Up next in 10
Leah Martin Brown (Episode #56, Recorded: August 21, 2026) from Evol Walks #singer
Aug 30, 2026
In this episode of the Denim and Leather Podcast, we sit down with Leah Martin-Brown, the powerhouse voice behind LA-based rock band Evol Walks. From the beaches of Queensland to the heart of the Los Angeles rock scene, Leah shares her wild journey through music, creativity, and life on the road.
--== What You’ll Hear ==--
How Leah went from writing poetry as a kid to fronting a hard-hitting rock band
The story behind Evol Walks and their high-energy, no-apologies rock ‘n’ roll sound
Insights into her current solo project and working with legendary producer Mutt Lange
The realities of being a woman in rock, building a career across continents, and staying true to your artistic vision
Songwriting, inspiration, and what it really takes to make a great rock song
If you love raw vocals, honest storytelling, and music that kicks like a mule, this conversation is for you.
--== About Leah Martin-Brown & Evol Walks ==--
Leah Martin-Brown is an Australian-born, LA-based vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the frontwoman of Evol Walks (“Evolution of Love” backward). The band blends classic rock influences like AC/DC, Joan Jett, and Led Zeppelin with modern attitude and relentless energy.
Alongside Evol Walks, Leah is developing a solo project that showcases a different side of her artistry while keeping her signature grit and emotional honesty intact.
Connect with Leah & Evol Walks
- Instagram: @LeahMartinBrown / @evolwalks
- Spotify: Leah Martin Brown | Evol Walks
- Website: leahmartinbrown.com | evolwalks.com
---
🔔 Give us some love; Subscribe, like, and hit the bell icon to stay updated with our latest episodes!
If you enjoy the Denim and Leather Podcast, please support us by buying us a beer at Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/denim.and.leather.podcast
🌐 Denim and Leather Podcast home page: https://denimandleather.musicnonstop.today
Hosted by Uros Veljkovic and powered by Music Nonstop Today (https://musicnonstop.today)
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:03
Okay, welcome to the new episode of Lena
0:05
marula podcast to Leah uh Martin Brown
0:09
from Evil Walks and some other cool
0:12
projects and a solo career, right?
0:15
>> Yes, correct.
0:16
>> Thank you for coming to to to my show.
0:20
>> Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
0:22
>> Thanks.
0:23
So,
0:24
let me let me ask you first
0:26
about your about your history cuz I I
0:29
saw that you're Australian
0:32
but you moved to USA and
0:36
when was that and how did you start back
0:38
in Australia? Did you have a career
0:40
then?
0:42
>> Yes, so I've been playing music since I
0:44
was
0:47
I I've been gigging since I was about 14
0:49
years old and I had a band in Australia
0:52
and we toured and we played some
0:53
festivals there and then in 2014 I was
0:57
invited to come to the USA which is
0:59
where I formed Evil Walks and I've been
1:01
here ever since. I did live in Stockholm
1:02
for a for a moment
1:04
working on music but now I'm back in Los
1:06
Angeles.
1:08
>> So,
1:10
do you start
1:12
to sing right away or you played some
1:14
some also some instruments back in
1:16
Australia?
1:18
>> Yes, so I started singing when I was
1:21
very very young. I wasn't professionally
1:24
trained until I was probably about 18 or
1:26
19 but I was singing much longer before
1:29
then. I probably started singing in
1:30
front
1:32
in choirs and also solo when I was
1:34
eight. I started playing in
1:37
an instrumental band when I was seven
1:40
and then I picked up the guitar when I
1:41
was 11 and I've been writing songs since
1:43
I was 12.
1:45
>> Wow,
1:47
so as as a little kid
1:49
I I also had the Australian
1:53
on on this show it was
1:55
female rocker
1:57
should I say
1:59
rock star
2:01
going up Cassidy of Paris, you know?
2:03
>> I love Cassidy. She's awesome.
2:05
>> Yeah, yeah. Did you Did you guys meet
2:07
back in the
2:08
I don't know in the Australian road?
2:10
>> No, I uh
2:11
>> She She She's much younger. Yeah.
