The update archive

Updates:

May 5, 2008

JOHN HENRY (is this an alias? I thought Dan Jager played drums for 4Peace) posts a good read and a neat flyer.

And because no story is true unless I was personally part of it, here's me at the 4 peace house itself:

BTW, here in Boston there is a popular (or at least well-publicized) rap band called Four Peace, you can check them out here: FOUR PEACE.

May 3, 2008

New music today: SPITE. This mid-eighties punk band featured the likes of Scott Boman, Tommy Fuller, Willie Badlands, and Dan-O. Got get em'.

As promised you can download three new tracks off of CHRIS BRYER's new album HAZEL AND THE BLACK RABBIT. Over time you can collect the whole album DOWNLOAD THEM HERE.

I find this hard to beleive, but 652 people downloaded GHG's "My Girl's Patriotic" in April alone (second place was "Dutch Mafia", with third, fourth, and fifth going to Killswitch and Crick). I have to wonder if there are MP3 spiders or something, but then they'd all be getting hit that much.

April 24, 2008

If you haven't already yet, go ahead a download the few posted tracks of HAZEL and the BLACK RABBIT because they are coming down next week and will be replaced with a few new ones. We've decided to give the album away for free, but in a clever, frustrating way where you'll have to collect all the songs over time. We'll be doing this with other new releases as they come. Perhaps even with the new THE THOUGHT INDUSTRY album that is forthcoming.

No update this week: A mixed Kzoo/Boston crew will be heading to hip and historical Portland this weekend to hold DAVID NASH's bachelor party. Yup, dude's getting married next month. I've just heard that Portland (Maine, not OREGON Geoff, Molly, Karla and Craig) has highest ratio of bars to people in the US, vying with San Fran for the honor.

April 20, 2008 New music today: JIM JONES and THE KOOL-ADE KIDS. Got get em'.

Want an easy way to browse the songs on this site? Just use the ugly but simple root directory of the songs foler: http://www.leonstemple.com/songs/. Don't forget to look in the "Joby" folder, as there are treats in there.

DESCACRATOR metal mader DAN ROE and his family are coming over today for a playdate. We both have little girls named Adelaide, and I expect Satan worshiping to be kept at a dim hum.

April 9, 2008 WTF? Kalamazoo's one and only Jewish guy sings on YOUTUBE. It's a video, but I'd keep yer dicks in yer pants.

April 6, 2008

"These are the greatest songs ever written" I believe is what SO THIS IS OUTERSPACE guitarist and voxalist BRYAN CHARLES says on the amusing STIO PDF you can download (a first for the site. The upcoming TASM record will undoubtadly have an Excel sheet attachment just for one-ups-manship). BRIAN KOSCUK sends this in, but inexplicably only sent two of the seven songs. Perhaps the others are for sale somewhere? Anyways, Check it out!

According to board rumors, SNORKEL will be playing a show in July. No one has sent me their MP3's yet though. I'd also like unknown person to send me RESIN MATTRESS and FATSACK recordings as well please. The 'Temple just wouldn't be complete with out them.

March 29, 2008

Here's a treat - NEW MUSIC: SELLING HEAVEN "BUTTERFLY" DEMO. I transfered the tape last weekend, probably the last time it could be played before it the tape itself would snap. Hissy, warbly, in mono, quiet - a terrible transfer. Maybe someone else could transfer it? Plus, just like the original cassette, it doesn't have any track listings broken out (like CDs do). You just download the giant 35meg MP3 and you're forced to listen to the whole album.

Songs on it include "My Country", "Napoleon's Homecoming", "Butterfly", "Waiting for Superman", and "Drone". It surprisingly holds up really well, with the song writing probably being more complex and progressive sounding than their later demo. It's neat hearing Chris Bryers sing after we knew he was good. I think when this came out, we weren't sure whether he was someone like myself, Chuck Bradford, Karl Knack, Kevin Oberlin or a hundred other guys who just did a good impression of being a lead singer, but wasn't a geniune vocal talent. When you hear it now, it sounds just like good ole' top notch Bryers. In context, this would be the first time we heard Clementsian super-bass, and it seemed more like the amazing achievement it was and not a foible that most of his *critics* feel these days. Of course, Butterfly is far and away some amazing bass playing. Dude plays feedback for chrissakes. Chris's lyric content paints him as having a mindset like a disgruntled vietnam vet politico, despite being a 19 year old from South Haven. I know, I know, its a song persona and I never owned a Bunnysuit, but if you thought it was real, you'd have to wonder why some chick didn't stomp on Chris' heart in highschool and bring out his girl and love themes earlier.

