Cheeky Leash step into the Needle in the Hay spotlight with a jangly indie anthem
There’s a certain charm to a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously – until it counts.
Melbourne’s Cheeky Leash walk that tightrope with ease, pairing playful energy with a surprisingly affecting emotional weight on their debut EP The Burrow.
It’s a bold first statement from the four-piece, who’ve been steadily carving out a space in the local indie rock scene with a sound that feels both familiar and refreshingly unguarded.
The Burrow showcases a band at their most honest: guitar-forward, lyrically raw, and rooted in shared experience. These aren’t songs written in isolation – they’re built on the back of real conversations, nights out, and the kind of growing pains that linger long after the chorus fades.
Their NITH contender Feeling Fine is a jangly gem of indie rock perfection that wears its heart on its sleeve – melodic, magnetic, and tinged with the kind of melancholy that sneaks up on you between hooks. It’s the sound of youth trying to outrun itself, wrapped in guitars that shimmer one moment and slam the next.
There’s something unmistakably Australian about Cheeky Leash. Not in a kitschy, throw-another-shrimp-on-the-barbie way – more in the lineage of coastal heartbreak, backyard gigs, and open-hearted storytelling. There are echoes of Don Henley’s anthemic grandeur here, but refracted through a distinctly modern lens – not unlike The Terry’s – who don’t shy away from imperfection, and are all the more powerful because of it.
The band – Chris Mott, Jayden Cano, Brad Heffernan, and Brody Blackman – wear their personalities on their sleeves in the music video for Paycheck.
It’s a 70s-inspired slice of Australiana: sunburnt, overcaffeinated, and brimming with cheek. Between scenes of backyard cricket smackdowns and fiercely competitive tennis matches, you get the sense that this is a band who know how to laugh – and who understand the value of joy as a creative force.
View this post on Instagram
As part of Happy Mag’s Needle in the Hay competition, Cheeky Leash are in the running for a $50,000 prize pool and a vinyl pressing of their standout track – not bad for a group of mates who built a world of sound from the ground up.
Needle in the Hay is Happy Mag’s annual music competition, spotlighting the best emerging talent across Australia and New Zealand.
This spotlight is powered by the legends at Noise Machines, a top-tier Newtown studio home to Happy’s live sessions.
Keen to throw your hat in the ring? Aussie and Kiwi artists can sign up here. International? Head this way.
And in the meantime, go wrap your ears around The Burrow. Cheeky Leash are the kind of band you grow to love fast.
