New Music. Old Music. Last Year's Music.

 

 

 

 10/31/2023 Update: Started recording this 11 years ago. It kept getting abandoned. I kept abandoning it. It became what it is. Unfinished. I don't love it. I don't hate it. But I need it out of my life. I need to stop thinking about it. It needs to exist. Does art even exist? Yes. What is it? That's up to each and every one of you. Happy Halloween 2023.


https://theleeves.bandcamp.com/album/does-art-even-exist

I usually make a solo album about horror movies for Halloween. But I didn't this year. I had already started making a solo album about getting old and your body failing you and death approaching and thinking about how that will impact your loved ones. So that is, as usual, scary enough to fill in for horror movies. It's a little too weird and personal and acoustic to be a V.M.D. album, so I decided to start releasing solo music under the name Jared Jerrod (j-air-id jur-odd) to celebrate the two names that my name gets me called, and to also just have one more terrible name to market my mediocre music under. Here it is, #yodo:

 [Spotify | Amazon | Youtube | Apple Music]

I did do a Halloween album about horror movies last year, and it was the first time in a few years I was inspired to make one. It's one of my favorites, so I put it on all the streaming sites instead of just on bandcamp. Who knows what will become of bandcamp as it passes through each new owners' hands. Here is that one, Season of the Halloween:

 [Spotify | Amazon | Youtube | Apple Music]

 

That takes care of the new music and last year's music. On Halloween-proper I am putting out some old stuff. But sometimes the old stuff is new stuff. You stick around long enough and all the old stuff becomes new again, because everything gets lost in the sands of time. ALL WE ARE IS DUST IN THE WIND...

Englewood Ska Quartet Anthology

Download MP3s of Englewood Ska Quartet Anthology: Disc1 + Disc 2

I started compiling all the old recording of me and Jon's old band, Englewood Ska Quartet. Was planning on doing something fancy then I killed the hard drive with everything on it. So when I found these 2 mp3s of all the songs for 2 discs I decided this is it. This is the format that these crappy recordings will be forever in the digital realm. Two hour-or-so long mp3s with every song contained somewhere in some form. Will probably update this with more info if I or anyone care about it. At least a tracklist and some background info will be added at some point. Maybe...

MAIL-ORDER UPDATE:

as the "leader/singer-dude/most-bizarre member" of the leeves, i've always been in charge of the online sales and production and designing and printing side of things and other weird things (including documenting the worst experiences of my life to catchy tunes, panic attacks, procrastination and extreme fear of rejection.) i'm not good at many of these things. the business office for all these professional services has been my hoarder-bedroom with piles of non-sense and complete dishevelment climbing to the ceiling for years. the few random mail-orders that would gratefully trickle in would always be a stat in a hidden often unchecked program which i would always find out about super late. with all my malarkey and no business skills i just find out about the 7-8 orders each year and send out tons of extra stuff when i mess up and neglect things the most. i'm ranting too much.... ***** mail-order and internet electronic orders are starting to ship and some t-shirts from an outdated and ambitious website store system which allowed you to pick any design, and any color, and any size has proven something i should have taken down at least 6 years ago because it was rarely possible to fulfill these custom orders on time and cost effectively with myself in my trash-filled bedroom. but i'm working on the final batch. anyways... ***orders are shipping*** some probably already arriving. custom shirts are just proving more strenuous and frustrating, including my ruining of 12 shirts I made last week. if anyone likes shirts covered in extra paint hollllla! but please be patient, i am just a crazy person sending the one positive thing i did in my life to strangers in hot pocket and penne pasta boxes. thanks for putting up with our antics and still listening and caring. final album session starts soon! really, a truly giiggggggaaaannnntic thank you for still caring about us.

-jerrod

Dear Friends,

We all moved in together. I got weird. We never practiced. I got good. Then I got weird again. Doug's Donkey Kong Jr. machine broke.We recorded drums and bass at On Pop of the World. That was a long time ago. I'm still weird. I think I'm at my weirdest. Like, weirder than when I saw my grandmother die. That makes a man feel self-centered. But, I'm still a child. I feel worse. But, friends, I'm coming back. The music is coming back. All I want, is to be with my friends and make music. And... fall in love, of course. Or deal with the love I've already fallen in, rather. But I get lost. And I haven't even been leaving my room. The computer I recorded on died. And the files are on a bad drive. But this album is getting recorded. And this 3rd Leeves album will be on vinyl. Meanwhile, Jon fell in love and left the state. They are back home. Doug's Donkey Kong Jr. machine is still broken. But, I do have a new computer. This album needs to 'be'. The Dickwolf album also needs to 'be'. The Instant Regrets album needs to 'be'. So much to record. How do you ever know how much time you have left to do it? But, I'm listening to this. And I finished the Dumpster album. And, I finished the Damn Frank album (which is one of the few things not on the internet.) So albums do happen. Life is ok. At least, for this fleeting moment, life is ok. 'Ok' is better than most things. For tonight, I thank Matty, Katei, and Joanne. Every night I thank you guy's too. I just don't show it. Haven't shown it in a while. (Girls are guys too!) Losing focus. Twilight Zone. I wanted to go to the Ameriglow show. I just saw the meat puppets / soul asylum / shannon and the clams / screaming females / the descendents / hum / gwar / sheer mag / hank wood and the hammerheads / DINOSAUR JR....They made me feel ok. Such a great, wonderful ok. Life can be so incredibly good. Why do I (we) make it so bad?

