LEAP’s Jacky Scott talks us by the journey that’s led to the band’s debut album ‘Entropy’, out now.
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It’s potential to argue that the story of LEAP started earlier than any of its members had been sufficiently old to talk the four-letter phrase.
Born simply days aside in the identical hospital, frontman Jacky Scott and drummer Hector Cottam had been brothers lengthy earlier than they shared a stage. Rising up aspect by aspect, experiencing each second of pleasure, confusion, and heartbreak collectively, their connection sits on the coronary heart of a band constructed on a easy, however very important, basis: household.
Rounded out by guitarist Adam Mason and bassist Declan Brown (who Jacky first met while admiring one another’s denim jackets in The Hawley Arms), the four-piece could not share a bloodline, however their unbreakable bond has turn out to be considerably of a lifeline lately – particularly for Jacky.
After signing a serious label take care of his earlier band, the frontman was thrust onto a rollercoaster journey of relentless ups and downs. Dwelling with bipolar dysfunction, he spiralled into an prolonged manic episode, finally being sectioned in a psychiatric establishment. After being launched from the unit to the information that his undertaking had been dropped by all labels and administration, adopted by the devastating lack of his father to suicide – it left him shattered.
“My confidence was at an all-time low. I wasn’t positive whether or not I’d ever get again into music,” he displays.
“That’s why this band is known as LEAP. It’s about giving your self a second probability and attempting to be courageous. You simply must take that step ahead.”
Taking that plunge alongside his brothers, Jacky would be the first to say that this band has saved his life, referring to LEAP as ‘rock and roll remedy’. Coming after a whirlwind few years, the band’s debut album ‘Entropy’ has now arrived, serving not solely as an introduction to the their sound, however to their final objective.
Eleven songs certain by grief, hope, and therapeutic, it’s a window into Jacky’s life, however extra importantly – it’s an invite to hitch his household.
THE SOUND
Previous to their debut album taking form, the sonic DNA of LEAP was constructed over the course of three EPs.
For these which have been following the band’s story then, there are just a few tracks on ‘Entropy’ that shall be acquainted. Stay-tested throughout their enormous sold-out European reveals, the band picked out the three songs they felt finest captured the power of these EPs. Supposed as a strategy to chart the band’s story up to now, the hook-driven moodiness of breakout single ‘Exit Indicators’ slots seamlessly into the tracklist, alongside different beforehand launched tracks ‘Energies’ and ‘The Downfall’.
With three slots on the tracklist already crammed, that left LEAP with eight new songs to write down after they hit the studio in January 2025.
“We wrote a big chunk of the report over the course of six weeks,” Jacky says.
“When ‘Exit Indicators’ began getting love from radio stations throughout Europe, we thought possibly that’s what the LEAP sound was. However then we had one other second with ‘Sinking Feeling’. That bought an enormous response and hit some milestones that had been very uncommon for a very unsigned band.”
“These songs guided our imaginative and prescient for ‘Entropy’, however our focus was on making an album that would take you to a different world for 45 minutes. That type of escapism is so essential as a result of it’s straightforward to get misplaced in your telephone display and all the on a regular basis issues that get us down. Having a second to utterly join with one thing and go on that journey is particular.”
That journey begins with expansive opener ‘Over & Out’ and continues by the mighty riffs of ‘Do Or Die’, the upbeat dance-ready hooks of ‘I Was By no means There’, during to the slow-building explosion of nearer ‘Eclipse’. Capturing the electrical spirit of their reside present while leaving house for intimacy, it’s an album that veers unpredictably between chaos and management, a sense meant to reflect the inside workings of Jacky’s thoughts.
“It’s a mirrored image of how my mind works,” he explains.
“Being recognized bipolar, typically I really feel like all the pieces is wonderful, however then it may well instantly go utterly the opposite method. The best way the report sounds is meant to mirror that inside turmoil.”
“Like something, it’s all about steadiness. I’ve been going to gigs since I used to be 15, and I by no means need to go to a present and stroll away feeling sombre. I need to be sweaty, I need to really feel euphoria, and I need to be moshing. Going into the album, it was essential for us to get that steadiness proper. A present ought to largely be about large, upbeat bangers. You need to give folks a great time, however then you definately additionally need to dip into the tears right here and there.”
