For eight and a half years I was told by any band I managed to join that either, a) you are singing out of tune; b) comedy doesn't work; c) your teeth are too wonky and brown; d) your beard is too wonky and ginger; or e) you are embarrassing us with your stupid stage attire, Leevil AKA Essexs Lee Callcut says. These factors of harsh reality were being pointed out to me on an all-too-frequent basis, so I thought, Fuck it! I bought a Kaos pad, an Axis 9 CD player, recorded some backing tracks with the help of some true friends and then took it to the stage on my Leevil lonesome.
Frankly, other musicians jut get in the way. I have fun being a band-less front man.
Leevil mixes rock, metal, blues, reggae, techno and drum n bass, and has a repertoire which includes a Blink 182 All The Small Things mash-up called I Pierced My Brain, a version of Sitting on the Dock of the Bay called Sitting at Guantanamo Bay, Michael Jacksons Thriller as Kiddy Fiddler and a host of other maniacal genius originals.
Its fucked-up, heavy, dancey, raw, mad shit, Leevil says.
Live reviews describe Leevils shows as: "The one-man plague, the Bethnal Green goblin, the nightmare lovechild of GG Allin and Corey Feldman - he turns dials to unleash swathes of malevolent noise, occasionally squealing into the microphone. He switches tack, blasting out crazy dancing beats and the relief has people leaping onstage to show off their moves. Anarchy ensues. Leevil eats a CD case and spits greenies onto his own face. Everyone goes crazy and takes pictures of each other"
"He throws back his head, and with a devilish wail he punches some buttons, bringing from the depths of hell a set full of twisted, genre-bending freakery. Meet Leevil - equal parts court jester and servant to Satan, with a little bit of Rehn & Stimpy thrown in. His voice is the sound inside Charles Manson's head - a frantic psycho-babble of TV-talk, wrestling commentary and personal revelation. Without warning he's off in another direction as he hoists a 1920s radio microphone to his lips and croons over a dirty blues track. Then he's moshing hard on a looped metal riff and throwing devil signs, his eyes rolling in his head. This could go one of two ways either fame, limos and his own cartoon show or a nice padded cell. There's a fine line between genius and madness."
And: "Leevil's fucked up solo-noise is a dark mix of techno, drum n bass and sampled guitars, it completely goes in unexpected tangents without the pretension of LCD Soundsystem, but with accessibility of 2ManyDJs when they play to the crowd. For a man dressed in what looks like a cross between a leotard and Rockys spare ring gear Leevil had the crowd eating every loop and sample he spat at them. At times he sounded like the ghost of Atari Teenage Riot, and the kids lapped it up like the lost children of Alec Empire."
So impressive (and imperative) are Leevils live shows which commonly include CD scratching on the Axis 9 using his penis, a bare bum and always a spliff dangling from his lips that The Church of Subgenius has honorarily ordained him a Cardinal. Leevil already had his own loyal flock which continues to grow with every gig.
I want to entertain, first and foremost; kick the ass of poe-faced misery, second, Leevil declares.
Read a LEEVIL live review from Music Towers.com, April 06, here!
Read a LEEVIL live review from the June 06 issue of Rock Sound here!
Read the LEEVIL profile in the August 06 edition of Australia's Riot magazine here!
Read the LEEVIL review on RockMidgets.com, September 06, here!
Read the LEEVIL profile in the November 06 issue of Big Cheese magazine, here!
Check out the LEEVIL review in the March 07 issue of Rock Sound magazine, here!
Check out the LEEVIL review on Rock Midgets.com, December 07, here!
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