"Owned by Bill Leeb!"

Bill Leeb's probably better known for his Pure Moods project "Delerium" (remember that electronic Sarah McLachlan song a from a few years ago?). With a little more googling, you can probably read about his time with Skinny Puppy, his double that duped the audience of a German music festival a few years ago, and his "highly coveted" car. The dude's a legend.
 

No, no. I know who he is.

THX,
Jason
 

Legend may be pushing it a bit, don't you think?
 

I say that facetiously, although I do like some of his projects. I think it's his personality that often gets in the way.
 

There are "owned by Bill Leeb" synth auctions all the time. They all seem to feature the same pictures, which are seen in other auctions. They're all scam auctions.
 

To me,the fact that a piece of equipment was owned by Bill Leeb is one less reason to buy it. I met the guy and he's a complete a----e.
 

well, there's definitely no confusing paul schaeffer with bill leeb, but my guess is you were thinking of Will Lee, who (still?) plays bass for Paul in Letterman's 'world's most dangerous band.'
 

Too funny. : )
 

i think "im kinda famous" is a pretty accurate comment.. even though you can say that about practically anyone now that the internet is around..

on a side note: Sarah McLaughlin hangs with odd circles... her old studio session drummer Ryan Moore joined the Legenday Pink Dots, who is a band that also collaborates with Skinny Puppy to make albums under the name Tear Garden

(Ryan left the dots, and is now Twilight Dub Soundsystem tho)
 

The Legendary Pink Dots make some far out music. Will Lee, like Matt Klatt.
 

What I like the most are the pictures in his auctions where he's placed the synth on top of a washing machine to take the picture.
 

hahahahahahaa what a douche

does anyone remember damnyoubleeb.com (now defunct)?

http://web.archive.org/web/20010812040946/www.damnyouleeb.com/html/leeb2.html
 

hey everyone, more Bill Leeb here
 

William Hung is also kinda famous...


On a more related note, here's an excerpt from an interview with Leeb which will make you think twive abou buying his used gear.

We got a lot of stuff now. The problem is with a lot of the stuff is we like older machines. Once we buy them, then they break and then they're hard to get repaired, especially here, and then they sit there and you just get a lot of luggage in the end, and it's kind of a bad investment, buying older gear, because the upkeep on it in getting it repaired is as much sometimes as the actually buying of something. You know, you send it to a specialist in the States and he charges you $1000 to fix it, then you pay for the shipping. It kind of never ends. It's like you're throwing money out the window. Newer gear is so much more reliable, but it doesn't sound anything like the older stuff, right. We're constantly throwing money at our older gear, just to keep it running. It would be really nice if one of us was an electronic genius and could just rip something apart and fix it. It's like a race car driver fixing their own car, but usually they can't either. There's usually somebody else doing that. But that would be the best thing. Or even in Vancouver - there's nobody here that can really do that stuff. I know in California it's not a problem - there's lots of good guys down there. Coming from here - just getting it over the borders is a major hassle. They always charge you duties and taxes and they ask you where it's from, this and that. And it gets damaged, you know, sometimes when you ship things - it comes back and it's broken and so it's a real hassle, and it's really risky sometimes when you're sending a rare piece of gear. If it comes back broken, nobody cares and nobody wants to pay for it.


Read the rest here:

http://www.sonicenvelope.com/interviews/leeb.html
 

Enough about Bill Who-ever! Did anyone notice that, like, Paul Shaeffer is, like, better than Bono at saving the planet????
 

ha ha...Jilly Cooper...
 

Bill's response begs one question: Which kind of famous is he?


'Cause I certainly haven't heard of him.
 

if you DO buy one of these synths and it WAS owned by bleeb, you can take comfort in the fact that it was used to play exactly four notes and that is all.
 

It's a pity his grammar isn't up to much: "I am a kind of famous".

Arrogant too, I'd say, as someone else who's never heard of him.
 

Er.. I think "kind of famous" is a balanced statement. Google indeed: ~60,000 hits, wikipedia/AMG entries. What kind of famous? The kind where some people recognize him immediately, some people know of his associations (Skinnypuppy/FLA/etc.), and some have no connection to any of that. It's a pretty common type of famous. "Type 1" fame, if you will.
 

