I Know Leopard
This weekend one of the hottest acts of this year’s Australian music scene arrive in our fine city, closing out their epic national tour (which has had over 15 stops) with a bang. We recently had a chance to sit down with I Know Leopard frontman Luke O’Laughlin to reflect on the wild ride to the top that 2015 has been.
The band initially came together shortly after Luke and good mate Todd Andrews graduated from high school, and started playing together when they realised that they both liked similar music. Since then they moved to Sydney, to attempt to make it in the big smoke with an entirely different project, but that wasn’t to be. I Know Leopard was then formed with the additions of Jenny McCullagh and Rosie Fitzgerald.
“Since adding the two girls everything has clicked, and now it really feels like the music is representing us truthfully,” explained O’Laughlin.
To kick off 2015 the band had the opportunity to perform at Laneway Festival, which O’Laughlin said “was a fantastic way to start a mammoth year for us, playing alongside our current heroes”. The chance tour with the likes of Andy Bull, Courtney Barnett, Dune Rats, Flight Facilities and Mansionair was clearly a positive impact on the band––who have been a force on the live touring scene, building a formidable reputation ever since.
O’Laughlin explained that touring recently with Last Dinosaurs and Gang Of Youths was also instrumental in the growth of I Know Leopard: “they’re both really professional bands, so I think that has rubbed off on us a bit. We’ve absolutely become a much more well-oiled machine by touring so much with them. We now know our songs from front to back, so there is an added level of enjoyment when performing because we can focus on the performance aspect.”
Despite having recently released their second EP, Another Life, the group is already focused and working on their next milestone, which is an upcoming album. “Whether we will be able to follow up this EP as quickly as we did the first time with our album remains to be seen, but we’d like to and we’re working on it, but an album is a whole different beast,” explained O’Lauglin. “I’m planning for the album to be a lot more cohesive than the EP’s have been.” (JA)
Nov 21. Goodgod Small Club, 55 Liverpool St, Chinatown, Sydney. $12+b.f. Tickets & Info: goodgodgoodgod.com/events/i-know-leopard/
