David Le'aupepe

David Immanuel Menachem Sasagi Le’aupepe[1] is an Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist and frontman of alternative rock band Gang of Youths, which he founded in 2011. He served as the sole songwriter on the band's first two albums, The Positions (2015) and Go Farther in Lightness (2017), finding lyrical inspiration from personal hardships including loss. Following the death of his father in 2018, the band's most recent album, Angel in Realtime (2022), is a reflection on Le'aupepe's grieving process and family identity.

David Le'aupepe
Le'aupepe performing with Gang of Youths in 2017
Born (1992-02-27) February 27, 1992
Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • guitarist
  • pianist
Musical career
Genres
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, piano
LabelsMosy Recordings
Member ofGang of Youths

Early life

Le'aupepe was born and raised in the Inner West of Sydney by his Samoan father, a classically-trained opera singer of German-Jewish background, his mother, an Austrian-Jewish social worker, and his older sister.[2][3] He was brought up in poverty in a trailer park,[4] and went to school in Burwood, admitting the area "was really dangerous".[5]

He started playing music at the age of seven, and was proficient at drums, bass guitar and piano, in hopes of becoming a multi-instrumentalist.[2] He was nine when he began performing in a Polynesian-Baptist church.[4] In his youth, he was heavily influenced by rock artists including Bruce Springsteen, and recalled that watching a live recording of "Born to Run" made him intent on pursuing music as a career: "that was when I knew I needed to do this for real".[2][6] Le'aupepe claims he was "raised on classical music", and that in the production of Gang of Youths' second studio album Go Farther in Lightness (2017), it "felt very natural to employ devices that would have normally been used by, say, Vivaldi or Bach".[7]

Personal life

Relationships

When he was 18, while intoxicated at church,[3] Le'aupepe met a woman who he would marry three years later. At the time, she was undergoing chemotherapy for melanoma. In 2012, he began writing songs as a coping mechanism throughout her procedures, and performed them for her while she was in hospital.[8] Le'aupepe met his second wife, Courtney, while visiting his sister in New York City in 2018. The couple moved from Sydney to North London together.[9]

Mental health

As the band's first songs began to be played on Triple J in Australia, stresses over moving to Nashville to support his wife, despite his "faltering marriage", culminated in 2014. Le'aupepe attempted to commit suicide by stepping in front of a car while heavily intoxicated, on a "week-long bender that precluded sleep and eating".[8] His friends, aware of his state, called the police who were able to intervene and take Le'aupepe to rehabilitation.[8] He later documented this experience in the band's breakout 2015 single, "Magnolia".

"I can’t play anything as well as the other guys can. I’m not a good-enough songwriter. Our whole career has been informed by my impostor syndrome."

David Le'aupepe[10]

Le'aupepe has been open about his experiences with imposter syndrome. In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, writer Sian Cain claimed the frontman "hates his voice, his lyrics and both of their previous albums".[10] Le'aupepe also claims he is a perfectionist. In an interview with Pilerats before the release of The Positions (2015), the frontman responded to a question regarding the album's release timeframe, commenting on the year-long rollout: "Sometimes I’ll wake up and listen to the record and I’m okay with it. Other times I’ll wake up and we’ll have to change it", adding: "I’m a perfectionist, I’m nuts, I’m insane".[11]

Le'aupepe has also discussed how the success of Gang of Youths in Australia badly damaged his mental health, saying: "Our fame in Australia actually fucked me up really badly".[10]

Family

His father Teleso died of cancer in 2018,[12] but before he died, he hinted that there were a number of family secrets to be discovered in Polynesia.[13] David Le'aupepe and his wife travelled to Samoa, where it was revealed his father had disappeared to Australia in the 1970s, leaving behind two sons who both thought he had died. Further, Teleso was actually ten years older than he claimed, and was not brought up in New Zealand as purported, rather Samoa.[14][15]

References
  1. Yates, Rod (23 August 2017). "Gang of Youths Find Healing in Epic New Album". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  2. Griffiths, Lauren (2 July 2015). "David Leaupepe | Interview". The Weekend Edition. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  3. Fennell, Marc (14 September 2016). Gang of Youths David Le'aupepe on suicide, rehab and why he wrote songs (Television production). Special Broadcasting Service – via YouTube. My dad's Samoan with a German-Jewish mother, and my mother is Austrian-Jewish [...] My first interaction with my ex-wife was at a Jesus camp, I was shit-faced ... I just related to her instantly. We interacted and I found out she was sick, and that was it, I think I fell in love for that drama too.
  4. Fricke, David (22 April 2018). "How Gang of Youths Are Living Their Dream of Being the Next U2". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  5. Cooper, Nathanael (1 December 2017). "Gang of Youths' front man David Le'aupepe slams 'toxic masculinity'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  6. Host, Daniel (17 August 2017). "Life & loss: Gang Of Youths' Dave Le'aupepe chats self improvement & plays live in the studio". FBi Radio. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  7. Young, Brian James (22 August 2017). "Gang Of Youths' David Le'aupepe on bringing philosophy to pop music and putting their lives on the line". The Brag. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  8. Yates, Rod (26 May 2015). "Gang of Youths: A Matter of Life and Death". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  9. Newstead, Al (16 June 2021). "'It's the only song that sounds anything like we used to' Dave Le'aupepe on Gang Of Youths' comeback". Triple J. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  10. Cain, Sian (19 November 2021). "'We want to get treated like normies': Gang of Youths on fame, faith and family secrets". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  11. Apter, Liam (1 January 2016). "Interview - Gang of Youths". Pilerats. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  12. Shapiro, Ari (25 February 2022). "Gang of Youths frontman on new album 'angel in realtime'". NPR. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  13. Ruskell, Nick (16 February 2022). "Gang of Youths on the deep family secret that inspired their new album". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  14. Deville, Chris (25 February 2022). "The Story Behind Every Song On Gang Of Youths' Inspiring New Album 'angel in realtime'". Stereogum. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  15. Corbin, Reiff (24 February 2022). "David Le'aupepe's Search For His Father Led To The Creation Of Gang Of Youth's Masterpiece Angels In Realtime". Spin. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
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