INTERVIEW
Vee Pandey | 06/04/2026
For Red Leather, anonymity is not a gimmick but a way of telling the truth more freely. It has given him the space to write about addiction, recovery, identity, and the uneasy calm that follows chaos, all without feeling boxed in by judgment.
It all started, fittingly, with a hat. But the image quickly became something bigger: a character, a creative world, and a way to make music that feels both deeply personal and cinematic. As he puts it, “being anonymous has just allowed me to be, very, very honest in my heart and not feel like I’m going to get judged for it.”
That honesty runs through Reno and Tahoe, two records that map out different stages of the same journey. The first was written in active addiction; the second, sober, and for Red Leather, that changed everything.
When asked why he chose to stay anonymous, Red Leather said the idea grew out of both practicality and instinct. He explained that he found the original hat in San Bernardino, wore it while busking in Los Angeles, and noticed that it changed how people responded to him.
“I found the original hat in San Bernardino, California, when I was kind of wandering around California for a good long while,” he said. “I spent a lot of time busking on Hollywood Boulevard, and I would notice I would get a lot more attention when I wore that hat than when I didn’t.”
What began as an accident became an identity. “It kind of just became an identity,” he said, adding that it later proved especially useful when he began writing Reno, an album built around his past and his recovery.
Leather speaks candidly about addiction as a place of chaos, near-death moments, shame, and emotional escape and about sobriety as the opposite: a silence that was harder to face at first because it left him alone with himself.
He continued: “The music kind of helps me turn the pain into something that has a reason. It’s almost like I’m figuring all of it out, months and years after the fact... and it kind of helps me have something beautiful come out of something bad.”
That sense of rebuilding is central to Tahoe, which he describes as the first album he’s written sober. The record became a way of asking new questions: Who am I now? What do I do with my time? How do I move through the world?
He said stepping away from city life and into nature helped him process that stillness. “This album is also about kind of removing myself from the city and from Reno and from LA to just be in a more natural, peaceful state.”
Red Trench coat, Denzil Patrick @denzilpatrick. Jeans, Theo @theo.official. Denim Shirt, Guess @guess. Boots, Stetson @stetson. Ring & Bracelet, PYRRHA @pyrrhajewelry. @and.publicrelations @in_house.group @thisispoppr
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Touring, meanwhile, is its own kind of rhythm. He doesn’t pretend it is easy, but he makes clear that the live show keeps everything worthwhile.
Although he has spent much of the year on the road, Red Leather doesn’t talk about touring as a sacrifice so much as a trade-off. “The music and the live experience to perform has been my dream as long as I can remember,” he said. “So to be able to do that live with the fans, I just have so much fun on stage every night that I think that that makes every other piece of it worth it.”
He also stressed the importance of the people around him. “Those people in the car, and their energy and their moods are going to be a direct reflection of what’s so much of what you’re going to remember,” he said. “It’s really just about building a culture and a team around just positivity and excitement.”
For him, music is not just confession - it is world-building. That means giving himself the freedom to become a cowboy, a superhero, or a mythic version of himself without being asked to explain every detail. “For me, art is about creating something cool and larger than life,” he said. “It’s like a movie versus real life... I’ve always wanted to make something that was cinematic and something that had characters and something that could kind of be its own little movie.”
“It allows me to create a whole world that people can enjoy,” he said. “It’s almost like a Marvel Universe, but I’m also a real person, so they can come see it live.”
When asked what brings him joy, Red Leather doesn’t reach for a glamorous answer. He talks instead about gratitude. About realising how far he has come from the darkest points of addiction, and how surreal it feels to be touring the world and living the life he once feared might never happen.
What remains is the music, the meaning, and the quiet thrill of being here at all.
Photographer Dylan Perlot @dylanperlot
Styling Irina Van Verseveld @wonderzuzu
PR Wackermann & Partners
Words Vee Pandey
Jeans, Lucky Brand @luckybrand. Shirt, Perry Ellis @perryellis. Jacket & Boots, Talent’s own.
