On the release of debut album ‘Unreal’ and everything costing £20.

At Hard of Hearing, we’ve been fans of Legss for as long as the site has been running. Bursting onto the scene in the pre-covid years, they have remained a unique force, contorting the guitar/bass/drums band setup into a twisted vehicle of modern angst, which is translated by the accompanying lyrics. In September, the band released their very long-awaited album ‘Unreal’. In an interview that month, they spoke to us about what they felt was required of themselves to finally create such a body of work, meeting a few ‘final bosses’ of their own song styles along the way.

As we look back on the year in music, the band tell us how it has been for them as artists and fans.

Tell us about your 2025 as a band.

I feel like to other people, when we speak about the band, it sounds like there’s something we’re not saying. Especially this year with the release of our debut album. It’s like we’re hiding some ulterior motive which our faces reveal when we speak. Like our noses are growing. And the harder we try to make it sound as though what we’re saying is literally just what we’re saying (we have an album out, it is good, it was tough to make, you should listen to it, we’re on tour), the more it sounds like there’s something we’re not saying. Like we’re pretentious, or presumptuous, or prejudiced, or lying. It’s like there’s something we’re hiding or not saying. Until we realise there is.

What is your Album of the Year and why?

I haven’t had an emotional response to new music as strongly as I did to Jim Legaxcy’s ‘Black British Music’ in years. It was like listening to The Smiths for the first time. It had that same reaffirming sense of things being completely different from now on. Like, it affected my mood massively. The confidence he has in his vulnerability is unparalleled.

What is your Song of the Year why?

‘Busy Woman’ by Sabrina Carpenter. A few of us went to see The Pogues reunite and play their second album at Brixton earlier in the year. It was an epic night. The Lankum lot smashed it (though it did verge on being a bit of a scene suck off). But earlier in the day I was in Co-op and heard this tune playing on the radio. It was magical. Very catchy. Ethereal. I wrote down as many of the lyrics as I could and managed to find out what it was. Hours, many streams and a Pogues gig later, Me and Max went out into the Brixton night looking for a motive. Despite the Pogues heroics, still the only song ringing in our ears was ‘Busy Woman’. We pirouetted on our bikes in the quick-night on our way to a Nunhead party and sang it in unison all the way.

Favourite live show you’ve seen this year and why?

Heavy Lungs at Thekla in Bristol in the summer. They just work so hard.

What was your band highlight of the year?

Probably Max reaching his 1,000-day Duolingo streak on tour in a Sheffield pub pre-show. Jake had made a mask of the Duolingo bird and smuggled it into the pub because he knew Max was going to break it. When he did, Jake came out and surprised him with the mask on and a pint-sized Jägerbomb. We got absolutely wrecked and played the best show of our lives to about 12 people.

What is your favourite thing someone’s said about your music this year?

“You’re the first rock and roll singer to reference the ‘Shaver Only’ plug socket.” – Cal Cashin

…and what is the strangest thing someone’s said?

That we sound like Geese. I’d rather we were compared to the Sims theme tune.

Either that or everyone saying to us that everything should only take half an hour. Everyone’s been saying that to us, all the time. Half an hour until what? Why does everyone think everything only takes half an hour now? And everyone’s also been saying everything costs £20 now. Everyone. Everything. £20. I was at a party the other day and people were saying this and I erupted, screaming: ‘Everything?!’ And then everyone stopped, and in a chorus said: ‘Well, okay, no, not everything.’ That’s what’s it’s been like being in Legss in 2025. Everyone telling us everything’s only going to take half an hour, and that it’ll only cost us £20.

What can we look forward to from you in 2026?

Genuinely, a complete musical pivot encompassing an extreme new sampling-based process and a one-melody/short-song philosophy. Two of us turn 30 next year too, so depending on how horribly, disgustingly ageist you are, it could all be over for us, or it could just be the start. You decide.

Do you have a band New Year’s Resolution?

We’re all going to start lobbying for major international economic investment in renewable energies and developing countries.