I am almost certain that isn't his ebay name. He wouldn't make a statement such as "google the name dude" its probably some jack ass fan, that did buy it off them, it broke, and now he is selling it. Also his ebay name has 'fla' in it, something no somewhat famous person would do, (especially Bill Leeb) is put their band name in their ebay name, lame.
 

Just a BTW - Paul Shaeffer is playing piano for Kate Bush in the video of her SNL performance from your YouTube link (below)
 

Bill Leeb's birth name is Wilhelm Schroeder, and while he didn't play piano for Kate Bush on SNL (like Shaeffer), he did play piano for Lucy back when he was a member of the Peanuts gang.
 

So, is 300$ a reasonable price for a SC PRO-1? I'm really aching to get one, no matter who the previous owner was
 

Hi,

I would be interested too if you add also some
audio clips and or videos... I check here quite often I would be interested to hear some music too... What is on your blog I accpe as something great!

Keep it up!'
Cellular news
 

After this page gets crawled by google this will probably be what he's known for.

He also bought a copy of Age of Empires II, the man knows his games.
 

Bill Leeb, despite being an incredible asshole, is a great musician. I'd never want to meet the fucker, but I own quite a few of his recordings.

Some of his releases (e.g. Implode, Epitaph, and anything related to Orbiting Catherdrals) are giant loads of shit, but check out FLA - Civilization. 4 notes? My ass. That's a great record no matter what you say. Hard Wired is also probably THE best "industrial" album I own.

BTW Bill Leeb eBay auctions are all scams.
 

"Bill Leeb Pwned by Musicthing"
 

Have any of you actually even bought a synth on ebay that states it's from him?

Well, I have. And guess what fuckers... It's him! Post marked from his Vancouver BC address and even signed by him, and he even included his latest CD. Look, I am sure there are occasionally listings that are not from him, but mine totally was. He's a great musician, not sure about his personal attributes, but he does write some damn good stuff. It's not like he's super famous, he's just been doing this shit since we were all learning how to do basic algebra.
 

Ahh, an OSCar. I was at a music equipment sale many years ago, and there was a dog-earred OSCar for sale there with a sign that said "OSCar has been in a flood. No refunds." If I was half the gearhead then than I am now, I'd have snatched it up without blinking.
 

pretty pathetic that he thinks an OSCar is a "modular" synth. Unfortunatly, I know who he is and sadly have heard his work, it's not horrid, but nothing original, just boring copies of the latest trend.
 

I am selling a Bill Leeb grilled cheese shaped like a Korg DW6000. Mr Leeb took one bite out of it but it still looks like a synth. The bidding starts at 7 thousand.
 

Austrian native and electronic music veteran bill leeb is a very big guy at least 6,4 in height , has a kinda strange personality, he seemed aloof, distant and kind of arrogant to me when I met him - but then again where is a perfect human being?- but he may very well be a prick

amyone into alternative underground electronic goth music may know who he is - hes not some piano playing bald-headed geek nerd at least

I assume hes getting into soft synth then?
 

Anyone that's into THAT kind of music has heard of this guy. And if that's the music you listen to, then yeah - he's THAT famous.

He's done some amazing recordings. And the other guy said it right "Hard Wired" is by far the best industrial album ever. These guys were doing that kind of music before the term "Industrail" came around. So, they were the trend and not following it.
 

Ah, but he said "Industrail" which must be different, no?
 

ahh yez , Bill leeb who is from the land of leederhosen, hitler, Schwarzenegger, Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, Mahler, Schoenberg ... and falco

"come and rock me Amadeus!"


Bill can play a mean bassline
 

all that bleeb does in FLA is play the basslines- the real talent is rhys fulber (or chris peterson, depending on the cd)...

bill leeb is a total hack.
 

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

amelia - i am guessing that the poster above you is a troll.

just ignore it. replying only makes it worse.
 

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

What happened here? This starts out as some good-natured teasing, and ends up with people insulting his girlfriend...
I'm deleting all the really offensive stuff, so apologies if the thread doesn't make much sense.
 

that was mean, good you deleted that.the part about bill turning 50 is true and its not offensive in any way. (just soemones age). I went to school with him . he was born in 1956..same as me. I was in all his classes. happy 50th bill. thats a big one !
 

