Album Notes

One reviewer described The Leela Fiasco as "a chance to see what Greensboro has to offer other than being halfway between Charlotte and Raleigh." Don't miss that chance. Over its four-year history, The Leela Fiasco has been a constantly evolving experiment in the musical interplay of form and libido, picking up the reins from pioneers ranging from Big Star to Medeski, Martin & Wood.

The Leela Fiasco serves as a respite from the prevailing cult of the underachiever, instead choosing to grow sonically and thematically in unknown directions. More to the point, the band wishes to provide something more than entertaining dance music. Each song is an event that pulls in several external influences, a fusion not only of jazz and rock but also of poetry, visual design, and theater. Each studio session is a honing and sculpting of four fierce egos toward a common goal; each live performance is a conversation between hundreds.

In the mid-90s, Tommy, Clay, and Erik made up the core of an art-folk band called Oil Can Harry. In 1997, Oil Can Harry released their first album, Louis Lingg. Most of the songs were short, melodic pieces, although the first sketches of what would become The Leela Fiasco showed up in the penultimate song, and extending fusion of improvisation and poetry entitled "Diver." After a couple of years OCH disbanded as a live project altogether, but the three musicians continued recording together, eventually putting together an entire album of post-mortem material under the title Gloria in Excelsis Proelio. By this time Clay and Erik had formed The Leela Fiasco, and Tommy was honing his writing skills back in school.

The Leela Fiasco have release two EP's and two LP's. Free and Tasty (EP) was The Leela Fiasco's first venture into the studio, and contained a live version of the jazz piece, "Sam's the Man." Shortly thereafter, Clay, Erik, and former bass player Scott Hinzman recorded the tracks for Smoke and Mirrors (LP), which received considerable college radio play and excellent reviews from several indie music magazines. 2002 saw the release of Amirah (EP), the first Leela Fiasco recording to include Tommy on vocals and keyboards. With the addition of Dave Smith on bass, The Leela Fiasco now present to you Stellar Window (LP). We hope you enjoy it.