Giant Guitar? Giant band if you ask me. Finally everyone will see what I have seen for the past 10 years, hear what I have heard. They have been doing there thing for so long without being noticed as they really deserve. Leaders Off has a giant heart. A heart that beats so hard that the rehersal room rumbles. From the old prison via the porn film studio to the old mental hospital at Restad Gård in Vänersborg. A city where you either do sports, drugs or music to handle the dull life of a small village. These boys made the right choice.
Leaders Off, a couple of strange individuals put together in a powerful unit. In a small town you take what you get, some are just more lucky than others with what’s given. Their live act has touched lots of people, not only on the the Swedish west coast, but also in a number of cities around Europe. This number will only get bigger, so will the crowds. Men and women have been blown away and been dying to get their hands on a cd, but have been left sad and disappointed with a t-shirt as only comfort.
After recording hundreds of songs, in a range of studios from the own rehersal room “studio” to Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, and throwing away at least as many on the way it felt like it was about time for it to happen. The debut album. They claim that they haven’t felt any need to get it done earlier, but me and many other with me have been waiting for Leaders Off to take the step from being an amazing live act to just become pure amazing. Giant Guitar put an end to the waiting. It is recorded by Per Stålberg (Division Of Laura Lee, Daniel Gilbert), Olle Björk (The Change, Daniel Gilbert) and Peter Bader (The Change) in Welfare Studios, Gothenburg, during autumn of 2009 and the music is best described by themselves:
“We like Dinosaur Jr, Pavement and Sonic Youth. We are provoked by drums that are mixed way too low, covers and comparisons with other Swedish bands that have no substance.”
Giant Guitar? Even if Leaders Off deep down love to make noise the sound you meet is a clean, almost naked, one. The lyrics are uncomplicated and charmingly naive.
“We don’t want to write the typical rock lyrics once more. We want to write songs that are about us. We don’t live in LA and we know it. We got that.”
Soon the world will get it as well. After supporting big Swedish acts like Daniel Gilbert, Tiger Lou and Division of Laura Lee it’s time for Leaders Off to make it on their own. It’s time to show that the band is as big as that guitar in the album title.
- Mikael Björklund, 2010
