Freshly Pressed – Leah Martel “Everybody Out”

Hamilton artist Leah Martel has just released her debut single, “Everybody Out” – it’s a fun, relatable song about social anxiety that blurs genres from pop to alt rock, creating something unique and compelling. We caught up with Leah to chat about the single, her musical influences, and her songwriting process.

From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “Everybody Out”. 

Leah Martel: I wrote Everybody Out at a point in my life when my social anxiety was really at its peak. The thing is, I figured it would have been its worst as a kid in elementary school getting picked on and not, embarrassingly, as a 20something just trying to attend a party of some very nice seeming people from my college program. I had already been out in the working world for a while and thought I was over it and had gained a bit more confidence and social skills but I realized I really just hadn’t been in a group of new people in a while and once that happened I may as well have been 13 again. If I said something I felt like an alien trying to pretend to have a human conversation. If I stayed silent I felt like an awkward weirdo just hovering around. And I had no clue what to do with my hands or where to sit or stand without either intruding or looking to closed off. So, instead of trying to communicate through it or rise to the occasion in any way, I ran out early and wrote this little melody on the way home in my car (well, after stopping at the side of the road to have a minor panic attack first).

The funny thing is, I really wanted to be friends with these people and there was nothing actually standing in my way except me just not knowing how to be normal in any capacity. So when I finally sat down to write out all the lyrics I wanted to really emphasize the contradictory nature of this kind of anxiety where it has you running for the hills to get away from everyone but only because you so desperately want to connect with people and care far too much about every minor interaction just hoping it will be good. Then you convince yourself it’s all gone horribly wrong when you’re probably the only one even thinking that. It’s so silly, you know? So I wanted the song to kind of poke fun at the ironic nature of that feeling while also containing that frantic, on-the-brink-of-a-panic-attack energy.

From The Strait: What can you tell us about the creative process behind the song? 

Leah Martel: I originally wrote this song on my acoustic guitar but I always knew I wanted it to be much more intense and in your face and have this building, urgent tension. So when I brought it to my band I said ‘hey, can everyone just play the same note on each beat and that’s it for the whole verse?’ and there was this sense of like ‘really? Should we maybe try a chord?’ but nothing else hit like this single note build. I wasn’t sure it would work without overstaying it’s welcome but that’s all we did for most of the chorus too and anything else just seemed to soften that hard hitting urgency too much. It also makes the sections where the song opens up into chords such a nice release. It was so much fun and I could hardly stop myself from jumping around to it even during recording. You can see in the video for the single which was all filmed live during recording that I have a hard time keeping still:p

From The Strait: What first made you want to become a musician?

Leah Martel: Oh gosh, probably a combo of things like getting to write songs about feelings that were too hard to talk about in any other context, getting to be so emotional in ways that people would get upset about if you were just talking but if you were singing it was suddenly a positive and valid thing, feeling alone and wanting to capture a moment so I could just feel like it was real and I exist, feeling like it was a way to emotionally connect from a safe distance in a controlled way, because it adds a depth of emotion to words that talking just can’t, and wanting to take part and be on the giving side of the artform that gave me so much and helped me through everything. Also, I think my ADHD just really likes to have all these moving parts to focus on and it just slows and quiets my mind.

From The Strait: Who were your biggest musical influences growing up, and how do they differ from your current ones?

Leah Martel: Growing up I always listened to lots of different music, I liked the singer/songwriters I heard my mom play in the kitchen, alt rock, pop/punk and emo that was up and coming back then, classical music I sang in choir and movie scores and musical theatre songs. Some big artists I loved were; Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Fefe Dobson, Michelle Branch, all the artists on Women & Songs albums, Yellowcard, The Used, Motion City Soundtrack, Good Charlotte, Third Eye Blind, Paramore, Evanescence, All American Rejects, MAE, any song that appeared on Scrubs, so many bands from AP magazine. I’m sure there are so many that my childhood self would be upset at me leaving out but I’d be typing all day. I’d say the only thing different now is that I listen to even more genres than I thought I would never like as a kid. Like my childhood self would be confused if I said we also listen to country music and 80s music or anything synth based now haha.

From The Strait: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 4 albums would you want with you?

Leah Martel: I’ve always found this completely impossible but could I give you four singles I’m playing on repeat all day right now?

“Symptomatic” by Peach PRC
“Basement Noise” by All Time Low
“Impulsive” by Wilson Philips
“Cupid -Twin Ver.” by FIFTY FIFTY-Sped Up Version
“Sleeping on the Blacktop” by Colter Wall

Oh, that’s five, well they are worthy of putting on repeat I assure you.

From The Strait: Every band has their own way of creating songs – what is your songwriting process like?

Leah Martel: It’s different all the time to be honest. Sometimes it’s a melody idea that I get caught up in that I have to figure out lyrics to later. Sometimes it starts with a guitar part, sometimes a single line comes to me that I love and try to build a song around. I try to just take inspiration whenever I can in whatever form I can get it.

—-

Check out “Everybody Out” by Leah Martel!

–

Follow Leah Martel on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok

—