Neu Get To Know… Leah Cleaver

What was the first gig you ever went to? 
Okay, so I must have been seven or eight and I went to go and see McFly with my bestie Callum and his mum - that night I realised I was more of a Busted fan. It was very sad… but still a very fun time.

Your music pulls from a diverse range of influences, from Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Little Simz. Are these artists you listened to growing up, or discovered through family/friends? Tell us more about what shaped your sound.
I think I totally absorbed the music around me because it was always on in the house. My aunt played a lot of The Rat Pack tunes and was a huge Dean Martin fan, so I grew up watching movies like High Society with Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra, and Singing In The Rain. And I remember so clearly watching Dirty Dancing and hearing Otis Redding’s ‘Love Man’ for the first time - it blew my mind. So that American soul/blues/jazz influence was really heavy in the house.

But then round at my nana and grandad’s, I was singing out ‘Weila Waila’ by The Dubliners when I was only small (which is a madness because that song is pretty gruesome, but I loved it so much). I loved the raw vocals and the pain and playfulness of it all, which really
makes sense because soul music and Irish music really go hand in hand. And then my uncles played me Red Hot Chilli Peppers, ‘Demon Days’ and Arctic Monkeys, so it was all the good stuff.

I think it all made me have an affinity with unique, commanding tones in their own right, so I naturally found my way to Little Simz, Channel Tres, NAO, Jeff Buckley, David Byrne - a lot of this project is a nod to some of them.

Your upcoming EP, ‘Pushing Up Flowers’, was written after a period of sudden uncertainty, when you inexplicably lost your voice. What was this experience like, and how do you think it affected your outlook/headspace heading into this new era of music?
It was a super scary time, because your voice is so personal - it’s your identity - so it feels like the thing you love doing has let you down. Then you get more stressed about it, so it gets worse. Also, that’s how I pay my rent, so it was a lot at that time. But in hindsight, I honestly think it was my body and the universe telling me to… not just slow down, but to stop with the constant self-judgment and cut things out of my life that weren’t serving me, period. That carved out a weirdly calm but finally breathable era of me having no expectations of myself. When I started writing music again, I wanted to get out what I needed to say, and I couldn’t sing it, so I said it: I shed a lot of old baggage in these songs and self-soothed through the music (which is cheeeeese but it’s that truth cheddar!).

Alongside music, you also run U Gd, Girl? - an organisation which provides safe spaces and community for people of marginalised genders. What was the motivation behind co-founding the initiative? How do you think your two outlets inform one another?
Me and Beth (who I co-run U Gd, Girl? with) have been best friends for 10 years: we’ve grown together, lived together, and since day one we’ve always said we’re not using negative language about ourselves and our bodies; that we’ll always lift ourselves and each other up so high, and that’s the bar we’ve set going forward with our lovers, our partners (her husband!) and our other friends.

And then after an emotional (beautiful) girls trip we decided to take that ethos and try and turn it into a workshop. It was simple: women and non-binary babes stepping out of their comfort zone to come and talk with other like-minded people about the things we sometimes shy away from speaking about, whether it’s body image, our love languages, our kinks, our mental health - we just wanted to create a space that wasn’t ours but belonged to everyone who came. It belongs to them - a community of people who are stepping out their comfort zones and actively seeking friendship and sisterhood.

So much of the music in this project is about that. In ‘Pushing up Flowers’, I am directly speaking to the women in my life who inspire me to be louder and braver. And in a bigger sense, this whole project shares the U Gd, Girl? ethos: a community of people helped me make this - they encouraged me to dig deep and sit with my feelings and express them however I liked - and I’m so grateful for that.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only take one album, one book, and one film with you, what would you pick?
Album: ‘Needle Paw’, by Nai Palm. Book: Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo. Film: American Gangster. 

What’s your worst musical habit?
Listening to songs to DEATH immediately after making them (only if it’s good!). It’s cool, but I’m trying to practise giving it a day or two so I can listen to it with fresh ears. But I’m awful - by the time I get home I’ve already sent it to five friends lol.

Finally, DIY are coming round for dinner - what are you making?
My grandad’s steak and Guinness pie, cheesy mash, and tender stem chilli broccoli. 

‘Pushing Up Flowers’ is out now via PACE. 

Tags: Get to Know, Neu, Leah Cleaver