Actually, Throbbing Gristle did coin the term 'Industrial Music' in 1976 when they formed the record label Industrial Records. their motto was 'Industrial Music for Industrial People' although TG's music really has very little in common with what is commonly referred to as 'industrial music' these days (ministry, FLA, cab. voltaire, skinny puppy, nine inch nails, etc.)

for more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Records

Later in the 80's Throbbing Gristle founding member Genesis P-Orridge formed the band Psychic TV, where he claimed to have coined the term 'acid house.' several people have disputed that claim, even though PTV albums 'jack the tab' and 'towards thee infinite beat' are considered some of the earliest and best examples of acid house music.

for more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_house

just wondering if countering troll-bait with cold hard facts will have any effect. probably not. at least i gave it the ol' college try.
 

Look, I was just giving credit to guys of FLA as being known for Industrial Music from a LONG time ago. I happen to know those names as well - If you really want to go to the beginning, I'd say that Einsturzende Neubauten were forerunners of the Industrial genre. And what about Killing Joke? They began in the late 70s too and they were pretty much did Industrial music as well.

Besides, FLA is also known for their excellent EBM stuff as well.

And you're still a dick. :)
 

dear me.

throbbing gristle coined the term "acid house"?

that's amazing.

really, really amazing.

come on, surely you are just trolling. no one could be that misguided.
 

Well, I'd rather buy a synth from Bill Leeb than a studio from Gina Fant-Saez.

Amelia, Bill has real CD's out, which already puts him way ahead of most of the trolls here. Don't do 'em the favor...
 

i think that "amelia" is bleeb himself, trying not to look so silly for buying all those jilly cooper "novels"... haha

seriously though- get your facts straight. throbbing gristle was formed in 1975. EN was formed in 1980, and killing joke in 1978 (and in my opinion, their early material is more post-punk than industrial... now that i think of it, killing joke has always just been it's own thing- to lump them in with the industrial genere does them a great disservice).

FLA has always sounded generic to me- like they took elements of every other industrial band and used only the very basics to make their albums... you could almost take their cds and name them "this is what industrial sounds like-vol.1"or whatever... when people claim that "the scene is dead now" it's probably just because everyone sounds just like FLA now... there aren't many artists breaking the rules like TG or EN or killing joke anymore. it's pretty sad.
 

I have met Bill and Rhys on a couple of occassions. They were both very down-to-earth and more than happy to talk about just about anything. I will say they have a great affinity for classic synths and I am sure they treat them rather well. As far as musicianship goes, Bill has been involved in some truly wonderful albums. Skinny Puppy did some groundbreaking work in a genre that was developing into a new direction. When he left and formed FLA, he made it more danceable, but kept the raw edge. Tactical Neural Implant still stands as the pinnacle of electronic industrial music, IMHO. Delerium is full and lush, complex and beautiful.

Bill Leeb has been involved in some very long-term musical partnerships that have yielded amazing albums. You cannot carry on a partnership if you have nothing to give. You can be sure he played his role in any of the projects he is a part of.

Whatever your opinion of what he is like, be it through real interaction or imagined, he has made some amazing music and deserves more respect that these trolls have given him.
 

bleebs "work with skinny puppy" was minimal and i don't think it affected the direction or output of the band whatsoever...

just because i don't like bleeb's music doesn't make me a troll... i think it sounds generic- that is an opinion. it's frustrating when you try to voice your opinion about what you like and don't like and why and you get people who reply with "OMG LEEB IS GOD FLA IS THE FIRST INDUSTRAIL BAND" and unresearched timelines...

i'm not saying anything on this board that i wouldn't tell the guy in person. i don't know him, so i can't comment on his personality (although he did sound pretty arrogant in the one interview i read of his)- all i do know is i don't like his music.
 

Okay listen up.

1. Bleeb makes nice basslines.

2. FLA is inspired by Industrial such as SPK, Test Dept., Einstursend Neubaten, Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control but above all else FLA is quality EBM, given that 90% of EBM is trite shit.

