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Producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon Knight isn’t afraid to wear his inspirations on his sequined sleeve. Knight describes his rock and funk-influenced sound as “very inspired by the great music of our past.”
“I like to use modern technology along with analog gear. But use the modern technology to give it that thump,” the musician told Newsweek on a video call from his new studio. “I call it ‘Unc Core’ or ‘Unc Funk.’ Just really cherishing music of the past, and put my spin on it, and my ideologies. New Age lyrics and things like that.”
"Yes I Do," Knight’s latest single, enlists fellow rock artist DE’WAYNE for a funky ode to luxurious living that sounds like it time-traveled directly from the 1980s.
According to Knight, the Unc Core sound is built on a foundation of Prince, Rick James and the Gap Band, with a few surprise twists thrown in. “I'm very into the hair metal s***, for some reason. Guitar shredder music like Steve Vai, Tony McAlpine, Van Halen, Kiss, stuff like that. My first album, Can It Please Be Tomorrow?, you can hear a lot of that stuff, like the AC/DC influences on that album. I think there's one or two funk songs on there.”
A former visual effects artist, Knight is all about the details, even down to his array of eye-catching outfits. “You gotta look the part to feel the part. My music don't sound like jeans and a T-shirt, so I probably shouldn't be wearing jeans and a T-shirt.”
Forming the Funk
Knight credits the development of his unique style to countless hours studying the greats of that era. “The building blocks for that sound, you want to be inspired. Mostly sonically, but you don't want to bite.” He said. “I think the hardest part is coming up with original chord progressions while making something that also sounds derivative and not a copy.”
Volume is a fundamental pillar of Unc Core, according to Knight. “The modern feeling and freshness comes from processing of those sounds, when you play my record next to something you might think it was inspired by, or you think it would sound like, you'll find that my s*** is like 20 times louder because I'm mastering it to the maximum possible volume. I'm mastering my stuff to a very ignorant level of volume. "Yes I Do," that record is loud as hell,” Knight laughingly added.
Knight first fell in love with music by sneaking around in his father’s home studio. Once his father found out about his genuine interest, Knight learned to produce music leaning toward a soul-sample-heavy style inspired by the College Dropout-era production of Kanye West. “He taught us how to chop samples and stuff. So a lot of my first beats were like that.”
Knight mused at length about the “limitless” capabilities of music software and restoring the sounds of yesteryear. While his love for the analog remains true, modern software and contemporary reissues of older production tools allow Knight to access those old-school sounds at the press of a button.
“There's a lot of stuff we could be doing with this music. So that's what I want to show people. But I don't really have a crazy deep mission. I'm not trying to elevate everybody. I'm just having fun making music with the homies, and with myself,” he said.
Though his music may be rooted in the past, Knight’s focus is on future generations. “I would say I am passionate about the kids having music programs in the schools. I would like to start a nonprofit or something and just drop off guitars and stuff at schools and follow up. Make sure they're learning how to play.”
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Rocking Out
In a twist of fate, Knight met fellow Black rock artist DE’WAYNE in a studio session, where they immediately hit it off. “We just became friends instantly. And I was like, ‘Hey, come by the studio. I'm working on my record, pull up,” Knight recalls. “The day before he got there, I was jamming with my boy Powers Pleasant, phenomenal producer, and we were just jamming. I was on keyboard, he was on bass, and we came up with that. Powers came up with a groove on the bass. I just started fleshing it out. I added a bridge to it, and the record was just knocking. I had it. I came back in the next day, I changed some of the synth chords around. Then DE’WAYNE walks in, I push play, and he’s just bobbing his head.”
That seed of friendship immediately turned fruitful with the group turning out the viral funk hit, "Yes I Do," in short order. “It was probably like an hour. We had the whole thing recorded."
"Yes I Do" has taken over the internet with its flashy, tongue-in-cheek music video and the viral On The Radar performance that saw the duo of Leon and DE’WAYNE break out their best choreography and matching jackets. “We went down to the Unc shop, you know, those little suit stores. We were in Brooklyn at the time. I bought everybody some sequin jackets, we went down to the basement, and we put some choreography together. My boy, Pinky Liberace, helped me with the choreography.”
The performance harkens back to the funk days of yore with spin moves and guitar breakdowns galore. “I wanted something to do while I was singing, because I knew he's gonna be next to me on the mic. So, we gotta find something to do so you're not just standing there and vice versa,” Knight said. “I wanted to make something that was just entertaining the whole two or three minutes.”
"Yes I Do" serves as the lead-in to Knight’s upcoming album and the follow-up to 2023’s Can It Please Be Tomorrow. With the forthcoming project, Knight opted to diversify the track list, saying, “I tried to make something that was down the middle, half classic rock, half funk, little something for everybody. The real challenge is weaving the rock stuff and the funk stuff. Weave them in together to make it cohesive.”
“Some songs I'm screaming on them. Some songs I'm singing in an R&B kind of vocal tone. Yeah, some stuff is real funky. Some stuff is funk rock. Some stuff is just straight dry funk,” he continued.
The self-proclaimed "King of Rock & Roll" is ready for the next big step after his opulent viral hit, with his first headlining show at the renowned Echo venue in Los Angeles in February.
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