I'm SORRY I put up bad SNORKEL tracks. All but one file downloaded as a broken 1kb file. If anyone can download them and send them over, it would be greatly appreciated.

DOUG UDEL has posted his TOP TEN LIST. Check it out! I've recently talked to both BRENT OBERLIN and DAVE NASH recently who are both working on their top ten list, but can only get to about SIX before they run out of ideas/memories. As official rulemaker, let me say that a list of six is fine. You can write whatever you want and post it.

March 23, 2008

NEW MUSIC: SNORKEL. Go get it! It's just as you remember.

We have a board troller who is impersonating other members. I personally find it enjoyable to make fun of Brent and Bryers and Rit as much as anybody, but you have to identify yourself, otherwise its only a nuisance, and you don't get to be made fun of back. I'm going to resist putting a sign-up for posts. If there is any post you don't like, be it too cruel, mis-labeled, forged or whatever, send me a note at cool @ leons temple . com (remove spaces) and I will fix it / delete it.

Was it you, CHRISTOPHER LEE?

BRENT and his wife ERICA are having coffee in my kitchen right now. The newlyweds came here to the Till Manse to party hard - blow and vodka shots until the wee hours, up all night sleep all day. Actually, we played peek-a-boo and burped babies.

Check out this very related blog/site by BLACKJACK. Some kzoo info that's probably much more up-to-date than this musoleum: http://rockandorrollkalamazoo.blogspot.com/

March 15, 2008

NEW MUSIC: BARNES-AMAINA! Go get it! Two little-heard projects from BRIAN & RUSS BARNES, the first was their band THE ENTANGLED, who played Soda to maniacal crowds (I have a flyer from an Overman show with them, I think), and the second is their more recent KNOW NOTHINGS, which, I think, but am not sure, is their adult-age hobby project.

CHRISTIAN HAGLUND from Sweden wrote recently (odd that we have so much representation in Sweden, given TOOLMASTER's manse location). Christian had a band in Sweden called KALAMAZOO, partly due to his appreciation of THOUGHT INDUSTRY and (I presume) some of the other related projects. Anyways, Christian doesn't play in Kalamazoo anymore, but you can check out his new stuff at www.myspace.com/depressiveart. He says he's famous in Sweden, but how would we know? He probably has a girlfriend in Canada too. (Kidding, I'm a goose). Anyways, he's promised to send some KALAMAZOO to the 'temple (as if we didn't have enough of it already -- Wakka wakka wakka!)

Here's some memories from PAUL TOTH, least of which is ROBIN (is she still alive?) on stage with the GOD BULLIES. Or is she on stage? I'm baffled, because it looks like the crowd is tuned into to something in the OPPOSITE direction, meaning their must be something more interesting than ole' googley eyes and Miss Grungy -- could it be ... what??? Maybe BLANE TOWNSEND telling a joke? GARRET giving out free Burger King? DARREN DOYLE doing a karate chop? I guess we'll never know, making us all KNOW NOTHINGS (see how I tied all this together?)

March 9, 2008

NEW MUSIC: FLETCHER! Go get it! This BRYAN CHARLES band. He sent me these files about a year ago, that's how far behind we are in posting, but we have the rest of our lives, right?

Also, my new TOP TEN LIST - Check it out.

March 5, 2008

BREAKING NEWS - - Through our sophisticated network of street agents*, we've heard that a fine sampling of the 'Temple could be heard on WIDR today, thanks to DJ Irreversible (for his sake, I hope he hasn't seen the film of the same name. It's nasty.).

Here's his show, check it out. It looks like its every Wednesday:

Here's the playlist, taken from WIDR's site:

March 1, 2008

NEW MUSIC - LT EXCLUSIVE: AARON WRITE AND MIKE ROCHE Go get it! Really, there are a lot of curios and nice historic snapshots on this site, but this one you might want to burn to disc and leave in your car.

February 24, 2008

NEW MUSIC TODAY: COSMONAUT. An all star line up including you-know-who from the MZD art-metalers makes this a sure win. Be sure to BUY a copy off of CDBABY as I'm sure the money goes somewhere good, but RODNEY JOHNSON has permissed us to make it available to the unwashed for dead fucking free. Enjoy!

Speaking of art-metalers, JEFF BORKOWSKI and his wife KENNYSON had a baby yesterday - a 10 POUNDER! Everyone's ok. A boy - Dino Lennon Borkowski. Congratulate him (here, if you want). Congratulations, Jeff!