2:13
>> Yes, I left Australia probably before
2:15
she was I think she may have still been
2:17
in school when I left Australia.
2:19
>> Yeah, probably probably probably.
2:22
Uh also I know I know her her father
2:24
Steve who is a great guitar player since
2:26
the '90s, you know? So uh
2:29
Uh
2:31
okay.
2:32
Uh
2:32
it's very early there by the way. Good
2:34
morning for you.
2:36
>> Thank you.
2:37
>> Yeah, here it's later in the couple of
2:40
hours it will be it will be dark. So uh
2:43
thank you for doing this so early.
2:46
Um
2:47
tell me you I saw that you you have a
2:49
signed deal with Frontiers, right?
2:52
>> Yes, so I just did a solo record and it
2:55
was co-written and co-produced with Mutt
2:58
Lange, Tony Nilsson, and Tommy Denander.
3:01
And that was released with Frontiers. So
3:02
I did have a one label deal a one deal
3:05
with them for the previous album.
3:07
>> Yeah, how how did how did that
3:10
collaboration happen?
3:12
>> It's a very long story. I was in
3:15
Stockholm living there during 2020
3:18
through to 2021, 2022-ish.
3:21
And my manager of the time approached me
3:24
with the project that was mostly done
3:27
and they were looking for a vocalist for
3:28
it. And when I found out that it was a
3:31
Mutt Lange project and it was co-written
3:33
by him and he'd done most of the
3:34
production along with Tony Nilsson at
3:36
the time. I jumped at the opportunity
3:39
and I thought it would be a really fun
3:41
thing to do. It was a little bit out of
3:42
my lane. It was more pop leaning than I
3:45
would usually do and I write my own
3:47
music. So there was a bit of a a mental
3:50
challenge with that because I never
3:52
really believe in singing other people's
3:54
songs unless it's like for fun. So, that
3:56
was a bit of a challenge for me at
3:58
first, but it was a wonderful project
4:00
and I got to work with Frontiers, which
4:01
was amazing cuz they're such a fantastic
4:03
team. And yeah, it came out almost a
4:06
year ago now. So, that's cool.
4:09
>> Did you maybe
4:11
happen to have a band for it and tour
4:15
for the album or
4:17
or no?
4:18
>> I did do some some shows for the album.
4:20
I did one full band show and a few
4:22
acoustic, but
4:24
as everyone knows, touring is expensive
4:26
and because the songs were in a bit of a
4:30
different genre to me
4:32
and they're not my music wholly,
4:35
I did only just do around Los Angeles
4:38
and support it with acoustic because at
4:40
the time it just seemed playing the
4:43
songs live were really was interesting
4:45
because it's pop music requires a little
4:48
bit of a different approach. You need
4:50
for these, I really felt like I probably
4:51
needed backing tracks. I probably needed
4:53
to get the stems, which I I don't have.
4:55
And I just for me, it it felt like it
4:58
was great playing acoustic, but I didn't
5:01
really have the appetite or the ability
5:04
at the time to get that project out on
5:06
the road.
5:08
>> I saw one interview about a year ago
5:10
from you where you said that you liked
5:15
uh
5:16
some of your of your projects that
5:18
sounded like a little bit gothic, like a
5:20
little bit goth
5:22
rock, like Evanescence and stuff.
5:25
>> Yeah, so I have
5:27
when when I was in Australia, I had a
5:29
band called The Little Rouge and that
5:31
was definitely like very gothic and
5:33
rocky, but my my project that I write
5:36
and I work with and I tour with is
5:38
called Evil Walks.
5:39
>> Yeah.
5:39
>> And I'd say that we are a blend of
5:44
I used to say it was AC/DC, Sabbath, and
5:46
Monster Magnet.
5:48
But, in recent years, it's definitely
5:51
kind of Evanescence meets Halestorm, but
5:54
I'd say a little a little darker than
5:56
Halestorm in some of the instrumentals.
5:58
But, we we kind of sit there in that
5:59
hard rock vein.
6:01
>> Yeah, yeah. I follow you and your and
6:03
your band now. I mean, all the all the
6:05
videos that you that you share the the
6:07
the viral clips. And
6:09
I saw that you're also
6:13
running high up now in the last few
6:15
months on Spotify, right?
