Courses Studied: BA (Hons) Music (Popular) / BA (Hons) Music (Production)
Year of Graduation: 2017/2018
Long Legged Creatures are a live electronic quartet incorporating elements of techno, jungle and punk. The group have been steadily building momentum on the live circuit supporting the likes of Mildlife, Noya Rao, Yussef Dayes and Joy Orbison.
The four-piece collective renowned for their individual style of twisted live electronica have released three singles to date. Their latest track 'Spent', features fellow Conservatoire alumni Joshua Zero on vocals. The song was picked and placed on our Sounds of Leeds Conservatoire October 2020 Playlist.
Can you tell us more about your career to date?
Long Legged Creatures first started as a jam. It grew into a gigging band after Ross Wilson joined as live producer, in 2017. This resulted in some great support slots at our favourite Leeds venues for the likes of Noya Rao, Necktr and Yussef Dayes. The past year we’ve been living it up DIY; composing, recording, gigging around the UK and producing our own music videos. Our latest single CMAD was released in January, which we launched at Leeds’ favourite, Hyde Park Book Club and then toured around the north, luckily before lockdown happened. It’s strange for us, listeners know us as a very different band from the tracks available online, but we’ve really evolved since those releases. Over lock down, we wrote and recorded an extended EP and three other singles - we’re very excited to show the world what the project has become.
How would you describe the Long Legged Creatures sound?
The premise of the project is how live instruments can relate to electronic music and blur the lines between the real and virtual world, for everything from playing live, production style, composition techniques, visuals and how we communicate. This ethos blended with each members’ influences and playing styles, equates to a mix of electro, techno, breakbeat, alternative dance, industrial and noise rock. Each track has different influences - there is a through line, but we like to leave that up to the listener to interpret. All of this sounds very serious though. Honestly - we’re mostly aiming to have a fun time sonically for an audience that wants a bit of a dance!
On your new single ‘Spent’ features Joshua Zero on lead vocals. How did this collaboration come about and how did you find the process of working with a guest vocalist?
Josh is an incredibly talented artist musically and lyrically, he’s also a great friend of ours. I (Beth) play in his band, Joshua Zero - so there has often been a cross-over of mood between the two projects, from just bouncing from one rehearsal to the next - which is classic with the interwoven Leeds music scene. I first wrote Spent as an instrumental, it was one of those songs that surprisingly comes out in one sitting - which is once in a blue moon really.
It was very evident that it needed lyrical meaning and a human voice, so naturally we asked Josh. Spent was released through Nice People Magazine’s first compilation record in 2019 alongside other fantastic Leeds artists. We have another track with Joshua Zero coming out soon.
It wasn’t a conscious decision to be an instrumental band, it happened naturally through our electronic music influences. However, we appreciate that some pieces of music work better with a more direct connection to listeners, through lyrics - especially at the moment. Human connection and communication seems to be at the forefront of our minds- and the world in general - which is probably why we’re gravitating towards working with different vocalists - B-ahwe and Lydia Kotsirea being some of the future features. With electronic music, it’s great to just focus on creating an atmosphere, sonically and instrumentally. But our need to express our thoughts on the world and current issues is sometimes too strong, so we require someone to vocalise this for us and our listeners.
How did your experience at Leeds Conservatoire help nurture you into the group that you are today?
It’s simple but so crucial, Leeds Conservatoire provided the freedom and collaborators to experiment with music. The tutors not only supported our musical endeavours, but also advised and inspired us further. From this, we have learnt that if we are inspired and creating, to always allow our brains the freedom to express it. This has shaped what Long Legged Creatures is now, and we appreciate the privileged environment we were given.
Any advice to current students to make the most out of the experience?
It’s the perfect time to take risks- musically that is! Also, playing with a lot of different musicians is very useful, even if you aren’t in projects with some players, you might be in the future, so it’s good to build those connections during your time at Uni, when you have the time and freedom to.
Who have you got your eye on in the Leeds scene atm?
Spacey Basement Cult have just released some very exciting tracks - definitely ones to watch. Their most recent singles have a great blend of interesting electronic production and psychedelic vocals. Creates an atmosphere of an enjoyable bad dream.
Also, Jasmine is a constant inspiration. She’s doing some big things on the Leeds Jazz scene at the moment, she’s an incredibly talented saxophonist and composer.
What can we expect from Long Legged Creatures going forward? What are you working on at the moment?
We’ve got so much music to release, we just want to do it right- you know?! One single should be coming out this year, two more early next year, and an EP soon after that. We live for crowded sweaty gigs, so recently it hasn’t been great for the live side of the project. Hopefully not-so-socially-distanced gigs will be back soon, but we’re not holding our breath. To keep things moving, we’re having a lot of fun with visuals, music videos and live sessionettes, so you can keep entertained on our Instagram and YouTube, and keep an eye out for our upcoming releases.