February 18, 2008

As you'll see from the new banner today, FEEDBAG has gotten back together to record and release a brand new single "We will rock you on the feast of the sabbath". DOWNLOAD the new song, as well as read the lyrics and some commentary from the bloodletters.

Glad to have a break from the BRYERS HAZEL AND THE BLACK RABBIT banner? Well besides it coming back, you still need to go buy one.

If any of you miss TOOLMASTER (and who wouldn't?) you can see him and his handsome family below (scroll down). Mrs. Toolmaster and Toolmasterina are in queue (OK, actually Joel, Maria, and Miller) all the way from the European North Country.

February 1, 2008

New this week, Barkin' Tuna headliners CATHARSIS. This band, seemingly, was the only band I could seem to see when I was a 17-year-old WMU freshman. Also, living on the cusp of a technology sea change, Catharsis must of been last generation to sensibly put out VIYNL. You can get the whole album now on handy MP3. NICK PETROFF sends in these files, and should be commended for making it easy for me to post.

As a bonus, you can see his world-class, highest-order mullet in the band photo. I seem to remember BILL CLEMENTS with a mighty mullet as well. (top-ten list anyone? Best mullets? I know I could send a couple dingers from my late high school days).

BRIAN BARNES sends in this newly-crafted FEEDBAG logo. Enjoy!

Lastly, TOMMY FULLER adds his 10 ten Black Spring moments. TOP TEN LISTS - Check it out.

January 26, 2008

When did you last hear from Hagen Fenstermaker? More importantly, check out SIMEON ESPER's band THUMPER who you would always hear about but have a hard time ever seeing. Hear them now! Five songs you've never owned. Get it!

January 18, 2008

Happy new year and happy birthday! It's been a year since LEONSTEMPLE.com has launched, so the site is a year old. It's also the birthday of my newborn son, HUXLEY RUDOLPH TILL, who was born on Janurary 4th.

It's barely an update, as MIKE hasn't sent the music in yet, but we've put up a page for TRIPLEMINT which at least has some funny pictures.

Also, LEE BARTON and myself have posted new TOP TEN LISTS for some of Kalamazoo best moments and cover songs.

December 22, 2007

New music: FEEDBAG. This gag rock spektakular includes jokey songs from the likes of PAUL RICHARDSON and EVAN SMITH, backed up by the likes of TODD MCNAUGHTON, MIKEY CONNELY, BEN RICHARDS, and so-what's/we-know-em-alreadies BRENT AND GEOFF. Big thanks to BRIAN BARNES for shipping them over. Make it an early X-mas gift. No stink available online.

Brian also lets us know that there is an EYETEETH album you've never heard. Now we just need TODD to give us the thumbs up to post it. Do it Todd, do it! I'm sure the guitar is fabu. Brian also sent his ENTANGLED album (remember them? No?) which we will be posting soon.

DOUGLAS GARNETT would like to announce the release of a new compilation: MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CORPSE. (sounds christmassy!). Check it out.

LEPPOTONE has just released their Christmas album for downloading. Some treats from the SINATRAS and KING TAMMY and THE SLEESTACKS and others.

BRYAN CHARLES posted his TOP TEN. About time our writer wrote something for us ;) Read his. Add your own.

Have a good one, and happy new year!

December 15, 2007

New music: THE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ACT, which features along with some other brohamuli MATTCHEW SAHLGREN, my ole' OVERMAN compatriot and bass player from Toolmaster's MONSTER ZERO (everything is framed from my reference.) Their CD is still for sale, so go buy it. We've put a couple samples up to entice you.

As if on queue, KING TAMMY drummer sends this picture of MATT (that's the segue) and myself and CRAIG VERITY to Craig himself this week of Overman in John's basement, looking pretty dirtbaggish.

December 8, 2007

New music: RON MUNIZ and the PLASTIC FIVE, as promised, this is the Ex-FA-Q drummer's and art teacher's post-Kzoo big-Texas music project. Doesn't sound very Texassy though, sounds like faggitty artschool shit. Just kidding! Plenty Texassy. Go get er'!

December 1, 2007

New music: LOVE OFFERING, Road-I's post-grunge grunge band. You may not have this one yet. I think next week we'l finally get drummer RON MUNIZ' new music up. BTW, this is worst attempt at a bio ever done on the site. Anyone want to contribute? Or at least give us permission to post this?

