The foundation for Leadsucker was formed in the mid-2000s, when Hearn started working for a large government agency. At first excited at the prospect of helping people and helping to put a positive stamp on the world, he was quickly disillusioned with what he saw: Greed, ineptitude, and waste all on massive scales. When he took his concerns with upper management, he was initially met with gratitude, and he was sure things were going to change.
But the more and more he reported, the less and less enthusiastic those around him became. After putting up with harassment and smear campaigns directed at him from those within his department, Hearn, who played guitar as a hobby for years, decided to quit his job, and channel his anger into a new band. He enlisted the help of two friends to round out the sound: Bassist Austin Welch, and drummer Sam Terrace (also pseudonyms), and Leadsucker was born.
The band quickly gained notoriety for their decision to use pseudonyms, and to blur their faces out of all publicity photos, to avoid any governmental backlash from Hearn’s coworkers. “It might just be paranoia, but there are some people that can do a lot of bad things there. I have a wife, the other bandmembers have kids, so we just want to be able to separate our musical lives from our personal ones.” Their debut album, titled “Burn”, is an abrasive, raw debut that pulls no punches.
The first time I listened to Leadsucker, frankly, I didn’t like it much. The music was too fast and it was devoid of any strong melody. Hearn’s vocals were screamed so fast and unintelligibly, that it turned me off at first. But there was something infectious about the music that kept me coming back for more.
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Then I started analyzing the lyrics. They cut with such razor sharp poignancy and heartfelt honesty that the music started to make my stomach turn. I finally got it. This music blew away my old punk records.
Leadsucker present rage in an honest and beautiful way, whereas the Sex Pistols in their heyday were just out to shock people. Musically these guys are tighter than 90 percent of the hardcore punk bands out there, and their music stands up.
All I know now is that I can put this 30-track album on, roll around, scream along, and love every second of it. “Burn”, transcends punk, hardcore, or any silly labels like that.
Hearns, Austin Welch and Sam Terrace deliver one of the best punk albums to have come out on the punk scene this year. They are talking about individualism, the demise of the American dream and fighting the desire to conform to the assimilating establishment; an idea lost on many new and upcoming punk bands. Songs like “America Doesn’t Give A F…”, “State Of No Cure”, Obituary For An American Dream”, “You Were Supposed To Die”, “An Eye For A Tooth” and “Your Vote Doesn’t Mean S…” instills that wrathful energy that only punk can saturate in your psyche. There are a whopping 30 tracks to drown in and devour as Leadsucker assault your aural senses.
Vitrol fueled and seething with everything that makes the punk rock movement what it has been and still is, Leadsucker pour their guts out, puke and crap on it, then swallow it all in, just in case any of you forgot what real punk is about. “Burn” is by far the best punk album I have ever encountered in recent times!
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2 Comments
efpierce
That rocks!! I just bought 4 of the songs because i don’t usually like to buy an entire album since they usually have some crap here and there. I should have just done that in the first place though!
val yenko
I want more of this! Finally we have music that doesn’t pull any punches and says it like it is, not like what they think we want to hear.