Cast in Shadows

Named after their fathers' mutual love for Tina Turner, Oakland, CA-based Jeffrey Harland and New Zealand native Matt Bullimore began Legs in a cold, concrete practice space in West Oakland, California. The pair originally met while exchanging Weezer bootlegs in a Safeway parking lot in early 2000. Matt would go on to teach Jeffrey his first power chord sealing their friendship and status as best-buds. Early get-togethers were dominated by heated arguments over the Beatles versus The Stones, ending only after the discovery of their mutual love of the Kinks and Velvet Underground. Flash forward to 2013, and Legs has readied their debut long-player Pass the Ringo, set for release on April 23rd on Loglady Records.

Matt's formative years were in Christchurch, NZ where he saw his high school band open for the Bats and other notable groups in the area. In fact, his pretensions went so far as to write a letter in coffee to Flying Nun, demanding a record contract. Before Jeffrey picked up the guitar and gave up all hope, he bothered himself with a BFA in media arts, there he learned important words like "simulacrum" and "Verfrem dungseffect" as well as how to properly develop 16mm film. The two would go on to play together in several short-lived bands before embarking on their current project in 2011. Daunted by the idea of searching for like-minded bandmates, booking shows and carrying equipment, Legs remained a personal recording project for a year. The two met twice a week in their rehearsal space, Matt learned to play the drums, they demoed songs, and soon began to record themselves on a borrowed 4-track. Soon they had amassed a sizable batch of songs informed by their love of the jangle guitar pop dispatched during the early 80's by labels like Flying Nun and Creation Records. Their music glides along with simple chord progressions and rudimentary drum beats filtered through the haze of obsolete reverb units and dirty tape machines; vocals float, cymbals crash, and guitars scratch.

The two stuck it out and ultimately invited friends and family into the inner Legs circle. Several drummers were auditioned, including Patrick Lynch who can be heard on "Shades of Grey", and songs were written with Jeffrey's partner Amelia Adams in mind for vocals. Though recording increased, the band remained low key and intentionally shied away from playing live opting instead to hone their songwriting and recording craft. Recording took ages, if a song didn't have unanimous acceptance it was simply discarded resulting in an albums worth of material rejected. Along they way drummer Kevin Walker was added to the line up and the group found themselves with a collection of songs they they really enjoyed.

After recording a collection of demos the two sent out discs to anyone they could think of, getting some local press and radio play along the way. Fortunately, a disc was mailed to Jeffrey's college classmate and co-founder of Loglady Records, Jason Hendardy (also of Permanent Collection), who got in touch with duo and asked to hear more. Legs obliged. Working with Loglady Records has allowed them the freedom to develop their sound at their own pace and with the attention they need to grow as a group, all while getting to participate in the history of an increasingly influential bay area label.