November 25, 2007

New music up now: KILLSWITCH - ROSES, DAISIES, HAPPY DAYS. You may have lost this one, as it was probably the first slimline CD case ever released on the planet (so you didn't lose it, its just stuck inbetween the "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" and "Strap it on" discs you haven't gotten out in a while)

November 21, 2007

Its not really an update I guess. Loop D Loop asked me to be my friend (he's already my real life friend) and I found this picture he had posted which I figured needed more distribution. It complements (juxtaposes?) the King Tammy picture nicely.

November 17, 2007

New music up now: ROLLINGHEAD's third and final album. This live treat is sa-weet. Get it.

November 11, 2007

New music today: LO FI SCORPIO is up to add to your collection. OVER 30 SONGS. Get er now!

The TOP TEN LISTS are a big hit, with four additions already. Join the party.

November 7, 2007

Not sure where to start...

DOUGLAS GARNETT has just released his new album VS THE SUCT LAB RATS. More than music, he's got all the trimmings with videos, a website, merchandise and more. Check it out at VS THE SUCT WEBSITE. You may know Douglas by his membership in Kzoo bands OBTRUSIVE MODE, KONICHI WAH, NAKED LUNCH and others.

If you haven't heard, THE SINATRAs are opening the Barking Tuna festival coming up soon at the State Theatre. CRAIG VERITY said this would be his dream line-up of bands:

Speaking of the Sinatras, there has been a vocal push to put their archives together. Lead by Amy and Nathan, here's a repost of their post (BTW, be careful posting real email addresses because SPAM robots farm them from these types of post):

CALLING ALL FREAKS!

Do you have any old photos, bootleg audio, flyers, video, etc. of the following bands?

Sinatras
Sleestacks
King Tammy
Twister
Goldstar
Fortune and Maltese
LKO
Triplemint
New Real People

If so, would you be willing to share them electronically? We at Leppotone Electrical Recordings HQ are busily working on expanding www.leppotone.com to incorporate more history of the label and the kazoo ?scene? and would love to see whatever you?ve got. We?re discovering that the musicians themselves tend to be less-than-thorough record-keepers and there?s not much material to work with around here.

We can?t offer you anything but love in return, but isn?t that enough? I understand it?s what makes the world go around.

Any interested parties should respond to nmclaughlin@gmail.com or or amysult@yahoo.com .

Thanks for your consideration!

I'm hoping if they can get that together, LT will be able to cross-post or deeplink. Leppotone has their own cool and full featured site at www.leppotone.com. I'm putting a separate band list for Leppotone bands (with some duplication) on the sidebar now.

AMY STEVENS sent me a cool list of the Leppotone needs and catalog, which I've posted HERE.

TOP TEN LISTS

We've put up a spot for TOP TEN LISTS. We've set it up to encourage everyone to contribute their list, be it of favorite bands, favorite songs, favorite venues, favorite Bell Beer flavors, favorite Halsey Buttcrack sightings or whatever. I went first. We've set it up so that last person posted is at the top. I figured lists were good; people enjoy making them and some folks enjoy reading them. I encourage you to write you list in a separate app and paste in though (like wordpad) in case your browser crashes or something. JOIN IN.

Have you downloaded the album by THE SOFT TAKEOVER yet? You still can and should.

Hopefully you weren't expecting any new MUSIC in this update. It'll come, promise.

October 29, 2007

Its not really an update I guess. Mr. Barneveld asked to be my friend on Myspace (he's already my real life friend) and I found this picture he had posted which I figured needed more distribution.

October 27, 2007

ANOTHER LT EXCLUSIVE - THE CASIES. Have you heard this album yet? I think not! It's some prime metally alt pop stuff from MIKE ROCHE, JOE KIUPERS, BRET FIELDS, and MIKE YOUNT. Get it now baby!

October 22, 2007

One of the perks to doing this site with Jeff is Occasionally you get to pimp your own music, I won't babble on I'll just say that,

Today's update is my new bandThe Soft Takeover

Thanks Alot to all of you for coming back to the site and Jeff for thinking of me when he made this site.Joby

October 13, 2007

Almost a month since an update - SORRY crue.

Today's update is SLEET, that hot college rock band headed by CHRIS BRYERS that had multiple versions living in both LA and Kalamazoo. Their two albums (both stellar) are available for sale in iTunes, but we have a few tracks available for sampling. One of them is "When she fades away" which may be my favorite LeonsTemple song of them all.

RODNEY JOHNSON wrote in giving us full license to post COSMONAUT, so that will be coming soon!

