Q&A interview with Leon C

Leon C is a popular contemporary folk singer-songwriter I know here in Southampton. I decided to ask him a few questions about him and his music.

Me: When did you start writing songs and when did you start performing?

Leon C: I have been writing things with rhyme and melody for about two years. I started performing a bit after that. So, it was sort of 2016 when I went and performed but they were all covers, which was sort of useful for a really nervous kid to just understand what it was all about. I wrote stuff before my first open mics/gigs but they weren't the type of stuff I play now, I think Travel Man is a relic from the non-poetic era, even though people still call it poetic? I'm not sure.

How would you describe your music?

My music goes from calm, to emotional, to intense, to calm again a lot. Lots of ups and downs in content and music. Melodic and poetic are descriptions I hear the most. It has a lot of the 60s folk revival-ness in it. Every song has a meaning and all, so far, are from personal experience.

Who are some of your biggest influences?

Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Kevin Morby, The Lumineers. They are the main four. Paul Simon influenced a few songs. Also, my parents support is phenomenal, so they are always about and helping me, so that must be some sort of influence, right?

Where did you record your album "Please" and who produced the tracks?

I recorded it at a fantastic studio called Armistice Records. I worked with one of the coolest dudes in the universe called Ollie Robinson, he's a bit of a compositional genius and he really understood and helped me create the tracks on the record with the backing instruments I wanted. Production was very tight, I was very picky, we worked very closely but he did a lot of the technical stuff.

The track "Travel Man" always seems popular when you play it live. What's it about?

It's about me dad! It's apparently got a severely catchy chorus and it's my jolliest song I've ever written. My dad did a lot of travelling in his job before he retired so has huge amounts of stories to tell. They've come all through my childhood, so I have this huge amount of respect, awe and love for him, so I wanted to put into a song.

There's a song you have with a line about "Bohemian bars, poets and Sallies". Did I hear that right? What's the title and how did that come about?

Nearly, it's "And bohemian bars for the poets and the sallies". The song is called Concrete Valleys. The whole song is about Winchester and Southampton, the location, the minds that I've noticed us teenagers have from this area, the middle-classness of it all, the way there is all this tarmac but all these beautiful rolling hills. And this is all discussed in verses, but the chorus delves into something else. Before the I started playing, my mind was not in a good place and things were requiring sorting out. When I started college and playing my songs on the music scenes things started to be and did get figured out and I began to understand things like "I'm not dysfunctional for fancying that girl", or "I don't have to act in line with the majority if I find it uncomfortable". I felt freed and the chorus that goes:

"And there's racing cars in back street alleys,

And concrete paths in green old valleys,

And brick saloons with noise for the ladies

And bohemian bars for the poets and the sallies"

It sums up why I love the area so much. The first line sums up the suburban neighbourhood I grew up in, the second is about the south downs, the last is about all the pubs locally and how much fun they can be, and the final line is about venues like the Talking Heads, The Art House and many others that allow people who make art differently to the mainstream to go and deliver their passion in a kind and welcoming place.

The song "Babes Of War" is pretty intense. Which war(s) in particular were in mind?

At the time of writing it was inspired by Syria. It was written after seeing a statistic stating that kids aged 6 in Syria will have seen nothing but war if they were born in Syria. That's a lot of kids. It angered me. It isn't fair, and I had a big internal conflict trying to understand it. To be honest I still haven't worked out where I stand but the song is an opinion I held at the time of writing, and one that I still stand by.

Did you ever watch the "My Tuscaloosa Heart" episode of Scrubs?

Haha! No. Tuscaloosa was taken from the song "Waitin Around to Die" by Townes Van Zandt, I was pretty mad at the time and listened to that and "Death of Emmett Till" by Bob Dylan, and then I sort of scrawled out that tune. I watch very little TV, more of an Album and scroll through Facebook guy to be honest.

What guitars are you playing these days?

I have four. I have a really cheap but now gorgeous sounding Yamaha classical that's about 11 years old, a Fender CD 60 electro-acoustic that I have had for 5 years, a semi hollow bodied electric guitar that I built for a college project called Marylyse, and what I play at most gigs now is a folk body Simon and Patrick with a natural matt finish on some light coloured wood.

When are you going electric?

HAH! When the time is right.

What's your favourite song of all time?

Horrible question... I like it! For now it's a song called Aboard My Train by Kevin Morby. I'm sure people will slate me but oh well.

I hear you're moving to Birmingham. What's wrong with you?

Lots of things... I'm doing a degree in Computer Science at Aston but I also want to live in a big city and try and break into another music scene. Don't worry though, I'll be back every now and then 😉

What's next for Leon C?

Written an album's worth of new material, a single in December is on its way, a few tours are in the works. Lots, don't move anywhere... unless you have to of course!

Thanks to Leon C for answering my questions. You can find his music and connect on the internet via the links below:
https://leoncmusic.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfX6kC781_RwbcsIzlY77g
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ZdLeYnPAzCNeff3QGoVbQ
https://soundcloud.com/leoncmusician
https://www.facebook.com/leoncmusic/
https://twitter.com/leoncmusic