Stephanie: Please tell me about the evolution of �Leaf Hound II� in your own words.
Jimmy: My perspective probably differs slightly from the other two new guys in as much as I was a huge fan of Leaf Hound and the Growers album to start with. I must have had the original Repertoire CD (1994) a good five or six years before I met Pete. When I was introduced to Pete at the Heavy Load club in London, I was very keen to talk to him not as the guy from Atomic Rooster and Cactus, but specifically as the guy from Leaf Hound. I felt is was a crying shame that Pete wasn`t singing the original Leaf Hound songs on a stage in any capacity. Therefore I took the opportunity to suggest getting some musicians together to jam on a few of the old Leaf Hound songs and see what happened. It was exciting to do just that and obviously thrilling that he decided to take it a stage further and recruit us as the new band. It�s a bit of a balancing act in that we have to respect the past and the sound of the original band but forge ahead as a new band at the same time. I think we do this pretty well with our live interpretations of songs such as �Sad Road to the Sea� and �Growers Of Mushroom� where we have built on the original versions and extended them with our own improvisational passages.
The new material has gone down just as well, if not better, than the old material and we`ve had a lot of comments that the new stuff blends in seamlessly with the old. We have definitely achieved continuity in that respect. It was good to get the recent Rise Above live single out which features an old one and a new one, which is a pretty good intro to the new band in terms of releases. The next step is obviously to get the new album out and do a lot more gigs!
Stephanie: Since Leaf Hound got together in spring `04, you`ve played some tremendously successful gigs - what have the highlights of the past couple of years been for you?
Jimmy: Our first trip overseas at last year`s Kactus Festival in Sweden was a lot of fun, but the definite highlight for me was the gig we did at London`s Camden Underworld at Easter of last year, when original guitarist Mick Halls played the set with us. None of the new guys had even met Mick before that evening, but he just plugged in and played a superb set with us. I don�t know how long it had been since he last listened to the old Leaf Hound songs, and he had never heard the new ones, but he played right through and was brilliant. A really nice bloke as well. It was good to get his seal of approval. Shame he lives so far away in America, otherwise he could play with us all the time! I couldn�t resist getting him to sign my Leaf Hound album before he went back!
Stephanie: In April this year, Leaf Hound will be playing at the Roadburn Festival in Holland. Roadburn has a fine reputation for showcasing some exceptional bands across the spectrum of rock, stoner, metal, and blues genres. What will make performing at Roadburn special for you all?
Jimmy: I`m a huge fan of Brant Bjork. His new album, Saved By Magic, is his best yet in my opinion, so to be playing before him is gonna be a big thrill. Also it will be nice to link up with the guys from Orange Goblin again. They were very supportive of us when we first got going and are a great bunch of guys as well as being a top band. It`s also gonna be good to play in Holland for the first time...
