Capitol Records Press Release
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, income
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."
(June 1980)
