Kieran Leonard, also known as Saint Leonard and Saint Leonard's Horses, is a British musician, songwriter, actor and author. He currently performs most frequently with his backing band The Horses and has previously toured in support of Father John Misty, The Libertines, Bob Dylan, Beck, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Adam Green & Binki Shapiro, Peter Doherty, The Cribs, Fionn Regan, Jonathan Wilson, Lee Mavers, Billy Bragg, Keane, Babyshambles, Dirty Pretty Things and Wolfmother.
From 2009 to 2015 Leonard wrote and performed under his own name, releasing one album, an EP and four singles. His second album Good Luck Everybody was released in 2016 under the Saint Leonard moniker.
Early life
Leonard spent much of his childhood travelling. He has two older brothers, and has never known his father but has a good relationship with his mother. His upbringing has been described as 'unorthodox'. His restless upbringing left an indelible impression, and a sense of displacement and alienation would become one of the central themes of much of his creative work. Leonard has stated in several interviews that he was inspired to write music after watching a David Bowie retrospective at the age of 13, and subsequently wrote 100 songs in the space of six months. In both his work and interviews Leonard often cites writers and world literature as a central influence on his musical output.
Career
In 2009, Leonard recorded his first professional demos at London's Konk Studios. The Scapegoat EP was produced by The Libertines' Carl Barât, and was mixed by Chris Sheldon. The four songs were released as individual tracks timed to coincide with the full moon each month. This unusual release schedule garnered some media attention and led to Leonard being invited to perform on Absolute Radio UK for two of the "Full Moon" release nights.
The following year he recorded and released his debut single 'Jerusalem'. The single was well received both critically and commercially, and appeared in the soundtrack for Ridley Scott's film Life in a Day. 'Jerusalem' was noted for its timely response to the social unrest occurring in London at the time, and for its relevance to the global Occupy movement in particular.
Out of Work Astronaut (2012) Kieran Leonard's debut album Out of Work Astronaut was recorded largely in a home studio in North London and released in August 2012. It featured the singles 'Harold Pinter is Dead', 'Wooden Man', 'Vampire', and 'Air Raid'. The album garnered generally favourable reviews, being listed as one of BBC London's Albums of the Year, and enabled Leonard to tour UK and Europe several times.
Los Angeles recording sessions (2013-2015) In 2013, Leonard left the UK and moved to California. Citing the collapse of a long-term relationship, he abandoned the gothic church where he had been living on the Moors of North Yorkshire and spontaneously moved to Los Angeles for an indefinite time.
Upon his arrival he was offered a tour of California with Australian rock band Wolfmother. This delayed the commencement of recording by a month, and was the first of a series of unusual and chance occurrences that led to the entire recording session taking almost 10 months. Leonard ended up using several Hollywood studios and producers, however he was ultimately dissatisfied with the extensive LA sessions, despite having been enthused and inspired by the musicians and artists he had met and worked with. He also cites the friendships and experiences he had while there as reason enough for the costly abandoned year of recordings.
Nashville - London (2014-2015) In late 2014, Leonard left Los Angeles, briefly returned to London, and then for a short time his whereabouts were totally unknown. He was later found to have taken up residence in a log cabin on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee, where he spent several months writing a semi-autobiographical novel. He continued working in isolation until Autumn 2014, ultimately completing a draft of the book alongside an extensive batch of new songs.
Kubrick recording sessions (2015) In January 2015, Leonard was invited to continue work on his upcoming second album at Stanley Kubrick's family estate in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. The intention cited by Leonard was to record the material he had developed in LA as entirely 'live' as possible, with his band playing together in the same room and even his lead vocals being laid down 'live' with the track. This now quite unusual approach was drawn from his negative experience of digital multi-tracking in LA and also his desire to capture the heightened spontaneity of records such as Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.