MacD on Music: Octopus’s Garden

They say the best things in life come in tens. There’s Lords-a-leaping, Years After and the Fast and Furious movies, to name but a few. Last week saw the yet another brilliant ten, with the release of Adam Leonard’s new solo album, ‘Octopus Part 10’.

During the week I met with Adam to discuss the project, as well as other topics, including his own musical past and his other project, Invaderband.

Speaking about the ‘Octopus’ series, Adam tells me “They’re basically compilations of stuff that has either had a limited release, or no release at all. On the latest one, there’s ten songs. Six of them have not been released before and the other four are collaborations and stuff, just in case anybody’s missed those, and just sort of bringing those together with some unreleased stuff.

"I just do this whenever I feel there’s enough material to do it.

"I started doing it in 2014 and there’s been ten compilations since then.”

I asked Adam which he prefers, playing solo or with Invaderband.

He told me “In terms of playing live, it’s much better playing with the band.

"I started off a bit of a folkie, just me and an acoustic guitar, and the stuff I’d written was quite complicated to play. It wasn’t just strumming chords, so playing that stuff live on your own was quite difficult, so in terms of playing live Invaderband is better.

"In terms of recording, it’s all the same to me really. I think I did it the wrong way round, really. I did the most difficult thing first, by playing quite complex songs on acoustic guitar on stage on my own. I don’t think there’s anything more difficult than that.

"Then I started playing with other people and I found it quite easy.”

During our chat, we talked a bit about who he’s a fan of locally.

He said “Strength NIA are really good. Rory Moore is a genius really. Chris [McConaghy], Our Krypton Son, is another genius.

"In Belfast my favourite band would probably be Junk Drawer. Went to see them a few months back and they were astonishing.”

Moving slightly further east, he tells me “Generally, my favourite band is the Darkness. I’ve written a song with Justin Hawkins actually. He did this songwriting masterclass on his Patreon, so I was on that for a few months.”

I asked him if the song (as yet unreleased) will be on Part 11. “Maybe. Next year I’m going to do a physical release of all ten together, and maybe having some extra tracks on that, one of which could be the Justin Hawkins one, if he allows that to be released.”

I also asked Adam about some of his personal career highlights to date.

He told me “When Derry was the City of Culture [2013]. There was a competition the Nerve Centre were running and I won that. I got the best song in that competition. I got in the paper, and was up on the National Lottery website.

"Since then, the first album [Invaderband] was shortlisted for the NI Music Prize, a single’s been shortlisted and the latest album’s [Peter Gabriel] been shortlisted now.”

Other personal highlights included “Getting on Six Music without any budget whatsoever. Getting on National radio in the UK and Ireland for the cost of a stamp, basically.

"They’re nice things to happen but it’s all about just writing the songs and recording the songs. Every time I write a song that’s a personal highlight for me, it means I’ve still got it, because I could loose it at any minute.”

Of course, I couldn’t talk to Adam and not mention Invaderband, the group he’s fronted for a decade now.

Talking about the origins of the Band, he said “Invaderband started ten years ago. When I first formed the band I didn’t intend to put records out.
"It was intended just as a live thing, but we did do some recording.

"We had two singles out in 2015 and the first album didn’t come out until 2017, so we were together five years before we released an album.”

He told me, too, that the next album “is progressing really well. We’re probably about half way through writing it. In my opinion, it’s to be the best of the three so far. It’s going to be a bit darker, in tone and subject matter. It’s going to be a bit more electronic as well.

"It’s not for me to say these things but it’s going to be good.”

And that’s us for another week.

As mentioned last week, ‘Octopus Part 10’ is out now and can be found on his official Bandcamp page. Also, Invaderband’s second album ‘Peter Gabriel’ is on the shortlist for the NI Music Prize. Vote for it at nimusicprize.com.

Adam can be found on Facebook and Instagram @plusaleonard (solo) and @invaderband_derry (Invaderband).

This Friday also sees the return of the Foyle Folk Club in Tinney’s. The first one since 2019, it features Pat Gallagher of Goats Don’t Shave as the headline act and is sure to be a great night.