What’s your stage name and where are you from?
Leaping Tiger, from Auckland, New Zealand, but I’m based in London.
What’s the story behind your stage name?
I was a big fan of martial arts films growing up, and my favorite of the lot was and still is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. So when I started uploading beats to SoundCloud and had to pick a username, I initially went with ‘Crouching Tiger,’ but I thought it was too on the nose as a reference. I changed it from Crouching to Leaping instead.
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
Like a rubber band, expanding and contracting throughout my life. Sometimes it moves left or right, upwards or down, but at the end of the day, it’s exciting and has the potential to go anywhere and keep morphing.
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
I can’t lie—it was a pretty stock-standard creation process on this one. Boring answer, I know, lol.
What message do you want to convey through your music?
Creativity and being honest to who you are is King.
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
Definitely the vocal production. It took me a long time in the studio trying to figure out how to make my voice sound like a fax machine, but I just kept at it and eventually had a eureka moment.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Oneohtrix Point Never. I feel like he’s at a very advanced stage of thinking about music composition and production. Everything he does these days is super conceptual and interesting, so I think I could learn a lot from him.
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
Maybe outside of London. I definitely want to play more shows around the UK and Europe!
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
Putting my next album out and seeing where that takes me.
Are there any other promotional opportunities you’re looking for to boost your visibility?
Yep, I’ll be dropping an album at some point next year!
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
All streaming services and YouTube.
What is the best way to contact you if fans want to give feedback or if other artists/producers want to collaborate?
@leaping.tiger on Instagram.
