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Only a year old, Iceland’s the Leaves are set to release
a record as epic in structure as Echo and the Bunnymen
and as emotionally involving as Doves this August.
An amalgamation of Ocean Rain and the minimal and evocative
lyrics of There Goes the Fear, Leaves as an entity involve
rather than devolve in their rock n’ roll.
Although friends since childhood the core part of the
group, singer Arnar Gudjonsson, and guitarist Arnar
Olafsson, have known and spoken since they were five
years old, the band did not become a tangible band however
until Bjarni Grimsson, drums, and Hallur Hallsson, bass,
helped Gudjonsson and Olafsson flesh out their early
demos in a Reykjavik rehearsal room in late 2000. Apparently
though Gudjonsson had almost realised Leaves by himself,
“I’d written Race at that point and what was almost
released as the single in May was pretty much from the
early tape. The demo couldn’t be improved on. Yet we
are a band and we wanted to work as a band so it was
important to have everybody.”
 “Similar
to 'Breathe' and 'Catch', the singles are almost fully
formed, it just takes the addition of someone else in
the band to say what they want to add which often make
the songs better. I write the lyrics and record the
song on to tape, but it would not happen without everybody
else.” Gudjonsson explains the group’s dynamic as the
rest of the group hopelessly devote themselves to the
sumptuous repast backstage at the Barfly, Sheffield,
supporting Athlete’s trouble-funk. Unassuming
and bashful rather than overtly shy Gudjonsson is often
prompted by Olafsson, not because he is to shy what
to say but this is a shared endeavour between friends,
not talking over each other, instead finishing off what
the other says.
Since their first gig in Reykjavik Gudjonsson and his
friends have found themselves in more advantageous positions
than Cruyff in ’78. The first Leaves show was held in
an art gallery, playing in front of an especially select
audience of music industry figures and cheque book wavers,
this smart move by the band’s management elevated their
profile beyond what usually happens - your mate’s group
plays the Detested Priest in town and you have to be
terribly polite to them afterward about how good they
were. Gudjonsson is quick to acknowledge though that
such a practical piece of promotion would have imploded
if not for the self-belief in his fragile material.
“Playing that date was cool and it felt like a culmination
and not the beginning of something,” whilst drawing
on another Marlboro, “It wasn’t the case that playing
the art gallery was the first time we had played to
that amount of people it really was the first time to
anyone.”
“Definitely,” overlaps Olaffsson “And from that we got
the record deal and toured a lot, especially in England.”
More true than anything Leaves are the most fetid four-piece
to pick up on for kudos by British band’s at the moment.
Most of the acclaimed tours of this year – The Coral,
Doves, Electric Soft Parade – have all
sought solace in the Leaves as a support group, with
the band acting as an idealised and nurturing warm-up
for all three.
Gudjonsson’s words are bruised through feeling. There
is no attendant psychobabble, no Alanis Morrissette
syndrome, he seeks his succour in simplicity, and in
explaining himself through his songs there is no relentless
verbiage just to try and make you see what he feels.
This subtle and insightful approach was more than enough
to see the band signed to B-Unique in the UK
and Dreamworks in the States.
The band’s first single 'Breathe' was an acutely played
out as a limited release on B-Unique here in the UK,
selling out completely within its first week. As a debut
it shimmered its way through turmoil and did not beat
a hasty retreat under the nearest stone as most beleaguered
individuals find comfort in. “We were pleased with that
record but I don’t like to talk about our records apart,’
Olafsson chews on his depleted plate of food “Releases
are releases but we worked on all of the songs together
so they are all together for us and not, well, that’s
the first single, nor that’s how the songs will be listed
on the album.”
The album is not a burden but very much on the Leaves
mind, more than once Grimsson who is the most animated
and excitable Leaf, constantly leaning in towards the
tape recorder to insist on “We’re a rock n’ roll band,”
knows that Catch, which is released on 19th August,
will remove the band from playing their epic wash of
songs to an awaiting headline crowd to an eagerly awaiting
crowd of their own. “We’re touring the States after
we have finished here,” he spirits, “All the bands have
been cool and we have loved playing here and I am just
so excited about going over there.” Grimsson’s palpable
enjoyment of playing, shows what Gudjonsson is perhaps
unwilling to show, that the claustrophobia and solitude
he sings of is such an attractive commodity. Dreamworks
are planning out for the band a commitment to live shows
that will more than sell Leaves to the college radio
circuit.
