From bedroom to billboard. The Manc behind the music.
In the deepest depths of Manchester lays Luke Leadbelly; having spent the past nine years moulding the northwest’s wave of underground music, it’s now time for his debut proper.
Included on BBC Radio 1 playlists, dabbling in DJ stints at Fabric and playing festivals such as Outlook – venues in New York and California too – Luke started producing music, working with old friends like Levelz Crew, after attending the illegal raves of Manchester, where he first made his name known on the underground circuit – and where I meet him today – curious how it all happened and eager to get the lowdown on what’s next.
So what’s the latest?
His most recent release goes by the name of “Warlord”, that is accompanied by his production buddy, Mane, also featuring the voice and lyrics of Manchester’s very own Skittles – This was put out under the ‘Proper Top’ imprint that is owned by Skittles. Manchester music through and through…
Other things in the pipeline include a new 12″ limited white label (LBAC002), collaborations with some more Mancunion MC’s, 130 Techno based fodder, acoustic tracks with some namely female vocalist’s, and the Luke Leadbelly back catalogue that has yet to see the light of day. Got a few animations for the next single too – “Libra’s Luxury”…that’s the one to watch for next.
And why music?
To be honest I wanted a career in football, I used to play three times a week and got to academy level but music had always been there. I was always wanting to play instruments and back in the day I was a full on mosher. I wanted a drum kit because Joey Jordison from Slipknot was the guy back then – my mum and dad were fully against it – so give it a couple of years and I turned to other methods of making noise in the forms of Reason, for a short while, before moving onto Logic.
Any advice for people that want to start making music but don’t know how?
Read a book, learn how to record things so you can listen to some sort of playback of your shit, get your head around a DAW, meet some people in the field you want to be a part of then just give zero fucks and go for it!
Logic or Reason?
I think all DAW’s have their own pros and cons but Logic Pro opened loads of doors for me. I think it just depends on the person. Some friends of mine can use Reason so well, as if it’s an instrument, but it’s just a little long winded for me.
P.S. Evian Christ give us a shout mate, safe.