Leggy

Leggy's Vero Allaer is "done kissing boys who can't even hold [her] attention." A-fucking-men. Raw, catchy as hell, and utterly dance-able, Cincinnati trio Leggy make skin-bearing garage rock that isn't afraid to rip the guise off dated and romantic tropes. For example, the lyric "I thought he was Adonis/but he broke my little heart/like it was just a pinky promise." You've got to love a band that's down to throw a little shade at a Greek God.

The self-described "blond-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts" are unleashing their latest killer EP titled Dang today on Manic Static. Lucky for you, it's premiering fully below. The Ohio band may have a soft spot for their native Midwest, but their reverb-soaked style suggests the ocean is just a shimmy and a shake away. The lead single "Even Lana" (LDR is a mutual band influence) crackles and pops like a fistfull of sand thrown into an amp.

Leggy hits the road today for a tour that starts in Detroit and heads east. Catch the show and thank us in advance because this is a especially fun band with a bright future. Dates listed below. - Noisey

Earlier this year we caught up with Leggy, the Cincinnati, Ohio trio who won us over with lo-fi productions of infectious melodies, bubblegum punk and a taste of not giving a fuck.

Almost two years after their inception—and after spending most of 2015 on the road—Leggy’s dream punk creations get sharper and tighter in their new EP, Dang, soon to be released on Manic Static. Check out “Even Lana” from the up-and-coming EP below, and read about the making of and story behind it.

“Even Lana” is a sneak peek into your third EP, Dang, and your first released by Manic Static. Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect and how—if at all—it differs from your previous endeavors?

Véronique Allaer: Manic Static is a super awesome label based in Chicago and we are really excited to work with them! “Dang” is my favorite of our stuff so far. The songs were written as a group, compared to the first two EP’s in which I would bring a skeleton of a song to practice and we would finish it. They sound more cohesive as a singular release, probably because we wrote them all in a short span of time. The production aspect is also different. Our pal Sam Cowan recorded us in his basement in the span of a few hours, but the grittier, harsher sound totally fits the darker, faster feel of these songs versus our previous releases.

Kerstin Bladh: Yeah I think everything about the production of “Dang” is different and also best represents Leggy. We recorded it the day that we briefly returned from our west coast tour and almost everything was done in one take. It was a surreal whirlwind. Lately we haven’t stayed in one place for long so it’s only appropriate that we recorded as such.

Christopher Campbell: I think “Dang” does a pretty good job at capturing us in the zone. I’m stoked on the energy and urgency of the recording and feel like it syncs up with the newer jams so well. Most of the songs were written and worked out during pre-show or pre-tour practices and reflect the semi-hectic and kinda stress-tinged fun we were all having.

Tell me a little bit about this song. Why did y’all choose to premier with it and is there any cool back story to it? Who’s Lana?

VA: This is my favorite Leggy song—it just feels great to play and I love the melody. Lana is a reference to a Lana Del Rey lyric which I quote in the song saying, “Even Lana found a man who fit her better then her favorite sweater.” A line of hers I’ve always liked. These are probably the easiest lyrics I’ve written, and probably the only that were all done in one sitting. The song was inspired by the super poignant and harsh feeling you get when you see someone you used to be with out with a new beau. Seeing that can trigger all these feelings of doubt, regret and worry that maybe ending things with them was the wrong move. This song is kinda about setting pride aside, facing that feeling, and admitting that you’ve fucked up.

Would you rather be a famous musician and get paid millions of dollars to perform the same two songs for the rest of your life or be a starving artist and be free to perform whatever you want whenever you want?

VA: How “starving” are we talking? Could we still tour? Would I have candy though? I’m gonna go with the famous musician option. I could tour the same songs over and over as long as I could write and play new music on my spare time—being flown in my private jet, etc.

KB: I am already at the point where, after playing songs from our first EP I’m like, “Okay, I feel you Thom Yorke. I wouldn’t play ‘Creep,’ either.” So, I’ll go with the starving musician.

CC: I think I’d try to go with both, maybe? I know that’s a weak answer but whatever. Like, I think the Neil Young route might be cool. Even when he was touring on like, Weld, Trans, Greendale or Everybody’s Rockin’ or whatever he and the band would still play the hits and do entirely fan-fave based second sets. That, or the My Chemical Romance route. Whatever that would be.

Tell me about the gear you used in this particular song? Does it differ from the rest of the album?

VA: This is our first release in which I recorded using my Telecaster. It sounds beautiful and I adore playing it—definitely brought out the surf-rock in me.

KB: I played the only bass I’ve ever played—my dad’s 1979 P-Bass. Our tones are pretty much consistent across the album, which is partly a result of the nastiness with which it was recorded. - She Shreds Magazine

Leggy

Hailing from Cincinnati, Leggy offers a brand of rock both crushed out and fuzzed out. Thanks to the gulped vocals of guitarist Véronique Allaer, the trio’s punchy songs are the punk-pop equivalent of diary entries written in block letters with a poof-topped pen, the ink blurred ever so slightly by a tear or two falling onto the page. “Dang” (Jan. 8) builds on the happy-sad energy of the band’s superbly scruffy 2015 EP, “Nice Try,” with Allaer’s knotty takes on romance giving the crashing “Backyard” and the regret-filled kiss-off “Lana” a gooey, bittersweet center. (MAURA JOHNSTON) - The Boston Globe

Ohio garage rockers Leggy released their latest EP Dang today via Manic Static, and it's an excellent follow-up to last year's EP, Nice Try. It's catchy yet raw, with frontwoman Véronique Allaer bluntly singing about heartache: "I know I left you fervently and maddeningly / but please don't say you wish you could forget me," she sings on "Even Lana." Stream the whole thing below.
In addition to their EP release, Leggy are heading on a short tour starting today. This includes a NYC show at Shea Stadium on January 10 with Cende, The Overs, and a special guest. It's $8 at the door to get in. More info here.
Stream Dang and check out their tour dates below... - Brooklyn Vegan

One of my favorite discoveries last year was Cincinnati punk trio, Leggy. The psychedelic, riff-y punk gem Nice Try of early 2015 has been followed up with a new trip down the wallowing, grungy, static covered rabbit hole: Dang.

“Bruises” makes the first splash: vocals drowning in waves of hissing, distorted surf punk, the auditory version of trying to see a punky beach party through a snowy, salt and peppered screen of an analogue television found at a Nirvana fan’s garage sale. “Even Lana” is like an American love letter born to die for: extra bubbly guitars and vocals don’t make me sad, and don’t make me cry, but stand out like a full flavored diet Mountain Dew; while the crinkly, bold bass tastes like Pepsi cola, and the drums crash and thump like gods and monsters.

The punkest chorus comes in “Backyard,” “Like a baby smoking cigarettes, or a lash against the cornea, you are abrasive and offensive, I really gotta stop rewarding ya’.” The vicious sounds coming out of dreamy vocals is such a wonderful, powerful contrast, similar to those of Mitski’s brand of songbird brutality. The 9 minute EP is ended with “Waisted,” inexcusable lamenting backed by major secret agent bass bumping.

Dang is a dirtier sounding Leggy, adding more road rash and cigarette burns to a leather jacket running through decades of music styles. Leggy's history has ensured the listener of a good trip every time you put their music in your ears, and Dang is no exception, just another step towards this new wave of garage-grunge royalty. - Punk News

Cincinnati trio Leggy has been peddling their upbeat, poppy garage rock for a little while now, improving with each concise and catchy release. Their latest EP Dang, out now on Manic Static, is a frenzied and frantic four-track festival of upbeat jams, showing off their devil-may-care attitude with a healthy helping of pastel vibes.

Blow off steam listening to standout opener “Bruises”, which features paranoid, masked vocals over crunchy instrumentals and a vivid and visceral narrative of the titular injuries. All four tracks on Dang engage in a perfect oscillation between heavy and delicate, bringing an intriguing contemporary contrast to their throwback sound. - The Wild Honey Pie

Lately I’ve been in need of some motivation, something to grab me and kick me into overdrive. Thankfully, up and coming garage rock trio Leggy just released a new EP that is dripping with sweet saccharine pop hiding beneath surf rock infused punk that’ll have you up and dancing like a go-go dancer on speed in no time.

Dang rips off with the beachy guitars and frantic beat of “Bruises.” Véronique Allaer’s vocals rush urgently over the hazy guitars making you feel breathless by the time the track comes to an end.

Allaer named “Even Lana” as her favorite track off the four song EP when I interviewed her and it’s easy to see why. “Even Lana” is a perfect example of the succinct way Leggy punches up their biting punk rock sounds with sugary pop without losing any of the kick. “I’m done kissing boys who can’t even hold my attention,” Allaer sings over frenzied drums and crackling guitars. The track oozes 90’s alt rock with just enough pop to ensure that it will stick in your brain for days.

You’ll barely get a second to breathe before “Backyard” pulls you back under with dreamy vocals and vicious guitars. Cuttings lyrics like “Like a baby smoking cigarettes, or a lash against the cornea, you are abrasive and offensive, I really gotta stop rewarding you,” hide behind Allaner’s honeyed vocals showing how well Leggy can make punk rock feel sweeter than it ever has before.

The EP closes out perfectly with ominous guitars before launching into a surf rock infused bass line. You’ll find yourself gulping for air after Dang’s unrelenting nine minute run finishes but unable to resist hitting repeat and getting swept up in the candied punk world Leggy spins again and again.

Pick up Dang on Amazon, Bandcamp, Google, or iTunes - Under Bright Lights

So much crush!

Leggy just released a sweet new garage-pop / punk track called “Even Lana”. It’s the first single from the band’s upcoming EP titled “Dang” and first release since the Cincinnati, Ohio three-piece released their “Nice Try” EP in February earlier in the year. What’s that? You missed that release? Don’t worry Indie Underground has ya covered. Listen to a track from “Nice Try” lower in the post!

I was able to catch Leggy’s killer performance in London, Ontario about a year ago. Really hoping to see them again soon! Make sure you don’t miss seeing them live either! - Indie Underground

Leggy's star has been fast to rise over the last few years, and on their latest EP Dang it's easy to see why. The Cincinnati "lush punk" trio has been one of the most consistent bands we've followed, with each of their releases leaving a lastingly sweet impression behind.

On this 4-track EP the pace is breakneck, and the garage pop is as saccharine as ever. In a little under ten minutes, the band takes you on a joyride, their path winding past a false romance ("Bruises"), beaus that just "can't hold my attention," a "Backyard" habited by an offensive lover, and arriving at the reckoning that comes after when you finally realize sorry isn't good enough ("Waisted"). With wicked guitar lines from Veronique Allaer (who also provides the syrupy lead vocals) and Kerstin Bladh, as well as the ruthless drumming of Chris Campbell, Dang is an adventure through Leggy's corrupted Candy Land, where everything is much sweeter than it seems. - The Grey Estates

In the perfect follow up to last year’s release, Leggy’s DANG delivers a double-punch via a contextual flip, trading much of the doe-eyed adoration found in Nice Try for hints at something a bit darker.
Though they don’t entirely give up sweet, reverb-drenched vocals, they are thrown into a blender with tongue-in-cheek lyrics, heavier guitar riffs, Big Muffed-out bass lines and frantic drums for a tasty treat*. The new songs allude to falling down a rabbit hole of partying hard, sticking around for relationships that you probably shouldn’t:

"Like a baby smoking cigarettes
or a lash against the cornea
you are abrasive and offensive
I really gotta stop rewarding ya"

and realizing that none of it is exactly good for you.

"And I’m done kissing boys who can’t even hold my attention
and I’m done thinking things perpetually making me sadder"

If anyone has survived their twenties without inevitably dealing with all of these themes, I would like to give them a medal. DANG avoids self-pity, opting for a tone that is more empowering, confronting issues both external and internal.
Stream the kick-ass EP below and buy their tape from MANIC STATIC. - No Such Punk

Leggy round off the year with another dreamy punk slammer.