3. And good thing those Jilly Cooper books are yours I was a little worried :X

kthxbai
 

I know this post is a little dated, but I want to say something to the younger posters/musicians here.

Most of the music you see mainstream, and listen to in the EBM/futurepop/Industrial scene gets its roots from bands like Skinny Puppy, FLA, EN, Caberet Volitare, Joy Division and so on. If you did some research you might find that most of your current day "Favorite" bands had influence from one of these bands. It seems many newbies to the scene think that these bands are old and outdated has-beens, but you would be suprised to know many of them are the producers of the bands you listen to now. I have a lot of influence from these bands, and respect for who they are, as with many that have posted here.
So there, my 2 cents worth.

All the bands I work with are influenced by these bands in one way or another.
TILLTHEN-www.nosajg.com-CPS Studios
 

I am not gonna read all the comments posted here, thus I am sorry if it has already been said, but well just go to mindphaser.com if you want to find out more about Bill Leeb. It pretty much sums up the quantity of output this guy has given us in 20+ years and if you decide to buy any one CD in your time, it wont matter which one, as they are all above great and most are excellent, where as some are just simply amazing. You cant go wron with this guy, he's the real deal.
 

Just wanted to add, as i realised some idiot slagged off Bill Leeb. Unbelievable man! saying he only did the basslines in FLA etc and that Rhys is the true force in FLA - nonsense! Bill Leeb is FLA and Delerium...he invented them. Some people have no clue what so ever...not only that when Rhys decided to go away for a bit Bill continued to release album after album under FLA, Delerium, Equinox, etc.. Rhys produce et al but only released 1 record - a great one too but with Bill all were amazing records, infact 'epitaph' definately better than 'Civilisation' which had Rhys back in the frame. I think Rhys is a real talent too so dont get me wrong...the guys incredible and really helped Bill over the years, in terms of equipment and ideas. He is an excellent producer!! I have no doubt they both helped each other, the same way Chris Peterson did when Rhys left. But people feed off each other and they are a band after all, thats why I am so delighted to see them all together for the new FLA - 2006!!! what a line up!!! and to be honest the best FLA album in 14 years! Anyway I will defend Bill Leeb. Sure he's a big man and can handle himself but to insult his talents is just ludicrous beacuse I cant think of anyone else in history who has consistently delivered so many great albums in the time he has...some people are just so jealous of talent eh!! I happen to love talent and what is wrong with that. Whatver that jerk said will not matter anyway, beacuse going back 15 years or so when Trent Reznor made those comments of FLA, Bill never retaliated or said a thing, he just went ahead and made more and more records, as many in one year as Trent could make in a decade...so he will just carry on and make great music, you cant stop him...into the midst...TCM
 

I don't know what Trent Reznor said, but I just met Bill Leeb, if only briefly, and he seemed like a pretty nice guy, even modest, considering his track record. I was so honored to meet someone of such talent, who is one of the original industrial rock musicians and who has consistently turned out quality music over 20 years, keeping my ass dancing on the dance floors time and time again. (I def. concur that Killing Joke is not ind. music, btw.)

BL is legendary, and so is his band, yes, in the goth/ind. world. I have met Paul Schaeffer, as well, and, let me tell you, it was far more exciting to meet BL. Of course, BL is far more attractive than PS, but I'm sure BL would have a lot more interesting things to say in five minutes than Paul Schaeffer, even if PS is "more famous." LOL.

Thanks for coming to the East Coast, BL!!
 

He is very creative, can write a killer track, and has a pltinum record. The only thing holding him back is his need to sing. Horrible.
 

all of you who have a C.D. out that has sold a generous amount of copies and is willing to post the soundscan results....... well show yourself.
 

At their best FLA produces infectious alien viruses

seriously, the amount of layers of some of their stuff is absolutely insanity
 

I guess this topic is a tad stale, but..

In high school, Caustic Grip & Tactical Neural Implant spent countless hours in my CD player... TNI is just a brilliant album and my own reference for the "what is industrial?" question. Yes, it's a bit more polished than some would like... but you've gotta love their deeply layered work.

That said, I still think NIN's The Fragile is simply better than anything FLA has released, but FLA still deserves much respect...