David Leon (Artist)

Following on from my 2020 chamber pop E.P. Golden Heart, I began work on my debut album !? [spoken as “interrobang”] - an album of wildly different genre-defying songs which began as skeletons. These skeletons were then fleshed out by my superbly talented yet notably incongruous band, consisting of Baptie, Jorge Sandoval, Drew Mill, and Ross Mackenzie.

After 4 years of work, in February 2024, the band and I travelled across Scotland and the Inner Seas to an island, to the recording studio at the edge of the world, Black Bay. The final forms of the !? songs were forged in the beauty of a bleak and unforgiving landscape.

The lead single ‘Money’ is a Sun Records style interpretation of the song first made famous by Barrett Strong’s rhythm & blues track. Subsequently covered by greats such as Little Richard, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, my version is an untamed and aggressive performance by my newest character, the money-mad capitalist cretin; The Kleptocrat.

A satirical post-punk panto villain, The Kleptocrat was inspired by political persons past and present. Entirely motivated by greed and disregard for humanity, he was devised during the writing process for the !? album, and formed the cohesive force for the lyrics of the ultimate single ‘All Hail (The Neo-Nasties)’, due to be released Monday.