The Cincinnati team dominated 2015 with their EP Nice Try and plan to do so again in the new year with another collection of surf pop janglers. First taste comes in the form of “Even Lana”, the distorted lightning strike of sludgy bass melodies and the quick, jogging drums.
The upcoming EP DANG drops January 8th, 2016. - Shewolf Radio

If a lovelorn ’60s girl group was put through the punk grinder, thrown into a sweaty tour van and sent across the country, you might get something like Nice Try, the self-released sophomore album from Cincinnati’s Leggy. Made up of high school friends Véronique Allaer, Kerstin Bladh, and Chris Campbell, Leggy describe themselves as “blond-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts,” which is apt description of their latest effort.

Like their 2014 EP, Cavity Castle, their newest six-song EP was co-produced by John Hoffman and current Vacation guitarist and former Tweens drummer Jerri Queen. The result is a familiar mix of sneering garage-rock guitar riffs playing on woozy surf vibes with sinking bass and well-placed whammies that would fit well on a bill between Brenda Lee and The Cramps.

Nice Try is available to stream below, and scroll on for upcoming Leggy tour dates. - Impose

Strange how but a few short weeks ago, Cincinnati's Leggy would have been one of those bands that I'd probably have passed-by in the street without realising what a huge impact they'd be having on my listening pleasure. It's a frightening thought - aka too much good music out there - but for a chance encounter on the Twittersphere, my record collection (or at least its modern day digital equivalent) would somehow incomplete...

Leggy are back - stickmeister Chris Campbell, Kerstin Bladh cranking out a bass that will crush rib cages at five paces and Véronique Allaer not only guitar wielding but owner of that butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth voice - with a new EP, "DANG" and yet another collection of top-drawer and state-of-the-art indie-pop.

Invading the senses with distorted crashing guitar and tumbling percussion, "Bruises" hits you with 100 mph lyrics that fight to be heard above the raging sonic torrent and which are not so much sung as at times spat. It's an apt metaphor for a song that graphical demonstrates a relationship that's not so much gone bad as was fairly rotten to start with. The bruises of the song's title have left their indelible marks on Véronique's legs; "...& there are bruises on my legs where yr fingers were..." and her subsequent contempt is cutting; "...& hold yr hand like a purse I own, I know that it’s counterfeit but, I show it off like it’s real..." I've often remarked that while the devil may have all the best tunes - as Véronique ably demonstrates - women have by far the best put-down lines.

Now I'd normally suggest sitting down and prepare yourself for the EP's teaser "Even Lana", but - with Mrs Blog is on a business junket this week - while I should be writing about how ridiculously contagious this song is, I find myself bouncing around the lounge (I would say pogoing-a-go-go, but frankly the knees just aren't up to it these days...) With no lead-in, Véronique - with her sugar-and-spice-but-actually-a-mischievous-smirk vocals - playfully asks; "...I thought you said it was okay to kiss? I never tried to treat you badly..."; drums are hammered to within an inch of their lives as the bass and guitar duel it out on another noisy, energetic and perfectly presented slice of guitar driven indie-pop. Apparently an admirer of the aforementioned Ms. Del Ray, Véronique even adapt the lyrics from "Blue Jeans" ("...& Even Lana found a man who fit her better than her favourite sweater...") as she describes those feelings of sadness and anger as an ex parades their latest flame, admitting that splitting with them probably was the smartest move she's made... However the beauty of this song is that it's never maudlin (at 2' 06" it's probably best not to dwell on things for too long) - she's one tough cookie, as "fuck it, move on" appears to be her motto - and besides when percussion and guitars rattle a song along at such a whirlwind pace, it's best not to stand still and contemplate...

"Even Lana" is the first shoe-in for December's year end retrospective. Face it, if you're in a band and are struggling to work out how to hook an audience from the off, you could do a lot worse than listen to this...

Now any song that includes a chorus along the lines of ""...Like a baby smoking cigarettes, or a lash against the cornea, you are abrasive and offensive, I really gotta stop rewarding ya..." you'd think is going to be fairly brutal - which taking a leaf from spiky Toronto trio The Beverleys' debut album - with pounding percussion, distorted bass and a healthy dose of punky guitar riffs - the sound most definitely is. But the trick of "Backyard" is the way in which the band deflect this darker edge with deliciously tongue-in-cheek lyrics - extolling the 'virtues' of partying-hard and hanging out with boys that you probably wouldn't introduce to mum and dad - which are once again expertly gift-wrapped in Véronique's sugar-and-spice-but-with-a-wicked-glint-in-her-eyes vocals.

The EP closes with "Waisted" (although I'm fighting my OCD with the spelling of the song's title) and some seriously distorted bass and muddied drums which morphs into an overdose of surf-rock guitars and a not-to-sad lament that suggests "sorry" isn't so much the hardest word as just a word. As another relationship bites the dust, the song is yet reminder that the troubled road of romance is a rather bumpy journey. Indeed, there's a case to be made that "DANG" offers a quartet of thoroughly modern vignettes about the trials and tribulations of 21st Century dating from the perspective of someone for whom the phrase "little back number" can only refer to a pair of Dr Martens' Original 1460s.

"DANG" is "Nice Try" redux - darker - frayed around the edges and a little more world-weary - (or as Punk News puts it; "...adding more road rash and cigarette burns to a leather jacket...") but still drawn from the same heady concoction of garagy Lo-Fi, post-punky, surf rockin, with a dash of grunge thrown-in, home-brew indie-pop (phew...) that has made the the band's back catalogue a breath of fresh air. - Reclaiming the Colonies, One State at a Tim

Secret Friends Fest kicks off at The Loving Touch tonight. Eighteen musical acts will perform over two days on two separate stages. One of the acts playing tonight at 10 p.m. is a band from Cincinnati called Leggy. I was sent a link to their soundcloud and I really liked what I heard. Punk-esque music reminiscent of some of my favorite riot grrl bands.

I decided to reach out and ask them a few questions. I talked to guitarist and vocalist Veronique Allaer and drummer Chris Campbell about the band and what made them decide to drive to Ferndale for the fest. Check out what they had to say, give their tunes a listen, and head up to the LT to catch them perform!

HID- How did the three of you meet and become Leggy?
CC- "We met in high school and became fast friends. back then Vero and Kerstin had a band and I bugged them constantly about joining but always got rejected. everyone went to college and finished and when Vero moved back we all got a place together and decided to start a band. I think the idea had come up a couple years prior during a drunken home-for-the-holidays friend hang. Like a “no seriously, oh my god, really, let’s start a band” kind of conversation. Then we just started playing a ton of shows around town and in nearby cities and hit the road as quickly as we possibly could."

HID- Why did you name the band Leggy?
VA- "I like the word because it's kinda old fashioned and strange and still identifiably feminine. Also, Chris is shy about it, but he used to be a leg model as a kid ;)"

HID- Why did you decide to come to Michigan and play the Secret Friends Fest?
CC- "Michigan is cool and we’ve had a ton of fun past couple times through the state. This will be our first time in the Detroit area and we’re super stoked about it. We decided to come because we hadn’t been up in awhile and because after playing a couple shows with the stellar PONYSHOW, we were asked to be a part of the fest and how could we say no?! What a stacked line-up! Also, I think Kerstin was a huge Wings fan growing up, and Destroy All Monsters and The Gories and Negative Approach and stuff were all seminal bands for me, so Michigan/Detroit has always been a magical place in our hearts (obvs)."

HID- Why do we need to see your set at SFF?
VA- "You need to come see our set because it's our first time in Detroit and we need people to be our homies and hang and party and chill and whisper sweet Rust Belt nothings to us."
CC- "Because we try our hardest to be a fun and enjoyable live band and we've got some new never before heard cuts! No, but for real though, because I mean like what if you don’t come and see us and then at the show we’re like, “yo in that interview where we said how we met and became Leggy? surprise we were lying and we’re actually aliens and have been living here for centuries and y’all are the only people who know” before revealing our true forms."


HID- Who was your biggest musical inspiration and why? Personal and as a band?
VA- "I'd say musically I am most inspired by garage rock revival bands like The Vines, The Von Bondies, and The Libertines. I learned guitar by looking up tabs to their songs haha. I also am fascinated with musicians who use lyrics to craft a super identifiable image - Lana Del Rey and Joanna Newsom for example. Every song of theirs is like looking deeply into the someone else's world."

HID- What's the biggest misconception about Ohio?
CC- "That it’s nothing but sprawling farmland and farm animals. Like, I mean there are some humans and hills and a few cities and rivers sprinkled in there too man, jeez. Some people also seem to think that there aren’t cool bands from Ohio, or that there’s no reason to play music here, which is so far off from reality. Some of the best bands ever and some of the best bands jamming the world right now are from Ohio!"

HID- Describe your music to someone who has never heard you before.
VA- "Lush punk"


Make sure to catch the band live at 10 p.m. at The Loving Touch. - Hip in Detroit

It's finally officially spring and that means it's time to pop the peach champagne and kick off your high-heeled shoes. If Leggy's debut EP Cavity Castle is a sugar rush, their follow-up EP Nice Try is a day-drinking buzz — stronger and sunnier with more bite. The Cincinnati trio of Véronique Allaer, Kerstin Bladh, and Chris Campbell have spent the year since Cavity Castle almost constantly playing shows, whether it's a local residency or mini tour, and it's evident on the new EP. Allaer sings more confidently, playfully pushing and pulling the lyrics out of her mouth on "July" in a way that's flirty, but also totally cool and intimidating, like mermaids of ancient legend (which brings the line "Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea" to a whole new level). That's not the only time Leggy references mythology, more obviously on "Adonis," yet the advice is relevant as ever: "Our twenties aren't for playing safe."

But if your Adonis, I think, or Apollo doesn't work out, just put on "Grrls Like Us" on repeat and get drunk with your girlfriends because who else are you gonna shout, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, but girls like us don’t grow on trees" with? The infectious single combines all the best things about Leggy: a hip-shake-friendly bassline, drums you want to headbang to, and Allaer's vocal flourishes that are irresistible to mimic on every sing-along (and there are a lot of sing-alongs because the main thing about Leggy songs is that they get stuck in your head forever). The way Allaer spits out "The future’s shining like a jar of fucking fireflies" makes me believe it's the best Lindsay Weir line Linda Cardellini never said. John Hoffman and Jerri Queen return as co-producers for Nice Try, rounding out Leggy's genre-spanning punk-meets-pop-meets-old school rock with a surf vibes sprinkled on top — perfect EP opener/introduction "Peach" epitomizes this. Also coming back for round two is the track "High Heeled Shoes," this time titled "HHS 2" and given a punched up, fuzzier rework of the hazy, wandering original. Giving "HHS" a more upbeat, thus subtlety sinister, spin on Don Draper's likely inner theme song ("I'm never coming home, I really lost my way") showcases how much Leggy's grown in such a short time, and they're only going to get better. There are plenty of bands in the sea, but ones like Leggy don't grow on trees. - The Le Sigh

I first discovered Cincinnati’s self-described swoon punk trio, Leggy, a few weeks ago when I wrote up a preview of this year’s Secret Friend’s Fest. I was instantly hooked to their punk infused with surf rock and sweet pop sounds. Thankfully for me, their new ep, Dang, was days away from releasing. Even better, I got the opportunity to sit down with singer / guitarist Véronique “Vero” Allaer to talk about everything Leggy.

First off, I love a good origin story so what’s Leggy’s?

Vero: Kinda a crazy story actually. a few weeks after graduating college in 2012, I took an accidental tumble off of a fire escape that resulted in a broken hip and a huge change in plans. I had a loose idea to go to grad school but I ditched those plans and moved back to Ohio and into a house with Kerstin (Bladh) and Chris (Campbell), and we started talking about forming a band and finally did it in 2014.