CRAIG writes in with a cause he'd like broadcasts for your noble consideration: CHECK IT OUT.

Thanks wild ones!

September 16, 2007

First off, download the album you probably never had: THE SHILLS featuring COLIN BRADFORD are up now. Go get it!

Brother CHARLES BRADFORD sends in a memoir about playing with OWSLA. I wish other people would write in with this stuff, so please consider yourself formally invited.

I had the pleasure of seeing my old roomie STEVE LYNCH perform this week. He did a tiny cover of an OVERMAN song just as a private joke to me. Here's a snap from afterward:

CHRIS BRYERS new album "Hazel and the Black Rabbit" is now up at iTunes for you iPoders and probably a ton of other download sites. You should of course check out the samples on BRYERS LT PAGE.

We've put a DONATE button if you want to help out with the costs of this website. If you don't, don't worry I've got it covered. The button is below the band list.

September 8, 2007

Twitch and Sleet fans: check out the unreleased, unfinished demo by OWSLA!. CHRIS BRYERS leads CRAIG, BRET, and CHARLES in this post-Twitch pop band. The demo is unfinished, rough cuts. By rumor, Chris had a cold and the band was kicked out of the studio by up-and-coming KID ROCK who bought the place out for many months. LT has tried to sweeten the mixes with a little post-production, but they are still raw. That said, its the song that counts, and you should definately check out KISS ME MARY ANNE, arguabley one Chris's top 10 best. The ending is a lip-biter.

We've also cemented Kapn's request for a Venues page based on his comprehensive post.

August 29, 2007

HAZEL AND THE BLACK RABBIT

These are a few sample. You can purchase the entire album on CD BABY.COM

1. Black Rabbit
2. Come Find Me
3. Hazelrah
4. Older than you want to be
5. Paper and Wine

August 17, 2007

First off, an enormous LeonsTemple thank you to VLADIMIR who is funding most of this month's site upkeep cost with his generous donation. (in a way, this update is from him). The scene is gracious. THANKS!!

The co-masters of the site apologize for the late update (rumor is Joby's been laxing at the lake house and Jeff's been slacking in Kennebunk) but this one is a loo loo.

We've got THE SINATRAS page up. We've only got five songs, but both AMY STEVENS and RON CASEBEER have promised to send more. (Ron you may have to resend some of the stuff you tried to send earlier). It feels like LT has turned a corner with this addition. FROM THE BOARD: They just played Kraftbrau last week. GEOFF HALSEY gives a sunny account of the show. (was it Geoff? Or could it have been ARTHUR HALSEY?)

We've also got THE SLEESTACKS up and ready for download. It's a bunch of songs. Go gettem! We need real bios for both bands. Mark Peeters? Write back! (we'll get the TRIPLEMINT stuff up at sometime too. Promise!)

We've posted the THOUGHT INDUSTRY demo clips that were previously available on the ole' TI website. Its a cocktease though, as they are basement tapes and only short previews.

We're really excited about the upcoming release of CHRIS BRYER's new album HAZEL AND THE BLACK RABBIT. Just a warning: its going to be Bryers-mania here soon. You're going to love it. I predict that you'll be able to buy a copy of the 12 track album as early as October. Maybe sooner.

CHARLES BRADFORD submits a new bio for BLACK SPRING. Learn the truth from the pumpkinhead himself.

MIKE ROCHE sends in this fine video clip of a Kalapalooza newscast. CHECK IT OUT. (Mike, I know I should be fixing databases right now instead of updating this. Sorry!)

PAUL TOTH writes in with some BILL CLEMENTS news, including links to a feature in Bass Player magazine. More information can be found HERE at Bill's website.

SCOTT BOMAN sent us a bunch of links for SPITE which is now in our queue for posting.

DOUG GARNETT is releasing an album soon as well. Look for it soon!

This might be the stupidist feature that will ever be posted. In 2000 there was an e-mail game that was played by some Kzooers that resulted in HARVEY's THE MOVIE. The game was to cast a night at Havey's with hollywood talent. Should we continue? Please be as mean as you can...

CRAIG R. forwards a request for Michiganders to sign a petition to stop dumping in the great lakes. You can find it HERE.

July 23, 2007

New this week: It's BIG SAM. I don't know much about BIG SAM except that I think it's a chain of hot pretzel kitchens and that it shouldn't be mistaken for a HOT KARL. Joby doesn't seem to know much either (read the bio he wrote). Anways, download them now!

