{"id":197543,"date":"2026-06-03T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/?p=197543"},"modified":"2026-06-01T14:18:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:18:44","slug":"localized-leetham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/music\/interviews\/localized\/localized-leetham\/","title":{"rendered":"Localized: Leetham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Be the most prideful this pride month and come see June\u2019s installment of\u00a0SLUG Localized<\/em><\/a>! We\u2019re breaking out all the stops with some of the best LGBTQ+\u00a0bands<\/span>\u00a0that Utah has to offer. Start off the night right with the contemporay sounds of\u00a0Liam Lars<\/strong><\/a>, power down some alt-pop with\u00a0Leetham<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and crank up the volume with heavy hooks from\u00a0Die Shiny<\/strong><\/a>. Head over to\u00a0Kilby Court<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Thursday, June 18 for a night you won\u2019t want to miss! Where do you have to be? Grilling egg salad sandwiches at midnight? That\u2019s what we thought\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"An
Leetham described his music as an \u201ceclectic sound.\u201d Photo: Chris Berry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEclectic \u2026 I have party songs, I have sad songs, I have rager songs.\u201d Listening to local electro-pop artist Leetham\u2019s discography, you\u2019ll hear a mishmash of poppy hooks, impassioned lyrics and funky, brain-melting synth. Think Charli xcx<\/strong><\/a> or Cobrah<\/strong><\/a> meets Kevin Atwater<\/strong><\/a>, and you\u2019ll get Leetham\u2019s self-described \u201ceclectic sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cI grew up Mormon, so I had all the Mormon music shoved into my life,\u201d Leetham says. \u201cI\u2019m not Mormon anymore, but I will say they got one thing right, and it\u2019s the musical education side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEclectic \u2026 I have party songs, I have sad songs, I have rager songs.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\u2019s family and friends and was never publicly released, it did offer a peek into their \u201ceclectic\u201d future as an electro-pop artist. \u201cThere was a piano ballad song, and then an EDM song,\u201d Leetham says. \u201cI distinctly remember writing this one song called \u201cFashion\u201d \u2026 it had this very distinct Madonna<\/strong><\/a>-ish sample \u2026 and the lyrics are so corny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Including Madonna, Leetham credits several artists as inspirations. Among them, they point to Lady Gaga<\/strong><\/a>, Black Eyed Peas<\/strong><\/a> and ZEP<\/strong><\/a> as musicians who influence their sound. \u201cI would just study the compositions, like how they were made and the sounds that they used,\u201d Leetham says. \u201cI became obsessed with synthesizers and drum machines \u2014 the more synthetic side of music, and less piano, acoustic guitar, stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Leetham was also \u201creally obsessed\u201d with Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/strong><\/a> as a teenager, which introduced rock elements into their music. \u201cNow you can see where you get the rock and you get the 808, EDM stuff and it kind of meshes together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just study the compositions, like how they were made and the sounds that they used.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"A
Luke Leetham has been making music in some way or another since he was eight-years-old. Photo: Chris Berry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leetham describes himself as going through a \u201crebrand\u201d with his upcoming EP, Kink<\/em>. In his words, Kink<\/em> is about \u201csexual and identity liberation within the queer community.\u201d Two songs, \u201cblackBOOTS\u201d featuring Grant Brett<\/strong><\/a> and \u201cHate Me\u201d featuring Indigo Heaven<\/strong><\/a>, have been released from the four-track record, which is set to come out on June 5, a deliberate move on Leetham\u2019s part.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole record is celebrating my identity and the identity of the queer community,\u201d he says. Leetham\u2019s queerness influences their art in \u201cevery aspect,\u201d inspiring their lyrics and aesthetic as an artist. For Kink<\/em>, Leetham drew inspiration from facets of queer subcultures, such as leather bars, and is pictured \u201cwalking the pups\u201d on the single cover for \u201cblackBOOTS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through their music, they work to bring people together, saying they know what it\u2019s like to be without community. \u201cI remember being so alone at a time when I needed community, and I think that\u2019s important to create a space, especially in music. It really bugs me when there\u2019s music and no community around it,\u201d Leetham says. \u201cPeople that become fans are actively searching for other fans of the same artist \u2026 I\u2019m not looking for super stardom, I\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

“we deserve moments of happiness, and I want more queer happiness.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Leetham curates his concerts to be a place of togetherness, by playing their high-energy songs and getting people to move their bodies. \u201cA Leetham concert is always hype,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of jumping. Sometimes there\u2019s moshing, which is crazy because it\u2019s pop music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Leetham\u2019s goal is to center joy, especially queer joy.\u201c I think queer joy is so important, where there\u2019s so many atrocities happening in the country and the world that we can\u2019t ignore \u2026 we deserve moments of happiness, and I want more queer happiness,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

Read more from past\u00a0Localized<\/em>\u00a0features:
\nLocalized: Mortigi Tempo<\/a><\/em><\/strong>
\nLocalized: Punks & Punchlines<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To help SLUG continue supporting the local music\u00a0scene, consider\u00a0becoming one of our donors!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leetham curates his concerts to be a place of togetherness, by playing their high-energy songs and getting people to move. \u201cA Leetham concert is always hype,\u201d he says. … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":197640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[13054,323,355],"tags":[33133,13477,33131,21594,33135,33136,33132,1831,30882,23402,17329,33119,23749,22945,2757,33134],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}