Leonard

Leonard consists of five friends that got together in 1998 to write some tunes. The common thread was the small township of Oratia at the foothills of the Waitakeres where their practise shed still stands to this day. Within the practise shed still lies the aging Leonard fridge after which the band was named.

After spending the winter of 98 writing songs and recording at York Street Studios, they emerged in September with the ‘How Does That One Go?’ EP. The single from the EP was called ‘Paul Weller’ which was included on the NZ On Air Kiwi Hit Disc #36 and was play listed on Channel Z. Leonard then spent most of 1999 making a video for the single, playing some live shows and writing more songs.

In 2000 it was back into York Street with Andrew Buckton to record the single ‘Looking Up’. This track built on the success of the previous release and was the lead track on the Heatseeker Indie Hit Disc #11. ‘Looking Up’ then went on high rotate with Channel Z while ‘Paul Weller’ also continued to be played. This airplay combined with positive reviews in Rip It Up and other magazines led to a series of gigs and articles which continued through to the end of 2001.

With the money generated from CD sales, gigs, T-Shirts and APRA, it was then back to the practise shed and studio to embark on the most ambitious project to date: a self funded and entirely independent debut album. And now, after months of writing and recording, Leonard’s debut album called ‘An Implied Desire’ was released in 2003.