Sincerely,
Jerrod Smith of:

grendle / the std's / "some guy named jared" / live from the basement / englewood ska quartet / heavy metal cowboy /walking dead / dickwolf / v.m.d / instant regrets / futuragheist /... and, my friends, ... THE LEEVES.



post script:

I did my Halloween album this year, and last year, and some other year. I made them available for free instead of my stupid spooky joke price of $666. Music makes things better. And, Doug in this video makes me feel better. And, it makes me happy when I'm lucky enough to be watching these guys in the rain.

post post script:

I just found some scribblings on an envelope the other night and turned it into a real song that night. An anti-love song. An anti-what-i-crave-so-dearly-for song.

....I wanted to post/plug everything...

10 Years Ago

So ten years ago today I was doing my little show, Radio Greensboro, on WUAG and The Avett Brothers cancelled on me. (Actually, The Avett Brothers cancelled on me either a couple of weeks before or after this show, but that is how I will tell the story from now on.) But I wrangled two of my best friends to make up songs on air. That was how The Leeves started. Well, me and Doug had already started recording weird songs and me and Jon had just written the first Leeves song, Ghostwriter 11, two days previously at his house at about 5am, but I digress. We were all in different bands (walking dead, witch kings, and queen anne's revenge) so it was only a one night kind of thing. Then I saw the Violent Femmes in downtown Greensboro and wanted to play in The Leeves more than life itself. Somehow, I convinced them to do it. And here we are.... still a band. So here are some rarities that we never really wanted people to hear, but who cares in this modern 'forget-everything-ten-seconds-after-it-happens' society. Terrible made up songs. Terrible covers. One songs that pre-dates the leeves, and one song that got scrapped because it was sort of insulting to my friends that have found true love and also sounded like a different band, but listening to it now might be my favorite song I've ever written. Maybe not. So I guess in essence I should just say... Thank you to the Avetts and Gordon Gano! oh and you guys...... and brian ritchie..... and victor delorenzo.... and also I want to take back my thank you to the avett brothers.........   

The Leeves "Monaural Vision"

THIS IS STILL OUR "NEW ALBUM". LISTEN IF YOU'RE BORED OR ALIVE..........

LISTEN IF YOU'RE DEAD, TOO.

Leeves/Dumpster Tour Letter

Thank you: Kemper Hot Dog + Donut, Carrie B + roomates, Hribar Hribar, Matt Ashley Wyatt AJ, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Richmond, Baltimore, Winston-Salem, Goodbye Blue Monday, The Swamp, Michelle, Bellytimber, Edo's Squid, Jay and Chris, 2nd and Green Tavern, all bands we played with and of course DDDDDDDDUUUUUUUUMMMMMMPPPPPPSSSSSTTTTEEEEERRRRR. This is DUMPSTER but yelling at the top of my lungs. Oh and thank you Nick Cave for making Jeff Gordon's life.

Watch The Leeves and Dumpster play at Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn. Click this....our nonsense starts around 150:00

Not a Solution. Just a Suggestion. Just a Start. Only a Start.

So I guess I was listening to way too much Crimpshrine. I guess everyone around me was saying nothing but negative things. I guess I was only thinking negative things. So I wrote a song about how we need to build each other up as opposed to breaking each other down. It then became our slogan to spread to the world on t-shirts and now buttons. I always hate being on the borderline of being preachy but I also hate the constant feeling of wanting to tell people to shut the hell up. My mother used to say the "if you don't have anything nice to say..." thing. I say to the new generation: "STOP TALKING SHIT." We will be spreading this message as we go up North on tour. When we return we will be recording this super-jam. Maybe we will die on tour and you'll say I should have gone and seen them and heard that song at least once. Who cares life is trivial. Why not whatever. Die happy.

Listen To Our New Album......

