The Superjesus Late in 1994 she joined Chris Tennent to form an indie guitar rock band, Hell's Kitchen, which later became
The Superjesus. Australian musicologist
Ian McFarlane described McLeod's "captivating voice and melodic rhythm guitar." Jonathan Lewis of
AllMusic noticed McLeod's singing: "Sounding like a cross between Liz Phair and Catatonia's Cerys Matthews, McLeod's voice was a major drawcard; strong, confident and rarely lapsing into the girlishness that characterized some of The Superjesus' contemporaries." At the
ARIA Music Awards of 1997 the Superjesus won Best New Talent and Breakthrough Artist – Single for
Eight Step Rail. Then released their first full-length album,
Sumo (June 1998). The group released two more albums,
Jet Age (October 2000) and
Rock Music (May 2003), before they split in 2004. releasing her first single, "Let's Get Together", in May. Her debut solo album,
Beauty Was a Tiger, followed in September that year; All the tracks on the album were written either by McLeod or with Chris Peters, bass player from the Detroit band,
Electric Six. For touring her backing band, the Black Diamond Express, consisted of Patch Brown (guitar),
Grant Fitzpatrick (bass guitar), Stu Hunter (keyboards) and Mick Skelton (drums). Following the release of another single, "
Private School Kid" (July 2005) – a duet with
Chris Cheney from
The Living End – McLeod parted ways with Mushroom Festival Records. It peaked at No. 33 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
Madness In October 2006, the
Hook n Sling remix of "He Doesn't Love You" reached No. 1 on the ARIA Club Charts. It was also released in the United Kingdom and the United States. Her third album,
Madness, appeared in November that year, which included both "Double R" and "Dancing in the Dark".
Screaming Bikini McLeod, using the
pseudonym Sammie Scream, started a new group, Screaming Bikini, featuring KJ from The Art, which issued a single, "Easy", followed by their debut self-titled album in May 2011. "Dirty Beats/ Disco Bass" and "Dancing Alone" were also released as singles.
The Superjesus reformation and 96% Love Song Book From November 2012, the Superjesus reunited, initially for a concert in Adelaide in the following February; it was followed by an Australian tour in May and June 2013. In 2013 McLeod released an EP,
96% Love Song Book, under her own name. It was influenced by her love of 1950s and 1960s music and included an
a cappella,
barbershop quartet track, "The Greatest Pretender". In 2014 McLeod and
Jeff Martin (of
the Tea Party) released a duet single, "Man the Life Boats"; they toured Australia to promote it. This collaboration was followed by a Tea Party / The Superjesus national tour in 2014. In 2015, The Superjesus teamed up with
Baby Animals for a co-headlining tour, She Who Rocks, during May to June. The Superjesus issued their first single in 12 years, "The Setting Sun", in June 2015. They followed this with the
Love and Violence EP, released in 2016.
2017 onwards McLeod's 2017 album, ''Rocky's Diner'' showed a departure from the familiar rock persona by exhibiting her song writing versatility. In 2018, McLeod launched her own lifestyle clothing line,
Bad Valentine, describing the brand as being, “dedicated to the celebration of self confidence, empowerment and freedom of speech.” In September 2018, McLeod joined
Scott Darlow,
Adam Brand,
Jack Jones and
Todd Hunter to re-record
Dragon's "
Rain" with all net proceeds from the sale to go towards to the Buy-a-bale program in support of Australian farmers suffering from the
Australian drought. ==Discography==