BENJAMIN RICHARDS wrote in with a cool account of recording GENIUS HIRED GUNS. We've posted it in the GHG page.

If you haven't checked the board lately, VEGAS E. TRIP also chimes in setting some rumors straight and introducing his Klown band, Gooferman. A klown band is exactly what you think it is (for the uninitiated).

While DOUG, the guitarist for FAT SACK wrote in with music to post (last week), their drummer did NOT send us a note this week. Nope.

From the dipshit department: We errantly coded the 'connections' board wrong so it was only showing 10 entries. There are in fact many more. Check them out, you can see everyone's exhibitionist Myspace tendencies. Also, post your page or website there.

July 17, 2007

Holy Shit! It's THE LANDLORDS. Two albums worth from Herb, Tommy, Eric, and Jamie. Download them now!

BRENT writes in to correct me: It's Vegas Trip not Trip Vegas. Thanks, Brent! Personally, I think it sounds awesome either way. Trip is 40 years old now, so if he's fat with a pony tail (unlikely) than either name is going to look weird on the job app.

It reminds me a little of BLANE seemingly every night singin' "Winoooonnnnaaa! Shoulda never got that TATTOOO!!"

Brent has signed up to find and send us some rare FEEDBAG footage. Look for it soon. Stink not included.

Show announcement: The VANTRELLS are actually reuniting for one night at Kraftbrau with the SINATRAS on Aug. 11.

DOUG has sent us some FATSACK. Also, SCOTT from THE DECONSTRUCTION is sending over some tracks as well. Look for those both in some not-to-distant future.

July 9, 2007

New this week: BONE CHINA. Relive the excitement of Trip Vegas and crew laying down rock music with actual blues influence.

PAUL BAYER of Phil A Sheo writes in to say that the 'non-bar' aspect of the post-hardcore scene is inaccurate since many of those guys imbibe. I agree, but I also sort of feel like the straight-edge/all ages vibe characterized it nicely too (anyone else?). Here's Paul's note:

For the record, I went to a show or two. Maybe I was with Bryers at the time. We are considering changing the category label now. Paul should also send some of the Phil A. Sheo songs to us for posting (?).

RON CASEBEER wrote in and promised to send SINATRAS. So get ready!

July 1, 2007

New this week: BERWER. Go gettim Tiger!

COLIN HOOPENGARNER chimed in and sending us stuff, as did and is BAD RONALD (AKA Ron Muniz ex-drummer of FAQ). BILL FERGUSON also wrote to tell us he is not going to write a ROLLINGHEAD bio, so its up to someone else.

Have a great week. It should be an easy one.

June 16, 2007

New this week: MEMORIES OF TOMORROW including the four song demo and a photo of the young lads who would later feed Rollinghead. Get it now! Anyone (Ferg?) want to submit a real bio? That name always blows my mind. Memories of... TOMORROW???? How can it be? That's some freaky, fucked up shit.

We need to thank PAUL TOTH for scanning the photos of MOT. Paul is sending us photos for a new photos and flyers section that will be up sometime. Amongst others, he submitted this doozy of FAQ

I took a moment to link the entire FAQ catalog. It's nothing new, as you could have just gotten it off of chonksworld.com, but it makes the entry look better.

June 10, 2007

New this week: SELLING HEAVEN. Oh boy oh boy we have their most awesome four-track demo, which may be the best thing on this site. Its also home to the original version of the site's namesake. Nine songs, pretty much a golden album that you may have forgot or never even heard. Get it now now now. You can brush up on some excellent work by Jeff, Bill, Mike and Chris.

Speaking of Chris, I just got an (advanced?) copy of CHRIS BRYERS new record "Hazel and the Black Rabbit". We will be posting instructions on where you can BUY it soon. We're going to try and convince Chris to put a sample or two up here.

I had previously suspected that maybe Bryan Charles hung out with SKIPPY. Turns out the dude IS Skippy. That makes me the monkey's uncle.

At the urging of a few, we've decided to put JOEL WICK's post hard-core scene in its own category. Someone wrote about this vital scene and compared it in opposition to the BAR BANDS, which I thought was an interesting characterization of the likes of Thought Industry, Twitch et al. Anyways, these bands played mostly all ages shows, answering that eternal question "if you remove alcohol, does rock music still exist?" (I know, its still a tough one to swallow) Some sort of followed an Ian McKay type arc in the sense there was a little hardcore punk, then some straight edge folks, and then into the Fugazi camp. By report, many of the bands were much warmly welcomed in other towns across the country. We'll post some stuff as it comes. It would be nice if someone wanted to take a moment and jot down the real list of bands that should be here. It would be neat if JOEL himself did it.

