who came up with the name LEAP?
Jack: It was actually me and my old man, my dad, who came up with it. It was because I was going through a little bit of a rough time with my mental health. I was considering maybe quitting music, I’ve just gotten out of the hospital and wasn’t feeling so good about myself. He said, you know, you’ve got to take another chance, you got to dive into the opportunity, you’ve got to, like, take the leap. So it kind of came about with him.
Laura: And it worked out! You posted a reel on your Instagram the other day, which said “Crazy to think 2 years ago we were playing to 20 people and now we get to do this every night on tour. 4 best friends living the dream“, emphasizing the statement with a video in the background, showing you on stage and a packed, dancing audience. How have the fans impacted you as a band over the last two years? Was it something that influenced your sound or you as a band?
Jack: I would say one hundred percent. I feel like, we wouldn’t be anywhere without the fans. Like, they’ve been so good in making us feel more confident about the sounds and what we’re creating. Ultimately, we all have different tastes in music, different genres and stuff like that, but I think we found a really cool fan base that loves the music we’re making. We kind of want to make more music like that. I feel like every release we’re doing, the listenership is getting better and better. It’s just really exciting to have a fan base, that’s super into it.
Declan: The fan base we have is just nuts. Die hard, like really cool people. They are so friendly!
Jack: Yeah, they are so friendly!
Adam: We have just gotten some gifts before the show, which is beautiful. Some skincare products.
Jack: Yeah, stocking up on our face masks. Like they’re saying, "you’re looking old" *laughs*
Declan: I think if we want something specific from fans, we could probably just film it, put it up and they’d be like “cool, we’ll be there”.
Adam: Like: Could we get a PS5? *everyone laughs*
Declan: Oh yeah, we could do that. Or “I wish we had GT6”.
Laura: Talking about this, I was wondering if you also had a memorable fan interaction over the years? Something that really stuck in your head?
Hector: We’ve just been reminiscing on this one. One that comes to my mind was, when our van broke down and almost stopped the tour for us. It was the last tour, or?
Declan: The Exit Signs Tour.
Adam: Yeah, so two tours ago.
Hector: Yeah, and one of our fans – who’s now a friend – saved us. Got us a van, out of nowhere. And the tour could carry on.
*LEAP yells: “Shoutout to Joe!”*
Jack: It was scary though, there was literally so much snow coming down. We had nowhere to sleep. We were sleeping inside a service station. Like, you know, some service stations that got a kids play area. We slept in that.
Declan: We slept in that and we woke up to people filming us being like *makes confused but horrified face, while pretending to hold a phone*
Adam: *laughs* We woke up at, like 10am, and there were truckers everywhere and were just looking at us like “The fuck are you guys doing?”.
Declan: Another moment, it happened just the other day actually, I thought was really cool. We played in Hanover and during the song Exit Signs, someone got up on stage, like forced himself onto the stage, with a lit exit sign. You know one of those right up there *points to the green exit sign above the door*. Holding that. He had a huge afro, big glasses and was wearing a kilt.
Adam: This was such a vibe. Such a vibe.
Jack: Yeah, and I felt bad cause he came on stage. I was hanging out with him and then I didn’t really know what to do, I was like “should I let him do a stage dive or something?” And he was just like “I’m just gonna get down now”. But that was super cute.
Hector: The list is endless.
Jack: Yeah, I mean there are so many nice moments.
Hector: We got to the same venue in Hanover with an unreleased track, which is coming out on the 6th of June, called Sinking Feeling that we are super stoked about! And these lovely girls had made these T-shirts with Sinking Feeling.
Declan: And the lyrics as well, which haven’t been released! So they must have been watching live videos from other fans or something.
New Releases and Upcoming Debut Album
Laura: These are honestly such great moments! You’ve just released your single “Over & Out” last week, what’s the story behind it?
Jack: So the story of Over & Out is kind of when you have that person that's in your life that you were involved with romantically. Maybe you separate, but you feel like there's some sort of cosmic energy that you can't really escape from. You feel like, they're always going to be part of your life and it's just like a note to that person saying “Even though we're not together, you're always in the back of my mind”. So kind of like “you won't forget me and I won't forget you”. It's kind of like a weird, sort of trippy, love song, I guess.
Laura: Do you want to spill something about the new song Sinking Feeling you mentioned before, as well?
