Written by Mike De Man.
It was a beautiful Friday night as I strolled into one of New Jersey’s most well known mid-size venues, the Brighton Bar, one of many homes of music related to what is known locally as the Jersey Shore scene. The show featured headliner Slaughter & the Dogs, an English punk band dating back into the 1970’s, who is now back on the road for another run. Although they were the stars of the night, I focused my mind on LEEDS, a fantastic band local to my area who is indefinitely keeping Rock & Roll alive.
When I say Rock & Roll, I’m not talking about any new age try hards where bands label themselves as something they’re not. I’m talking about the true heart and soul of rock with influences from the 70’s and 80’s such as AC/DC and Thin Lizzy. This is the type of rock that will not let you stand still and will give people sick of modern music a breath of fresh air.
LEEDS is one of those bands where you will notice one of the best rarities when it comes to live music, which is their sound being far better live than in any recording. When you look at many overproduced bands of today, whether they are still small in the local scene or on the larger scale of artists, whether touring or not, there tends to be a grey area where the live performance sits. Some are good and some are bad, but LEEDS is great. There are bands who have been in the game for twenty years and still haven’t accomplished this, but this local definitely has it down.
It really comes down to the tunes too. Songs like “It’s Alright” and “Wine, Women, and Song” always transfer over great. Although they are two of the oldest songs LEEDS has, newer songs like “Best I’ve Ever Had” and “We Are Free” from their 2014 EP Symmetry and Sin rock even harder, and the best part is all four of those, along with many others were played that night.
It’s a great feeling when you sit down on your computer after a local show and question if the set was actually real life or not. Old Bridge, New Jersey local band LEEDS does exactly that every time I make it out to one of their shows. It’s two weeks after their set and I can still envision it almost perfectly. Who said just because a band isn’t big doesn’t mean they aren’t bad ass?