Your sound is an interesting one. Punk tinged with bubble gum pop with lyrics that bite. Where do you guys draw your inspiration from?

Vero: Thank you! I am super influenced by garage rawk revival bands like The Vines and The Strokes. I learned guitar by looking up their tabs. They were my favorite bands back in the day. I also thought that they were made up of total cuties, which may have influenced my adoration of the music. Lyrically, I look to songwriters who use their lyrics to create an identifiable personality or identity (like Lana Del Rey, Joanna Newsom, and Kesha) even if some of it is fictionalized. I also admire lyrics that can cut you to your core- like The Arctic Monkeys. Super personal, vitriolic shit. It made me realize that not censoring your feelings at all can really make for a better song.

Is there a song / album / artist that you heard that immediately made you realize that you were destined to do music?

Vero: I can’t point to one specific artist or album. A prominent fascination / fixation on the music industry- specifically female performers- is something I remember from an early age. Hearing the band Eisley when I was 13 really inspired a lot of my initial songwriting attempts.

Dang is your third EP, is there anything different about the way you guys write and record compared to your first or second release?

Vero: Dang is the first EP which we all wrote the music together, rather than me bringing the skeleton of a song to practice and then finishing it together. Recording it was a lot more spontaneous than our other EPs, it happened in a basement of our friend Sam Cowan (who recorded and produced the EP) in a few hours. I was literally finishing the lyrics as I was about to record them.

If anyone that might read this is going to hear one song off Dang that will introduce them to all things Leggy, which song should they listen to?

Vero: “Even Lana!” It’s my favorite Leggy song. I love the melody and feel great about performing it. The lyrics are super personal and were written in one sitting. I also love the drums and bass, I think they are super catchy.

For me, Dang is an EP I would put on to get me pumped for the day ahead. What’s your go to song / album that gets you ready to go out into the world and kick as much ass as possible?

Vero: I would probably be listening to Drake or The Weeknd. I really like top 40 pop and hip hop and they (Kerstin and Chris) always make fun of me for it.

You’ve spent a lot of time on the road over the last year, what’s your favorite thing about touring?

Vero: So many favorite things!!!! Traveling and seeing new cities is amazing. Touring is definitely the cheapest way to see new places. Meeting new people sounds cliché but is so rewarding as well. Especially new cuties - Under Bright Lights

The rise of Leggy as an aspiring Cincinnati pop-punk trio began with a bad fall taken by Veronique Allaer, the woman who started it.

In 2012, she had just graduated from American University. On the Fourth of July, while admiring Washington, D.C.’s fireworks. she fell from a fire escape and broke her hip.

Amid the pain, she had an a-ha moment. “The plan was for me to go to grad school for philosophy,” Allaer said. “But I could have died. So I said, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want to go on. I want to be in a band.’ ”

Allaer moved back to Cincinnati and shared a house with Kerstin Bladh – her close friend from high school at Ursuline Academy – and Bladh’s friend, Christopher Campbell. (The latter two had attended University of Cincinnati.) Allaer’s plan was into action. She plays guitar, sings and writes the inventive lyrics, Bladh plays bass, and Campbell drums.

For a name, Allaer chose Leggy. “I like that word because it’s kind of old-fashioned yet still distinctly feminine,” she said. “It definitely makes you think of women, which is what I’d like people to associate with Leggy.”

The band, which has been developing a national following through incessant touring, headlines a concert Friday at Over-the-Rhine’s MOTR Pub. It will mark the release of a limited-edition four-song cassette EP called Dang. (It can also be downloaded.)

"Even Lana," a Dang song made available online early, defines the trio’s exuberantly jumpy yet melodic sound. Allaer’s voice at times wrestles with the clangor of the band, and at other times expressively dominates when the playing falls back to more minimalist rhythm.

“It’s definitely pop music, but it comes across as rougher or grittier than typical pop,” Allaer explained. “But that’s just us. We only know to play instruments like that. We all taught ourselves.”

While Dang is Leggy’s third EP since forming in 2014, it is the first to not be self-released. The Chicago label Manic Static, which is devoted to a similar kind of energetically alternative rock as Leggy’s, is issuing it. It was recorded in a friend’s basement here.

And it follows a hot gig at last year’s MidPoint Music Festival and two nominations for the upcoming Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. One of those nominations is for Best Punk/Post-Punk Band.

The other is for Artist of the Year, an honor they share with Walk the Moon. - Cincinnati Enquirer

Ohio's been a pretty good breeding ground for catchy lo-fi punk lately, thanks to All Dogs, Tweens, Vacation, Boys, Sports, and probably way more. Yet another one is Cincinnati trio Leggy, who, like Sports, played Indie Pop Prom in Brooklyn last month and won us over at that show.

Leggy recently put out a new EP, Nice Try, which was recorded by Jerri Queen of two of those above-mentioned Ohio bands (Vacation and Tweens), along with John Hoffman. It feels rooted in swaggering garage rock, but doesn't just go for overly-aped '50s rock n' roll. Songs like "A Reverie" and "July" have a certain darkness to them, and singer Véronique Allaer has a few vocal tricks up her sleeve that are a little atypical of the genre too. Listen for yourself below.

The band also have tour dates, including SXSW, but nothing else scheduled for NYC at the moment. Those are listed below too.

Leggy -- Tour Dates
March 12 - Memphis TN @ MURPHY'S
March 13 - Denton TX @ 35 Denton >> Hailey's Club
March 14 - Austin TX @Beerland, Texas
March 15- Austin TX @ PARTY
March 16 - Austin TX @ PARTY
March 17 - Tulsa OK @ Hillman's Garage
March 22- Louisville KY @ Haymarket Whiskey Bar
March 23 - Nashville TN @ Springwater Supper Club
March 24 - Cincinnati OH @ THE COMET
March 28 - Cincinnati OH Tacocracy - Brooklyn Vegan

Remember those Best Coast singles that made you go Holy Shit and stub your toes dancing around the house in pure unfiltered joy (made me anyway). Well guess who just nails it plus some more. Leggy. Cincinnati-based trio. A little Screaming Females, a little The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a little Neko Case played at high speed. Pretty damn infectious.

Hardcore Plumtree fans will appreciate Leggy’s melodic punk updated for modern tastes. And beneath the modulated wash are pop structures played straight. Grrrls Like Us is filled with positive Flutterboard vibes. Adonis mixes The Cure with something out of All Hands On The Bad One. It’s never pretty because it doesn’t really want to be. But it can be fiercely tuneful when Leggy’s torrential thrashing boils into thick fevers. Kerstin Bladh’s synth throb bass lays the groundwork for Véronique Allaer to do her Johnny Ramone thing and wail like she don’t care. Even better when the momentary blank spaces feed Morricone levels of Western drama: when Allaer puts down terse arpeggios like a gunslinger.

Choice cut of Nice Try is either A Reverie or July. Both confrontational and high on what’s either excitement or righteous indignation. What’s for sure is the guaranteed power trip. Leggy is out for blood.

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Listen/Purchase Nice Try

Also check out a great interview the band did with She Shreds, also a great publication that deserves your support. - Jump into Limbo

Cincinnati's Leggy are one of those bands I've discovered thanks to "six degrees of Twitter separation" (where everyone on Twitter is interconnected by a mere half-a-dozen 'follows' or less from one another). Anyway, the 'follow' in question was the result of hearing "Peach" from their EP "Nice Try" and then raving about it in 140 characters... It's the kind of song that makes you want to bounce around the room while falling hopelessly in love with as good a collection of top-notch and crazily addictive indie-pop that has been released this year (it also caused an overwhelming desire to stump-up for last year's "Cavity Castle.")

But first some introductions. Leggy are Chris Campbell behind the drums, Kerstin Bladh on bass and Véronique Allaer on guitar - owner of a voice that is as dangerous as a fine margarita - deceptively sweet, but with the kick of a mule.

"Peach" hits you in the solar plexus with rib-crushing bass before winding-up and launching into a riot of 100 mph guitars, pummelled drums and Véronique's distinctive wail bemoaning falling in love when you're seemingly already in love - although this love is dangerous and fun, as opposed to 'safe' - I suspect that deep down she doesn't care, girls aren't necessarily sugar and spice and all things nice; "...I had a boyfriend and when we kissed, it was sweet, like eating a peach, I met another, I couldn’t eat couldn’t sleep..." And then about two-thirds through the song slows as deeply resonant bass, fuzzy, distorted guitars and vocals as the song literally drips with a sexual tension and ferocity; "...I saw his handsome face, I never should’ve looked in his eyes, His leg once brushed my leg, I let him rest his gaze on my thighs ..."

"Peach" fuzzes out and fades into "Grrrls like us" and a song whose outlook is cooler than the inside of an industrial freezer; "...There are plenty of fish in the sea, But girls like us don’t grow on trees... states Véronique in a disarmingly matter of fact way. There's a pulsating bass groove (tips hat in the direction of Kerstin Bladh) that permeates throughout the delicious mélange of surf-rock meets punk crashes into a straight-up R&B groove, all the while her (too die for - seriously) vocal inflections make sure you hang on to every word that is rhythmically spat-out during the song's sexually-ambivalent verses. The song is obviously written from a woman's perspective - but it ain't sweet and demure - these girls wear laced-up boots and don't take shit from anybody...

Now I'm not really up on my Greek and Roman mythology, but trust me, "Adonis" possesses one of those ridiculously infectious hooks that not only drills straight through your skull (that'll be the metronomic drum beat then) and - like the worst hangover ever - you can't shake it. Even more 'annoyingly' humming along to it, I find myself veering off on a tangent into a tune that's on the tip of my tongue... And that's part of the beauty of listening to Leggy - they borrow from those hidden recesses of your musical memory, jumble everything-up and then add a dash of "je ne sais quoi" (or however they pronounce it Cincinnati) to create something remarkably fresh. Take for instance the verses' deceptively simple rhyming couplets that launches straight into a glorious soaring refrain; "...Just as Paris chose Aphrodite, I think this may end very very poorly, But come here babe, you know I think you're charming, And our 20s aren't for playing safe..." - arguably everything you want in a song can be found in these 2'13"... So of course the first thing "A reverie" hits you with is another solid hook - this time all distorted bass, guitar and yet more like-clockwork percussion that's so precise you could set your watch by it. There's an almost ethereal, breathless quality to the vocals which perfectly capture the mood of the song's lyrics.

It seems that the Blogosphere has picked-up on "HHS 2" (as in "High heel shoes 2" - the second pair?) as this EP's 'best track.' Lyrically it's every parents' nightmare - as in a similar vein to "Peach" - the song is all about being hopelessly in love with the neighbourhood 'wrong 'un.' While I'm more of a music-fits-a-mood type of person, make no mistake this song is highly addictive (i.e. fun) and I'm already sold on the sugary-sweet "Oohs" and "Whay-hays" that leads into sing-along chorus. HHS 2" again encapsulates everything you want to hear in a song - light, frothy and featuring a spot-on chugging guitar riff - it's not only an instant indie-pop classic but quite probably a mosh fave (which I hope to discover for myself the next time the trio venture back to the warmer climes of LA).

"July" closes the EP with yet another throbbing and fuzzed bass riff and yet more rhyming couplets; in another nod to "Adonis" the lyrics delve into the realms of mythology; "...Your hair was glowing golden and yr skin was bronze, Just like I imagine Paris, When he first met Helen, so how can this be wrong??" To all intents and purposes "July" is a summary song - full of imagery of wholesome apple pie, plucked petals, bronzed skin and bare thighs - musically there's a far darker and heavier under-current, the vocals are at times deliberately washed and muddied, as if a heavy dose of hindsight has forever tarnished those seemingly innocent memories. "July" is perhaps the most ambitious track here and one that augers well for both Leggy and our futures.

