David Le'aupepe

David Immanuel Menachem Sasagi Le’aupepe is an Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist and frontman of alternative rock band Gang of Youths, which he founded in 2011. He served as the sole songwriter on the band's first two albums, The Positions and Go Farther in Lightness (2017), finding lyrical inspiration from personal hardships including loss. Following the death of his father in 2018, the band's most recent album, Angel in Realtime (2022), is a reflection on Le'aupepe's grieving process and family identity.

Early life David Immanuel Menachem Sasagi Le’aupepe was born on 27 February 1992, and raised in the Inner West of Sydney by his Samoan father, and his mother, an Austrian-Jewish social worker.

He started playing music at the age of seven, and was proficient at drums, bass guitar and piano, in hopes of becoming a multi-instrumentalist. In his youth, he was heavily influenced by rock artists including Bruce Springsteen, and recalled that watching a live recording of "Born to Run" made him intent on pursuing music as a career: "that was when I knew I needed to do this for real". Le'aupepe states that he was raised on classical music, and that in the production of Gang of Youths' second studio album Go Farther in Lightness (2017), it "felt very natural to employ devices that would have normally been used by, say, Vivaldi or Bach".

Personal life

Mental health In 2014, Le'aupepe attempted suicide by stepping in front of a car while heavily intoxicated, on a "week-long bender that precluded sleep and eating". His friends, aware of his state, called the police who were able to intervene and take Le'aupepe to rehabilitation. Le'aupepe also claims he is a perfectionist. In an interview with Pilerats before the release of The Positions (2015), the frontman responded to a question regarding the album's release timeframe, commenting on the year-long rollout: "Sometimes I’ll wake up and listen to the record and I’m okay with it. Other times I’ll wake up and we’ll have to change it", adding: "I’m a perfectionist, I’m nuts, I’m insane".

Le'aupepe has discussed how the success of Gang of Youths in Australia badly damaged his mental health, saying: "Our fame in Australia actually fucked me up really badly".

Family His father Teleso died of cancer in 2018, but before he died, he hinted that there were a number of family secrets to be discovered in Polynesia. David Le'aupepe and his wife travelled to Samoa, where it was revealed his father had disappeared to Australia in the 1970s, leaving behind two sons who both thought he had died. Further, Teleso was actually ten years older than he claimed, and was not brought up in New Zealand as purported, rather Samoa. He wrote about this in the song "Brothers".

Discography

Gang of Youths For a full list of Gang of Youths releases, see Gang of Youths discography.

The Positions (2015) Go Farther in Lightness (2017) Angel in Realtime (2022)

As featured artist