.... most of you didn't think it existed because as it turns out: not many people have tape players. I thought shurely it would be more than owned cd players, but as per uje, wrong wrong wrong. So here is the digital world. Buy the Tape get the digi. Themz the rules.

"Monaural Vision" by THE LEEVES

2013: A Year to DO STUFF!!!

Happy New Year. Or Happy Old Year. Or Happy The-World's-Not-Over Year.

picture coutesy of Avant Greensboro.com I bet either Jessica Loer or Katei Cranford took it..

So it's New Years Day. Many of you have seen us around our fair city of Greensboro, NC, but many of you are not within the vicinity. We are not the most publicized band and often end up being like the quiet kid sitting in the corner of the classroom. I never did like to talk and this band has always been a helping hand hand in having to talk to people. The uncomfortableness I feel being rewarded with lasting friendships and memories. But people always ask me what is going on with the Leeves. Always an enigma. The usual joke is that I'm spending entire weeks sitting in a dark room mixing an album over and over and over. Most times this is accurate. The story of the Leeves involves our friends' bands: Dumpster and Damn Frank. Two "D" bands that I am recording and being kept busy with since the Leeves have been mostly hibernating this winter after finishing our tape "Monaural Vision". Which has answered the nagging question "Do people still buy tapes?" No. No they do not. Your friends will and then they'll search to the ends of the earth for a tape player. They're sweet. But the average person will not. Especially without the digital copy. Which I have been putting off ever since mastering the tape. The digital version of Monaural Vision will be out soon and all who bought the tape previously will receive the digital version. So maybe that will make people want the mp3s and a paper weight. The paper weight does look great. 

The biggest news on The Leeves front is 1) we all moved into a new house. This means Jon's is out of his family's house, I cease being homeless, or rather homeofmyownless, and Doug moves one street over, after last year moving one street over. We started the lease with the greatest landlord. A sweet man that became our friend. But 2 months in we find ourselves with   no landlord for our friend and landlord Lee died 2 days before Christmas. I would say there has been a fair amount sorrow floating through the house. On a brighter note our Leeves news item #2) Jon, along with our friends Dallas and Sam, are now proud fathers of the greatest food truck to cruise the streets of Greensboro. The Great Escape has insanely good food that comes to the show and other assorted places. He's been pretty busy with the endeavor. Doug's news might be his donkey kong machine. An original Donkey Kong Jr. Arcade Cabinet. It stands proud in the corner of our living room. Even I have video game fever for the first time in life, beating Maniac Mansion like I always wanted to do as 8 year old Jerrod. And I discovered emulators. All the games I wanted as a kid but didn't get..... are terrible. Sega CD..... terrible. But I digress. 

We are gearing up for a huge show with THE SLACKERS. You should come. We all love them dearly. I'll probably make a fool of myself. Talks are in the works for a Corporate Fandango horn section for a super ska set but no confirmation has been received. Stay tuned. 

We are eventually going to record with our friend Randy at On Pop of the World studios. It will be the first Leeves recorded analog. And that will probably be accompanied with more recording of some sort because we always have enough songs for at least 2 and a half albums. Hopefully something will find its way to vinyl. 

To do that we must remind everyone, or inform them, that we've got a big tub of merch (shirts, tapes, cds) we'd like to turn into other merch (new album or ep on vinyl). A new batch of the Greensboro NC Heart shirt was done so lots of new t-shirts. Digital copy of Monaural Vision will be done by next week but tapes are already available if you want to steal your grandmothers tape player. We still have copies of the self-titled CD. I can't remember but I think the first ep's are free right now on Bandcamp. You can now buy stuff on this site if you can't wait until a show or don't live here or go outside of your house. But you don't have to buy anything. Just remember to listen to our music constantly and spread it like a disease. Please let the infection grow. 

We are playing with awesome Richmond heavy weights Sports Bar and Warren Hixson Jan. 3 at the Flat Iron in Greensboro. And also remember the show that Jon has been working hard to make happen for years: The Slackers in Greensboro! That is at the Blind Tiger Feb 10. Get tickets!Click This. And a tour with Dumpster is being planned for the end of March. So if you want us in your town: tell us now! We would love to come to your home. Literally and figuratively. 

Doug's band Jack Carter and the Armory has an awesome new album out and soon a Daytrotter Session online. Me and Jon have the new Matty Sheets and the Blockheads ep coming out in the near future. And soon I will start with Brandon to make the epic first Dickwolf full-length. That is pretty much  the past 5 or 6 months in a nutshell. I left most of the depressing or scandalous stuff out. Also, all of the sexy stuff. Enjoy the new year and thank you for actually caring about what we love.