Leelerz isn't a band; he's me. I'm Lee and Leelerz is my performance name. Most of the gigging I do is collaborative though. In fact, the last gig I had under the name "Leelerz" was a long ass time ago. That said, here's who I work with most:
REAVIS: Reavis (aka "Vis") produces, DJs, and has a musical background playing cello. Reavis is getting quite a name for himself in this area, not only as a kick-ass DJ, but as a technical expert and producer as well. Reavis and I are currently neck deep in a live PA project which is going extremely well.
PETER: Peter (North Coast Sound System) is an excellent producer/guitar player with whom I record and do other studio stuff in the studio on a frequent basis. Peter and I work independently of eachother for the most part but frequently colaborate and enrich eachother's respective projects a great deal.
GALEN: Galen is a percussionist, or "rhythmatist" as he likes to say. He studies drum set with Colin Bailey at The Jazz School in Berkeley. He also studies Tabla at the Ali Akbar Khan School of Music in Marin. I met him a few years ago playing in a jazz combo at the JC. Galen also does individual production projects with Reason and Ableton Live. When he playes with Vis and I, he runs five drum trigger pads and two or three flanged cymbals.
ELI: Also known as "Free Radical" (www.myspace.com/freeradical), Eli produces, plays keyboard and electric bass. I met him through Galen a couple years ago and we formed a jazz/funk band called "The Fibanacchi" (with me on bass, Eli on keys and galen on drum set) - we were pretty good but never really got our act together. Eli is renowned for his super jazzy and super duper funkey style on bass and keyboard. When he plays with us, he runs a Yamaha Motif 6 synthesizer.
Influences
Beatles, Primus, Mr. Bungle, Tower of Power, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Beasty Boys, Incubus, Talking Heads, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder, Tom Waits, Pink Floyd, Bjork, Jamiroquai, Aesop Rock, Illogic, Return to Forever, Wayne Shorter, Victor Wooten, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Mouse on Mars, Autechre, Mr. Oizo, Plaid, Prefuse 73, mum, Photek, Orbital, u-ziq, Twerk, Akufen, Two Lone Swordsmen, Boards of Canada, DJ Q-Bert, Kraftwerk, Elite Force, Evil Nine, Freq Nasty, Dave Tipper, Bill Bless, Orbital, Meat Katie, Uberzone, Plump DJs, Dieselboy, Ed Rush and Optical, Telefon Tel Aviv, Lawgiverz, Cirrus, u-ziq, Bassnectar, Coldcut, DJ Icey, All the local DJs who have enriched my life with thick wobbly beats.
Sounds Like
Sinister sequences and remutated electro-breaktronic rhythmification; synthesized, quasi-improvisational, sub-cross-cultural audio linguistica, combined with non-logical aesthetics and permutational eclecticons bearing deeply twisted outformations; spectral analyses of supersymmetrical bass-tron membrane vibrations.
I first got into music through choir (in about fourth grade I think), where I picked up theory and some ear training. Later on I started playing conga with Taj and Zack Morris over at Rhythm Matters (a cool percussion store that used to be in RR Square, Santa Rosa).
When I got to high school I started playing conga and later drum set in the jazz band. Then I joined the percussion sections in the symphonic band and chamber wind ensembles, where I got pretty good at reading music. Eventually, since I was the only percussionist who could discern intervals by ear, I became the regular timpanist, which was cool. I also sang in the Concert Choir my senior year. I was a baritone.
I started playing electric bass my sophomore year of high school. Unlike drums, I actually got really good at bass. I became infatuated Primus and Victor Wooten, naturally. Didn't get into jazz until later.
After high school, I went to UC Davis for two years where I planned to get a degree in music. I learned all about harmony, voice leading, counterpoint, song structure, chord analysis, etc. I also took ear training, which was awesome.
As it turned out, I didn't like Davis. The music department was okay, but the local scene was dead and the people in the area didn't have a clue. So I transferred to Santa Rosa Junior College, where I took classes in jazz improv, jazz repertoire, and jazz theory. I also took more classical theory and ear training, and started playing bass in the JC jazz combos, which made me a much better player and musician.
I had started getting into electronic music while still at UC Davis. By the time I was back in Santa Rosa, I was doing some production work with Acid Pro, Sound Forge, and Fruity Loops - nothing fancy, and I had no clue about mastering, but I managed to make some interesting tracks.
Later I bought a Roland MC-909 "Groove Box" - a big synth/production workstation geared toward live performance. My MC-909 is what I'm currently doing most of my work on, on stage and in the studio.
The tracks posted on this site I made years ago, using Acid Pro and Fruity Loops. The mastering sucks, or rather, is non-existant. Most of the source sounds are various Microsoft theme sounds stolen from the Windows system folders. These days, I use Ableton Live and the MC-909 almost exclusively. My current projects aren't really ready to be posted yet. Anyhow, in case you didn't figure it out already, I'm sure this music will clue you in to what a truly strange person I am.
21 & up w/ID, 9pm-2am, $5 cover/Free before 10pm/LADIES FREE ALL NIGHT!/LIMITED CAPACITY/Special entertainment, performances and much much more...
Hosted By: LIC/FTM When: Friday Sep 26, 2008 at 9:00 PM Where Club CoCos 21 Fourth St. (Behind The Mystic Theater) Petaluma, CA 94952 United States Description: LIC/FTM
Click Here To View Event Details, Watch Videos & RSVP DJs, Artists, Producers!!! Want to Perform @ Massive? Come out to support, send inquiries along with a resume, (not rquired but it's professional) a link to your mix so we can download and give it a listen and a photo to... licevents@yahoo.com
21 & up w/ID, 9pm-2am, $5 cover/Free before 10pm/LADIES FREE ALL NIGHT!/LIMITED CAPACITY/Special entertainment, performances and much much more... Hosted By: L.I.C. /FTM When: Friday Aug 29, 2008 at 9:00 PM Where: Club CoCos 21 Fourth St. (Behind The Mystic Theater) Petaluma, CA 94952 United States Description: L.I.C. /FTM
Click Here To View Event Details, Watch Videos & RSVP Want to Perform @ Massive? Come out to support & Please send inquiries along with a resume(not rquired but it's professional) along with a link to your mix so we can download and give it a listen to... licevents@yahoo.com
Whats going on? Just thought i'd drop in and ask why your not playing any of my beats on your page?? If you could write me back and answer that I'd appreciate it.......................haa, just clownin. Be good and be in touch sometime.
Hey There! I am sorry I haven't written in awhile, Things have been moving forward and keeping me out of trouble...For the most part!
Have a fantastic day and I wanted to let you know I appreciate our friendship and your support!
in this new era i look upon thee and feel a wave of molten memory crashing into my frame and knocking me into the void.
Leelerz, was it not thee who put limbs in my freezer and preserves made from putrid mushrooms under my bed?
remember our frolic, our shattered dreams, returning from the brink of nothing to emerge as warped moments of strange glory as we sipped from the chalice and tossed glass bowls over cliff's edge?
can you recall the time you pushed me into traffic and laughed? as busses and scooters and trucks and other vehicles crushed my artificial frame, i was angry with you. but you knew what was best for me.
on the 5th day of "the pony era, " there did in fact exist one howling force that swept over the sloppy earth with great squealing and "squirrel energy."
this force did in fact have a name, written in wax at the base of every spine of every living, spine-endowed being everywhere.
