Capitol Records Press Release (June 1980)

In contemporary music, particularly Rock 'n' Roll, there's an element that's key to zeroing in on a style and sound, and goes beyond tangibles such as talent, chops, and production. It's called seasoning, and it doesn't happen overnight, but when it comes into balance with those other essential aspects, the results can be startlingly good.

That concept holds especially true with LeRoux, which, after two albums, has put it all in balance with its third and best Capitol album to date, Up (June 1980).

The aptly titled nine-song LP is the first to really nail down the six-member Rock 'n' Roll band's celebrated live energy and sound: It's hard-edged yet richly melodic, ear-catching keyboards/guitars Rock 'n' Roll, with progressive tension and release overtones, shades of funk, and soaring five-part vocal harmonies, all delivered with maximum effort.

Catalytic in the directional focusing was producer Jai Winding, who helped translate the band's new ideas to vinyl. Says Leon Medica: "The first two albums included stuff we'd grown up with, but the new album shows where we are and which way we're going. Jai was relentless in getting the absolute best from each of us, and it wasn't easy - we rehearsed a great deal - but we're all incredibly excited about the finished album. It was worth every bit of effort we put in it."

"A-men!" adds Jeff Pollard. "Jai was able to tap our potential in a new direction. Up is really different in a lot of ways from our first two albums, but it's still very much LeRoux. I've never sung so high and so hard in my life, but it really worked. It wasn't a matter of just getting the notes right, or just the right feeling, it was getting precision and soul at the same time.

"For quite a while," Pollard continues, "I've heard a guitar sound in my head that I've never really been able to get on tape, until now. And Rod Roddy and I struck up on good co-writing relationship that was very productive on this album and should become even more so in the future. Doing this album was the most creative experience I've ever been involved in."

LeRoux's members are no strangers to creative experiences. In the few years before the band cut its first album for Capitol during fall '77, Rod Roddy, Bobby Campo, David Peters, Leon Medica, and Jeff Pollard comprised the main in-house rhythm section at Studio In The Country, a multi-million-dollar recording facility in Bogalusa, Louisiana.

With Medica as the staff producer, the guys backed scores of artists there, including Clifton Chenier and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. As The Jeff Pollard Band, the five did considerable road work between sessions, including a '77 State Department sponsored musical goodwill tour of Africa backing Gatemouth.

After the band's demos landed a Capitol recording deal, Tony Haselden rounded out the lineup, contributing his fifteen years of studio and road experience to LeRoux's sound. With a new name, Louisiana's LeRoux, the band completed its first LP, named after the group, in time for April '78 released. (The new name actually was "LeRoux," but legal considerations dictated adding the "Louisiana's," which has been officially dropped as of Up's release.) Louisiana's LeRoux yielded the Top 50 single "New Orleans Ladies" (a No. 1 hit in several areas of the country) and the AOR fave "Slow Burn," and was followed by May '79's Keep The Fire Burnin', which included such memorable smokers as "Back To The Levee" and the title track.

Throughout that time, LeRoux won many fans while on the road doing major dates with big draws such as Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band, Kansas, The Marchall Tucker Band, The Dirt Band, Heart, Charlie Daniels, and The Allman Brothers. LeRoux's summer '78 television debut on "Midnight Special" pulled high ratings and was re-run that fall. The band headlined Baton Rouge's 9,000-seat Centroplex New Year's Eve '78, headlined the Rock portion of "Mardi Gras In The Superdome" in New Orleans for 45,000 during Mardi Gras '79, and swept the '79 reader's poll published by Louisiana Rock magazine "Gris Gris."

This year has been particularly active for LeRoux, above and beyond extensive road work. In January, Charlie Daniels invited the band to perform at his Sixth Volunteer Jam in Nashville, which was broadcast live throughout the South and carried nationally a couple months later by the "King Biscuit" radio network. LeRoux's "New Orleans Ladies" is included on the subsequent Volunteer Jam 6 LP, recently released on Epic. And in March, incoming Louisiana Governor Dave Treen invited LeRoux to play his inaugural ball in Baton Rouge.

Between then and rehearsals for the new Up LP, LeRoux's members played some important sessions. The group worked with the Dirt Band on its highly successful American Dream LP, and that's Haseldon's guitar solo you heard on the smash title track single. Pollard and Campo both contributed to the first solo album by Kansas member Kerry Livgren (released during summer '80) and the whole band worked with Dirt Band member John McEuen on a forthcoming solo album.

During rehearsals for the new Up LP, LeRoux took a day to tape a segment of "Rock Concert," during which the group debuted a few tunes slated for the new LP. Ratings were so high a re-broadcast was set for July, just after the album's release.

Adds Medica: "The headway we've made in America the past couple of years makes us proud that our audiences like what we play. Now we've given them something very fresh, and we hope everyone feels as good listening to the new music as we do. It gets us up, that's why we gave it that title. Now we want to get back on the road and take it all the way this year."