tt Lester
[reborn?] }} after months of writing new songs, learning, wishing, living, and ultimately recording
/tt lester/
has finished a new {album/ep/record/cd} {bio/storyline is as follows}
Born out of the early and varied collaborations between cousins Tony Guerrie and James Jannicelli, tt Lester is a band that defies easy classification. With five serious musicians whose musical interests cover the greater portion of the existing musical spectrum, no two songs are likely to sound the same. That being said, there is a common factor that ties all of Lester's musical endeavors together: a dedication to honest song-writing and musical integrity.
In early 2004, Tony (lead singer) and James (guitar), who had been writing and playing music together for years, decided that they were ready to form a band. They weren't, but they did. James called his old (middle)school friend Trevor Welch, who he knew to be an excellent and multitalented musician, and asked him to play drums. Trevor agreed to, and then called his friend Daniel Bliss, who he knew to be kind of a creepy guy, and asked him to play the bass. Daniel agreed to, and tt Lester was formed.
They played several small, insignificant shows at which they damaged peoples' hearing and morale. Then they practiced a bunch, got kind of a little bit better, and played some slightly less insignificant shows from which people emerged suffering from slightly less hearing and morale damage.
In the summer of 2005, after a month-and-a-half long tour during which they played mostly to drunk people and their relatives - and a moderately unsuccessful CD release to boot [the Hard Days Hard Nights EP] - they decided to get serious. They put Trevor behind the piano, added outer-space-resident Carter Spencer to play the drums, practiced, wrote, gigged, recorded, and became really awesome. Their new EP, released in July of 2006, has been hailed as "really sick."
And, pretty soon, they'll be like The Fray. A sort of crazy piano rock fusion with a little southern style, a little Euro attitude. Seriously. Think Koufax, maybe Limbeck with more piano rock than twang thang, a little Jack Johnson motion sense...- The Overcast Zine
Tony Guerrie spills out sleepily confident vocals similar to those of Blur's Damon Albarn, and when he does lash out... that ghostly Jim Morrison rock howl comes out of nowhere and retreats just as quickly. The spot-on compositions are filled with achingly good guitar, and... piano movements that really move. The act's emotion is genuine and easy to get behind. Overall, ... a treat unexpected from this continent - even more impressive coming from this Cowopolis. - Westword