Leisure Class - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Band history

Formed in Detroit in 1977 as Mr. Unique & the Leisure Suits, the band got their start as the opening act for The Mumps (featuring Lance Loud

Lance Loud

Alanson Russell "Lance" Loud was an American magazine columnist and new wave rock-n-roll performer. Loud is best known for his 1973 appearance in An American Family, a pioneer reality television series that featured his coming out, leading to his status as an icon in the gay community.-Early...

) and local favorites like Flirt and Destroy All Monsters

Destroy All Monsters (band)

Destroy All Monsters were an influential Detroit band existing from 1973 to 1985, with sporadic performances since. Their music touched on elements of punk rock, psychedelic, heavy metal music and noise rock with a heavy dose of performance art. Their name likely came from the Godzilla film Destroy...

. In the following years, they managed to amuse, annoy, and antagonize all manner of audiences before finally releasing their four-song EP, Mr. Unique & the Leisure Class in 1983. The record received generally favorable, though puzzled, reviews from Dennis Loren in the Metro Times

Metro Times

The Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs...

, who found "something to offend everyone," and Ira Robbins in Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...

.

The band moved to New York, making their debut at CBGB

CBGB

CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...

in 1984. Venues for the band during this period included CBGB

CBGB

, 8BC

8BC

8BC was a non-profit performance space and art gallery located in the East Village neighborhood of New York, New York, United States. Founded in 1983, the space was closed by 1985.-History:...

, SNAFU, the Henry Street Settlement

Henry Street Settlement

The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded in 1893 by Progressive reformer Lillian Wald.The...

, the Kitchen

The Kitchen

The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...

, the Gas Station, the Lone Star Roadhouse, Under Acme, Woody's, Beowulf, and Tramps. Their performances featured, at various times, writer Herbert Huncke

Herbert Huncke

Herbert Edwin Huncke was a writer and poet, and active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America...

, impaled goat's heads (causing a trombonist to quit in disgust), and a two-story prison (designed and built by conceptual artist and photographer Misha Gordin.

The iconoclastic band recorded at least three albums' worth of original material, none of which managed to make it to a major label release. At last, 2004 saw the release of 36 songs on the 2-CD compilation, Leisure Class Recordings 1979-1994. Since that time, lead singer and lyricist Dimitri Mugianis was the subject of the 2009 documentary film by Michel Negroponte, I'm Dangerous With Love, and Leisure Class was profiled on the National Public Radio show, Day to Day

Day to Day

Day to Day was a one-hour weekday American radio newsmagazine distributed by National Public Radio , and produced by NPR in collaboration with Slate. Madeleine Brand served as host since 2006...

. The 2010 compilation, Parents Night at the Leper Colony has been called "a splendid one hour introduction to this criminally overlooked band."

1977-1978

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson

Glenn Johnson (drummer)

Glenn Johnson is a rock drummer and composer, most famous for being the drummer of Leisure Class from its inception. He has also played with Ron Anderson and Stefan Zenuik in a group called Maxim Bass.-Partial Discography:...

- Drums, Vocals

Jeff Mullins - Guitar

Brian Garwood - Bass

Ted Moniak - Mandolin, Guitar, Vocals

1978-1979

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson - Drums, Organ, Vocals

James Myers - Guitar, Bass

Dave Rice - Guitar, Bass

Ted Moniak - Mandolin, Vocals

1979-1980

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson - Drums, Vocals

John E. Louder (Howard Glazer) - Guitar

Scotch Hiballs (Bob Godwin) - Bass

1981

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson - Drums, Percussion, Piano, Vocals

Dan Porvin - Guitar

Sal Monella (Michael Tudor) - Guitar

Greg Gilmore - Bass

Matthew J. Karp (Dan Matuszczak) - Saxes, Flute, Bass Clarinet

Stan Johnson - Trumpet

1981-1983

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson - Drums, Percussion, Piano, Organ, Harmonica, Tin Whistle, Vocals

Dan Porvin - Guitar

Sal Monella (Michael Tudor) - Guitar

Chris McGorey - Bass

Matthew J. Karp (Dan Matuszczak) - Saxes, Flute, Bass Clarinet

Stan Johnson - Trumpet

Guy Zublin - Trumpet

1984-1989

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson - Drums, Percussion, Piano, Organ, Synthesizers, Tin Whistle

Dan Porvin - Guitar

Sal Monella (Michael Tudor) - Guitar

Mark Dannenhirsch - Guitar

Chris Hunt - Guitar

Dave Boonshoft - Bass (founder of Aguilar Amplification and Naked Music

Naked Music

Naked Music is a dance music record label, centered in San Francisco and New York City. It is known for smooth signature deep house and downtempo. It began life as a production company in New York, in 1992, when founders Dave Boonshoft and Jay Denes scored underground success with releases on...

)

Ric Frank - Tenor Sax and Flute

Mike Walters - Tenor Sax and Flute

J.J. Silva - Trumpet, Trombone (original member of Ten Wheel Drive

Ten Wheel Drive

Ten Wheel Drive were an American Jazz fusion band that existed from 1968 to 1974.-History:In 1968, after the final break-up of the all-female rock band Goldie & The Gingerbreads, Genya Ravan was looking for a new band, as were two New Jersey musicians and songwriters, Michael Zager and Aram Schefrin...

)

Leonard Belota - Trumpet

Leif Arntzen - Trumpet

Pat McCarty - Trombone

Paul Romero - Vocals

Kevin Weist - Vocals (composer of the infamous cockroach songs from the film, Joe's Apartment

Joe's Apartment

Joe's Apartment is a 1996 musical-serio-comedy film starring Jerry O'Connell and Megan Ward and the first film produced by MTV Films. It was based on a 1992 short film first made for MTV , but was also inspired by both the 1987 Japanese film Gokiburi-tachi No Tasogare and...

)

Melissa Schaffer - Vocals

David Lawton - Vocals

1990-1995

Dimitri Mugianis - Vocals

Glenn Johnson - Drums, Percussion

Dan Porvin - Guitar

Al Korosy - Guitar

Dave Boonshoft - Bass

Bob Marx - Tenor Sax and Flute

Russ Johnson - Trumpet

Pat McCarty - Trombone

Paul Romero - Vocals

Kevin Weist - Vocals

David Lawton - Vocals

Angel Jemmott - Vocals (also appeared as Angela on Sesame Street)

Discography

"Mr. Unique and the Leisure Class" (Leisureco LC 1) 1983
"Leisure Class Recordings 1979-1994" (Leisureco LC 002) 2004
"We Went and Recorded It Anyway: The Best of Pop-Punk and Power Pop 1977-84" (Brutarian: BRUT CD-009) 2009
"Parents Night at the Leper Colony" (Leisureco LC 003) 2010

External links

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