Human Leather Interview: “Life is a challenge, and I want to write the soundtrack”

One of many bands to have explored the country’s more perilous frontiers of DIY culture, Brighton-based Human Leather finally slam their fury down on tape with their long-awaited debut album, Here Comes the Mind, There Goes the Body. An album that underlines the world’s incessant failures, Human Leather don’t mince their words, rightfully pissed off and unafraid to tells us about it.

The tripwire tension between the two-piece assault team of Amée Chanter and Thomas Close is like a calcified ball of bile and rage. Renowned for their intense live shows, so often the sharp-edged ferocity of a band’s live performance is blunted between the studio walls. Not the case here, however, and it’s thanks to Wayne Adams, whose work behind the consoles preserves Human Leather’s anarchy and panic-attack chaos.

Here Comes the Mind, There Goes the Body begins with Dark Depths and Surface Tension – a noise-punk death roll that sounds like an unhinged freight train surging into the abyss. It’s a Shit Business, Glad I’m Out of It and Momentary Masters Of A Fraction Of A Dot match its darkness, too, akin to shrapnel fizzing through the fire and smoke of a warzone.

Elsewhere, Existence Is Not A Solo Sport and QVC Hands are dominated by Chanter’s razor-wire bass lines, and alongside Close’s militant drum blasts, it’s bug-eyed, amphetamine-fuelled wildness that skirts along the same borders as Thee Oh Sees.

Overall, Chanter’s vocal performance is like a chainsaw guided through oak. Lore of the Land and The Enclosed The Common Land And Built A Fucking Lawn, sludge-laden speed-rock delivered with little concern for the consequences. So too Spare Me The Pleasant Trees, as Chanter spits and snarls with all the devastating force of fellow DIY alumni, Gill Dread.

There are moments where Human Leather occupy the fringes of said warzone, too. On Outro, Chanter and Close drain the sludge with an electro clash fever dream that is the outlier’s outlier. Listening to it is like landing in liminal space. Is it a dream, reality or both? Perhaps the answer is within the album title itself. Mind and body, pulled apart like tendon from bone.

Ahead of tomorrow’s release of Here Comes the Mind, There Goes the Body, exclusive to Sun 13, below you can watch the video for new single, Lore of the Land. Earlier this week, Chanter and Close took time to answer our questions about the story or Human Leather, and much more.

Sun 13: What were the inspirations behind the song and video for Lore of the Land?

Thomas Close: “Video is dog-based. All good music videos have to have a dog in them. Drum wise I was listening to a lot of the band Vein.Fm so ripped loads of drum parts from that band.”

Amée Chanter: “The opening lyrics fell into my head on a big ol’ solo nature stomp ‘Call me old fashioned, give me back to the land’. So lyrically speaking, they just built from there, I knew they needed to have a ‘nature big, humans small’ theme, almost a kind of furious folk song of sorts.

“The video is footage from a gig we played in Norwich for the excellent Chris Spalton (who did the video), and a slightly hungover dog / nature / ruins walk the next day. Chris then worked some psychedelic editing magic and did us a right beauty of a video!

“We chose the song after filming and went for the one that best matched the feel of the film. A fitting method for a band that seems to function on happy little accidents”.

S13: Can you give us a brief history behind the band and how it formed?

TC: “On a fateful night in Deptford two pissed up chancers, named Patrick and Jill asked me to join their band, hatefuck. Amée happened to be the bassist, hatefuck then broke up and I asked Amée if she wanted to do a simple two-piece bass ’n’ drum band… Amée missed the simple part of the memo.”

AC: “Life is a challenge, and I want to write the soundtrack.”

S13: How did your alliance with Wrong Speed Records come about?

TC: “They literally kept ringing us up day and night begging to release the record. It got a bit too much when Chris Summerlin turned up outside my flat window playing Peter Gabriel on a boom box. So eventually I invited him inside for tea and toast and we agreed terms. They were shivering with excitement, like a newborn pig, it’s nice for them to have this opportunity.”

AC: “Very chuffed indeed that we got to join the Wrong Speed fam. It’s a label filled with beautifully talented wonderful people, a smorgasbord of fellow cosmic weirdos. It feels like home.”

S13: Can you tell us about the process of Here Comes the Mind, There Goes the Body?

TC: “Amée writes big riff, I play fast drum. Jobs a gooden.”

AC: “Pretty much that. The riffs come, Tom drum[s], I make some mouth noises to figure out a vocal melody, then write lyrics that fit the garbling. This is how we’ve always done it, and it feels right. I’m a big believer in letting things happen organically when it comes to creativity, cast that net into the universal aether and see what gets caught!

“This is also probably why we take so fucking long to do anything as a band (also ’cos we both have to work full time jobs and have a semblance of a life outside of work and band stuff).”

S13: What was the most important aspect you wanted to achieve with the album?

TC: “For me I wanted to play this fast in the studio. A lot [of] records after a few years of playing them live become slow sounding, so I just wanted it to sound alive on every listen. And also bring the imperial capitalist construct to its knees.”

AC: “So a lot of what I do in this band is a fuck you to the patriarchal expectations of womanhood, via the form of playing sweaty ugly riffs and pulling sweaty ugly faces. Another major part is being able to scream out my frustrations into the world in a socially acceptable manner. Putting them into the world via a band feels like more of a positive way to get them out, than standing on a street corner yelling at passersby.”

S13: Was Wayne Adams an obvious choice for you to work with?

TC: “I love working with Wayne. His drum sound is impeccable and always gets the vibe that I want. Also, his editing is actually magic. Which is helpful for me because I make plenty of mistakes, mainly to get my money’s worth. During this recording he actually turned said to me, ‘wow Tom you are my hero’.”

