Leggy
Interview by Kendall Polidori // November 2019
Lush, dreamy bubblegum punk––the epitome of the Cincinnati-born group Leggy, who used to go by the name of Sweet Tooth, but soon transitioned to what lead singer Véronique Allaer and her siblings used to their pretend band when they were younger.
After meeting in high school and playing music together, Allaer and Kerstin Bladh formed the femme punk band nearly six years ago, and they have not slowed down since, even when the two live in the different states. Though the band has switched out a number of members in order to tour, the dynamic duo has always stayed in tact.
With new music in the works, Leggy is attempting to expand out of their comfort zone in regards to song structures. They just released a dreamy music video for their --- song “Not What You Need,” and filmed it in just one day. plans to move on to the Chicago music scene, lead singer Véronique Allaer took a break from band rehearsals to FaceTime me on a Monday night. From band aesthetics, the Cincinnati punk scene and fan tattoos, here lies all things Leggy.
HPM: I absolutely love how the band describes itself through “lush punk” and “dreamy bubblegum punk.” How would you describe those and why does it fit the band so well?
VA: It sounds like how I feel like our music feels in my head. Lush, to me, sounds like reverb, like melodic, like soft, pretty shimmer. And I love that it is like a play on words. Lush is something like fancy or luxurious and is also an old fashioned word for someone who drinks a lot, which I think is funny. I don’t even want to be a punk band, but i think that is the only way we know how to make music.
Why were you guys drawn to punk music?
VA: When we started, the only way that I feel I knew how to write songs was like through power chords and was really simple, but we kind of expanded beyond that. When we were in high school we were obsessed with bands like The Vines and The Hives. If you have listened to that stuff, then you’d be like, ‘oh, that makes sense.’
I am fairly familiar with Chicago’s punk music scene, but I can’t say I know much about the Cincinnati music scene. How would you describe it and where does Leggy fit into that?
VA: There’s a pretty big music scene in Cincinnati that spans a lot of genres, but I would say I definitely am most involved with the punk scene. So, right in the same neighborhood that I live in are these two guys––John Hoffman and Jerri Queen––and they are in a band called Vacation. They are also two of the best known producers we know. The recorded our most recent album and our first EPs and they record a bunch of fans. People definitely know each other through them, and going to bars and seeing people.
As the first band to sign with Sheer Luck Records, how has your experience been?
VA: It has been awesome, I feel like we can text them, like reach out to them and they get back to us right away. But, more than anything, I feel like I have so many friends in bands that got signed to a label that ended up being a nightmare.
The fact that they wanted to put our album out as the first release on their label is … I mean these are two women who have been in the music industry for 10 years each. So it is a huge compliment and confidence booster that they wanted their first release of their own label to be with us.
Personally, I was very drawn to Leggy because of how visually appealing the band is. Between the hair, clothing, lighting and photo backdrops, do you guys thoroughly think about your image?
VA: For me, visual things and the idea of an aesthetic is really inspiring. For art, I feel creatively inspired by the reorganization of my clothes and then I can see all the beautiful, cool things I did. The body is a work of wart and you can present it that way.
Tell me a bit about your latest EP, “Let Me Know Your Moon,” and what you were hoping it would turn out like.
VA: We didn’t really know how it was going to sound until we were in the recording studio. This latest release is the first full-length album we have ever made. Our previous releases … we have done different EPs and put them together to rerelease to one album. This time we recorded them all at once, and until you hear them come out of the speakers, you don’t really know what the song sounds like, and it is just beautiful. It’s hard for me to think of a band that sounds like us.
I noticed a number of the songs off the EP are one-word titles, is there a reason behind that?
VA: Definitely not on purpose. With us, the songs don’t get an official name, we just call it by the most noticeable or distinctive word that is in that song.
Since you both began writing and creating music in high school, a number of your first songs were written when you were just 15-years-old. How is writing songs today different from back then?
VA: I am more comfortable now, us as a band in general are more comfortable with having a slow song. I am trying to embrace the feeling of playing live and I feel like I am better now just because of the sheer number of shows we have played in the past five years.
What is Leggy’s writing and recording process like?
VA: Recently in the past year Kirsten hasn’t been here. It’s been me and Chris Campbell jamming, which is actually nice because them I am the only one––there's only one melodic instrument going on besides my voice. I feel like I have more freedom to do weird things and then have the bass be added in later on in the songwriting process.
Out of all the shows you have played live, what was one of the craziest or most memorable moments for you?
VA: Recently I was asked to write down, in my handwriting, one of my lyrics because a person was going to get it tattooed on themselves. That was so cool. The best experiences have been going to places that I know I would never go to unless I was in a band. We've played in a city in Portugal and our show was in a cultural center, and we wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for the band. We have also done a bunch of tours in England and I feel like so many of the venues we played in were old churches repurposed into community centers. It is so beautiful, and I also love the history of it.
Check out the power group on all their social media, and keep an eye out for what’s to come from them in the next year.