We're as eager as everyone to get THE SINATRAS up here. Amy wrote. RON CASEBEER even bought an OVERMAN CD recently, we just don't have any recordings from them. Anyone? Bueller?

PAUL KIRY wrote in too. Paul's great. Everyone say hi to Paul. Leppotone hero Sleestack MARK PEETERS also chimed in with some news. Somebody called me a poser, which I believe is someone who pretends to be punk rock but really isn't. Not too far off, really.

May 26, 2007

Hey Whizkids and Noizee Boiz (sorry) it looks like the site is picking up some community interest. Keep coming! If you put e-mail in the form at the bottom left of the page you'll get a bulletin every week or two.

New music this week includes KILLSWITCH's Bastard Story. Killswitch was either the Selling Heaven guys next project or the Burning Tent Revival's previous incarnation. Do check it out. Bill's tenure, in particular, is as impressive as his playing. We have "Daisies, Roses..." but its not up yet.

Ooh ooh we have FIRST TO THE FENCE now up. Go get it! Great heavy band with lots of hollerin'. Produced at Broadside. Jeff B (the only member who's slept at my house) tears it up and he's a swell and upstanding human.

Did you see? LEONSTEMPLE.com was featured in THE TICKET (note: I'm not sure if the link is permanent). The Ticket is like the new FRIDAY's but it's on Thursdays. JOHN LIBERTY posted this excellent plug and did a dandy job. On a personal note, it's my first mention in the Gazette in about 14 years. Back in the 90's you only needed to SHOW UP somewhere to be mentioned, now I actually have to build a website. BTW - upon reading the whole feature its seems that either KRAFTBRAU is the only place to play or the only place John likes to visit.

While I don't exactly remember how my conversation with John went, much of the part about being "arrogant, idealistic..." was largely about the memories stirred by reading BRYAN CHARLES' novel "Grab on to me tightly as if I knew the way". I finished it last week and really enjoyed it. You can read my entire book report here. Please order it from Amazon immeadiately if you haven't yet.

We have a very scientific process for who's on the list to the left, and originally FLETCHER was left off because nobody could remember who they were. A recent post has cooberated their existence and so up it goes. We're adding more and more, so if you see something MISSING don't necessarily assume it is on purpose, just politely suggest its inclusion.

Speaking of memories and memiors, I've decided to write down HOW I REMEMBER IT. It was fun to write, hope you enjoy reading it if you are that type, and I'm really hoping that others will write articles about their experience as well. We'll post them, really!

We've had a lot of people stop by and contact us. Of note AMY STEVENS wrote in promising some SINATRAs input. There was a PAUL TOTH sighting, we think. Last I saw Paul he did a Star Trek joke as a reverend at a wedding.

Thanks everyone!

May 13, 2007

This week we add TROCAR to the mix. Go gettem tiger!

BRETT FIELDS writes in, reminding us to post THE CASIES (we will) and that he's going to foward the OWSLA demo (we'll post that too!). CHONK chimed in as well. You can get all FAQ at his site: CHONKSWORLD.com. I guess LT doesn't have to duplicate the downloads.. maybe we'll deep link. DANA from Berwer also sent their catalog for posting and that will go up sometime as well.

I also started BRYAN CHARLES' book about being young and Kazooan in the nineties. I'll give a full book report when I'm done.

May 5, 2007

This weeks addition is the manic tech-fest of TABLE, Mike Roche's longly practiced but short lived heavy metal band. CHECK IT OUT. It's fun stuff.

I've been a long time lurker at this almost private site, but check out Leppotone.com. It's more of social networking site than a rock music site these days, but its a fun read. We'll get the Leppotone link up sometime. Recent postings on LT link to some fun videos from the Leppotone/King Tammy crew, including a bit from Boone DeGluken. There's also news of new bands from the guys in Sinatras and King Tammy. We've added them to the 'list'.

We also want to get the SINATRAs up at some point. Did they ever record?

The 'list' itself may be under contention. If something's missing then we'll add it if it passes the memory test. For example, we forgot to put such bands as TROCAR and IN OURSELVES in the first draft, but they are there now.

