A veteran of the Vancouver music scene, Laura Lee (LL) Schultz gained a
plethora of experience playing in bands such as NEW YEARS RESOLUTION,
the SKINJOBS, SINGLESEVEN and QUEAZY. Having a career that sparked in
the early ‘90s gave LL the opportunity to play with bands such as Pure,
The Rose Chronicles, Propagandhi, Minus the Bear, Pansy Division and
Xui Xui . Being involved with and having 4 full length albums under her
belt, LL welcomes the extra notch with Down the Lees' The Guest Room.
The new album was engineered and produced by LL in her home studio, Off
White House Studios, in the summer of 2008. Drums and additional bits
here and there were recorded by Shawn Penner (Hot Hot Heat, Mother
Mother) and boasts performances from members of Portico, Wintermitts
and New Years Resolution. Songs roam from full on rock out epics ‘The
Lullaby’ to acoustic ditties about love ‘On a Lie’ to poppy regretful
friendships in ‘Talk is Not Cheap’.
DOWN THE LEES (in a nutshell)
LL caught the music bug early while growing up in Calgary: in junior
high, she snuck in after school to play drums in the band room, and
was the organ solo champion in 1984. Dreams of riding around in a
Lamborghini with a keyboard in the dash became a reccurring theme. …
A veteran of the Vancouver music scene, Laura Lee (LL) Schultz gained a
plethora of experience playing in bands such as NEW YEARS RESOLUTION,
the SKINJOBS, SINGLESEVEN and QUEAZY. Having a career that sparked in
the early ‘90s gave LL the opportunity to play with bands such as Pure,
The Rose Chronicles, Propagandhi, Minus the Bear, Pansy Division and
Xui Xui . Being involved with and having 4 full length albums under her
belt, LL welcomes the extra notch with Down the Lees' The Guest Room.
The new album was engineered and produced by LL in her home studio, Off
White House Studios, in the summer of 2008. Drums and additional bits
here and there were recorded by Shawn Penner (Hot Hot Heat, Mother
Mother) and boasts performances from members of Portico, Wintermitts
and New Years Resolution. Songs roam from full on rock out epics ‘The
Lullaby’ to acoustic ditties about love ‘On a Lie’ to poppy regretful
friendships in ‘Talk is Not Cheap’.
DOWN THE LEES (in a nutshell)
LL caught the music bug early while growing up in Calgary: in junior
high, she snuck in after school to play drums in the band room, and
was the organ solo champion in 1984. Dreams of riding around in a
Lamborghini with a keyboard in the dash became a reccurring theme.
By age 13, she moved on to guitar, learning Blackbird and Stairway to
Heaven -- much to her guitar teacher's delight... or possibly chagrin.
In the early '90s, LL moved to Vancouver and started her first band,
Queazy, a 3-piece that got regular rotation on MuchMusic and released
the full length album Hurk that created a buzz and was well received.
Before they had a chance to rake in the millions, the band broke up.
Years passed, in and out of music projects including Singleseven (a
3-piece that had the chance to play with Ujme Doma), all the while
holing up in a bachelor apartment with a crappy 4-track recorder. These
demo's eventually turned up on the first Down the Lees full length
album 360 1/4 Degrees. Blair Calibaba (NomeansNo, Propaghandi) took on
the role of engineer. A long tracking process didn't hinder LL
from releasing the first solo effort, completely written and performed by her.
Around the same time as recording 360 1/4 Degrees, LL was involved with
influential queer punk band The Skinjobs as drummer. The band
was legendary for bringing alt punk to queer communities via
over-the-top live shows complete with go-go dancers. Their album Burn
Your
Rainbow was released in 2003, and a split 7” with Pansy Division was released on Mint Records the same year.
Next up? Vancouver favourites New Years Resolution. “White belt, dance
and be sad”. This still-lamented band released one full-length album,
Bullets of Love, recorded at The Hive by Jesse Gander. Once again, the
band broke up before they could make the cover of Rolling Stone..
Left to her own devices, LL decided to learn more about the technical
aspect of sound. After receiving an Electronic Musician certificate from
the Art Institute, she focused on scoring and editing films, including
local indie productions Alice and Martha, Hero of Our Time, and her own
directorial debut, Chronicles of Daydude. Her appetite still not
satiated, she decided to start musical side projects EP Island and
Project Ahead.
Writing and recording with these bands at her home studio, Off White
House Studios became a focus. The studio eventually churned out the
record label Off White House Records which has EP Island’s Good’ish and now The Guest Room for Down the Lees on its roster.
Death Cab For Cutie, Low, Pj Harvey, Sebadoh, Team Dresch, Shannon Wright, Slint, Versus, Unwound, Blonde Redhead