"Nice Try" is a glorious celebration of state-of-the-art indie home-brew. As I've already hinted, the band have borrowed snippets from a wide range of genres - punk, garage-rock, a touch of grunge and indie-pop - all stirred very well to create an EP where every song - resplendent with knock-out hooks that compete to outdo one another - sounds both reassuringly familiar yet always original.

Seriously Leggy tick all the right boxes - those of you who stumble across this blog from time to time will have already ascertained that the combination of jangly guitars and female vocals makes me go weak at the knees... Listening to both "Nice Try" and "Cavity Castle" have turned my joints to jelly. In an interview Véronique and Chris hint at the band dropping their debut album next year. In the meantime the band have pencilled in a new EP - "DANG" to which the storming "Lana" (and a reference to Lana Del Rey) serves as a teaser - one that on the basis of everything they've released so far suggests is going to to be appearing in 2016's retrospective... - Reclaiming the colonies, one state at a time....

"Welcome To The Gravity Castle" Q+A with Leggy
March 30, 2015 12pm
Text: Lauren Rearick
Leggy is one of the sweetest things to come out of Cincinnati, Ohio in recent memory. The trio of Véronique Allaer, Kerstin Bladh and Christopher Campbell make dreamy bubblegum punk that’s equal parts infectious and edgy. After teaming up with Jerri Queen of Tweens for their first EP, “Cavity Castle” the band called on him again for their recent release, “Nice Try” an EP all about crushing and being the baddest chick you can be.
She Shreds: How did Leggy come together?
Véronique Allaer: After I graduated college in DC, I didn’t really know what I wanted to be doing. That summer I had this crazy experience where I fell off a fire escape and broke my hip and I could have died. Something like that really makes you get your priorities in order. Music was my first passion but it had been on the back-burner when I was in school, trying to discover something I loved that I could “realistically” pursue. I knew immediately after the fall incident that I wanted to start a band and at least attempt to play music. So I moved back to Cinci, into an apt with K + C and we started a band!
SS: When did each of you first realize you were into music?
VA: My dad has always been into music, and it was what we bonded over when I was growing up. He took me to some amazing concerts when I was little - Lillith Fair, Spice Girls, and exposed me to some alt-rock 90s goddesses that definitely still influence me to this day - Gwen, Courtney Love, Alanis, etc.
Kerstin Bladh: My mom was always listening to music during my childhood so it became one of my first interests in addition to be a comfort. She would put on Carole King or Beach Boys tapes for me at bedtime and always had something playing around the house. Also, my dad is an audio engineer so I got to experience live music at a very young age and always had access to instruments.
SS: What gear do you currently use and what were the first instruments that you learned?
VA: The guitar I use most often is the first guitar I ever owned, a little Fender Squier. My mom took me to a pawn shop on my 16th birthday and let me pick out what I wanted and it’s served me faithfully ever since. I’ve bought another guitar since then because I thought I needed to upgrade my gear situation, but I keep coming back to the Squier because I love it’s tone. Amp-wise, I use a Fender Champion because it’s simple, has a ton of built in effect options, and (most importantly) because it’s surprisingly light!
KB: I play a 1979 Fender P-Bass. I'm spoiled. I've never played any other bass. My dad rents backline gear and has kindly let me hold onto his bass on a semi-permanent basis. My cab is an Ampeg Portaflex 210 and the head is an Acoustic 200. My first instrument, however, was a drum set that I got for Christmas at age 7.
SS: What was the recording process like for this record and how did it differ from Cavity Castle?
VA: We recorded Nice Try in Trap Door Studios in Cincinnati, the same place we recorded Cavity Castle. Trap Door Studios is inside an old church and we recorded in the “sanctuary”, up in the front where the pulpit used to be. So both records have a really nice, naturally full/lush sound that came from recording there.
KB: I think the biggest difference for Nice Try was that we had a vision for the overall sound and therefore we had a lot more input for the recording process and post-production whereas with Cavity Castle we had never been in a studio environment.
SS: What advice would you give young guys and gals who want to follow their musical dreams?
KB: Don’t worry too much about your skill level. You can make music even if you’ve never picked up an instrument.
VA: Start a band with people you like to be around, because you’ll be around each other a lot. Be considerate, be optimistic, be proud of the music you’re making! Even when you’re not having fun, try to fake it because it’s such a bummer watching a band that doesn’t seem to be enjoying themselves. Be laid back. Be friendly. Go with the flow, things never go according to plan and sometimes that’s a great thing. Discover the wonders of baby powder. - She Shreds

Welcome to Ohio. Home to obsessive football fans, monstrous bowls of chili, and the Drew Carey Show’s danceworthy theme song.

Drew lived in Cleveland, a totally different city than the one Leggy calls home, a three piece outfit from neighboring Cincinnati who recently hit us with their Nice Try EP—and made us dance some more. And all the while, rethink the coolness of a city we associated more with staunch Republicans than the catchy hooks of a punk band. It’s embarrassing to be so uninformed.

Nice Try kicks off as frontwoman Veronique Allaer hops in a time machine set for an era when Elvis’ hips caused mass hysteria and Donny Osmand was just a pale faced Mormon alter boy. She returns with a mix of classic R&B harmonies and storied, saccharine romance, laying a tale of cut-up heartache against velvety indie punk like the twinkling miniatures of a charm bracelet. Peach flesh, Cupid and a classic good-boy, bad-boy love triangle blow in a whirlwind confessional swoon backed with steady punk beats and one darkly infectious bassline. The ache of her apologies seem to bloom against the band’s murky aura, as we think of Allison hopping on Cry-Baby’s motorcycle, hugging his Levi-clad waistline close as the pair fade into John Waters’ bizarro sunset.

Like Allison, Allaer doesn’t stay innocent either. From 1960’s Motown to third wave rock and rollers, “Peach” fuzzes into “Grrls Like Us,” a tune painting Leggy in a brazen, early ’90s riot light. Here we imagine life on the front lines of candy coated nightlife, as the band sips cheap champagne and contemplates the guy across the bar. It’s a womanly sound, but by no means coy—one with the taste of cherries and nicotine and faintest air of trouble.

Leggy punches on with a “we-don’t-give-a-shit” energy, and we accept it like advice from a magic eightball. “A Reverie” is the most straightforward punk and—dare we say it—discontented track of the album’s six. Allaer maintains her bubblegum sensibility but kicks sugar to the curb, sliding vamp against clashing percussion and building, surfy guitar that question our loyalty like the aggression of the tune’s condemning lyrics. “Dancing like the stars on your birthday, I shine/Get close and then strive to be perfect, you know why.” Hinging on the band’s undoubted independent streak, the song cuts assumed self-assuredness into craving purity, desired intimacy and sometimes, more than anything, the need to get away.

Leggy’s final tracks stay in the shadows despite visions of barefoot walks, apple pies, and sunny days at the beach. It’s the power of these images that move us, seeing familiarities of our youth with the weird in-betweenness of our 20’s. As the fuzzy bassline of “July” slinks into our eardrums we nod to the power of simple sights to make our heart skip with a stammer, as faded memories rush back with the nostalgia of broken promises, old notes, and the cracked lens of hindsight. - Boston Hassle

From demo compilations of old material to split EP’s to full-lengths, everything on this list is worthy of an immediate purchase. A few of these are pulverizing shows of force, a few are immediate sugar-rush blitzes, and a few are quietly devastating. All of them are releases I’ve listened to multiple times over and formed very extreme connections with on a myriad of levels. Don’t make a regrettable decision by not giving any of the unfamiliar titles a fair shot: there’s a release here for just about everyone.

21. Leggy – Nice Try

“Grrrls Like Us” provided a fitting end-cap to Leggy’s first major year as a band. They’d previously released the commendably great Cavity Castle EP, which wound up being quite a few people’s favorite EP of 2014. Now, the band’s hell-bent on capitalizing on that momentum and they’re doing it in enthralling fashion. Nice Try, an EP the band released last month, isn’t just the strongest work of their young career- it’s a gigantic leap forward for their songwriting. Never anything less than full-throttle, Nice Try is an invigorating reminder that this band’s not going anyway anytime soon. - Heartbreaking Bravery

The pitfalls of crushes. Dating requires a whole bunch of effort, and if you’re lucky it leads to something wonderful and great, and If you’re unlucky, well, then on the second date a dude tells you he likes to paint abstract images of toilets to hang in his bathroom (actual thing that happened to me.)
Leggy takes all the charm and excitement of falling for a new boo and makes sweet and irresistible garage pop from it. Nice Try is their latest collection of loveable jams from the Cincinnati pop-tarts that I myself have an immense crush on. This EP is another entry in their already sweet story, their dreamy tunes coming together like a hastily scrawled out journal entry about your newest crush, filled with doodled hearts and daisies.
Those first magical moments of crushing are filled with a hazy, wonderful aura, much like the spirited backing of fuzz on opener, “Peach.” Lead vocalist Veronique sweetly laments over a kiss that was sweet, “like eating a peach,” and like all ladies in love the thoughts about that kiss just won’t quit, even when she’s moved on. Even the nerves, jitters and insecurities that keep you at night are reflected on a re-worked version of a previous single, “HH2,” and on “Adonis,”
Here’s the thing I’ve come to love about Leggy though, and it’s something all of us crushing gals and guys need to realize, it’s okay to be totally confident in yourself, and realize that sometimes things just don’t work out. Sometimes you just need to have fun, and learn to love yourself, and as the trio declares on “Girls Like Us,” “there are plenty of fish in the sea, but girls like us don’t grow on trees.” It’s true, there’s nobody out there quite like Leggy, and we’re totally smitten. - The Grey Estates

Leggy’s new track, “Girls Like Us” starts us off with big heaping plate of ‘tude. “There are plenty of fish in the sea/But girls like us don’t grow on trees,” Veronique Allaer tells us pointedly throughout the song, taunting us with vibrantly direct vocals. The song has a perfect proportion of surf to punk rock, with Allaer’s distinct vocals driving the whole thing forward; pay attention to her vocal inflections, they make everything so much better. Clocking in at two minutes, the Cincinnati outfit is making a statement here: they mean business, they’re ready to party, and they won’t take none of your bullshit neither.

“Girls Like Us” will be available on their new EP, which was produced again by John Hoffman and Jerri Queen (of Tweens) and will be out later this month. Leggy is currently in the midst of a Canadian/Midwest tour, you can see the remaining dates after the stream. - Impose Magazine

Leggy is an emerging group out of Cincinnati’s punk scene made up of high school friends Véronique Allaer, Kerstin Bladh, and Chris Campbell. They describe themselves as “blond-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts,” which is totally apt, since genre-wise they’re neither here nor there—they’re a little punk, a little pop, a lot of dynamic changes. In April, they debuted their first EP, Cavity Castle, which was produced by Jerri Queen, the drummer of Cincinnati trash pop outfit Tweens. You can hear a familiar brand of snark in Leggy, but with a tad more bubblegum sweetness in the vocals.

The EP feels a bit like the end of summer. While some of the tracks are warm-weather jams, all are varying degrees of dark in hue. Allaer said in an interview with The Grey Estates that Cavity Castle is “the sounds of a girl caught in a ‘he loves me/he loves me not’ whirlwind pseudo-relationship,” and the whirlwind is certainly audible. Within the span of six tracks, the EP shifts effortlessly from upbeat and poppy to moody and contemplative and back. Allaer’s voice is dynamic, changing in tone from saccharine to arrestingly fierce. While “Sweet Teeth” is fuzzed-out and dancey, “Alexander” channels PJ Harvey in the gripping intensity of the vocals and broody minor-key chord progression. The band maintains simplicity in their songwriting—a couple of the songs, like “Honey”, were written when the members were just 15—and still manages to pack a big punch.

