Streatham’s “The Leisure Society”
Over Christmas I saw a close friend who reminded me of the last time we bumped in to each other. It was in the Clarence in Balham several months earlier where she introduced me to fella called Christian, who lived in Streatham Hill. It turns out that Christian is one of the core members of the Streatham based band ‘The Leisure Society’. I have to admit I hadn’t heard of them before but on listening to their debut album, ‘The Sleeper’, I was pleasantly surprised to hear such quality music. As soon as I looked in to the band more I was amazed at what I found. Initially it was their background that fascinated me. Nick Hemming, the other founder member, started his musical life in a band with film maker, Shane Meadows and actor Paddy Considine. I’ve long been a fan of these two and was impressed when I discovered that Nick composed the music for Shane’s films ‘A Room For Romeo Brass’ and ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’. If you haven’t seen either of these films I’d highly recommend them. They not only cemented Shane as one of Britain’s best working directors but also launched Paddy’s career, which has led to his appearances in major films, like ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’. However as I found out more about them I was even more impressed. Not only have they had their music championed by several DJ’s, including Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie, Dermot O’Leary and Guy Garvey of Elbow, (who named their song ‘The Last Of The Melting Snow’ as his favorite song of the year), but they have a string of prestigious awards and nominations to their name, which include the ‘iTunes UK’s Album Of The Year’ in the singer songwriter category and an Ivor Novello nomination for best song musically and lyrically. This last award was eventually won by, none other than, their number one fan Guy Garvey and his band Elbow.
This should give you enough reasons to check out the album, ‘Sleeper’, for yourselves and to look forward to their second album which is currently being recorded in the bands Ego Drain studios in Streatham Hill. Although presumably recording is mostly on hold while they complete their European Tour. You can start by watching the great video below for their song ‘Save It For Someone Who Cares’.
Buy ‘The Leisure Society’ album, ‘Sleeper’ or their EP ‘A Product of The Ego Drain’, or any of their individual songs here on 