THE LYRICS
If there’s a thesis that underlines ‘Entropy’, it’s radical honesty.
From psychological well being and grief to mania and resilience, each lyric attracts straight from the uncooked edges of Jacky’s lived expertise. All the time aiming to uplift together with his phrases, but by no means pretending that the darkness isn’t actual, it’s unflinching – however by no means hopeless.
“I’ve been by some actually laborious instances in the previous couple of years,” the frontman nods.
“I need to be open about my darker emotions as a result of there are such a lot of folks on the market going by the identical factor. That’s what I really like most about reside reveals, having the ability to get all of them beneath one roof, moshing and going wild.”
That degree of vulnerability comes naturally to Jacky, with a few of his most sombre traces naturally flowing out of him each time he sits down on the piano.
“It’s one thing I’ve realized from my very own journey with psychological well being, but additionally from seeing folks round me deteriorate after not being open about their emotions. I understand how damaging that may be, so I pleasure myself on having the ability to speak from the center. On the identical time although, I really like the truth that one music can have 100 totally different meanings to totally different folks. Generally, if you happen to preserve issues just a little bit extra cryptic, then it permits folks to go on their very own journey with it.”
‘Energies’ traces the unpredictable manic spikes Jacky has needed to navigate, ‘Do Or Die’ captures the ride-or-die hustle of an unbiased band, while ‘Waste Your Love’ bottles up the sensation of rediscovering your true ardour.
Should you ask Jacky what probably the most private music penned for ‘Entropy’ was although, the reply is straightforward. Written for his father who took his personal life in 2021, the poignant ‘Messages’ is the prime instance of how deep he was keen to dive in his songwriting this time round.
Launched in partnership with CALM (Marketing campaign In opposition to Dwelling Miserably), the highly effective single raised funds and consciousness for suicide prevention, a trigger understandably very near Jacky’s coronary heart.
“It’s such an earth-shattering factor to occur to you and your loved ones. It was completely out the blue, and my dad wasn’t recognized with melancholy or something,” he displays.
“It places all the pieces into context, and it’s such a deep feeling. Attempting to get that right into a music is difficult, however there was one factor that actually caught with me. When it first occurred, I used to be unable to course of it. Over time, listening by his outdated voice notes allowed me to entry that emotion and really feel related with him once more.”
“We had the primary a part of the music written through the yr that he handed, but it surely took a very long time to work out the remainder. I wished folks to have the ability to look into the music and take one thing optimistic away from it. Because it was launched, so many individuals have been reaching out about these they’ve misplaced. Everybody offers with grief in several methods, but it surely’s good to have that group there, and to not really feel such as you’re alone in that ache. I believe there’ll be just a few tears after we play that one on tour.”
THE COLLABORATORS
While LEAP formally exists as a four-piece undertaking, it’s unlikely that the band would look or sound the way in which it does with out the assistance of Tom Leach.
The concepts that sparked every of those songs got here from numerous sources. Some had been born from Jacky’s demos, others from jam classes between the band’s 4 members, however every one in all them took on a brand new life after being touched by Tom. Serving as their secret fifth member of types, the producer has overseen each aspect of ‘Entropy’, from the scrappy preliminary acoustic demos to the absolutely fleshed-out songs you hear on the ultimate minimize.
“It took some time for us to work one another out,” Jacky displays,
“Now we have very totally different personalities. Tom is matter of reality and to the purpose, whereas I could be a little bit extra whimsical and more likely to give you foolish concepts. He’d shoot a whole lot of them down, however 95 per cent of the time he was completely proper to take action. It’s been lovely to really feel that relationship blossom although as a result of we’re so tight now. Once you’re making a report, one of the vital essential issues is feeling snug in that house. You may’t have any self-judgement there; it’s nearly trying into the nook and letting the concepts stream by you. Creating that friendship with the folks you’re working with is so essential.”
