Frédéric Alexandre "Fred" Leclercq (born 23 June 1978) is a French musician and producer, best known as the former longtime bassist for British

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

band

DragonForce DragonForce are a British power metal band from London, formed in 1999. They are known for their long and fast guitar solos, fantasy-themed lyrics and retro video game-influenced sound. The band themselves refer to their music as "extreme po ...

. He is currently the guitarist and main songwriter in the

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

supergroup Sinsaenum, the guitarist and vocalist in Maladaptive, the bassist and a guitarist in Amahiru, and the bassist of German

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

group

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current line-up consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mille Petrozza, Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen Reil, Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli- ...

and French death metal band Loudblast. He is a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

for various other bands, including George Lynch's Souls of We. He is also a former member of

band Heavenly and played several shows with Carnival in Coal and

Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armour, body armor that covers the foot. History Sabatons from the 14th and 15th centuries typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following poulaines, f ...

Playing influences

Leclercq is influenced by various guitarists such as

Uli Jon Roth Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre. He is also founder of the Sky Ac ...

Adrian Smith Adrian Smith may refer to: * Adrian Smith (basketball) (born 1936), American basketball player *Adrian Smith (architect) (born 1944), American architect *Sir Adrian Smith (statistician) (born 1946), English statistician and academic *Adrian Smith (m ...

Trey Azagthoth Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considere ...

, and

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

Career

In 2005 Leclercq joined Dragonforce as a replacement to Adrian Lambert on the Sonic Firestorm tour. He released 5 albums with the band. He later parted with the band due to wanting to pursue other types of music on his own. Guitarist Herman Li once said," I didn't want to get Fred because he is such a phenomenal guitarist." On 16 September 2019,

announced that Leclercq would replace Christian Giesler on Bass after having spent 25 years with the band. In 2020, Leclercq formed the musical project Amahiru with Japanese guitarist

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

. Saki performs lead guitar, while Leclercq plays lead, rhythm and bass guitar. The two first met in 2015 when Saki's band,

Mary's Blood was a Japanese all-female heavy metal band from Tokyo, formed in 2009 by four former members of Destrose. It consists of vocalist Eye, drummer Mari, guitarist Saki and bassist Rio since 2012. After releasing three EPs as an independent band, ...

, opened for DragonForce in Hong Kong. Amahiru's self-titled debut album was released on 27 November 2020, and features British vocalist Archie Wilson, Dutch keyboardist Coen Janssen, and American drummer

Mike Heller Mike Heller is an American drummer known as a former member of the industrial metal band Fear Factory, member of the technical death metal band Malignancy, the British heavy metal band Raven, and rock band The Lucid alongside bassist David Elle ...

. It also features

shakuhachi A is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

player Kifu Mitsuhashi, and guest performances by

Elize Ryd Hanna Elise Isabell Maj Höstblomma Ryd (born 15 October 1984), known professionally as Elize Ryd (), is a Swedish singer, best known as one of the three vocalists and co-lyricist in the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Amaranthe. She also gai ...

and

Sean Reinert Sean Landon Reinert (May 27, 1971 – January 24, 2020) was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and cofounder of the progressive metal band Cynic along with Paul Masvidal until leaving the ba ...

Equipment

Leclercq uses ESP bass guitars and has a signature model, the LTD FL-600, with five other bassists (the others being Gabe Crisp, Frank Bello, Pancho Tomaselli,

Tom Araya Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz (; born June 6, 1961) is a Chilean and American musician, best known as the vocalist and bassist of the thrash metal band Slayer. He was ranked 58th by ''Hit Parader'' on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalist ...

and

Henkka Seppälä Henri Seppälä (born 7 June 1980), also known as Henkka T. Blacksmith, is the former bassist of the Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom from 1996 to 2019. He is also responsible for backing vocals both in studio and live. In 202 ...

). Whilst performing in Sabaton, he used an ESP horizon electric guitar. For amplification, he uses Peavey Tour 700 bass amps and 8x10 bass cabinets, along with a Samson UHF Wireless System.

References

External links

SinsaenumDragonForceMaladaptive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leclercq, Frederic DragonForce members French heavy metal bass guitarists French male bass guitarists 1978 births Living people 21st-century French bass guitarists Sinsaenum members Thrash metal musicians