6:18
>> Yes, it's [music] had a good good bit of
6:21
interest thanks to social media, which
6:23
is cool.
6:23
>> Good reach. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:26
How how many how many
6:28
pieces of of a band it it is? Do you Do
6:30
you tour a lot with Evil Walks?
6:33
>> So, Evil Walks is my project that I
6:35
started. It's it's my work. In 2015, I
6:39
connected with my now drummer. And so,
6:41
ever since then, he he's like my
6:43
brother. So, it's our band together now.
6:47
And then I do bring in different
6:49
musicians. For a long time, I was using
6:51
session guys. But more recently, I've
6:54
brought in two two new musicians, Chris
6:57
Borrell and um his name is Aiden as
7:00
well, and he's on bass. And [music]
7:03
we have been touring around. We've been
7:04
doing a lot of Los Angeles shows, and
7:06
we're currently trying to plan a run out
7:08
to Arizona and Vegas in December. And
7:10
then we're doing
7:12
another run in February. So, we're
7:15
starting to finally tour again. We did a
7:16
lot of touring back in 2014, 2015, and
7:20
again
7:21
>> [music]
7:21
>> in 2019 and the beginning of 2020. And
7:24
then the pandemic hit, and it kind of
7:26
slowed everything down.
7:27
>> Yeah, do you do you record a lot with
7:29
the with that project? I mean, do you
7:31
have releases?
7:32
How many [music] How many releases do
7:34
you have?
7:35
>> Yes, so currently already released, I
7:38
think we have
7:39
20
7:42
close to 30 songs released. We have two
7:45
EPs, three EPs now, and a bunch of
7:48
singles. I have two new singles that are
7:51
going to be coming out this year, and
7:53
I'm in the middle of
7:55
working on our fourth EP currently.
7:59
>> Do you Do you do traditional way of
8:02
releasing music like LP vinyls, CDs, or
8:06
do you do everything digitally?
8:09
What's your What's your stance on all
8:10
that?
8:12
>> Well, in in the past when we first
8:13
started, we did have some pressings that
8:16
were physical. We haven't released
8:18
anything in quite a long time.
8:22
Um so, I think with this release coming
8:24
up, we will do vinyls.
8:26
But previously, we haven't just because
8:29
again, we
8:30
when it when that EP came out, we
8:32
weren't touring, and then the pandemic
8:34
happened, and it all kind of got on top
8:36
of us. So, this current release that I'm
8:38
working on now will be physically
8:40
released.
8:41
>> Yeah, it's a pretty expensive thing to
8:44
press vinyls. I have a band, and we
8:46
released a
8:48
few albums, but only one on vinyl, and
8:50
it was like 2,000 euros for 200 copies,
8:53
you know. It is
8:55
It is very very
8:57
expensive to to make it, and and then to
8:59
sell them to bring your money back, you
9:01
know.
9:02
>> Yeah, I think there's definitely an
9:04
appetite for vinyls. I had my last
9:06
record on CD. I think CDs are a little
9:09
harder to sell cuz not everyone has a CD
9:11
player. Um
9:12
so, I I'm working towards getting some
9:14
vinyls done, which I think will be cool.
9:16
>> Yeah, things have changed. You remember
9:18
the times when the CD was the main
9:22
the main music bearer, you know.
9:24
>> [laughter]
9:26
>> It's It's very changed.
9:28
Uh so, um
9:29
Tell me something about about your
9:31
works. How did you How did you create
9:34
that project of yours?
9:37
Uh I mean,
9:38
and and what is the name? What is the
9:40
name uh
9:41
uh
9:42
Evil Walks?
9:44
>> Sure. So, I started Evil Walks in 2014.
9:47
I wanted it to be a more mature version
9:50
of the band that I already had in
9:53
Australia. I felt that the moniker Lilly
9:55
Rouge was very much attached to my
9:58
childhood cuz I used to use that as a
9:59
stage name from the time I was about 14
10:01
or 15. So, by the time I was 22, it just
10:04
seemed a little
10:05
uh juvenile.