The cohesion of ‘Entropy’ is basically pushed by the purposefully tight circle concerned in its creation. Acquainted with the sensation of getting ‘too many cooks within the kitchen’ prior to now, for Jacky, it’s very important that LEAP stays a way more intimate operation. Targeted on sustaining a fluid, instinct-led course of, guaranteeing that he and his bandmate’s voices lead every determination, it’s all about retaining their core as stable and laser-focused as potential.
“We’ve been fortunate as a result of the dynamics of this band are really easy,” he shrugs.
“Everybody has their very own ventures outdoors of LEAP, and their very own shops for writing, so this undertaking is principally my voice. We’re 4 finest buddies although, and even when there’s a little disagreement, it’s straightforward to speak it out if you’re that tight together with your bandmates. I believe that issues come up when folks can’t talk how they’re feeling about one thing, however we’re all good communicators. Now we have such a robust bond.”
THE TITLE & ARTWORK
When Jacky first heard the phrase ‘Entropy’, the band had been on tour, refuelling at a service station someplace in Europe. Their tour manger – a Czech man with a thick accent who Jacky affectionately describes as being “the scale of a polar bear” – posed a query to him.
“He mentioned, ‘What’s that phrase for when all the pieces goes growth?’” Jacky laughs.
“I seemed it up, and I don’t assume it was essentially the phrase he was that means, however entropy popped up. The definition was one thing like, ‘a gradual decline into dysfunction’, which mainly summed up my twenties. It instantly felt proper.”
Shot by Manchester-based photographer Liam Maxell and designed by Until Schelli, the inspiration for the album’s hanging art work got here while Jacky browsed an artwork gallery. Stumbling throughout photographer Tim Bret-Day’s X-ray themed shoot of David Bowie, LEAP ran with the concept, conjuring up a picture that displays the delicate humanity threaded by every of those songs.
“X-rays are made up of damaged bones. Your physique might be damaged, however your soul retains you going contained in the chaos,” Jacky says.
“Placing all of it collectively was truly fairly a course of. We had to purchase a chunk of plastic that was the scale of a wall, then we shot lights from behind it and caught all of the X-rays on there. Liam bought some nice pictures, after which we handed it onto Until. He’s an incredible up-and-coming designer, and we first began speaking when he randomly despatched us some t-shirt designs over electronic mail.”
“One factor I really like about Until is that when he involves take images of the reveals he’s at all times like, ‘Simply so you recognize, I might want to take 15-minute breaks to go within the mosh pit’. He places his digital camera down, moshes for a bit, then will get again to work. He’s there for all the proper causes.”
THE FUTURE
Earlier than their first tour, LEAP put out a message to say that anybody who bought a tattoo referring to their band would obtain visitor listing for all times.
A suggestion they got here to remorse because it turned technically not possible to accommodate the lots of of requests every evening from these proudly exhibiting off their new ink, the surprising response to their foolish promise nonetheless means the world to Jacky and his bandmates.
“I simply discover it wonderful that we could be a small second in so many individuals’s lives all around the world,” he smiles.
“I really like being on tour a lot. You meet so many individuals every day, and I truthfully need to be buddies with each single one in all them. Speaking to these folks and listening to their tales… It’s one other sort of emotional journey. It feels so trippy to be sitting in your couch at dwelling after a 50-date tour. You’re simply considering, ‘Okay, what do I do now?’”
With their debut album in hand and the headline reveals rising, there could also be fleeting moments of stillness, however the story of LEAP is being written faster than anybody can actually sustain with.
The main target now firmly on the reside present, as we speak, Jacky is including the ultimate touches to the plans for his or her upcoming headline run. While there are apparent choices to be made concerning lights and tools, what’s most essential to the London band is much less technical. It’s about having the ability to foster an setting the place everybody feels protected, and everyone seems to be equal.
Whether or not you’ve been a fan for 2 years or two minutes, and whether or not it’s your first LEAP present or your tenth, the message they need to ship stays the identical – welcome to the household.
“We’re at all times fascinated by the following factor, however we’re attempting to take all of it in proper now,” the frontman finishes.
“I would like folks to stroll away from these reveals feeling uplifted, excited, and likewise just a little reflective. I would like them to look again over the journey they’ve been on to get to the place they’re and use that as momentum to go even additional. I would like this band to encourage folks.”