Leggy just finished their first-ever tour playing with IAN last week, and they’re set to play Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati at the end of the month. They’ll be playing the fest’s “Ladies First” showcase alongside Speedy Ortiz, EMA, and Ex-Hex. You can check them out on bandcamp and stream Cavity Castle below. - Impose Magazine

Move along. There’s nothing not for you to like here. There’s nothing you won’t have heard before, either. There’s no need for that drawn face, though.

Back in the 90s, the crucial divide was between Veruca Salt and The Breeders. Which side of the line did you fall on? Did you even know there was a line? Where did That Dog come into the equation? Do sparseness and eloquence count for more than guitar lessons? I kind of listened to this – self-described as blonde-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts outta cincinnati, which may or may not put you off, depending on whether you like double umlauts, gratuitously used – because my tipster referred me to The Breeders. Playing the game of thrones for a second longer than is strictly necessary, but the second song here is SO Hersh and so NOT Deal, it makes me want to weep copious silent cascades of salty tears for our nation’s youth. (When I say our nation I am of course referring to America.) It discomfits. It unsettles. It reassures. I would have covered this for Melody Maker. (Is this a plus? I was tainted then, probably even more than I am now.) There’s a free download of the album here. Make your own mind up. - Collapse Board - Everett True

Leggy's 11-minute debut EP is a sugar rush, which is fitting as it's titled Cavity Castle and the lead track is "Sweet Teeth." The trio of "indie punk pop-tarts" formed in Cincinnati early fall last year, and already their sound and style are solid and in sync, and they've secured a local residency. Leggy are buds with THE LE SIGH favorite Tweens, and like them, Leggy's lo-fi pop is confident and flirty with lots of girly attitude (the similarities are not surprise considering Tweens' drummer Jerri Queen, also of Vacation, produced the EP with John Hoffman of Sleeves).

Cavity Castle is short and sweet, and an ace introduction. Leggy can write a hell of a pop song; I can't remember a moment when "Sweet Teeth" wasn't playing in my head this week. The melodies and singer/guitarist Véronique Allaer's voice push and pull through the hooks and bass and drum breakdowns (played by Kerstin Bladh and Christopher Campbell, respectively) right into your brain. The lyrics easily find their way in your head and are fun to sing back in Allaer's sweet tone: "Twist and turn me like a pin screw / 'Cause you know I got these baby blues for you" (And I don't even have blue eyes!). The less upbeat songs aren't as immediately infectious, but Leggy uses the opportunity to play around with the ebb and flow even more, which pays off. Closing track "Alexander" toys most with the syncopation, until it just stops, leaving you wanting. Also, is anyone immune to a Grease reference, because I'm definitely not: "By the end of the party / You'll be Danny, I'll be Sandy" on "Sweet Teeth." Cavity Castle's vintage prom queen cover art highlights Leggy's old school call back. The Grease shout out is only the most obviously instance of Pink Lady vibes, plus, "I feel like I'm still a Catholic school girl / Tracing the lines on my small, sweaty palms" on "Sky Blue." (The prom queen theme reaches a little further when you catch Allaer's cameo as the queen of Tweens' prom for their "Forever" video.) After the sugar high of Cavity Castle fades, Leggy's debut feels almost too quick, like the sad realization that you've just finished the bag of Reese's Pieces. And we're already craving more – Leggy, that is, and now chocolate, too. - The Le Sigh

Leggy delivers a hell of a debut by combining catchy melodies, punchy alt rock, and an authentic voice. 8/10

Great albums often have moments when you realize that this is going to be something above and beyond the normal, average release. On last year’s San Fermin, it came when the band brought in the light harmonies about 40 seconds into the first track. For Julia Holter’s Loud City Song, that moment came about 4 minutes into the second track (“Maxim’s I”) when noise is reintroduced into the mix. For The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spider’s From Mars, this moment is the line that Bowie reads as “I heard telephones / Opera houses / Favorite melodies“. You get the picture — early on, in a great record, there are clear signs that things are going to be good, and I think that often, you can trace this moment to the exact second.

For Leggy’s debut release, Cavity Castle, this moment comes early — within the first few seconds of the first track. “Sweet Teeth” begins immediately with a rapid-fire verse with a melody that’s stronger than it has any right to be. It begins with just vocals, then the rest of the band jumps in, and by the third chord — a delicious minor1 — you hear it right there: that moment when you realize that this isn’t just a regular band, but a great one. Leggy’s EP, Cavity Castle, is great. It’s catchy. It’s punchy. It’s strong, precise, and smart. And you’ll realize it within the first 10 seconds of the first track.

Unfortunately for “Sweet Teeth”, the chorus of the song can’t compare to the incredible melody set by the verse, so it puts the song in a weird situation where the repeated chorus isn’t quite as enjoyable as the verse. But hey, I can think of harsher criticisms than “your verse is too catchy.” Many of the tracks on Cavity Castle have excellent, strong choruses: “High Heeled Shoes”, “Sky Blue”, “Chardonnay Summer”. Beyond the normal guitar/bass/drums fare, there’s plenty of tiny additions to this EP that will go unnoticed on the first few spins: the lead-guitar echo (?) when the band kicks in on “Sweet Teeth”, the faint police sirens during the first chorus of “High Heeled Shoes”. If you’re a fan of the recent re-emergence of ’90s alt rock — thanks to bands like Potty Mouth, Speedy Ortiz, or Parquet Courts — there’s a lot here to love. Hell, even if you’re not a fan of those bands, there’s still a lot here to love.

Musically, some of Leggy’s references points are closest to Veruca Salt, the Breeders, or That Dog. Sure, these are all “girl” bands, and as condescending as that qualifier may be, it feels warranted here because of the authorial voice of Cavity Castle. This record has a clear, definite, and identifiable feminine2 voice — a voice that is best summarized by this line from “Sweet Teeth”: “You kissed me first when we were 19 / Now we’re halfway through our 20′s / Honey are you feeling naughty? / Have you memorized my body?“. Leggy captures the point of view of someone in their mid 20′s, right in that sweet cynical spot where love feels like it might be the only thing special in a world that’s often rote and procedural. Beyond that, it’s vulnerable, sexual, and idiosyncratic. But the stories of love that take place on Cavity Castle happen within the context of cab rides, house parties, 3AM cigarettes, and lots of candy. But Leggy differs from those above bands (i.e., Veruca Salt et al.) by having this distinct kind of perspective and point of view. Lyrics in the ’90s sucked.

What makes Cavity Castle such is a good listen is simple: it’s catchy and it feels authentic. Even though we’ve heard music that sounds like this before, Leggy’s able to bring it a panache that other bands don’t even try to attempt. Devoid of irony, Cavity Castle feels like it captures a person within a certain time, and a certain place. It’s a snapshot. But again, what makes this EP great isn’t that it feels autobiographical, but that it’s autobiographical on top of being really catchy. This is a hell of a start. What’s next?

Key Tracks:
“Sweet Teeth:
“Chardonnay Summer”
“Sky Blue” - Ear Buddy

In 2013, Veronique Allaer celebrated the completion of her political science/philosophy degree from American University by climbing to the top of a three-story building in Washington D.C. for a better view of the Fourth of July fireworks. It nearly became the headline of Allaer’s obituary; in her revelry, she fell off the building.

Luckily, she only suffered a broken hip and contusions from which she recovered. But the extremely close call made her reorder her life priorities in a skipped heartbeat.

“I loved music but was not taught that I could be a musician, because it’s not realistic,” Allaer says. “I wanted to go to grad school for philosophy. That summer I graduated, I fell off the building. It wasn’t super crazy, but it was life changing. I could have easily died. I knew I wanted to be a musician. Why not? You could die any minute. I hadn’t written or played music since high school, but I was on crutches for two and a half months so I was staying inside alone all day and I started writing songs. It was a blessing in disguise. I’m much more on my correct life path. And my parents were so relieved that I wasn’t dead, when I said, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m not going to grad school and I’m actually going to start a band,’ they were like, ‘Do it! Whatever you want!’ ”

With her course corrected, Allaer recovered and returned to Cincinnati, contacting best friend/co-class president at Ursuline Academy high school Kirsten Bladh (who was in the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP program) about getting into band mode. Bladh, a drummer, switched to bass, while a second guitarist ultimately didn’t work out.

Chris Campbell, longtime friend and fan of Allaer and Bladh’s high school band White Linen, was a logical choice behind the drums, since he was also their roommate. And thus was born … Sweet Teeth.

“We played three shows as Sweet Teeth and then did our first show as Leggy in February (last year); we found out there was a different band called Sweet Teeth and they were really bad and we didn’t want to risk any confusion,” Allaer says with a laugh.

“I had already written the song ‘Sweet Teeth,’ so we just kept it as a song and transitioned it that way.”

“We didn’t want to do a Bad Company thing,” Bladh quips. “A song, an album and a band [all called the same thing].”

Leggy’s sound — as evidenced in its live presentation, on Cavity Castle, its digital/physical cassette release, and on its latest digital track, “Grrls Like Us” — is an amalgam of Allaer’s seminal love of the Vines’/Strokes’ simple power chord/garage reverb equation, Bladh and Allaer’s early affection for Joanna Newsom’s Avant Psych Folk and their mutual love of Lana Del Rey and St. Vincent. All of that runs on the atomic power provided by Campbell’s thunderous drum skills, honed by years of pounding the anvil behind a number of local Punk/Hardcore bands.

“I feel like my main influence is that before, for the most part, I was in Hardcore and straight Punk bands, so my playing style is still that way,” Campbell says. “When I try to tone it down, I still usually end up playing fast and loud. So adding that to the St. Vincent/Lana Del Rey mix, it’s intense. Even when I dial it back, I still break cymbals and drumheads.”

“We didn’t really know how we sounded as a band until we had our first recordings,” Allaer says. “We were like, ‘We’ve got this sound going on, let’s just run with it.’ ”

“There are things that we all listen to and are influenced by,” Bladh adds. “But then we each have our own distinct music taste.”

A straight, short line could be drawn between Leggy and Tweens, last year’s Cincinnati Entertainment Award winner for New Artist of the Year, given Tweens/Vacation drummer Jerri Queen’s role as co-producer of Leggy’s recorded output to date. But there are substantial differences between the Pop/Punk outfits.

“Outside of being kind of Punk-leaning Rock music with strong lyrics from a female perspective, we’re completely different bands,” Campbell says. “We have a completely different vibe and sound and, to a certain extent, energy when we play live.”

“The biggest difference to me is the vocal styles,” Bladh says. “Even though the lyrical content is similar.”

Leggy is hoping to hit the studio to record a full-length later in the year and will continue balancing the full-time job/touring regimen that occupied 2014. The trio is ecstatic about their New Artist CEA nomination, feeling that it validates all the effort they’ve put into Leggy over the past couple of years.

“It’s like a sign that all the work we’ve put in will reap the rewards,” Allaer says. “It’s definitely positive reinforcement. We love Cincinnati and I guess this shows they at least like us a little bit back.

“And it might make our parents think we’re more legitimate.” - City Beat

Cincinnati 3-piece, Leggy, pull no punches with their brand of in your face, fuzzy, dream-pop meets garage rock sound. I especially enjoy track #4, “A Reverie” (below). It’s distorted bass and guitar along with the relentless pounding drums and sugary, fuzzed-out vocals make the track pure ear candy.

Leggy’s new EP, Nice Try, is out now and available to download on their Bandcamp page. Stop what you are doing and snag this now, you need these 6 songs in your life. - 3hive

This is Cincinnati’s Leggy and their catchy debut EP ‘Cavity Castle’. Full of glorious Garage Pop nuggets such as the fantastic opening track ‘Sweet Teeth’, the bouncy ‘Sky Blue’ & toe tapper ‘Chardonnay Summer’; they are simply irresistible.

