Leon Else Explains Instagram Pics & Tattoos

I've been in my black car, burning up some gasoline. Set my wheels on fire, unleash all desire to the nightclub machine.

What up, young Hollywood? I'm here with Leon Else, and we're here and he's going to be performing tonight at School Night at Bardot. You got a stylish outfit, talk tell me what inspired you. Look at this, this whole thing, all black.

Yeah. I do wear black, I tend to wear black quite a lot.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Johnny Cash?

Not even Johnny Cash, just because it's just like it's just something I'm drawn to. I can't really explain it. I don't always wear, you know, um, black. Sometimes, I do some of the fashion weeks and stuff, I wear color.

This is a black car. I didn't know if this was yours or not.

That is my car.

Is this your car?

Yes, my car.

That is his car. We were right near it. We were right, we were right. Dude, this guy's got an insane. He's got an insane song out right now called "Black Car".

I've been in my black car, burning up some gasoline. Set my wheels on fire, unleash all desire to the nightclub machine.

So, tonight when you perform, is it just you on stage, do you have your band, how what's it like?

No, I'm going to have my band. I have a band, a three-piece. That's the setup, really.

You doing a lot of dancing?

You know what? Like, I done a my first show recently in L. A. , which was so much fun. It's a slightly bigger stage where I did actually go a bit crazy. I mean, it was exhausting.

Right now, we're walking down this is the dressing room at Bardot and uh School Night. So. Yeah. Backstage stuff, guys, with Leon Else. This is some secret shit. This is some secret shit. He's got some songs that I love, "Cheap Hotel", uh, "Black Car",

Mhm.

and "Dance" now.

Yeah.

So, "Dance", did and did you grow up dancing?

Yeah. I was I um went to dance school and trained. Graduated from school and had a professional career about three and a half years. And then I just felt like I'd peaked, I felt like I'd done such amazing things so early on. I was just like, I needed more. And I'd always been writing songs since I was twelve. And I continued to write songs during dancing. But you couldn't really go to school and learn to write songs back in England. You couldn't really go and learn to be I guess what they call a pop star or something.

Music videos are really interesting. Tell me what was like the concept. I know the song's called "Dance".

Yeah, "Dance" is something that I feel like I'd envisioned for so many years. And I remember thinking when I was younger, I could really make a really good video. They always had it in the back of my head that I wanted this video where I was really dancing.

Right.

And then I I wrote I started writing "Dance" was purely as a song to make yourself feel good to dance.

It it shows you off in a whole, because when I first heard your song "Cheap Hotel", and then that's not dancing. No. But then I just saw "Dance" and I was like, it it shows the spectrum. And I really,

I I wrote "Cheap Hotel" in a period when I was doing something very different. I felt like I was doing something to please a lot of other people rather than doing something that was truly me.

Did you know what to do when you made the video for "Black Car"? Because that video is like on another level. What is going on in that video?

If you hear some of my music now, I believe that I found who I am. You know, we're not the same people. You know, you're not the same person every single day. You we all go through different emotions and feelings. You know, so why am I going to make music that is just the same as a lot of other people? So with "Black Car" and stuff like that, I think it's the same for visuals, why are you going to just do the same old visuals that we see a thousand times? What's the point?

Right.

You know, what's the point of making something for people to be entertained or watched if it's going to be something that someone's already done? So for me, it was all about trying to find spaces and collaborate with people and be inspired to try and just do something a bit different.

Talk about the rings because we didn't get the rings. We were Snapchat and I was like, he's got some beautiful rings here.

Okay. I got given I went to the Versace show in London and was given these by um Donatella. I got given that one, that one, and those two, I double them up because they're the same. I got this in Venice on my on the Venice Beach. Not Venice in Italy. Because I got some really great quirky jewelry stores down there, which is really cool.

Do you wear these when you when you're performing live?

I wear them all the time.

Wow. They don't hold you down when you're playing live?

No.

That's awesome.

No, I think it's good, I I like them. I just like some people look at me and think they're a bit intimidating and stuff, but it's just expression.

So I I have some Instagram photos. Yeah. I want to go over with you. Tell tell me what you think about them. This what's going on there?

Okay. This is a shoot I done with a guy called Yoshino, who's a really talented photographer. And I just wanted to do some images and stuff that I felt that represented depression.

Depression. I feel suffocation. And I'm a struggle.

Well depression is like suffocation. It's like being suffocated. I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm someone who does struggle with depression. I'm I have ADHD and I struggle with that. But I'm not ashamed of that and I'm not um and I think it's about time as people are, but I think more and more people should start talking about it.

Yeah.

Because if we act the the worst thing about feeling down or depressed or isolated is that people feel alone and people are scared to talk about it because they feel they're going to get judged or they're going to be cast as crazy.

Right.

You know, when there isn't crazy. We're all if you want to call crazy, we're all slightly crazy in a way then. But when you actually talk about problems and put things out there, it makes you feel better. And it's just my way of saying, look guys, you're not alone. It's I, you know, it's just an image that I wanted to

Right. Great image and too. So, this this image right here.

Mhm.

Here we go. That's on your Instagram feed.

Yeah, I've actually got it tattooed. That's why I want to bring it up.

There we go. This is so cool. What is this?

This to me symbolizes the fact that, you know, a lot of song-writers will think they're a caged bird. In fact, it's like there's a cage, right? And there's a bird who thinks it's a caged bird, but actually there's no door.

There's no door.

So my point being it's a state of mind. The door that you aren't trapped in your head.

Right.

You aren't in a cage. So it's kind of like it's just how you it's just try to change yourself to think how can I sometimes just flip the situation and look at it in a different light, which I think a lot of people including myself overthink a lot of things. Um, and we don't have to.

These are my Christian Louboutin custom tap shoes. Custom tap. Custom tap shoes?

Yeah, they they they they were made especially for "Dance". You know,

They're awesome.

My team bought me them as a present.

Right, right, right.

In to cope. And just because it's like I used to be a tap dancer and it's one of them memories that, you know, we'll all get. Right. And I want to share them with people because I feel they're special.

Are you going to have the tap dance tonight?

No. No. The stage is too small. It's why yeah. It's really small like it's great, the venue's great. But I looked at it and I said, ah, shit, it's quite small. So if you had like a huge. But we've figured it out.

When you when you have your huge stage, that's probably going to be some Lady Gaga stuff.

That's all I want, really. People just come and have a good time. Right. And to just feel they can they go, uh, I didn't think about anything apart from the moment that I was in in that music and it made me feel good.

Well, tonight's going to be an amazing experience here. You're you're the man, dude.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Thanks, guys. Thank you. Wow.