We had the pleasure of hosting Leatherette, a Post-Punk quintet from Bologna (IT), during their first EU+Uk Tour in the Summer of 2022. The band needed a quiet place to prepare for their upcoming gig at The Strongroom bar in Shoreditch and catch their breath before moving on to the following dates of their DIY tour. Despite having spent the previous week rushing from venue to venue, loading and unloading their instruments on the van once a day, and spending nights in uncomfortable places, they gifted us with one of the most intense performances to ever take place in our studio. The Leatherette project featuring singer/guitarist Michele Battaglioli, Guitarist Andrea Gerardi, bassist Marco Jespersen, Saxophonist and Synth player Jacopo Finelli, and Drummer Francesco Bonorra, was born thanks to a strong friendship, a common sense of humor, and a compatibility of music tastes. This led to the band experimenting freely to forge what has now become their sound, unafraid of the melting pot of influences they happily draw from.





Leatherette call themselves a Post-Punk project, and their music may seem somewhat familiar to the fans of the genre, but once analysed in the context of a sleepy Italian underground music scene it starts feeling as an incredibly fresh and genuine mixture of influences that really comes together in their live performances. When they came to Act Cool Records, Leatherette had only released their very first Ep, “Mixed Waste”, their early effort as a band,conceived during the covid lockdown. The homemade nature of the EP was not fully explanatory of the band's real sound. For this reason, the possibility of hearing the quintet in their purest form as a live band filled us with anticipation.



All the members of Leatherette have had some sort of formal musical training and carry with them both the technique and the desire to reject the dogmas they have been taught. This enabled them to create an intriguing mix between the rawest and “smashed” (as per Michele’s description) form of punk and elaborate melodic and harmonic variations more commonly seen in modern Jazz projects. Francesco’s furious and highly technical drumming, and crazy, out-of-your mind sax solos of Jacopo complete the band’s eclectic and enigmatic form of post punk - entertaining to listen to, stimulating to reflect on. In October 2022, Leatherette released their first album, “Fiesta”, via Bronson Produzioni, one of the most active and vibrant record labels in the Italian underground music scene. The record marks a true jump in quality from their first homemade EP and is a real gem that requires to be listened to in loop.



After the release, Leatherette has no intention of slowing down. Thanks to their prolific creative sessions in the rehearsal room, a second album is already in the works, as is an international tour in France, UK and Germany.The Italian quintet has all that it takes to become a reference point for the local underground punk scene and beyond. Watch their full performance, exclusively at Act Cool Records. An experience you won’t regret.