Saturday 20 June 2020

Leeroy Thornhill is here to 'Evolve'




"The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing"

This quote is taken from the legendary showman and Funk daddy, James Brown. An innovator, who has inspired so many people, new musicians and the Dance scene, apparently. From the legendary performer some years later, more specifically from the early 90s, the rave scene had introduced to the masses, the almighty Leeroy Thornhill.

This 6-foot 7 inch funky man adopted his own style of shuffling dance steps by that time. That style of dance had big influence in the development of the Melbourne Shuffle underground rave style of dancing and he was also interviewed for the documentary 'Melbourn Shuffle' to talk about his genious footwork. An incarnation of the energy given by The Prodigy's music.

From the early 90s till 2000, he was one quarter of the groundbreaking band of The Prodigy shaking the planet with an absolutely innovative buzz. After that, Leeroy has put loads of hard work on his solo releases like EPs, remixes and an album all made under various aliases (e.g. Flightcrank, Longman) running also his own label Electric Tastebuds. Aside of that, he joined the forces with Martin Höger to form Smash HIFI during his move to Berlin, where he currently lives the last years.

After a fascinating row of touring and djing in almost 75 countries, Leeroy's 30 year old music life is something that you won't skip at all. Always hard working and positive, one of the greatest smiles within the scene, is listening to his soul & heartbeats and never retires. He's just evolving himself day-by-day.

The odd year of 2020, finds him setting up his own website and Bandcamp page, avoiding any record companies and big music platforms (e.g. Spotify, Beatport, iTunes) in order to take full control of his own music, as he said. 'Crazy EP' was his first official work for this year, and it came few weeks after playing out an amazing set over Bang Face Weekender in UK.



However, he doesn't stop at all with this digital EP only!!

Leeroy is releasing his new album, entitled 'EVOLVE' on 26th June.

This album is by far a rare and very different concept than anything else out there. Personally, I haven't seen an album like this one before. I thought that Moby's 'Everything Is Wrong' [Mixed & Remixed]' is something a bit similar, but here we're deadling with no remixes but original tracks, made by the producer himself and by 2-3 minutes length each.

I had the chance giving it couple of listens as an exclusive top tier subscriber on his VIP Membership on Bandcamp and I can inform you that it's a 50 minutes dish of mixed up tracks and genres such as ragga, funk, breaks.
All tied up so well, honestly.
You can't choose any favourite tracks from there, but in case you're wondering keep in your notes some above: 'Out of my Head' a trip hop inspired tune, female vox sampling and scratching, took me to the Cut La Roc old style. Then 'Run For Your Life', 'The Warehouse' with its fat breakbeats smelling oldskool rave and last but not least the self-titled track 'Evolve', which took me to a psychedelic feel usually offered by The Chemical Brothers.

Need more information about the album? Need to hear what Leeroy thinks about his new work? How long did it take him to finish it or why he's not interested in signing on labels? Would you also like to know if this is gonna come out on Vinyl, on CD or if there'll be any merch ? And after it, any new album or EP to follow?
Well al these questions will be covered on an exclusive interview I had with him and it will be featured as a part of a special edition of Generation X [RadioShow] totally dedicated to the mighty tall hero.


Now what about this foto... Well...One last thing I'd say is that I done the show's artwork totally on my own, doodling by hand everything you see over there. Holding it high with excitement and pride for a man carrying his own history and music heritage for more than three decades.


Catch you up then on Saturday 27th June at 3:30 [UK Time] @ www.kniteforce-radio.com celebrating the launch of Leeroy's new album, giving a tribute also to his story so far.


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