When they slow the pace, as on the beautiful ‘High Heeled Shoes’ where a shimmering guitar shines and the singer sounds a little like Karen O or the brilliant final track ‘Honey’, they sound just as triumphant. - Route For the Underdog

So here we go, a lovely garage pop band of Cincinnati, Ohio. How predictable of me to find this irresistible...

My self-criticism aside, this band is pretty fucking sweet. They're quick and jaunty in delivery, with short, loud tracks. The singer does a fantastic job at making the vocals into the absolute highlight of the songs, even the lyrics are quite fine. They've got a good touch of the familiarity for fans of riot grrrl, late 90s garage rock and showy rock and roll, but never stress these to a point of annoyance. Instead Leggy serves to show how reinterpretation is at the core of artistic expression. Finally, I've been burning the candle at both ends with all the projects I've taken on, and I know I am due for a good old crash soon, but if I had to pick a soundtrack for this burn out, and I think it is fair to assume I do have to, Leggy has a place on it. - SpaceRock Mountain

On a closed off street in Northside, behind yesterday's Rock N’ Roll Carnival, band members of Leggy distribute the last of their cigarettes evenly amongst each other.
The three-piece “art-rock-influenced-punk-pop” band (download their EP Cavity Castle for free here and come up with your own interpretation) consisting of Véronique Allaer on guitar, Kirsten Bladh on bass and Chris Campbell on drums are fresh off their residency at The Comet. Allaer writes the lyrics, and cites musicians such as St. Vincent and Lana Del Ray as her influences. This is evident in the track “Sweet Teeth,” with its inherent sexy-yet-sassy, tragic-yet-empowered lyricism. Allaer’s pouty voice is one of the quintessential elements that make Leggy, well, Leggy. If Audrey Horne (from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks) ever wanted to be a rock star, she would make a band like Leggy.

When a band is given a Comet residency, they commit to playing once a week for a month, and get to pick the other bands that play on their bill.

For a DIY band, or for any aspiring musicians, a regular gig at a popular music bar is a pretty big deal. So how does a band get a residency? For Leggy all they had to do was drink enough alcohol.

“Do you know about Fogger Nights at Rake’s End?” Bladh asks.

“We got way too drunk. It was like 2:30 a.m. so we went over to the Ice Cream Factory and drank with our friend who works at The Comet and eventually we were like, ‘Hey, we should have a residency at The Comet,’ and he was like, ‘Totally.’”
A night of drinking might have been the catalyst for the residency, but Leggy’s résumé speaks for itself. They’re getting widespread attention internationally, and playing with acts like Ghost Wolves and Paul Collins and even playing in The Northside Rock N’ Roll carnival tonight.

With each success, it’s hard to find a new way to progress forward, and — bar selling out Great American Ballpark — Leggy has accomplished a lot in our little corner of Ohio. So now they are headed out into the world — specifically, across the Midwest. Leggy’s next move is to go on tour and they say they’ll walk the Midwest if they have to — and they might have to.

“The biggest issue is not booking shows, it’s figuring out how to get there,” Allaer says. “A friend of ours was going to let us use his van, but he hurt his back so now he needs it and none of us are 25.”

In case you forgot or don’t know, a person isn’t legally allowed to rent a car until they are 25. Every member of Leggy is 24, and the tour starts mid-August.

“We are trying to contact our 25-year-old friends,” Bladh says.

Regardless the transportation, Leggy is a band that treats successes like stepping stones and ambition is more valuable than gasoline and shitty vans. July 4th, coincidentally, is a day Allaer will always remember as her wake up call for creating a successful band.

“Two years ago today, I was wasted and fell off a three-story building and broke my hip. I basically could have died, and it made me reevaluate my priorities,” she says. - City Beat

Self-described "blonde-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts outta cincinnati" deliver SUMMER JAMZ. We were hipped to this Queen City trio via Witching Wives via Pittsburgh blog The Grey Estates, who upped a summer candy mix last week (complete with lotsa exclamation points) and voilà, nous sommes tombés en amour avec eux!
It’s possible we played “Chardonnay Summer” 14 times in a row within 24 hours only to realize “High Heeled Shoes” is just as dreamy and wait until that chorus kills you and what, they wrote a bunch of these songs in high school? Who sez the USA’s secondary education ain’t working?
Since we haven’t heard any other songs about making out in taxis and matching lipstick to the color of our dress and eatin’ candy ruby red, look no further for your SUMMER 2014 crush. Great one. - Fuckin' Record Reivews

You may already know the Northside band Leggy and not know it- if you've heard of another Northside band called Sweet Teeth (which is also the title of a song on their EP, Cavity Castle). The trio changed their name several months after first forming in 2013, when they heard the original moniker was already in use by an Australian band. But they like the name Leggy better. "I've always aspired to a good one-word band name", said bassist Kerstin Bladh. "I saw a tattoo of two lady's legs, and it made me think of how much you could do with the name Leggy". A little name change isn't stopping them from quickly rising through the ranks of the Cincinnati music scene, including a recent residency at the Comet and plans for a summer tour.

Bladh and singer/guitarist Veronique Allaer played in a band called White Linen while still in high school together at Ursuline Academy. "I wanted to be in that band" said drummer Chris Campbell, who was friends with the Leggy ladies at the time. "He was our biggest fan," Allaer said. "We had a Xanga page and he was the only one commenting on it."

White Linen recorded a few songs and even played a gig at the original Southgate House with Foxy Shazam, but the band broke up when Allaer went away to college in Washington, DC. However, the friends reunited when Allaer graduated and moved back to town. They started paying together again, and this time they invited Campbell along for the ride. "We practiced once every two months, then we finally booked a show," Allaer said. We had, like, two weeks to learn all the songs and pick a set."

After a few gigs in fall 2013, the band didn't waste any time getting to the studio to record Cavity Castle at Trap Door Studios with producers Jerri Queen and John Hoffman. "We knew recording would make the band more legitimate in our minds and in other people's minds," Bladh said. "We could share it with people who hadn't seen us live- it's so much easier to get shows when you have a recording. I also just wanted to know what we sounded like."

So what do they sound like? The terms poppy, indie-ish, catchy, pop rock, and punk-pop all came up when the band was asked to describe their music. "I wanted to see what Jerri and John could do during recording," Campbell said. The resulting sound - a sort of ethereal, garage-y girl group vibe- pushed them in a more focused direction. "With our new songs, we knew we what we want to sound like structurally", Bladh said.

The Rock and Roll Carnival will be one of their biggest gigs yet, but Leggy has other summer plans as well, including a Midwest and East Coast tour and recording a few new songs. They're also playing at Northside Tavern on Friday, July 25. In the fall, Bladh heads to Columbus for graduate school, but she plans to spend a lot of time in Cincinnati and continue recording and playing with the band. But eventually, Allaer said, "we'd like to go on a world tour. Play the season finale of Saturday Night Live. Open for Lana Del Rey. Or, Lana Del Rey opening for us on tour." - The Northsider

Ohio's been a pretty good breeding ground for catchy lo-fi punk lately, thanks to All Dogs, Tweens, Vacation, Boys, Sports, and probably way more. Yet another one is Cincinnati trio Leggy, who, like Sports, played Indie Pop Prom in Brooklyn last month and won us over at that show.
Leggy recently put out a new EP, Nice Try, which was recorded by Jerri Queen of two of those above-mentioned Ohio bands (Vacation and Tweens), along with John Hoffman. It feels rooted in swaggering garage rock, but doesn't just go for overly-aped '50s rock n' roll. Songs like "A Reverie" and "July" have a certain darkness to them, and singer Véronique Allaer has a few vocal tricks up her sleeve that are a little atypical of the genre too. Listen for yourself below.
The band also have tour dates, including SXSW, but nothing else scheduled for NYC at the moment. Those are listed below too. - Brooklyn Vegan

Blasting us with some beautiful melodic fuzz are new Cincinnati band Leggy. 'Sweet Teeth' is a surging ball of garage-punk energy and is taken from the band's debut EP 'Cavity Castle' which is available to download in full for absolutely nothing. - The Sound of Confusion

Leggy totally captured our hearts with their debut EP Cavity Castle. The Cincinnati trio’s self-described brand of “blonde-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts” is the sweetest treat to hit our ears this summer and we’re so psyched they agreed to do an interview with us. In addition to the interview (!!!!) we’re also giving you a taste of two brand new tracks from the band (“Chardonnay Summer” & “Honey”) posted below and “Chardonnay Summer” you can download from our summer compilation out later today!

The Grey Estates: Give us a little history of Leggy. How did the trio come to form and what made you decide that you wanted to start a band?

Kirsten: We all played music together in high school up until Veronique went to college in DC. Once she moved back to Cincinnati we moved in together and started up the band. A couple of the songs on our EP were actually written when we were 15.

Veronique: The last year I lived in DC, I started writing songs for the first time since high school. I visited Cincinnati that year for Midpoint Music fest. I think we all got drunk and inspired and vowed to start a band. When I moved back to Cincy we started living together and kept talking about it for like, six months. We finally started practicing once we had our first show booked. We’ve gotten a lot better since then :)

TGE: What was the process behind releasing your EP? Had you been playing live before recording or did you record and then start live shows? And how did you come to get assistance from Jerri Queen.

Chris: The punk-ish Cincinnati music community, and the music community as a whole is pretty tight-knit and most people are open to collaborating or helping fellow musicians. We’d been playing shows for a few months when we were able to coordinate schedules to work with John and Jerri. Both of them have been rad friends of ours for a long time, plus they’re two of the best dudes around and are also the best at what they do artistically/musically so working with them just made perfect sense.

TGE: Speaking of Queen, you guys are also from Cincinnati like Tweens, is there anything about the area that influences your sound or the band?

Kirsten: I think of the band Wussy as having the ‘Cincinnati sound’ that is an inspiration for a lot of local acts. They capture the grittiness of a post-industrial city with Midwestern humility.

Vero: Also, the benefit of being in a mid-size city like Cincinnati is that the the indie music market is less saturated than other cities; it’s easier for new bands to get press or book shows. Plus, the Cincinnati music community is small enough that everyone is a friend of a friend, and people are happy to help out each other.

Chris: Across the board Cincinnati has an extremely storied and strong history of cranking out incredible, interesting artists and bands spanning every genre. There’s something about Cincinnati and the Midwest overall that feeds creativity. Most people are down and open minded to anything coming from an earnest place, which is kind of more encouraging or influential than anything else. During the residency we were lucky enough to play with a lot of our friends bands, ranging in sound from Spazz-esq Powerviolence (Monitor Lizard), to a solo art-pop operatic cellist (Kate Wakefield), to fuzzed out psych-punk rippers (Bummers Eve), to grungy post-riot grrrl stoner pop (Swim Team) and dance-til-u-cry synth pop (Black Wolves), and regardless of people’s personal cultural identifications or social preferences or whatever everyone who came out to the shows stuck around, checked everything out, were pretty positive and stoked on the variety. I think all of that kind of stuff, plus cheap rent, good food, good spots to play, great art, great music, inspiring physical geography and amazing people have had a solid impact on our jams and band (and all other Cincinnati bands we’re proud to call buds).

TGE: The EP is short but also packs like a serious punch. How did you decide what songs to include and what’s the writing process like for y’all?

Vero: For the most part, I’ll come up with some lyrics and a basic chord melody, maybe a lil’ bit of a song structure in mind. I’ll bring it to K & C and we play around with it at the practice space until the song feels right. A few of our songs, like ‘Honey’ , were from our high school band, and that’s reflected in the lyrics and the simplicity. Choosing which songs to include wasn’t difficult. When we recorded there was still snow on the ground, and two songs were just total summer jamz. So we released the other four we had recorded. The others, “Chardonnay Summer” and “Honey”, are up on our bandcamp now. It’s finally short-shorts weather!

TGE: And what should first time listeners except of your EP. How would you describe it?