10:06
So, when I came to the States, I worked
10:09
on something that was going to be a bit
10:10
darker and a bit more rocky. And my
10:13
manager of the time had suggested I go
10:15
through song names and band names from
10:18
>> [music]
10:19
>> you know, ones that I really admired and
10:21
to see if I could come up with
10:22
something.
10:26
Ended up on the song Evil Walks by AC/DC
10:28
cuz I'm a huge AC/DC fan. And then we
10:30
ended up changing the spelling because
10:33
um
10:34
>> [music]
10:34
>> it was kind of cool to have like love
10:35
backwards or short for revolution. Um
10:38
and at the time I was kind of building a
10:40
character around that band and the
10:43
character described in the song Evil
10:45
Walks was kind of like what I was going
10:46
for with the band's aesthetic and the
10:48
mood. So, that is how Evil Walks came
10:51
about.
10:51
>> Okay, so Evil is love backwards, right?
10:55
>> Yeah, or short for revolution.
10:56
>> Yeah, oh okay. Okay.
10:58
Uh
10:59
interesting. I didn't know that about
11:01
about the name of the band. Um
11:04
tell me about your your your singing,
11:06
your
11:08
in a in a sense of a technique that you
11:10
use. Are you
11:11
trained professional since you were kid
11:14
or
11:15
>> So, I've been singing since I was very
11:17
young. I didn't start having singing
11:19
lessons or singing training, I guess,
11:22
sen- until I was about 16 or 17. And
11:25
then I started to really hone in on
11:28
things when I was about 19. I went to
11:31
the Conservatorium of Music in
11:33
Queensland, Australia at Griffith
11:35
University and I have an undergraduate
11:37
and a postgraduate in popular music and
11:40
contemporary jazz vocal performance. And
11:42
then when I came over to the States, I
11:44
trained with Ron Anderson for quite some
11:46
time and then more recently Susanna
11:49
Bertling in Stockholm has been who I've
11:52
been training with.
11:54
>> Well.
11:55
Okay, so
11:57
you have a
11:58
great set up of of
12:01
of technique for for for bigger for
12:03
bigger stages, you know. Do you
12:06
do you tour a lot now in recent
12:09
months or or years or or not that much?
12:14
>> So we have started playing shows again.
12:17
Evil Walks War on a bit of a hiatus so I
12:19
could concentrate on my solo record. We
12:21
used to tour a lot and this the tail end
12:24
of this year and the beginning of next
12:25
year is when we're starting to go out of
12:28
state more and so we are doing a Las
12:31
Vegas and Arizona run hopefully in
12:34
December. We're just trying to lock in
12:36
those dates with another band who is
12:38
really good friends of ours and then in
12:40
February next year we're going to be
12:41
doing again
12:43
Nevada and
12:46
Arizona and then we're also going to be
12:48
getting up to the Pacific Northwest.
12:50
>> Okay, so you so you you will be all
12:53
around US but are you coming maybe to to
12:56
Europe or maybe you will go again to
12:58
Australia to tour?
13:00
>> I would really love to. We've previously
13:02
toured the US and Europe and Australia.
13:04
So it definitely is something we've done
13:06
before and I would love to do that. It's
13:08
just doing it as an independent artist
13:10
is very expensive and so the logistics
13:14
around that would we would need to make
13:17
it make sense financially for us to be
13:18
able to do that and at this stage I
13:20
haven't quite worked that piece out yet.
13:23
So I would love to if we got invites to
13:26
some festivals, we could definitely
13:28
build something out around that. But
13:31
again, it's it's something that would
13:32
take us a little bit more time just
13:34
because the finances around it, you
13:35
know, you've got flights, you've got
13:37
visas, you've got all of that.
13:39
>> Yeah, planes and stuff.
