Celestial-pop quartet I Know Leopard are chasing the dream as they make their way around the country on their first national tour with fellow Sydney band, Gang Of Youths.
“We’re kind of new to the touring thing to be honest,” says vocalist and keyboard player, Luke O’Loughlin. “With [first EP] ‘Illumina’ we did those classic, weekend tours when you go off for one weekend and play one or two shows, then you do the next weekend and it’s pretty much done.
“With this tour especially, it’s the first time we’ve done proper road touring. We’ve just done this first leg of the east coast and it was amazing to be on the road for two weeks, going from place to place, slowly making our way up the coast. I thought it was going to really stressful at first but we’ve absolutely relished the experience.”
After wowing audiences at their recent Brisbane shows, I Know Leopard will be returning in September for The Night Before Bigsound event where they’ll play alongside artists like WAAX and Katy Steele.“That’s going to be great, that’s the pre-party which will be awesome,” Luke says. “I’m probably going to fan-out a little bit meeting Katy Steele because I’ve been a big fan of hers for a long time; that’s going to be a fun night.”
While on tour, Luke and his bandmates have had the opportunity to hone their stagecraft and become more comfortable playing their songs live onstage. “The set is always changing… we’re enjoying more parts of it every night and getting more confident with it, every performance is different. But set-wise we’re going to have to find some time somehow between now and Bigsound to change things around. It’ll be a pretty similar set to what we’re doing on the tour.”
Also on the cards for I Know Leopard this year is the release of their sophomore EP, ‘Another Life’, which the band has recorded over the past year or two. “It’s our second EP,” Luke says. “Basically it’s from a bunch of sessions we’ve done over this year and a bit of last year as well.
“We’ve picked the best ones. It’s a four-track EP but they’re all songs we’ve spent countless hours on just because we’re a bit fussy like that,” he laughs. “These songs are pop songs but there is a lot that has gone into them to get them right.”
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Working with the central theme of second chances, Luke says ‘Another Life’ has been drawn from some of his own personal reflections about correcting past mistakes. “There’s a song on there called ‘Another Life’ and we decided to call it that because I suppose, thematically, a lot of the songs are about the whole idea of getting a second shot at life; it’s about self-reproach and turning to your imagination to help you deal with that.
“It’s just a reflection thing; for me personally as I’ve gotten older I think it’s become more and more important to me to be a good person and make up for mistakes I’ve made in the past, things like that. I think it’s a lot about that, reflecting on the person I’ve been throughout my life and trying to, in a way, make up for it as I get older. It’s something I think about quite a lot.”
Gang Of Youths Tour Dates
Fri 4 Sept - UniBar (Adelaide)Tue 8 Sept - The Night Before Bigsound, The Foundry (Brisbane)
Thur 10 Sept - The Zoo (Brisbane)
Thur 17 Sept - Tapas Bar (Devonport)
Fri 18 Sept - Bar 54 (Launceston)
Sat 19 Sept - Republic Bar & Cafe (North Hobart)
'Another Life' EP Tour Dates
Fri 25 Sep - Brolga Riverstage (Maryborough) (A/A)Sun 27 Sep - Kyneton Town Hall (VIC) (A/A)
Wed 30 Sep - Riverway Arts Centre (Townsville) (A/A)
Sun 04 Oct - Margaret River Cultural Centre (WA) (A/A)
Thu 08 Oct - Matt Dann Theatre & Cinema (Port Hedland)
Fri 09 Oct - Jimmy’s Den (Perth)
Sat 10 Oct - Geraldton Foreshore (Geraldton) (A/A)
Thu 22 Oct - Wheatsheaf Hotel (Adelaide)
Fri 23 Oct Theatre Royal (Hobart) (A/A)
Sat 24 Oct - The Grace Darling (Melbourne)
Sat 31 Oct - Portland Arts Centre (Portland, Victoria)
Sat 07 Nov - Moonshine (Manly)
Fri 13 Nov - Milk Bar & Factory (Brisbane)
Sat 14 Nov - The Northern (Byron Bay)
Sat 21 Nov - Goodgod Small Club (Sydney)