Jack: I would say, it’s probably my favorite track from our upcoming album that we should mention as well! So October 3rd our debut album called Entropy is going to be coming out! We’re incredibly excited about that. Sinking Feeling is going to be the opening single. We're super proud of it. It's kind of a song about that feeling that you get in your chest sometimes, where it's like an unexplained feeling of dread that you sometimes get in the most random situations, when you're in a super happy moment, but then it just creeps in and you're like “why am I feeling so shit all of a sudden?”. So it's kind of about that feeling, but I think the music behind it is really uplifting and you wouldn't know it's a sad song, but the lyrics are kind of sad.
Laura: To be honest, these are probably the best songs.
Hector: Yeah, I was like, you know, bopping along to it the first times I heard the mix and then I heard the lyrics and then I like *looks flabbergasted*. But yeah, it’s beautiful. It’s a banger.
*Everyone nods in agreement*
Back To Favorites And Essentials
Laura: What’s your favorite song to perform live and why?
Adam: Currently my favorite song to perform live is Play Dead. It’s my favorite to listen to as well, I freaking love this song. The energy of the drop is pretty impactful. And the guitar, it’s a dench, like a fat riff! *Declan and Adam imitate riff sounds*
Jack: Declan is doing some barking during it.
Declan: Yeah, I bark. My tongue’s rarely in my mouth. But yeah, for me it’s Play Dead as well and I’d say Show Me The Way You Love this tour. I mean I’ve always been loving this song, something about this has just been next level.
Hector: I’d say my favorite is probably Potions- no joking! *laughs*
Declan: Laura was like: “Oh, yeah that’s one of my favorites!"
Laura: It's actually one of my favorites. I was like ohh, whoops. But why not - don’t you like the song?
Hector: I do like the song, we just haven’t played it in a while.
Jack: We just like the recorded song, we just don’t sound very good live when we play it so. It just doesn’t sound very nice. *everyone laughs*
Laura: It does sound nice though!
Hector: Hmm yeah, but in reality *shakes head in disagreement*
Jack: We can play it live again and you can be the judge and then you’ll be like “Yeah, they were right it doesn’t sound nice” *everyone laughs again*
Hector: Yeah no, but for me it’s Fistful Of Money. This one’s really nice, it’s my favorite for sure!
Jack: My favorite, that’s tough. I like the ones where I can relax a bit. Slow ones. No, I don’t know. I’m going to go Exit Signs, to be honest. Everyone knows it and sometimes I can go “sing” *points invisible microphone* and they can do the work. So it’s chill.
Laura: You have been traveling Europe and the UK for quite some time now. Is there a specific city you’re always looking forward to playing in?
Jack: Well I know what's yours *points at Adam*
Adam: Yeah? What do you think mine is? On three?
Adam & Jack: One, two, three: Vienna!
Adam: Yeah! We were saying this before we started [the interview].
Jack: I like to play our big German cities, probably like Düsseldorf, Cologne. Berlin are also so cool.
Adam: Yeah, Berlin was so cool this time!
Hector: I second all of them, and then I add Milan. Because Italy is gorgeous, pizza, coffee, people.
Declan: I think it’s Konstanz. The venue itself is pretty amazing, it’s at the German/Swiss border as well, you've got the Bodensee, where you can go swimming. Yeah, it’s really cool.
Adam: *laughs* Our manager is mouthing for me to say Prague.
Hector: Yeah, we do love Prague. We’re going tomorrow to Brno as well.
Adam: *starts chanting "We love Prague!"*
*LEAP chants “We love Prague!”*
*Their manager laughs*
Hector: Our manager is from Prague, but we do love Prague. We've got to give a shoutout to London as well.
Jack: Yeah, we've got a sold-out show at Dingwalls at the end of the tour. That day is actually Declan's birthday as well. So, I think it’s going to be a pretty cool, full-circle moment. It’s a pretty iconic venue, we’re hyped about that.
Laura: What’s an essential thing you always bring on tour? Like a must have?
Jack: I've got like a whole bag full of essential things. A lot of them are to avoid hangover, so like hydration electrolytes, like you put them inside water and it helps to hydrate you. Berrocas, like vitamins and such. Face masks, just so you're not looking crazy and haggard every day. And then our little eye masks, we’ve got unicorn eye masks. They are all pink, different shades, matching ones. That’s essential, sorry I said like five things. *laughs*
Hector: I would say probably right now and always, there's two things and they're both ear-related: One’s headphones and then the other is earplugs. So you can sleep good the others are potentially around you.