13:42
Um
13:43
Do you
13:44
Uh
13:45
I I asked you about your
13:47
digital and physical releases, but
13:50
what's your stance on the
13:52
on on Spotify and on
13:54
digital
13:56
releases as a
13:58
as as an artist because uh
14:01
a lot of artists, like 80 or 90% are
14:04
against it, but they're already there,
14:06
you know, selling their music, but for
14:09
very very cheap, you know. Uh
14:12
or also mixed with AI and stuff like
14:15
that. What's your stance on that? Uh
14:18
Does the artist deserve more of the
14:21
money
14:22
uh from those sell sales, or what do you
14:25
think?
14:27
>> Uh I mean, I think what you're asking is
14:30
do I agree with the current models that
14:32
streaming have for artists?
14:34
>> Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
14:35
>> Yeah. So,
14:37
I mean, unfortunately, as an independent
14:40
artist who's also a smaller artist, it's
14:42
kind of inescapable. You do have to be
14:45
on DSPs for your music to have any kind
14:49
of chance of being discovered. If you're
14:51
a larger artist, like a much bigger
14:52
artist, you can definitely pull your
14:54
music off, and you can still have a
14:56
career, uh especially if you've built an
14:58
email list, especially if you've got a a
15:00
really big following that's going to
15:03
consume your music elsewhere whether or
15:05
not you set up your own
15:07
website, or you've got a lot of physical
15:09
media that you can then distribute. Um I
15:12
do obviously think that artists should
15:13
be paid more. I do feel that if you're
15:16
an artist that is getting
15:18
tens of thousands, hundreds of
15:20
thousands, millions of streams,
15:23
you should be able to concentrate on
15:25
making music because that music should
15:27
be getting compensated fairly.
15:30
I don't think at the moment anyone has
15:33
an answer for this. I don't really want
15:35
to get started on generative AI because
15:37
I think it is a scourge to our society
15:39
and I get quite heated, so I'm not going
15:41
to go there, but I think my choice of
15:43
words has probably given away my stance
15:46
on that.
15:47
>> [laughter]
15:47
>> I get it. I get it. I had the
15:50
I had on the show for like like 2 years
15:53
ago Jen Majura, you know the kid
15:55
guitarist guitar player. Yeah. So,
15:58
we we agreed with Jen about about
16:00
Spotify. She She hates the stuff that
16:03
you cannot you cannot memorize uh
16:06
uh
16:07
song or a or a a whole album the way we
16:11
used to memorize, you know, when you
16:12
open it, when you smell it, and when you
16:15
put first put it on the on the tracks on
16:17
the, you know, on the gramophone, and uh
16:20
the thing is
16:21
now you just download it. What what you
16:23
going to remember? How you downloaded
16:25
it? You know?
16:26
It's a it's it's a silly thing to to
16:29
explain to
16:31
to the younger generations, but you
16:32
know, they don't they don't have it like
16:34
an
16:35
whole experience, you know?
16:37
>> Mhm. Yeah, I definitely agree. I I do
16:39
miss the days of being able to go to the
16:42
record store and picking up a record. I
16:43
mean, we still have record stores and we
16:45
can still do that, but it's not kind of
16:47
embedded into our culture the way it
16:50
used to be.
16:51
>> Yeah, it used to be you you you you you
16:53
can listen to it there, you know, if you
16:55
and then if you like it to buy it and
16:57
stuff like that, but it's also the
17:00
things that, you know, you just skip
17:03
the music all the time, you know, you
17:04
don't even listen to it
17:06
for whole song, you know?
17:08
>> Yeah.
17:09
Yeah, and yeah, it is it is kind of a
17:11
sad state of affairs, but
17:13
I don't really have the answers to that,
17:15
[music] so you know.
17:17
>> there is no there is no answer about it.
17:19
I don't know.
17:21
What's your Tell me, do you have
17:23
something planned other than maybe
17:25
touring? You have some other some albums
17:28
in in works or with some with some
17:31
people? Maybe some guest appearances?
17:34
>> Uh yes, sir. As I as I mentioned a bit
17:36
earlier, I've got two singles coming
17:38
out. I'm shooting the cover art for one
17:40
of the singles plus all of the social
17:42
assets next weekend.
