Wednesday, November 6, 2013

LEG - Self Titled EP - 2002


   LEG, according to their record insert, started as a joke because their friend needed an extra band to play a show. Then, they just kept existing. Listening to their songs, I can tell that they're definitely no joke. Over the course of the few shows I saw them play (always in cramped Indiana basements), I could tell that they didn't take themselves too seriously, but still invested serious time into developing finely crafted pop hooks. Jim, the guitarist, had a bit of a lazy handed approach to playing and sometimes sloppily strummed his guitar, but then he would pull off some wizardly genius hook that let you know that he knew exactly what he was doing. After seeing them, their songs would be stuck in my head for days. I was in a band with their drummer, Matte (GIANT BAGS OF WEED), which is initially why I paid attention to LEG in the first place. When I would hear them practice or see them play shows, I soon felt like Matte and I were the ones in the joke band.


   On this recording, LEG is a four piece band with their original singer, Nick. I only saw them play with him once and he had some of the weirdest dance moves I had seen at that point in my life. Kind of like a failed marionette puppet being controlled by a blacked out senior citizen. After recording this EP, LEG became a three piece with Jim taking over on vocals. The songs are punctuated by Jim's clean guitar tones and insistent down-stroking.  I think Jim and Chris were into a lot of indie rock and took some influences from that, but I couldn't tell you what those influences were. A poor man's BUILT TO SPILL? SWIRLIES? I don't fuckin' know. I do know that I really like this band and these five songs are firmly lodged into my brain for life. If you're late to the game, now is a good time to let LEG into your life.


I don't really know what any of these people are up to now. Matte played in NANA GRIZOL, LANDLORD, GNARX and a lot more bands. Jim put out a lot of solo stuff under the name BAD KNEES and his own given birth name. You can find his music here and here (his cover of the song "A Slippery Subject" is one of the saddest things I've ever heard....I mean that positively). Chris played in Bloomington goth act TURN PALE and a pretty good JAWBREAKER cover band. I'm sure he did more too, but I don't know what it is. I like to imagine Nick dancing like a maniac...where ever he is.

This record came out on Half-Day Records in 2002. I think the band also had a tape, but I kinda think it was the same songs. I've never owned or seen the tape. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i found their demo tape when i was living in bloomington for a bit oddly enough at the public library book sale. it has a few different songs and maybe different recordings of these. i'll send you the mp3's and artwork soon. :chadanooga:

Harvester said...

Finding it at the library book sale makes a lot of sense to me, considering how Bloomington worked then. I would love to hear it. You can send it to remoteoutposts@gmail.com
Thanks Chadddddddd

smoke ass said...

hey greg,

glad to see you back. also glad to see you posting this. also thanks for sending me this record in the mail. i swear i'll write you soon.

ps- chad? brunk nutts? post a chad band soon!

Anonymous said...

of course dusty where else do you think us region rock nerds get to talk about music no one cares about. see you in a week.

i actually went back to buy pretty much the entire half day catalog but when i got there all i got was the GBOW tape. still good.

Anonymous said...

hey greg thanx for posting this. i always thought id get around to it one day. this is a good place for it though. just wanted to say nick was always our singer. the only reason we ever played a show without him was because i could never say no when offered a show and it was hard for him to keep up because he lived in madison and we all lived in bloomington. i really loved this band. still wish we could have recorded more or hit the road. i think we were only together for about a year maybe two. the other tape was from the same recording session and was 4 songs that just didn't make the cut for one reason or another. cant even remember what 4 songs but all the prime jams made it on the 7" oh the days. much love. -matte

Anonymous said...

oh yeah i always use to put half-day tapes and random mix tapes in the library book sale and salvation army for fun. i know i loved finding weirdo punk tapes in such places and thought maybe i could make it happen for others.-matte
love the blog greg keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Thanks again for uploading this 7''! I remember getting this with a few Giant Bags of Weed cassettes, a split 7'' w/ ADD/C and a Rice Harvester zine.