Jack: You've also got your freaking mushroom coffee. And you love your broth, which smells weird.
Hector: Yeah, mushroom coffee. I don't have any broths these days *laughs*. But yeah, miso soups, mushrooms. I like to keep healthy.
Jack: And he got a hot drink constantly, on the go. There’s one right there... *points at Hector, indeed holding a mug*
Hector: I think I have less than you, two or three maybe.
Adam: No way! Are you joking?
Hector: I have one drink in the van, but it lasts a long time.
Jack: Alright yeah, I smash a lot of coffee, so that’s fair.
Adam: Yeah, you get a lot of coffee, but you don’t drink a lot of coffee.
Jack: Yeah, I buy a lot of coffee and then I take like two sips.
Declan: And then you’re like “Help me out with this coffee mate”. So for me, it’s trauma based and it's from when we got stuck in the snow. It’s comfy, warm clothes. I got a thick, warm hoodie that I always wear and tracksuit pants, like joggers, is that what you call it? So it’s those, although I did forget the trousers this time so I’m using suit trousers, which are quite thick, they’re warm, they work just as well. *everyone laughs*
Adam: I'm gonna go with, well, I've got some button-up Pj's, which are actually a new addition on this tour.
Jack: Yeah, you copied me on this one - I normally wear Pj's.
Adam: Whatever, they are going to be an essential from now on.
Jack: You normally do some reading, but you stopped your reading?
Adam: I’ve got this great dutch book with me but I haven’t really read much. He’s a dutch author.
Hector: What’s it about?
Adam: I don’t know, I’m not too far in.
Jack: Adam’s the kind of guy who likes to bring a book around to coffee shops to look very sophisticated.
Adam: No! I like to read. *laughs*
Laura: We have an artist recommendation playlist for The Unseen Mag. I was wondering if you want to put some songs in.
*Adam and Hector pull out their phones and start searching*
Declan: Yes! Can I start? I’m gonna go with Glazed Curtains who are here right now [one of the supporting-acts of The Downfall Tour]. It’s called PLASTIC BAGS.
Jack: Yeah, that’s a banger for sure! I’m gonna go with one of my favorite bands at the moment, Nothing But Thieves. I’m just obsessed. Even though their last album is a little more poppy, I still love it. There’s a song Overcome that’s on there, I just love it so much and I recommend everyone to have a listen.
Adam: I’m going to recommend a super-cool duo, half English half American called Witch Post. The song is called The Wolf. It’s great!
Jack: That’s a classic hipster answer. *laughs*
Hector: I’d say Artillery by Kid Kapichi. It’s a massive banger *everyone nods in agreement*
Laura: Great song selections, thank you! And thank you so much LEAP for taking your time to sit down with me. I had an amazing time!
LISTEN TO LEAP'S FAVORITES HERE:
WANT TO SEE MORE OF LEAP? HERE ARE ALL THE PHOTOS OF THEIR PERFORMANCE AT THEIR SHOW IN BERLIN:
Disclaimer
If you or someone you know struggles with mental health, you are not alone! If you need support, please reach out to a mental health professional or contact one of the following organizations:
Australia: Lifeline Australia – 24/7 crisis support. Phone: 13 11 14. Website: lifeline.org.au
Europe: Find a Helpline (by Befrienders Worldwide) – Directory of crisis lines by country. Website: findahelpline.com
Germany: Hilfe-Info - multiple phone numbers and guide: https://www.hilfe-info.de/Webs/hilfeinfo/EN/HelpAndAdvice/Psychological_support/PsychologischeUnterstuetzung_node.html
United States: NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) – Education, support, and advocacy. Phone: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). Website: nami.org
or
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Phone: 988 (available 24/7)
INTERVIEW BY
Laura
The excitement and emotions of loving something so deeply, let it be a musician, song, concert, books or even sports, has always been a prevalent and influencing part of my life. Time goes by so quickly, and I love to indulge in the sense of community being experienced in music, with book-lovers or sports fans. My favorite part is the very connection you share with people, strangers becoming friends and the joy of discovering something new that you learn to love. Sharing my passions, newest discoveries, new/old recommendations and so much more is what brings me joy in my spare time and is what I like to do as a writer for this magazine.
PHOTOS BY
Jan
I chase the rhythm of light and sound, freezing the energy of live music in every frame. Berlin based.
