Leatherface

It's safe to say that legendary punk bands like Jawbreaker and Hot Water Music wouldn't have existed — at least not in the form we know them — without Leatherface. In fact, it was the band's 1999 split with Hot Water that introduced many Americans to Leatherface, although the veteran...

By Jason Heller

May 13, 2010

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It's safe to say that legendary punk bands like Jawbreaker and Hot Water Music wouldn't have existed — at least not in the form we know them — without Leatherface. In fact, it was the band's 1999 split with Hot Water that introduced many Americans to Leatherface, although the veteran British outfit had already existed for more than a decade at that point, releasing classics of raw, darkly melodic punk like 1990's Fill Your Boots and 1991's Mush. The group, fronted by the grizzled vocals and ragged guitar of Frankie Stubbs, has had its ups and downs over the years, but it's always managed to persevere — and put out a sporadic yet reliable string of records, the latest being the more subdued but emotionally simmering full-length The Stormy Petrel.

Jason Heller is a staff writer at Westword. He's the author of the book Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded (Melville House/Penguin Random House), and has contributed to the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and NPR.org. His work has won a Hugo Award and a Colorado Press Association Award.

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