Leo Moracchioli sounds very Italian, but in fact, the metal musician and producer is Norwegian citiizen. Despite his Youtube has over three million followers, he never published an album or a single before. Sounds strange? Might be – his project Frog Leap Studios is definitely one of the most remarkable ones in the metal genre. I am following his music since years. Moracchioli annouced to go on tour in 2020 again – time to write a posting about his music.

Leo Moracchioli – About the Artist

There is not too much bio available on Leo Moracchioli and his Frog Leap studios, which are located in Oltedal, Norway. The musican was born in 1978. In 2006, he opened his Youtube Channel with a teaser, which has been watched by some 16,000 people. While his first videos obviouslywere teasers for bands he was playing in. The first cover he published was Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine. However, these were still live bootlegs with band. The first video, which was similar to the videos which made him famous later, was the 2011 cover of Times Like These by the Foo Fighters. However, this was still an acoustic cover. Nevertheless, it already uses the Frog Leap label:

In average, Frog Leap Studios nowadays publishes one video per week. The videos differ significantly from the historic ones. Not just that they are metal covers, they are much more complex in instrumentation. The remarkable fact of these covers is that Moracchioli plays all instruments by himself – there are few editions where he uses guest musicians. This means that the Norwegian sometimes has to record 50 tracks and more. In addition to that, Frog Leap Studios very often selects songs, which are not at first suitable for a metal cover. Typically, his videos contain humorous elements. Below, for example, is a version of No Scrubs by TLC, which he published in February 2019.

Apart from any income by the YouTube channel itself, Moroaccioli is offering his songs for purchase. They are handed over in best sound quality (.WAV format). The sale is typically managed by the Frog Leap Studios website. From time to time, Moracchioli is also touring with his music. In these occasions, he is labeling himself and his band just as Frog Leap. Among many other gigs, they played at the 2019 edition of the Wacken Open Air.

Leo Moracchioli – Greatest Hits

For a project like Frog Leap Studios, which is mainly driven via YouTube, maybe the most straight-on way to measure success and a “great song” is the number of views of its video. The most frequently watched video by Moracchioli is a cover of a song which you would not expect to become a metal cover at all – Hello, originally by Adele. So far, it has been viewed 54 million times. The song also features Pete Cottrell, who is also very active in YouTube:

One of my favorite covers is the second-most watched Frog Leap Studio videos, the cover of Africa by Toto:

The cover of Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz has been viewed 34 million times. It is one of the few videos in which Morachioli does not appear in person, but therefore runs through a mall in a bunny costume. The mascot also appears in his live shows.

The Frog Leap success is typically not measured by chart entries. However, due to the way they are determined, this cover of Despacito even made it to the Top 40 in Hungary:

Frog Leap – Tour 2020

The Frog Leap Tour 2020 will start in Amsterdam at the Melkweg on March, 31st, 2020. I will definitely be there, especially as I will be in Madrid on April, 2nd, when he playing closer to my home in Oberhausen. There are also three fixed dates for the summer 2020 festival season:

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Title picture: screenshot of Frog Leap Studio website