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The proto-primitive garage rock duo known as the Leather Uppers was founded in 1991 in Toronto, Canada by Greg Tymoshenko and Craig Daniels. Reformed after a decade of inactivity, the white-hot duo have released their finest rock to date. Here's a story from Chart Attack that tells the story: You may not instantly recognize The Leather Uppers by name, but there's no doubt that you're familiar with their approach. The simple combo of guitar and drums seems to be almost a cliche in alt.rock nowadays thanks to bands like The White Stripes and The Black Keys, but The Leather Uppers can't be branded as jumping on the bandwagon since they helped build the bandwagon in the first place. Craig Daniels and Greg Tymoshenko first stumbled into their primitive, stripped-down garage rock attack back in the early '90s after being influenced by the likes of Montreal's Deja Voodoo. They toured a lot and became a well-known opening act for bands such as Redd Kross and The Muffs. They wrote high-powered blasts about sugar rushes, lashes with wet noodles and a space mission where a monkey almost killed everyone. They dressed in blue polyester suits and bright red ascots. There's a more than a reasonable chance that Jack White would have seen them in his youth. To Daniels, however, it really doesn't seem to matter who came first. "I can't see any comparisons musically," he says. "There might be a subconscious influence since we played Detroit a lot. He uses a lot of effects like octave pedals to beef up his sound. We run our guitars straight into the amp live. They might have took the scarves from us. I guess if I get desperate, I can always sue them." Back during the band's original run, they had their hardcore fans, but little else. "We didn't really seem to appeal to Canadians, but Americans were on us like a dog on a pork chop," says Daniels. A combination of being inexperienced, personal burnout, no cash flow and a music scene that couldn't see past what it thought was just a gimmick killed the Uppers after they released their only disc, 1994's O.K., Don't Say Hi. Fast forward to 2002, and the boys are both playing in a band known as The Exploders when an indie label out of Texas decides to reissue that first CD on vinyl, which brought them back as The Leather Uppers. It didn't take them long to get back into the swing of things and, over the past three years, they've played with notables such as Danko Jones and The Sadies across Canada. Daniels takes their status as perpetual "cool" opening act in stride. "I would be happy to be known as the world's best opening act, " he states. Despite this, and considering the current musical climate, you can bet their days as an opening band are numbered. Motivated by constantly playing, the guys have also put together a new record entitled Bright Lights. It might be a tad more polished than the first one ("There are overdubs," says Daniels), but it still thumps straight out of the garage. This time they're singing about wizards, getting high and sexy French chicks. For Daniels, it really is about having a good time. "I have very basic criteria," he says. "Is it good? Is it fun? Does it rock? That's it. If I get so excited listening that I want to be in that band, then that's a good record for me. And with our new one, that's just how I felt." —Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski Check out the artist's website: http://www.theleatheruppers.com Track List: 1. Wizard's Castle 2. On The Mic 3. Bright Lights 4. My Baby 5. Scream If You're High 6. Sexy Time 7. Heavy Kids 8. Halfway Houseboat 9. Bigger Than A Breadbox 10. Break My Leg 11. Say It In French 12. Sexy Wizard 13. Wise Woman Suggested CDs:Other Genres: |