Claus Larsen is a man of many projects. There’s Klutæ, for which he released the new album, Godsent, in early May and appeared at Seattle festival Mechanismus later that month. Am Tierpark, his Italo disco-influenced synthpop duo with John R. Mirland, released the album Shameless last year and the two musicians also have a punk band, Gusten, with a forthcoming album that’s near completion. Then there’s Larsen’s flagship solo project, Leæther Strip, which has been ongoing since 1989. It’s Leæther Strip that brought a capacity crowd to downtown Los Angeles’s Slipper Clutch on the final Saturday night in May.
While Larsen released his latest Leæther Strip album, Fucking Perfect, in February, L.A.’s industrial heads are here for the classics. Tonight’s set is centered around Leæther Strip’s 1990s catalog and Larsen is pummeling the crowd harsh, EBM beats, his intense vocal delivery and a barrage of samples. Inside the small, upstairs venue, people squeeze as close to the stage as possible.
“I love doing these shows because you see the faces. They recognize what they were into in the ‘90s and instantly, smiles,” says Larsen earlier in the evening, when we meet right after soundcheck. “They’re the reason I’m still able to do this, because I built up my audience back in the ‘90s and they’re still hanging on and supporting.”
The Danish musician was raised in a musical family and like his father, who played seven instruments, Larsen is essentially self-taught. At 14, he gravitated towards synthesizers thanks to a schoolmate who showed him how to play the bassline of “Back to Nature,” the Fad Gadget song. “Two weeks later, I wrote my first song,” Larsen recalls. “It was like opening a floodgate.”
Larsen played in various bands during the 1980s, one of which signed to a major label. “As soon as we signed the contract, they wanted to change everything we stood for. I didn’t want to be a part of that, so I skipped it,” he recalls. Instead, Larsen launched Leæther Strip as a solo project where he was in control. He wrote eight songs, sent out the tape to two labels, both of whom wanted to sign him. “I got lucky,” says Larsen. He signed a deal and his first single, “Japanese Bodies” became a hit in Germany. “I was thrown into it. I never played a live show in my life and my first gig was in Hamburg in front of 400 people,” he says. “I was working at a kindergarten and I borrowed their basement to rehearse. That was scary.”
He learned quickly, though. Now, some 35 years later, Larsen is on stage performing with the same fervor as the fans. He rarely still for more than a couple seconds and frequently lunges towards the audience. During “Fit for Flogging,” the crowd loudly sings along with Larsen. At some point after that, he ditches the leather vest and t-shirt he wore at the start of the show. Larsen and the crowd are sweating it out to the same beats, be it a fast and furious punk pogo during “Evil Speaks” or the high energy turn-of-the-‘90s club vibe of “Japanese Bodies.” “They’re part of what I do, the audience,” he says. “It’s all about the energy between me and them.”
While the Leæther Strip sound is a visceral one, the influences are a bit more cerebral. Larsen is an avid reader who enjoys history, biographies and horror. “Clive Barker is a favorite. He’s twisted. I like that,” he says. “Stephen King, of course, I like his way of describing the people in histories. He’s not so gory, but I love the way that he describes people. You get to know them. Stuff like that I read a lot.”
The impact of horror novels is perhaps strongest on the Serenade for the Dead series of Leæther Strip releases, which were composed as film-style scores for the books Larsen had been reading. He’s also a collector of film scores and consider John Carpenter to be an inspiration. “He taught me the power that the music has,” says Larsen. Amongst Larsen’s many intended projects is a third installment of Serenade for the Dead.
“I have to compose. If I don’t, I go into a dark place. It’s something that I have to do. Sit down, see whatever comes out of my head. It’s like magic,” says Larsen. “Sometimes, I dream songs and dream melody lines and run into the studio and or I’ll forget them.”
Part of his practice is working out covers of other songs, a staggering amount of which he has released both as part of the Appreciation series of albums and as separate singles and EPs. “That helps me become a better musician because I dive into other people’s music and start figuring out things that you didn’t hear before,” he says. “if I’m not so inspired, I will do a cover because then I get instantly inspired.”
Covers have long been a part of Leæther Strip’s catalog and, at Slipper Clutch, Larsen performed his version of “Sex Dwarf,” Soft Cell’s club classic, which he first released back in the 1990s. Nearly in unison, folks in the crowd hoisted their cell phones into the air.
By the time Larsen finishes his set, it feels like even Slipper Clutch’s walls are sweating. Over the course of about 90 minutes, he’s taken the crowd on a wild ride through just one decade of Leæther Strip history in a set that brings together the rhythm of the dance club with the anarchic energy of a punk show.
Before the show, Larsen mentions to me that he started out as a punk. Back in the days before record shops had a separate section for synth bands, he says, the punk bins were where you would find the latest from Soft Cell, Fad Gadget and the Human League. “I’m still a punk,” says Larsen. “I consider what I do punk because I never compromise in what I do and I do what I want. If I want to do a pop song, I’ll do a pop song. If I want to do a harsh song, I’ll do that.”
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates. Subscribe to the weekly Beatique newsletter.
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