There’s something inherently funny about fantasising over a sick day. Not the actual being ill part, but the idea of having nowhere to be, nowhere to go, and no responsibilities beyond eating toast on the sofa and watching television. For most people, it’s an occasional luxury. For musicians and freelancers, it can feel almost impossible.
That idea sits at the heart of ‘Sick Day’, the latest single from New Zealand-born, LA-based producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Clampitt. Built around the sound of a skateboard ollie and inspired by the realities of burnout and modern work culture, the track offers another glimpse into Clampitt’s forthcoming debut solo album Get Happy, due for release on August 14th via his newly launched independent label, Sorry Susan Records.
While Clampitt may be releasing music under his own name for the first time, he is far from a newcomer. Over the last decade, he has helped shape some of pop’s biggest records, working with artists including Madison Beer, Sabrina Carpenter, Laufey, Lily Allen and Justin Bieber. With Get Happy, however, he’s finally inviting listeners into a world entirely of his own.
Noctis caught up with Clampitt to discuss burnout, creative freedom, eccentric pop music, and why everyone should probably take a sick day.
You’ve spent years helping shape other artists’ worlds. What made now feel like the right time to invite people into your own?
I’ve made several different personal projects over the last decade, purely for fun and experience, and just to refresh my creative senses and aid my work with other artists. This was one of those except for the first time I feel like I truly got to the heart of it, and I had the taste, skill set and time to really make something worth putting my legal name on.
Do you approach songwriting differently when you know you’ll be the one singing the words?
Not exactly. I’m usually just trying to make the best song I can. I do find with my own music I can be much simpler with the lyrics. A lot of modern music seems to be quite clever and deep, but I find it’s the simple lines that hit the hardest sometimes.
Your single ‘Easy Daisy’ has this really dreamy, almost weightless atmosphere to it. What was the emotional starting point for the song?
I’ve always loved the phrase Easy Daisy, it’s actually the name of my recording studio in Los Angeles. That song was a rare case where the music came first. I was just making a track to test a new tape machine so the sound really inspired the lyrics and melody.
You’ve spoken pretty openly about burnout around 2022. Did making this record help you reconnect with music in a healthier way?
Totally. True creativity is very fickle. It’s really ignorant to think you can book 5 days of writing sessions a week and consistently make inspired music. Yet, I used to do that. It becomes very hard on your spirit. I love working, but slowing down and following inspiration instead of trying to drag it along behind me has led me to have a far more prolific career.
‘Sick Day’ fantasises about having a normal office job and taking a day off to eat toast on the sofa. Do you think creative industries romanticise overworking too much?
Yes. We have no infrastructure so we either learn to build it–usually the hard way by burning out–or all you care about is your job and you become a punishing person to be around. If you look at the output of people who are always ‘working’ they are generally not that much more productive or usually less productive and it’s mostly pretty uninspiring stuff. Take a sick day. Get a hobby.
You’ve said you enjoy working with artists who resist being boxed in. Do you think pop music is becoming more open to eccentricity again?
Definitely. Pop music is limitless. I’ve truly always believed that. That’s why I got into it. Now that record labels have lost creative control after decades of abusing it, it’s left to the artists and their collaborators and we’re having a field day. It’s been a bloody good 6 years or so of pop music.
You’ve written songs about mortality, office jobs, and Ricky Martin. What’s the weirdest thing that has inspired a song for you?
I Used To Be A Tire is a song on the album and I just have no idea what the hell happened there. Just came to me. One minute I’m chilling, next minute I’m writing a song from the perspective of a tire.
What made you want to start Sorry Susan Records rather than release the project any other way?
I talked to a few people from labels about putting out the record and what I realized is none of them really know what they’re doing at the moment. Which is fair enough, the music industry is a very dynamic landscape right now. I’ve often wished I had the infrastructure to put out my friends’ records, or stuff I made with artists who don’t have labels. Also clothing and other art, like a record label/brand. Starting my own label and putting out my own record first felt like a nothing to lose situation and a great opportunity to learn.
You described wanting the label to leave a “sonic trail.” I really loved that phrase. What do you hope people discover when they trace that trail years from now?
Almost like a family tree, I listen to a lot of older Japanese music, and Jamaican music. They have this thing where you can look at the credits of a record and notice “hey, this record is produced by this person, who was in that band, which had that other member, who had a solo project and it’s all on this one label I keep seeing (ie Kitty Records, Black Art)” and you just know whatever music is on that record is going to be of a certain standard. That’s the goal.
You’ve mentioned artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys as inspirations on certain tracks. Were there any records you found yourself returning to while making Get Happy?
Gilbert O’Sullivans ‘Alone Again (Naturally)’ really inspired the production of I’m Going To Die. But the album I listened to most during the making of Get Happy was Eiichi Ohtaki’s Omnibus. That guy is, and forever will be, my greatest inspiration.
What do you hope listeners understand about you after hearing Get Happy that they maybe wouldn’t have understood from your production work alone?
I’m not really sure. I think it’s a good look into my mind. It’s quite different to any of the music I’ve made for other artists which I hope is refreshing and no one needs to hear me singing over Madison Beer or Sabrina Carpenter type beats.
If you had to describe Get Happy using only three completely random objects, what would they be?
A glass of cold Japanese beer, a vase of flowers, a reel to reel tape machine.
With ‘Sick Day’, Clampitt turns something as mundane as wanting a day off into a quietly funny reflection on burnout, creativity, and modern work culture. If the rest of Get Happy follows suit, listeners can expect a record full of unexpected observations, eccentric ideas, and the kind of songwriting that finds meaning in everyday moments. After years spent helping other artists realise their creative visions, Clampitt is finally inviting listeners into his own world — and it’s a fascinating place to be.
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Words: Tara Choudhary