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CHRIS LEO - The Lapse/The Van Pelt/Native Nod, currently of Pro Forma


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ARKADE PROJECTS & A FURNISHED SOUL are pleased to bring to Aberdeen....

CHRIS LEO / VAGUE ANGELS..indie/singer-songwriter from New York - also a

member of Pro Forma, formerly of The Lapse, The Van Pelt and Native Nod

VagueAngelsphoto.jpg

Chris Leo first introduced his trademark spoken word vocals and meandering

guitar tunes in the early 1990s when fronting Native Nod, one of the seminal

emotional hardcore bands from the days when 'emo' was still associated with

bands/labels like Rites of Spring, Hoover, Gravity Records or Ebullition

Records. His next band, The Van Pelt, featuring former/future members of

Blonde Redhead, Greyhouse, Jets to Brazil and Resurrection, at first took a

more 'rocking' approach on their debut 'Stealing from our favourite

thieves', recalling a more melodic side of Sonic Youth. It was one of the

best-selling albums in the early Gern Blandsten Records catalogue

(Rorschach, Chisel, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Holy Childhood, the Yah Mos,

Native Nod, Radio 4, Dlek, 1.6 Band a.o.). The band's second effort

'Sultans of Sentiment' was a very minimalistic masterpiece of fragile beauty

which consolidated the band's growing critical acclaim. After a live-split

with the band of Chris' brother Ted (Chisel) and a self-titled EP, The Van

Pelt disbanded in 1997, and Chris and bassist Toko Yasuda (ex-Blonde

Redhead, now in Enon) decided to form The Lapse. Touring and recording with

a number of different drummers including former members of Shudder To Think

and Jawbox, The Lapse fused together noisy riffs, powerful guitar-driven

postrock moments, non-conventional and hypnotic song structures and

electronic elements, releasing two albums on Gern Blandsten and Southern

Records. When Toko left The Lapse in 2000 to join Enon, Chris started

working on new material which eventually turned into his first novel 'White

Pigeons', of which the 7th chapter is an album by Chris Leo / Vague Angels,

performing the album 'Truth Loved' by The Breaks, the fictitious band from

the book. Got it? :)

When, earlier this year, Chris got asked if he wanted to play guitar with a

few Glaswegian friends of his, Chris simply said 'Sure!' and left New York

to record and tour with Pro Forma. As if Pro Forma weren't keeping him busy

enough already, Chris spent the entire last month touring the European

continent, performing Vague Angels songs as well as the occasionnal tune by

one of his former bands and reading from his novel, and is now preparing for

a number of UK dates in early December. At this point we don't know yet

whether Chris will be accompanied by a band or whether he'll play accoustic

with a stand-up bass player as he did on the continent. Anyway, this should

be a really amazing gig, so see you there!! ;)

fantast.mp3'>Listen to 'Let The Formula Forge Itself Fantastic' off 'Truth

Loved'

Listen to 'The Whole Note

Has Neither A Flag Nor A Body' off the forthcoming 2006 album 'Let's Duke It

Out At Kilkenny Katz''

Pretty Activity Records

Fifth Planet Press

Official Vague Angels Website

Interview with

Chris by Only Angels

Mp3 Interview with Chris

by Rockwellrock.com (26 MB)

Another

interview with Chris by FSUNews

"It's hard to listen when you're being yelled at. Subtlety always works

better. So when they threw Chris Leo into prison in Atoka, Oklahoma his band

still played the show without him that night in Denton, Texas. When his van

crashed en route to the Reading Festival on the M-1 outside of Manchester,

sending most of his newly formed Glaswegian rhythm section to the hospital,

he rented another bus, picked up fresh lads in Leeds and didn't miss a bill.

When label upon label, ten drummers, and eight bass players picked him up

and subsequently dropped him, it never occurred to Chris to wonder "maybe

it's me." Neither angry INS officials on Rainbow Bridge threatening to

refuse him entry into his own country nor Basque thugs who stole his tour

van and held it ransom in San Sebastian could drive the point through his

stubborn skull that his calling laid elsewhere. In the end, it took but a

gentle kiss of a front fender against a rear bumber outside the Holland

Tunnel one Fall morning on his way to band practice with his Philadelphian

rhythm section that whispered a crack just loud enough to pique the Transit

Authority cop's interest: an accident on a suspended license is bad bad

news. Fortunately, it swept Chris' sea legs out from under him for long

enough to do what any of us would have done if mired in a similar situation.

He quit his bartending job, closed himself off from the world, holed up in a

basement flat in Jackson Heights Queens, played and played and played, wrote

and wrote and wrote, until eventually he emerged with White Pigeons, a novel

and an album. In this seriously solid vision, no note, preposition, article,

or flub is unaccounted for. Chris is as meticulous with his placement of

profanities as he is anacreontic with his lofty ideals." (Fifth Planet

Press)

Downloadable songs by Chris Leo's former bands:

The

Lapse - Basilico Basilica

The Lapse -

Consent

The

Lapse - The Threat

The

Van Pelt - My Bouts With Pouncing

The Van

Pelt - Yamato (Where People Really Die)

The

Van Pelt - His Saxophone is my Guitar

Native Nod -

Tangled

The

Lapse Live at Fireside, Chicago (11/01/00) - Click WATCH to see

RealVideo

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
I really want to go to this' date=' I think this would be an early Christmas present....thing is I've got a big essay due in on the 15th! I'm in two minds! :help:[/quote']

well you've still got 2 days/nights after this gig to get it done ross! and think how much more relaxed your brain will be after a night off ..thus recharged and ready to to fly through that essay the next day! :D

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Where is the crude map?

I can't see it.

I'll be weeping on the castlegate if I can't view one.

Stand in front on the Castlegate in front of the Citadel, turn left until you are looking at the Castlegate bar there's a lane just before the bar that says Peacock Visual Arts, go there...

Don't worry though as most artists in Aberdeen haven't found the place either...

J

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