Leah Hennessey Shares Background to New and Recommended "8 Men" Single and Video
Leah Hennessey fronts New York band Hennessey, and is a new and welcome name here in our corner of the music world. We were as delighted as we were surprised to stumble upon 2021 Hennessey single and video “8 Men”, and immediately reached out in hopes of learning more about both. Happily, we connected quickly with Leah Hennessey, who graciously shared the following background with Weirdo Music Forever about the “8 Men” single:
“Since I wrote this song, the number of men who have half the world's wealth has gotten even smaller, and now Elon Musk is richer than all those guys, but my feelings remain unchanged. As many people have noticed, yes I do have a soft spot for Bill Gates because he literally paid for my high school but I don't really think it's possible to be an ethical billionaire. The wealth inequality in this country, in this world, is obscene and fundamentally immoral.”
Providing first-hand insight into the accompanying video’s inspiration and location, Leah shared the following with us:
“We shot this video at the Freehand Hotel when my friend Raffaella Hanley (a.k.a. Lou Dallas) was doing a quarantine style residency there. I wanted to shoot in the George Washington Bar. When I was very little I would always picture George Washtington's stern grandfatherish face whenever I heard anyone talk about ‘God’- I would picture his face floating in the clouds, aloof and disapproving. My mother was very disturbed by this and made an effort to emphasize more feminine, pagan divine imagery, but I never really got over that early capitalist brainwashing- God is an old White Man, God is Money, God is America etc etc. So it was kind of cathartic to go full commie in the George Washington Bar, while still admitting that I'd love to believe in an (anti-capitalist, not man shaped) god.”
Leah Hennessey in New York City, 2021. Photos: E.J. O’Hara, courtesy Leah Hennessey
You can find more Hennessey music here.