 When
I asked Gudjonsson how it felt to have his songs worked
on by Steve Osborne, who has produced and worked on
the Happy Mondays and Suede, both groups a part of his
youth, he is reluctant to say much out of what has happened
to Leaves has all occurred in such a short space of
time. It is all still sinking in. “Of course to have
the record worked on by Steve was brilliant, we knew
that our songs must have impressed when he was mixing
it too for release. We liked the fact that we had so
much control over the album since most of it was taken
from Arnar’s demos, yet to add the finishing touch like
that through Steve was great.”
Leaves debut is a continuation of the star-eyed bewilderment
and inherent youthful confusion that Gudjonsson committed
to tape in his bedroom. When his shape finally shifts
itself on stage at the Barfly Sheffield his songs sweep
the audience away, testament to them winning hearts
and minds and not barraging people with sheer noise;
to impress by adrenalin. 'Epitaph' pitches and rolls
along with its punctured refrain, but this is a refrain
that is as optimistic as it conveys disappointment.
As on 'Ocean Rain' there are ashes in the mouth, yet
Gudjonsson is trying to brush them away for consolation’s
sake. While latest single 'Catch' finds expression in
pursuing the elusive and not musing over what he already
has. There is a sense that playing support in the UK
is to attune the band to the necessary athleticism of
being a band, with the festival heavy summer, which
awaits Leaves.
“We played Glastonbury, which was great. We really liked
Air and the Stereophonics, for them the sounds worked
so well in the fields, sometimes some bands the sound
just drifted that can be a problem when playing outside,”
Gudjonsson cautiously ruminates, “We are going to be
busy in Europe and the on to America but for us the
sound always works well outside. We have such an encompassing
sound that it cannot get lost.” He’s right and with
his ability to write the songs, which favour the mournful,
contemplative but most of all finally up-lifted personalities
of this world his approach to music will be the same
to his group’s reception; muted applause to joyous admiration.
The single Catch is out 5th August and the album
Breathe, 19th August
Leaves festival dates this August are as follows:
Friday 9th Haldern Festival, Germany
Sunday 11th La Route De Rock, France
Friday 16th Bizarre Festival, Germany
Saturday 17th v2002 Main Stage, Stafford
Sunday 18th v2002 Main Stage, Chelmsford
Friday 23rd Pukkelpop, Belgium
Sunday 25th Gig on the Green, Glasgow
Will Jenkins for Crud Magazine 2002©
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| 04/02 1 Giant Leap - My Culture
04/02 Elfpower Interview - Andrew Rieger - Creatures
04/02 Frou Frou Interview - Guy Sigsworth/Imogen Heap
04/02 Gomez Interview - Ian Ball
04/02 Idlewild - Live - London Astoria
04/02 K's Choice Interview
04/02 Leaves - Live - Camden Dingwall
04/02 Longwave Interview - Exit
04/02 Lucy Mongrel Interview
04/02 Oasis - The Hindu Times
04/02 Phantom Planet - Interview
04/02 Unwritten Law - Interview
04/02 VUE - Coordinates Interview
05/02 BRMC - LIve - Kentish Town, London
05/02 Breeders - Title K
05/02 FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes
05/02 Moco - Live - London Monarch
05/02 Need New Body - Interview
05/02 The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Live - Soundhause, Northampton
05/02 The Bellrays - Meet The Bellrays
06/02 Fleadh Festival - Finsbury Park
06/02 Frou Frou Coordinates Interview
06/02 Incubus - Interview - Mark Einziger
06/02 North Mississippi Allstars - Interview
06/02 Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not
06/02 Proud Mary - Live - Northampton, Soundhaus
06/02 Pulp - Live - Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe
06/02 Reindeer section - You Are My Joy
06/02 Silverchair - Diorama
|  | 06/02 Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window
06/02 Soinc Youth - Interview
06/02 The Burn - The Smiling Face
06/02 The Coral - Live - Roadmender, Northampton
06/02 The LIbertines - Live - The Social, Nottingham
06/02 The Vines, Sheffield Leadmill
06/02 Trik Turner - Interview
06/02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live, Soundhaus, Northampton
07/02 12 Stones Interview
07/02 Arolo -Interview
07/02 Buy To Let Doncaster - Anti Social Behaviour
07/02 Cassius - Interview
07/02 Farrah - Interview
07/02 Glassjaw - Interview
07/02 Neil Michael Haggerty - Interview
07/02 Hoobastank - Running Away
07/02 Leaves - Interview
07/02 LL Cool Jay Interview
07/02 Oasis - Live - Finsbury Park, London
07/02 Polyphonic Spree - Live - Camden Monarch
07/02 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
07/02 Super Furry Animals - Interview
07/02 The Beatings - Live - Metro Club London
07/02 The Bellrays + The D4 - Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street London
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002 | |
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