Localized: Leetham

Be the most prideful this pride month and come see June’s installment of SLUG Localized! We’re breaking out all the stops with some of the best LGBTQ+ bands that Utah has to offer. Start off the night right with the contemporay sounds of Liam Lars, power down some alt-pop with Leetham and crank up the volume with heavy hooks from Die Shiny. Head over to Kilby Court Thursday, June 18 for a night you won’t want to miss! Where do you have to be? Grilling egg salad sandwiches at midnight? That’s what we thought…

“Eclectic … I have party songs, I have sad songs, I have rager songs.” Listening to local electro-pop artist Leetham’s discography, you’ll hear a mishmash of poppy hooks, impassioned lyrics and funky, brain-melting synth. Think Charli xcx or Cobrah meets Kevin Atwater, and you’ll get Leetham’s self-described “eclectic sound.”

Luke Leetham, who uses they/he pronouns and is known professionally as Leetham, has been making music in some way or another since he was eight years old. “I grew up Mormon, so I had all the Mormon music shoved into my life,” Leetham says. “I’m not Mormon anymore, but I will say they got one thing right, and it’s the musical education side of things.”

“Eclectic … I have party songs, I have sad songs, I have rager songs.”

Growing up, Leetham says he did piano lessons, musical theater and choir. He started writing songs at 14, putting together his first EP by the time he was 15 or 16. While that EP was only heard by Leetham’s family and friends and was never publicly released, it did offer a peek into their “eclectic” future as an electro-pop artist. “There was a piano ballad song, and then an EDM song,” Leetham says. “I distinctly remember writing this one song called “Fashion” … it had this very distinct Madonna-ish sample … and the lyrics are so corny.”

Including Madonna, Leetham credits several artists as inspirations. Among them, they point to Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas and ZEP as musicians who influence their sound. “I would just study the compositions, like how they were made and the sounds that they used,” Leetham says. “I became obsessed with synthesizers and drum machines — the more synthetic side of music, and less piano, acoustic guitar, stuff like that.”

However, Leetham was also “really obsessed” with Red Hot Chili Peppers as a teenager, which introduced rock elements into their music. “Now you can see where you get the rock and you get the 808, EDM stuff and it kind of meshes together,” he says.

“I would just study the compositions, like how they were made and the sounds that they used.”

Leetham describes himself as going through a “rebrand” with his upcoming EP, Kink. In his words, Kink is about “sexual and identity liberation within the queer community.” Two songs, “blackBOOTS” featuring Grant Brett and “Hate Me” featuring Indigo Heaven, have been released from the four-track record, which is set to come out on June 5, a deliberate move on Leetham’s part.

“The whole record is celebrating my identity and the identity of the queer community,” he says. Leetham’s queerness influences their art in “every aspect,” inspiring their lyrics and aesthetic as an artist. For Kink, Leetham drew inspiration from facets of queer subcultures, such as leather bars, and is pictured “walking the pups” on the single cover for “blackBOOTS.”

Through their music, they work to bring people together, saying they know what it’s like to be without community. “I remember being so alone at a time when I needed community, and I think that’s important to create a space, especially in music. It really bugs me when there’s music and no community around it,” Leetham says. “People that become fans are actively searching for other fans of the same artist … I’m not looking for super stardom, I’m looking to create a community, a safe space for queer people and allies alike to just come together and celebrate themselves and to be honest with themselves.”

“we deserve moments of happiness, and I want more queer happiness.”

Leetham curates his concerts to be a place of togetherness, by playing their high-energy songs and getting people to move their bodies. “A Leetham concert is always hype,” he says. “There’s lots of jumping. Sometimes there’s moshing, which is crazy because it’s pop music.”

Ultimately, Leetham’s goal is to center joy, especially queer joy.“ I think queer joy is so important, where there’s so many atrocities happening in the country and the world that we can’t ignore … we deserve moments of happiness, and I want more queer happiness,” they say.

Read more from past Localized features:
Localized: Mortigi Tempo
Localized: Punks & Punchlines

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