AC: “Wayne is super skilled in his ability to capture the chaotic essence of our live shows, but also craft it in a way that makes us sound swish and sleek. He’s also been pretty integral to helping me figure out the pedals I want to use. I’m not very technically or theory minded when it comes to music, but I know the sound / feel I want. I threw some general noises / descriptions his way, and he suggested pedals that matched. I’m forever thankful to him for helping me figure my pedal shit out.”

S13: Ain’t No Such Thing as Civilised, It’s Man So In Love With Greed, He Has Forgotten Himself And Found Only Appetites feels like the album’s epicentre, underlining much of the underhand dealings that are happening in the world right now. Was it one of the earlier songs you wrote for the album?

TC: “Amée, what song is that?”

AC: “It’s ‘Yeah M8’ (we know our songs by different names to the actual titles, cos we are fucken idiots). I think the first song we actually wrote on this album was They Enclosed The Common Land, And Built A Fucking Lawn, but not entirely sure as our song writing method means it all gets a bit hazy, and also as some of the songs on the album we began writing six [or] seven years ago!

“Generally, as I said earlier, this band enables me to go on a mad bitch rant about the world, in a way it helps me cling on to a sense of sanity in a world that feels fucking insane. We recorded the album in 2022, and throughout the time we’ve sat on it, the world has got progressively more regressive.

“The songs made sense to me when we recorded them, and kind of make more sense now? Admittedly, I’m not glad about this, I would have loved to have seen the world become a kinder, more equal, less bigoted place in the last three years, but here we are.”

S13: While thematically tackling weighty subjects, some of your song titles are rather amusing. How important is it for Human Leather to show its sense of humour?

TC: “As the old saying goes, ‘if you ain’t laughing you’re crying’. Who wants to listen to a band and cry?”

AC: “I do. Hah! But nah, I get that there’s a bit of juxtaposition between the fact that we are big dafties making music about serious topics.

“The way I see it is, yes, I want to use this band space to speak about important topics, but I also think there’s a very fine line between feeling you are making something meaningful and being pretentious? Maybe I see the comedic side of our creativity as a form of ego-death? Maybe I am also over analysing.

“As much as we take our music seriously and are dedicated to what we create, I think we understand that there’s also a great sense of humour in the uncertainty of life. Long and short, basically what he said, ‘if you don’t laugh, ya cry’. We want to bring joy and connection to the world, not add to the fucking misery that already exists.”

S13: Obviously it could be construed in different ways, but The Momentary Masters of a Fraction of a Dot got me thinking about DIY culture and the struggle for creatives across the world. Is this something that the band has thought about given your participation in the underground music?

TC: “DIY music is, in my eyes, supposed to represent an alternative to ‘mainstream’ way of working and creating. We aren’t trying to sell out stadiums, and I think it’s pointless to entertain ideas like that. I have managers at work [and] they’re all cunts, I certainly don’t want one involved in the thing that I do to hang out with my mates and blow off steam. All I’m saying is I’m the only cunt in this band.

AC: “This. I always find it baffling that in ‘alternative’ music, you get people adhering to the rules and regulations of the mainstream, what’s alternative about that? I can’t help but feel that social mobility is a dead concept, in music and in existence in general, my life experience (and cynicism) has taught me this.

“I see a world calling for true representation, but also one that simultaneously seems to prefer supporting the success of wealthy, conventionally attractive people, almost as if they are the only ones making anything worthwhile (newsflash, they aren’t).

“I guess it’s another side effect of capitalism hijacking our primal brains, industry craves sales, and sexy rich people sell? I think it’s gross though, people can’t be calling for change and expecting it to happen whilst following the exact bullshit that the patriarchal capitalist oppressive machine force feeds us.

“I guess what I am trying to say is, talent is everywhere, opportunity is not (with a side order of fuck the system.)”

S13: How much do you think Brighton influences the music you make?

TC: “There are loads of sick bands in Brighton, and loads of great drummers, I will continue to steal their beats and fills and ideas. Brighton itself has become a bit of a gentrified cesspit probably adds some elements of anger to the music. I actually live a town called Gravesend. It influences my music a lot – as it gives me a good excuse to leave.”

AC: “Hmm somewhat. I guess Brighton was the first city that properly welcomed me into the world of being in a band, so I guess there’s that.

“Honestly, I’d say growing up in Nottingham probably influenced me more though? Tom is on the money there (pun intended), Brighton really has become a playground for the wealthy. I’m moving away next year, I’ve had some great times in this place, but as every year passes, the more it turns into a city I don’t want to be in.

“It’s depressing to be in a city that paints itself as politically left and sympathetic to the oppressed and marginalised, whilst ostracising those less financially fortunate, through extortionate rents and ingrained classism. This does make me angry, and [influences] me [to] make angry music.”

S13: Politics is obviously something that makes Human Leather what it is. Do you consider yourselves positive people, and do you think there’s a better future ahead?

TC: “Absolutely not. Eat the rich. Steal from supermarkets. Love each other. Cheers!”

AC: “Another bloody long answer from me…

“Yes and no. I do believe in a better future, but I know it won’t happen if we carry on with business as usual. Existing this way got us into this shit, it sure as fuck ain’t gonna get us out of it. Humans need to quit wanking off our own ego’s and wind our fucking necks in (particularly the financially comfortable of the world and their obsession with consumption) [or] else life as we know it is a goner.

“Somewhere along the line, humans invented the wheel, the internet, the cushioned insole etc., and thought it gave us the right to act like we’re the most important form of life on this planet. Fuck off. Fungi literally do more for life on earth you self-obsessed maniacs.

“Anyway yes, maybe the future will be alright but only if we make some vast changes and fucking now already. The fact is, we need the planet more than it needs us, and it’s about time we remember that.”

Here Comes the Mind, There Goes the Body is out tomorrow via Wrong Speed Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.