Why Lepers & Crooks Are All About The Raw Energy

For a band from Western Sydney, Lepers & Crooks seem to be living the dream. The fivesome consisting of Sam Baker, Pat Reuter Town, Alex Court, Garreth Clavijo and Damien Jones, call Byron Bay their "second home", writing a lot of their songs "in a shack in Ballina". When they're not lushing out in the heavenly tropics at Seven Mile Beach, they're on tour. A lot. They've amassed 200+ shows from 2014/15, and are about to embark on yet another tour after finishing their second EP The Heathen Circus. "We recorded in a secluded paradise so there was plenty to distract from recording when it wasn't going well, and even when it was going well. We tried to not to rush things and would just step away and then come back to continue until we were happy with it," says Alex Court. "We really wanted this EP to reflect the energy and sound of our live show and having played so many shows over the past 12 months we were constantly road-testing the songs."

The band met in boarding school and learnt their craft together, officially forming L&C a few years after graduation in 2012. When in the studio they "aim for perfection when playing, but we often find the most 'perfect' take misses the vibe we're trying to capture from playing live. One of the biggest things we learnt recording was to not focus so much on tiny imperfections instead making sure that the raw energy is heard," explains Court.