We got good chime ins from BILL FERGUSON this week who's promised to deliver some now-rare "MEMORIES OF TOMORROW" tracks and maybe even some ROLLINGHEAD treats. Live Spoonbender and Twitch drummer KEVIN FARKAS aslo sent a kind note and is going to campaign to get the lost TWITCH albums up. BLUE DAHLIA/LOW FI SCORPIETTE/TASM Fellow MICHELLE GRAF is coming over to sit on the lawn tomorrow.

Is everyone having fun?

April 27, 2007

OH BOY - We've got the most excellent WATERLADIES album up "Full Flavor Kings". It's an excellent listen. Anyone want to write a proper bio? This is Herb Ledbetter's post Braintree post TI project (I know there's other guys in the band). I only bring up Herb because of special place in the universe: he's the only person BRENT OBERLIN ever taught to dance.

Per your request, QUIXOTE is up too. This is a Joel Wick project. Paul Wartella is in it too. Who new these guys had instruments? I thought Joel just made flyers and Paul just liked to cuss.

Thanks to CRAIG (and myself) we've now got King Tammy's second LP "Welcome to the county fair...Motherfucker" up. Anyone who remembers Chris Simmons grinding on his distorted acoustic and rolling on the ground during "I built my house on top of store" is going to be shocked by the precision and the craft that went into this album. You'll even start to understand why John Barneveld always insisted on dragging the biggest drum kit in town around, because he actually uses that second kick.

Upward, onward!

April 22, 2007

We have some new stuff. Check out Crick's first album ready for download. By report, they have three others that hopefully we'll get up soon.

We just posted a live Thought Industry track called Whale. Check it out. We're hoping to get more live and rare stuff as we flesh this out.

Everyone should begin leaving their homepages and myspace addresses on our Connections page.

I guess we're looking for JOEL WICK Let him know.

TOMMY FULLER chimed in this weekend. He's promised (under no certain schedule) to deliver some rarish VIOLENT APATHY, MAN ALIVE, BLACK SPRING and even some PURPLE DAVE.

April 15, 2007

Also added this week is the BC band Area 51. A three song, unreleased demo is posted. They sound downright irked, if not wholesale pissed. Download it now!

If you are in the Pacific NW region, CRAIG VERITY's new band "Miles Before" have been playing out. Perhaps you can catch them in Seattle or Canada or somewhere.

MOLLY HALSEY (formally of Doxie, now of Arthur) shaved her head for charity. Go to St. Baldricks to see her naked head and donate money.

There's rumors on the discussion board that KING TAMMY are going to stage a reunion. Last I heard, though, BARNEVELD was in New York. But that was years ago.

April 7, 2007

Speaking of proper bios, DAN ROE has written and submitted an awesomely detailed bio of pre-Thought Industry history. It's a fun read - CHECK IT OUT HERE at the Desacrator page. It would be great if everyone submitted something as detailed and clever as this. (So do it).

March 24, 2007

As promised we're launching in March, and here it is. You can read about this site on the right. There's been a couple tries at building a site this (thank you TCV and Angelrat) but I thought it might stick if there was some good, hard-to-find stuff on here and a really dumbed-down discussion board. While we're far from finished posting now-rare Kzoo music, we've got good treats that you can download, including:

• Wow - unreleased Doxie and FAQ
• Those TI and Twitch cassettes you long lost
• Black Spring anyone?
• Plus links to stuff you can still buy

Ultimately, we hope to have a link up for every band listed on the left, plus even adding more bands as we remember them. Look for updates every couple of weeks.

Other things you should do: Sign up for the e-list, we won't spam you. Add your MySpace page or e-mail equivalent to the 'connections' page so you're old friends can say hi, post a message on the discussion board, and if you have something cool and rare (missing albums, cassettes, video, you know) send in on and we'll put it up.

Also, check out stuff that folks are doing nowadays. There will be links to stuff that's for sale and you should buy them. We're only going to post stuff that's no longer being sold. In the spirit of copyright, please let us know if something should be taken down.

Lastly, this place and period is much better high school reunion than any my school could provide. With nearly a 15-year purview, much of this can be enjoyed as nostalgia. Thanks!

January 2, 2007

OVERMAN, that hot Kzoo trio, debuted at Club Soda on this exact date 16 years ago, on January 2, 1991. They were also the first ones of this type of band ever to play at Missiah's, and perhaps more historically, at Harvey's on the Mall, which would later become a fixture on the scene. Overman is now the first band up on leonstemple.com. Let's hope it sticks!

January 1st, 2007

The Leonstemple.com concept is reared after some well-intentioned but short-lived efforts in the past. Hopefully enough energy rallies around this to make it meaningful

Comments from the world