Vero: The sounds of a girl caught in a ‘he loves me/he loves me not’ whirlwind pseudo-relationship drenched in reverb/attitude and melted into bite size sugary sour pop jams.

TGE: I’m always interested in like how bands come to find a sound or decide to be as you describe “blonde heavy garage indie punk pop tarts”, so how you know like hey our sound like this really kicks ass?

Kirsten: Chris is great at making up genre descriptions that make you go, “Shit, you’re right. That’s exactly what it is.”

TGE: You’ll be wrapping up a residency locally, so how has that gone and what goes in to something like that where you’re playing multiple times?

Chris: The residency was a great experience! It was fun to play with great friends, see even more great friends, goof around with some covers and be treated to the finest burritos in the Cincinnati area.

Vero: It also really pushed us to work on new material, which was awesome and rewarding in itself. Plus, having residency at Comet in particular was amazing because so many other great bands, such as Tweens, also had residency there when stating out. It was all just very encouraging.

TGE: What’s next for Leggy? Will there be more tunes, please say there’ll be more tunes!

Leggy: We’re stoked on playing some super fun shows this summer, hopefully recording in July, and then going on tour in August. New tunes are imminent though! We’re really happy with our newer songs.

TGE: Give us a Leggy fun fact.

Vero: The ep is named “Cavity Castle” after the apartment we live in together. We named it that because we used to always have bowls of candy out! They ran out after the first party and we never re-upped :(

TGE: With all the references to sweet teeth and candy what’s your favorite candy?

Kirsten: Blue/red sour gummi worms.

Vero: It’s really hard for me to pick. But definitely Sour Patch watermelons or Jelly Bellys.

Chris: Pizza - The Grey Estates

Leggy make sweet indie-pop that could soundtrack your adolescent dreams and your adult wanderings, it’s restless, impulsive, fast and fun. In under 11 minutes the Cincinnati trio presents a wildly sweet batch of self-described “pop tart punk”, that’s hard to forget and impossible not to love. Working with producers John Hoffman and Jerri Queen of Tweens the band is the latest Midwest treat to hit our ears and like a sticky ice-cream sandwich on a hot summer day we just can’t get enough.

Lead singer Véronique Allaer tears through the backing of percussion from Chris Campbell and bassist Kerstin Bladh, her voice a pronounced tour-de-force as she recounts everything from falling in love with bad boys to the crush she just can’t get over. A reference to the group’s original name, opener “Sweet Teeth” is a total shot of sugary goodness. There’s a sour side to this sugary gumdrop though, with backhanded broods covered in reverb and a mid-song breakdown that features a drum and bass solo. You can just imagine Allaer batting those baby blues as she drifts back to memories of a long-haired boy that spells trouble on “Sky Blue”. A frenzied excitement is again present and the emotions, the whirlwind, the heart pounding anxiety of a crush that maybe just doesn’t feel the same way is captured in the garage-pop jam. Even when Leggy slows things down, or at least as slow as they’ll get on the dark and vulnerable “High Heeled Shoes” and the slinky, but still catchy closer “Alexander” there remains a lovable charm that’s impossible to resist. Like the final piece of candy in the bag you just have to enjoy it and then when it’s over you’ll be reaching again for more. - The Grey Estates

Self-described “babewave” trio Leggy make summery, endearingly awkward lo-fi pop with riffs tighter than a pinky swear, so you might think they’re from somewhere warm and with a coastline. Nah, they’re from Cincinnati, but that doesn’t change the fact that this group slays. Their debut EP, Cavity Castle, was half-produced by Jerri Queen of TBN favorites Tweens, and the two groups share much in common beyond a home base and being female-fronted. Leggy’s music is slower and less wildly rambunctious, but similarly naked emotionally, and they still pack plenty of attitude: On leadoff track “Sweet Teeth”, lead singer Véronique Allaer boasts “by the end of the party / you’ll be Danny, I’ll be Sandy”, over vintage Eddie & The Showmen-style surf guitar, while on EP closer and personal favorite “Alexander”, she bids a slow, smirking kiss-off to a former flame. Leggy’s sistaz-wit-attitude garage pop is anything but revivalist, so put on your flower crown, smoke something and rock out. - The Brown Noise

Leggy drink peach champagne and read Greek mythology in Cincinnati. Or at least this is what I’ve learnt from the band’s new EP Nice Try.

In the world of Leggy, kisses are sweet like a peach and good girls don’t grow on trees. I want to call their music Peach-Pop. I’ll admit, it’d be better if they were from the peach state and not the swing state, but their music CAN be swing skated to. If this guy (Click here), can roller-skate to Kate Bush, anything is possible.

Some bands go swimming in the deep end of reverb, and clearly Leggy were born at the bottom of the deep end. The reverb is so much that you meld with it. It’s cool though; there’s a distant nuclear family 50’s american peach cobbler romance to it.

‘Grrrls Like Us’ is super catchy and sweet like drinking ‘…cherries in my Sprite’. ‘Adonis’ is as real and honest as Paris Geller, an ode to the Adonis Belt (Apollo’s belt/the ‘V’ – see Zac Efron). ”Cause your slang’s got the rhythm of a sonnet/and the stars they are swimming past like comets’. A social commentary on how your 20’s ‘aren’t for playing safe’ , as long as you’ve got a ‘20 in your pocket and mischief in your eyes’, you’re sorted.

‘HHS’ is like if The Coathangers weren’t left out in the rain to be the coolest rusty tools in the shed but instead, were dressed up in the warm honey of Ohio musical independence, flirting with princes and kings and listening to melodic birds coo in flat sunsets.

‘July’ makes summer seem an age away (almost there), but the rolling percussion backing up ‘like my bare thighs in July? Where did your girlfriend go?’, places the cherry on top of Leggy’s cooling swagger.

‘Nice Try’ is nice like Vanilla Ice Cream (with some Kirsch), Apple Pie (with gold leaf Vanilla Kirsch Ice Cream), and Romeo and Juliet… if Shakespeare had Punk-Rock dreams.

Go ahead and have taste on SoundCloud then if it’s to your liking, import your new favourite flavour of pop-tart over on bandcamp and keep track of the three-piece on Facebook and Twitter. - Musically Fresh

We don’t know about you, but here at WTGR we find certain things particularly endearing: old men that wear socks and sandles on the beach, anyone over the age of 11 that still entertains the notion of a packed lunch, and of course, the joyous racket of lo-fi pop-punk.

Lets get one thing very clear though when we say pop-punk. We ain’t talking the three-quarter-length skater shorts, New Found Glory sorta pop punk, but a sound that takes punk as its blueprint and sprinkles flakes of pop goodness over the top, as opposed to the other way round. Ohio’s Leggy are a perfect example.

Across the two-and-a-half minutes of the fizzing ‘Sweet Teeth’, Leggy cook up an irresistible mix of down-strummed guitars, mixing-desk-shattering drums and sugary melodies. It serves as the ideal introduction as the opening track on their new EP, Cavity Castle.

‘Sweet Teeth’ is available to download from the band’s Bandcamp page. - When The Gramophone Rings

Around 2 o'clock in the morning, when you're coming home after a night at the bar, preferably one that held a show with a great lineup, you get back to your place exhausted, but don't quite want to let the party to end, resulting in putting on a pot of single origin, dark roast coffee. As your body fights between falling asleep and over-caffeination, you enter that weird anxious, sleepy zone that feels awkwardly good. Leggy is the embodiment of that dreamy, too-punk-to-go-to-bed sensation.

Nice Try is the follow up EP to 2014's Cavity Castle, doubling down on garage/indie punk, and adding drops of psychedelic rock to trip out your inner flowerchild. Leggy hits the ground running on "Peach," rolling in with rhythmic clapping to set an early pop sensibility. The clapping returns through several points of the song, but major shifts of tempo, extra distorted guitars, and cave-dwelling, echoed vocals give it a deeper bite. Leggy takes something lighthearted and fun, hypnotizes it, and throws it down a well of hallucinations.

After the fall, an early 70s themed, psychedelic rock, and 90s riot grrrl paradise appears in the shape of "Grrrls Like Us." The most impressive track in the six song collection, it's a lengthy two minutes, due to so many hills and valleys in such a short time. Drum and bass driven one moment, fuzzy guitars and organ the next. A fantastic vocal performance, hitting trembling high notes in the chorus, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, but girls like us don't grow on trees." Contender for song of the year.

"Adonis" is a lulling mythological land, spinning a story of seduction with simple, hip-hop patterned verses, and brief solos of sneaky grooving. Followed up by "A Reverie," Nice Try takes on a haunting tone. A dirtier, more punk tinged sound, helped by life escaping lyrics, making everything sound a little more defeated.

The EP finishes with "HHS 2" and "July," which channel the garage gods, using lots of faded, twangy hooks, crushing bass, and fun cymbal crashing. Just like that, you've been woken up. The psychedelic feeling wears off, and you're back to a more familiar reality. The change was so gradual throughout the 15 minutes, Leggy must be complimented in creating such a smooth transition from dizzying to sobering.

Nice Try is habit forming. More of it is needed. Now. It's diverse enough to keep things interesting, and familiar enough to make it clear what kind of sound Leggy is going for. They break up the typical garage rock and indie punk by bringing it to a dream like state, and give their music a pinch, to ensure a reality check. Bold, balanced, well rounded, goes down easily and satisfies. It's time for a refill. - Punk News

IMN: Hello Leggy. How many legs are in the band?

V: 6 legs in total!

IMN: So there’s three of you? I’m good at maths. Please introduce yourself, not your legs.

V: I’m Veronique! I play guitar and sing.

K: I’m Kerstin and I play bass.

C: I’m Chris and I play drums.


IMN: Your latest release – ‘Cavity Castle’ – is like chewing gum; bad for your teeth, yet so, so sweet and addictive. IMN: How would you best describe it?

K: Reverb-heavy garage pop. Babewave. Lots of people have described it as a ‘sugar rush’ with dark undertones. Like eating maraschino cherries straight from the jar, alone, at midnight. In December.

IMN: You recorded the album @ Trap Door Studios in a retired 1891 Methodist Church. I bet that was interesting…

V: It was super cool! Part of the church has been renovated to look modern, that’s where the owner lives. Most of the church has been upkept but still maintains it’s original look. We recorded in a part called the “Sanctuary”, at the front of the church near where the altar was, and the organ still is. The acoustics in the church were incredible, everything just sounded super lush and resonate and beautiful. The only downside was how cold it was in there! The church (including recording studio) is for sale, but we were able to schedule a weekend there to record our follow up EP. It might be one of the last times it’s used as a studio!

IMN: What was it like working with John Hoffman + Jerri Queen?

V: Pretty awesome. They’re two of our best buds and two of the most crucial folks in Cincinnati when it comes to recording, mixing and producing bands. We had never recorded in a studio before and were kinda nervous about it. Luckily, John + Jerri are not only uber-talented, they’re also both the nicest dudes. While they both had crazy neat ideas – such as hanging microphones from the highest corner of the church to capture the natural reverb-y ambiance of the room – the best part of working with them was that they encouraged us to do things as many times/try out as many different tones & sounds as we needed until we were totally happy.

IMN: Is – ‘Cavity Castle’ – available on vinyl or cassette? I NNNEEEDD it on vinyl.

C: It’s only available on cassette and digitally right now, but we’re considering releasing our next batch of records on a 7 inch. Of course, if anyone would like to release – ‘Cavity Castle’ – on vinyl, we wouldn’t be opposed!

IMN: Moving on. Have you got any up-and-coming gigs you’d like to mention?

K: We’re super excited to be playing at MidPoint Music Festival at the end of September! Even cooler is that we’re part of the “Ladies First” showcase, where up-and-coming female fronted bands are highlighted; other bands playing the same night and venue as us include Speedy Ortiz and EMA. In October, we’ll be playing a show with JEFF the Brotherhood and Diarrhea Planet, which we’re also stoked for. All of those guys play like maniacs. It’s gonna be a really fun show. And then on top of all of that our buds, The Daddyo’s and Annabelle Chairlegs, are coming to Cincinnati at the end of October. Can’t wait!