17:45
And then I'm currently in the studio
17:47
working on our new record with a
17:49
producer named Hiram Hernandez, who's
17:51
amazing. And I'm not sure when that will
17:53
be released, probably early 2027. It
17:56
just I want to give that one as much
17:59
attention as possible. So, that includes
18:02
ensuring all of the assets, like the the
18:04
cover art, the videos, the everything
18:06
that's going to be on social media, is
18:08
done properly.
18:10
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you're
18:11
concentrating on that single or two
18:14
singles, right?
18:15
>> Two singles and a record.
18:17
>> And and and the record at the end or
18:19
right at the end?
18:20
>> Yes.
18:20
>> Okay. Okay. Whole whole full album,
18:22
right?
18:24
>> Uh it's going to be five songs.
18:26
>> Okay. EP, right?
18:28
>> Yes, EP.
18:29
>> Yeah, can you reveal maybe the name of
18:32
the EP or
18:33
still
18:33
>> I don't know. I don't know what the EP
18:35
name is yet.
18:37
>> [laughter]
18:37
>> I I'm excited.
18:38
>> But but you have the songs or you're
18:40
still in the writing process?
18:42
>> We're still in the So, I do a lot of my
18:44
writing in the studio. I sometimes will
18:46
bring demos. So, in this case there was
18:48
a demo that I worked on in Australia
18:50
last year that we have recorded.
18:53
So, we're three songs in and we've got
18:55
two songs left.
18:57
>> Uh what what What do you like to write
19:00
about? What are your themes in the songs
19:02
for?
19:05
>> Honestly, it really depends how I'm
19:06
feeling on the day. Sometimes it can be
19:09
something that's going on in society.
19:10
Sometimes it's something that's happened
19:13
to me that I just want to rant about.
19:15
Sometimes it's something I've read like
19:18
a story or a book. It really does depend
19:20
on the day like when I'm in there and
19:22
when I'm in the mood.
19:24
>> Do you do you go do you like go all the
19:28
time in Australia? You have still family
19:30
there and right or no?
19:32
Yeah?
19:33
>> Yes, my whole family lives in Australia.
19:34
I'm here and
19:35
>> you usually go there all the time or no?
19:38
>> I would say all the time. I would say
19:40
probably once a year.
19:42
>> Yeah?
19:43
>> Yeah.
19:44
>> Do you maybe have because I know you're
19:46
in LA do you have regular gigs like
19:50
night gigs with some
19:53
band
19:54
other than Evil Walks maybe gigging in
19:57
LA?
19:59
Where people can see you there? Yeah?
20:01
>> I do gig in LA sometimes. I used to gig
20:05
very regularly like three to four nights
20:07
a week prior to the pandemic. But now my
20:10
focus really is my band and my original
20:12
music. So I will do session work
20:15
occasionally.
20:16
And if the project feels good and seems
20:19
right and it's something I enjoy I'll do
20:21
it. But otherwise I really do keep my
20:23
focus on Evil Walks.
20:26
>> Okay.
20:28
Just
20:30
just for for for the end of the
20:31
interview tell me your future plans.
20:35
Besides the EP and the and the two
20:37
singles
20:38
longer longer term future plans. What
20:40
are your plans?
20:42
>> I mean it just write music, record it,
20:45
go on tour, repeat. That that that would
20:48
be the plan.
20:49
>> All the time?
20:51
>> [laughter]
20:51
>> Yeah, that's all that's all I really
20:52
want to do.
20:53
>> Oh, yeah that that was that was very
20:56
sincere from you you know. Thank you for
20:59
for being a great guest and for this
21:02
interview and
21:04
we'll do it again when you when your
21:06
next EP is out, okay?
21:08
>> Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I
21:09
really enjoyed chatting to you.
21:10
>> Yeah, so sorry for for getting you up
21:12
that early, you know.
21:14
>> I had to be up anyway. I I actually have
21:16
a day job, so I've been in meetings
21:18
since 8:00 a.m.
21:19
>> Yeah,
21:20
>> [laughter]
21:20
>> okay. I I just get back from job, so
21:23
from my work.
21:25
>> [laughter]
21:26
>> Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.
21:28
See you.
21:28
>> You're welcome. Thank you so much.
21:30
>> Bye-bye.
Arts & Entertainment