Leogun

Based in London, Leogun is a three-piece rock & roll band that displays a heavy sonic debt to the White Stripes and a bit of a professional debt to Elton John, whose management company Rocket Music signed the trio in 2012. Led by guitarist/vocalist Tommy Smith, the trio also features bassist Matt Johnson and Mike Lloyd, Leogun does indeed have a full-bodied, blues-drenched roar, a sound that's apparent on their 2013 full-length debut By the Reins, which is the first release from Yamaha Entertainment Group, the record label offshoot of the famed instrument company.

Leogun has its roots in the childhood friendship of Smith and Johnson, who met Lloyd when they were at university as adults. The group gelled in the early years of the 2000s, leading to its contract with Rocket Music and then with Yamaha. An EP was released in the fall of 2012 as the group was completing work on their full-length debut in Nashville. Following a spring's worth of touring, Leogun released By the Reins in the summer of 2013.