Leprous’ secret is sincerity

Leprous mainman Einar Solberg says the secret to the band’s creativity is their sincerity.

They released fifth album The Congregation last month after aiming to ensure it was every bit as honest as 2013’s Coal.

Solberg tells Prog Sphere: “I think sincerity is the main problem for people – they’re too afraid of reactions. They’re too afraid of disappointing their fans.

“If we’d started considering all the feedback we get from everyone we’d be completely confused, and we would be losing ourselves completely. It’s just chaos if you start to consider all those things.

“In a composition process, the most important thing is to keep your distance from all expectations – just let the creativity flow. You’ll always disappoint someone no matter what you do.”

He reflects that it’s impossible to please everyone anyway. “Being an artist is not exactly a win-win situation normally, because you always have people complaining no matter what you try to do,” he says.

And that can lead to insecurity. “I can recognise myself very much in that,” he admits. “Sometimes it takes one negative feedback to destroy 10 positive ones. But eventually I learnt to distance myself more and more from it. I don’t take it very personal.”

But Solberg can’t avoid getting upset sometimes. “Especially when people appear to think that they know how things work,” he says. “That tends to irritate me a lot – I should just try my best to stay above it.”

Leprous tour Europe in the coming months, including three UK shows in October:

Jun 25: Metropolis Fest, Belarus

Jul 10: Tech-Fest, UK

Jul 11: Be Prog! My Friend, Spain

Sep 21: Athens An Club, Greece

Sep 22: Thessaloniki Eightball Club, Greece

Sep 25: Bergen Garage, Norway

Oct 02: Copenhagen Forbraendingen, Denmark

Oct 03: Euroblast Festival, Germany

Oct 04: ProgPower Europe, Netherlands

Oct 05: Paris Le Divan du Monde, France

Oct 06: Nantes Le Ferrailleur, France

Oct 08: Lisbon RCA Club, Portugal

Oct 09: Madrid Caracol, Spain

Oct 10: Murcia Garaje, Spain

Oct 11: Barcelona Apolo 2, Spain

Oct 12: Lyon Ninkasa Kao, France

Oct 13: London Garage, UK

Oct 14: Manchester Ruby Lounge, UK

Oct 15: Bristol Fleece, UK

Oct 16: Maasmechelen Jan Hertog, Belgium

Oct 17: Karlsuhe Substage, Germany

Oct 18: Munch Backstage, Germany

Oct 19: Milan Legend Club, Italy

Oct 20: Aarau Kiff, Switzerland

Oct 22: Brasov Rockstadt, Romania

Oct 24: Bratislava Majestic Club, Slovakia

Oct 25: Prague Nova Chmelnice, Czech Republic

Oct 26: Warsaw Progresja, Poland

Oct 27: Riga Rockcafe, Latvia

Oct 28: Helsinki Nosturi, Finland

Oct 30: Stockholm Bryggarsalen, Sweden

Oct 31: Oslo John Dee, Norway

Leprous: Summoning The Faithful

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.