Ben Leece & Melody Pool Come On December

NEWCASTLE-based singer-songwriter Ben Leece returns with his new single, Come On December.

Taking inspiration from alt-rock band Urge Overkill's 1993 track Dropout, Come On December marks a shift in direction and a fresh start for Leece who teamed with acclaimed singer-songwriter Melody Pool and her partner Chris Dale to work on the track at the couple's home studio in the mountainside town of Quorrobolong, NSW at the foothills of the Watagan Mountains.

At the encouragement of Pool and Dale, Leece threw out the rulebook, pairing acoustic guitar with synthesisers and drum machines to form the sound of Come On December.

"Initially it was just for fun," Leece explains.

"We used an 808 styled sequencer, but the drum sound is actually a steel cap boot kicking a boat or something like that [laughs].

"They live in a shed with all this farm equipment laying around and Chris has gone around and recorded samples of all of these different sounds."

The sessions with Pool and Dale proved to be the tonic Leece needed after a planned tour of the US in 2020 fell through with the arrival on Covid-19, as did recording sessions for his second album when he decided to abandon the project.

"Covid initially stopped the recording, or delayed it, then when we eventually got back to it, I realised it wasn't the album I wanted to make," Leece says.

Come On December is the first of a string of releases Leece has planned in 2021, with a four-track EP and album set to follow later in the year.  Leece and his band Left of the Dial, along with Pool and Dale, recorded four tracks for his upcoming EP, Marrow Gold, at Sydney's Golden Retriever studios with engineer Tim Whitten (whose credits include Powderfinger's Double Allergic) and producer Adam Young of Big Heavy Stuff fame.

In addition to making music, Leece turned his attention to music retail last year with the opening of Rudderless Records in his hometown of Newcastle. Leece operates the music and culture store with friend and mentor Chris Dunn who was one of the brains behind legendary Sydney record shop and label, Waterfront Records.

Ben Leece cemented his position as one of the country's top up-and-coming alt-country artists with the release of his acclaimed debut album, No Wonder The World Is Exhausted, in 2018.

His debut 7" single Trace in 2017 earned him Alt-Country Song of the Year at the 16th annual Independent Music Awards and he also placed in the Top 15 finalists in the Americana Music Prize of Australia in 2018.