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Everyone started to call Matt (Cooper) LEADER. It was a joke on him that stuck and after a couple of years friends would seem to forget his real name and use his pseudonym. Friends would come to see his solo shows and shout out “LEADER, LEADER’ and local promoters in his home town of Brighton would even phone up asking to book LEADER. Soon Matt wouldn’t even try to put them right and surrendered to this being the name that would be a platform for his songs. Even in a live radio interview the DJ couldn’t grasp the fact that Matt and Leader was indeed the same person. “So your name is Matt Leader? ” he asked looking confused. After playing drums in the art-rock group Coin-Op (Fierce Panda), Matt decided to hang up his sticks and dust down his guitar. He re-acquainted himself with his love of all things power pop and under the influence of bands like The Cars, Weezer and Cheap Trick, started to write songs. Matt specialized in happy-go-lucky, catchy songs with strong choruses, big