After a lot of prayers, God has finally built a better Bieber. More talent. Less antics to serve as TMZ fodder. Leroy Sanchez hails from Spain and is winding his way through America one city at a time as Kate Voegele‘s Wild Card tour wraps up in the Midwest.
Hipster purists might turn their ears on pop music, but any true lover of good songwriting can find just as much gold on the Billboard 200 as they do deep in the Pitchfork archives. Sanchez has the appeal, talent and work ethic of current greats like Bruno Mars and Pharrell Williams, so there should be no stopping his artistic and commercial ascent.
Popdose caught the dynamic duo in Seattle last week and witnessed Sanchez’s star is born performance. No dance numbers. No lip synching. No fake band. Just one man, a guitar, a voice with incredible passion and range, and a smile that will soon grace magazine covers around the world.
Sanchez just released his debut single on iTunes, on Interscope’s Rebel Rock label, under the wing of producer Jim Jonsin. We caught up with him online after the show to see what’s on tap after the tour wraps:
POPDOSE: You mentioned that producer who has taken you under his wing, do you have a debut album or EP in the works?
LEROY SANCHEZ: “‹Yes, I’ve been working on my own music for a few years now and I’m getting ready to release my original material soon. I still don’t have an official date since we’re still working on it. “‹
Growing up in Spain, what artists were you raised on?
“‹I used to listen to a lot of Top 40 radio, which was mainly influenced by the American and British Radio top hits. I never had that one artist I idolized, instead I was very into all those songs that made it to the charts.
Early in the performance, you unleashed a “Wild” song that my wife is dying to get on her hands on…
“‹’Kids From The Wild’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I wrote it with Jen Decilveo who is an incredible writer. I remember being in a small studio room with her and the song came out of nowhere. I started playing guitar and trying to be very tribal with my melodies and then the song happened. I wanted to picture that spirit we all had when we’re little, pure but at the same time wild, with no strings attached, no one to tell us what to do, we’re kids and we want to be kids.
Right near the end of the set, you were backed on keyboards with a true showstopper…
‘Until I Reach You’ is such a deep song that might seem sad because of it’s musicality but the message behind it it’s actually quite uplifting… “So when my arms can’t take no more I keep climbing, until I reach you”. The song talks about a constant fight in order to get to that something that makes you feel alive, that makes your days brighter. I was lucky I had Rico Love write this song with me, he is ridiculously talented.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/183004490″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]Your debut single, ‘By My Side’ closed the set — this one your new fans can get instantly via iTunes.
I also wrote ‘By My Side’ with Rico and I enjoy playing this song so much. I had a really cool and simple guitar idea with a few melodies and a bunch of words that didn’t quite make any sense and then my team thought Rico would be incredible to help finish it. So we sent it to him and he finished the song in a few minutes. I feel so connected to this song since it talks about those last moments with the person you love before leaving somewhere else because of circumstances life puts you in. I left Spain to pursue my dream and I left a lot of people behind but that doesn’t mean I stopped loving them. It’s not a break up song, it’s more of an “open ending”.
So, how did you like piling in a van with the lovely Kate Voegele and hitting the road?
“‹Every day is a new adventure. I love being on the road with Kate and her crew, it’s so much fun. There are so many cities that “‹made a huge impact on me and I’ll never forget I can’t mention them all. I’m so sad this is coming to an end, I’m going to miss this tour so much.
Connect with Leroy Sanchez on his official site and on facebook.
‘By My Side’ is available on iTunes and Amazon MP3.
Free downloads of many of Leroy’s covers and a few originals are available via his official Soundcloud page. Here’s a taste:
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/57864330″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/159156950″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
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