IMN: Cool. I might attend and dance like it’s 1999. Do you have any other plans in 2014?

V: We’re recording our second release in October and hope to have it out by the end of the year! In addition to that we’ll be hitting the East Coast + North again on our second tour sometime in late fall. - Independent Music News

Brooklyn's third annual Indie Pop Prom happens this year on February 13 at Baby's All Right. Like in past years, it's only bands featuring ladies, doubles as curator Maria Sherman's birthday party, and is really more of a punk show than an indie pop show. This year features DC's political Priests, Philly '90s-style indie rockers Amanda X, Ohio's poppy punks Sports, their indie/punk Ohio neighbors Leggy, and Philly-via-NYC punkgazers Mannequin Pussy. Meredith Graves of Perfect Pussy (who headlined last year) is DJing. - Brooklyn Vegan

Events like Northside Festival are great for everyone involved. Running along the same model as CMJ Music Marathon, Northside aims to expose great new talent from the NYC music scene and beyond. With showcases going from Thursday until Sunday, countless artists will be taking the stage all across the L Line in North Brooklyn to try and get their name and music out there in one of the richest and overpopulated music scenes in the world.

Leggy is one of those bands that will be in town and taking advantage of the potential exposure that Northside provides. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Leggy is a relatively newer rock trio that spend most of their time on the road, a luxury for a young, independently financed band. They’ll be in town as part of our Pancakes & Whiskey Northside Showcase at Union Pool on Thursday, and will certainly be helping everyone get their weekend party started early at the event. I hopped on the phone with Chris and Véronique to talk about looking forward to Northside and how constant touring has helped a young band.

P&W: You guys have played NYC before right?

Véronique: Yeah this is our sixth time I believe.

Chris: Yeah we’ve played Cake Shop, Baby’s All Right, Radio Bushwick, Palisades, and Glasslands a few weeks before it closed down which was a cool experience.



P&W: How does it feel when you come and play NYC?

Véronique: It definitely makes you step your game up because you can’t rely on your friends to come out and fill the room like when you’re in your hometown. Even if you promote your shows a lot, you still don’t know anyone and you have to win people over.

Chris: There’s so much more going on, as opposed to Ohio. It’s really fun to go out there without an established name and booking our own shows and that kind of fun stuff.



P&W: You guys have been fortunate enough to tour a lot early on, which is a luxury most young bands don’t have. How Many different cities and markets have you played in already?

Chris: We played about 130 shows in the first year or so. We’ve covered all the east coast so far, most of the Midwest and south so far.

Véronique: We’re hitting the west coast this summer too.

Chris: Yeah I think we’ll just have the southeast and the Pacific northwest and we’ll have almost the entire country covered at this point.



P&W: How nice is it to be able to leave life behind hit the road as hard as you guys have early on?

Véronique: We all just kind of dropped everything and committed to this project as a band. It helps only having three people in the band. We all have college degrees but we all work in food service to be able to do this. Being on the road and around each other was just so natural to us too since we also lived together until Kristen moved out to live with her boyfriend.

Chris: Just being able to book a month long tour is really exciting, energizing, and beneficial. We’ll go out on tour for a few weeks, make a bunch of friends, and come back to Cinci building on what we were able to accomplish on the road. Save up some money and plan another one.



I’m sure having lived with each other already definitely benefited you

Véronique: Definitely. It helped because we already knew what it was like being around each other all the time. Our house is a nice place, but it was definitely not a tight run ship. We named it Cavity Castle because we always had candy all the time.

Chris: We’d have parties and have our friends bands stay here while they’re in town.



P&W: What do you look to achieve while you’re in NYC during Northside?

Véronique: I think we’re trying to make any connections possible. We self-released the two EPs but we’d like to finish an album by the end of the year and release it via label. It’d be nice to have that option, but really we just want to come and play, have fun, and make some friends who are in the same mindset as we are.



Why stay in the mid-west? Why not move to and establish yourself in a market where there’s better media exposure for new bands?

Véronique: I think the scene here in the Ohio the last few years has put out some really good bands. We all want to be part of a growing scene as opposed to joining another big market.

Chris: There are so many great bands here and coming through town. It goes back to building something from the ground up and experiencing it ourselves. There’s more freedom. The cost of living is low here and that helps us consistently tour.

Véronique: We wouldn’t be able to afford a lifestyle like that if we lived in NYC. There are just benefits living in the Midwest that you can’t in a larger city. It helps that Cinci is centrally located. It’s only a day drive to most other major markets.



P&W: With not many consumers buying, or even caring about full length albums anymore, why focus on spending money and time on creating a full length album?

Véronique: I don’t wanna put out another EP.

Chris: I feel like when everything is finished it’ll still be a solid piece. If someone only wants to download only a few songs or stream it, or buy the whole thing, having the option that anyone can still enjoy it in different ways is something to take into consideration. We really enjoy doing things ourselves and being able to do a project like that is something we’d definitely like to accomplish.

Véronique: It also comes down to the songs that we’ve been writing have a unique sound to it that we’d love to put in one project big project. - Pancakes and Whiskey

Leggy are a fun, fresh three-piece from Cincinatti, Ohio, consisting of babes Kerstin, Chris and Vero.

We recently had a chat with the lovely Vero, and were intrigued to hear more about these “poptarts”, their on tour shenanigans and the exciting prospects their future holds.

152-high-heeled-shoe

You guys met in High School, right? What drove you to start making music together?

Kerstin and I went to an all girls high school and that was probably part of it. We didn’t have anything to do after school except listen to music and hang out with each other, so starting a band seemed really obvious. Our high school band , White Linen, was only really active before we met dudes/ had guy friends / started partying . We met Chris when we were about 14. He was one of White Linen’s principle fans.

We saw that you described yourselves as “blond-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts”, what lead to this blend of musical elements, and are there any specific musicians you would say are your biggest influences?

Musically, I am definitely inspired by simple, reverb heavy melodic bands, such as The Vines and Eisley. Looking up chords to their songs was how I learned to play guitar, and it’s still the style I use to write songs. Lyrically, I am heavily influenced by super auto-biographical song writers, such as Lana Del Rey and Alex Turner (of Arctic Monkeys). You can just tell when the lyrics of a song come from an authentic place, and it really makes it more powerful. Chris and Kerstin and I all have pretty varied musical tastes, which I think contributes nicely to Leggy’s overall sound.

Do you have any strange stories from touring/gigging?

I’m sure that we have a ton! Hmm one time we really hit it off with a band we played with in Baltimore called Trunkweed. After the show we all stayed up all night hanging /partying/ violating hotel policies, and then we invited them to join us for the rest of the tour as homies/ roadies. And they actually came with us for about a week! They couldn’t get into Canada though. We remained friends and now we’re SO CLOSE to getting them to relocate to Cincinnati ….

What does the future hold for Leggy?

In two weeks we are going on our longest tour yet! We’re gonna be gone for a month, and we’re going all the way to the West Coast and back. Seriously, I cannot be more stoked. Touring is best fucking best- you get to party with your best friends and travel. We are going to be playing in so many cities I’ve never been to! Also, we’d love to record an full length album this year. And making a music video would be pretty cool.

Do you see yourselves sticking to the kind of sound you’re producing now or are there other genres you would like to explore?

Our newer songs definitely have a noticeable surfy element, and are pretty dark and fast paced. The sound definitely still falls into the dreamy garage punk sound we’ve been fuckin with though. As for exploring other genres, I’m not sure! Leggy is pretty at home in our indie punk niche. We do talk about switching up things for certain songs, like having a song that Chris sings. We really want to do it!

Are there any new artists you love and want to tell the world about?

Of course! Right now I can’t stop listening to DEERPEOPLE (Tulsa), Couples Counseling (Boston), IAN (Los Angeles), Pony (Toronto) and some of my other faves are Cincinnati bands Electric Citizen and Smut (which is Chris’s other band !)

Which one of you is the biggest diva?

Haha! None of us are really divas in the classic sense of the word. Maybe Kerstin, when she needs sleep or food? But still not even then really, we’re all pretty laid back.

Have you got a favourite fan?

My dad.

Do you prefer intimate or large gigs? as both artists and fans.

Large gigs are my favourite to play- the energy is just more intense. Though of course as a fan I prefer smaller gigs so I can creepily get as close as possible to the band.

You released your latest EP, Nice Try in February, is there a process you go through when writing new material?

The writing process for Nice Try and Cavity Castle was a little bit different than how we write songs now. With those first two eps, I typically wrote an outline of the song on guitar, with vocals already in place, and then brought the song to K & C and we mashed it out at practice. These days, we are more likely to jam out a song in practice and then I’ll write the lyrics/ vocal melody later. Kerstin has been killing it with the dark surfy bass lines. I think it’s all that excitement for the West Coast tour.

Where’s been your favourite place to play a show so far?

I think Toronto is my new favorite city- plus our show there was so sick. But my favorite show we’ve ever played was probably Indie Pop Prom, which was at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn this past February. The line -up was so sick~, we got to meet and play with so many other rad bands.

And finally- What makes you Moist?

Cincinnati summers! It gets real humid. The lack of air conditioning in our very old house doesn’t help either :/


Thank you very much to Vero and of course, the rest of Leggy. - Moist Mag

The first time you listen to "Cavity Castle" you'll instantly fall in love with Leggy. You may also hate yourself a little for not being able to pull off the sugary sexiness they're capable of creating within seconds of starting the first song. Their summery, sweet Garage Pop contains lines like "Honey, are you feeling naughty?" that will leave you thirsty... for many things. Veronique Allaer, Kirsten Bladh and Chris Campbell know what they're doing - and they do it well. Buy some cotton candy, put on your prettiest skirt, and flail your ass off.

You'll dig it if you dig: Veruca Salt but more well written, everything that Katy Perry could have been if someone had given her an electric guitar. - City Beat "Midpoint Music Festival Guide"

A couple DNNM favorites were involved in getting Leggy’s first bunch of demos up off the ground and out into the world (Tweens‘ drummer produced it and their friends in Mardou may have added a little subconscious inspiration). The result? “<3 blonde-heavy nü garage indie punk poptarts outta cincinnati <3,” which pretty much sums it up. Sounds really good. - Don't Need No Melody

Have you heard of Leggy? You should have. We love ‘em, and they’re just getting started. You always brag about how you’re an “early adopter”, so get on the Leggy Train before everyone else is all like “of course I like Leggy, I have one of the first edition cassettes of Cavity Castle.” Earbuddy got a chance to talk to the band about their debut, Gilmore Girls, and what your grandma thinks of their music.


How’s it going?
Véronique Allaer: Very well!
Kerstin Bladh: Great. Who dey!
Christopher Campbell: Pretty rad.

Pitch your band to an indie-rock audience!
V: Hey y’all! Listen to LEGGY, a reverb heavy dream-pop trio . . .
K: …too fuzzy for yr parents…
C: …too sweet not to love.

Now pitch your band to that audience’s grandma!
V: Hi Ma’am, our band is like The Rolling Stones meets Christina Aguilera! By the way, I’d love to hear how you keep your greys looking so silvery fresh. . .
K: We sound like if Ted Kennedy quit politics to start a band with a stewardess.
C: Hello, yr looking beautiful today ;) Yr perm is out of this world! Speaking of out of this world, you should come see my band this weekend, we’re just some good hearted, hardworking kids playing rock n’ roll music you can dance to – like Nancy Sinatra but faster and louder. By the way yr grandchild says hello and that they miss you and love you!

Was that fun?
C: Yeah! Kind of nerve wracking though – I just hope our pitches get out there and we start seeing some grandparents at our shows.

Speaking of fun things, you’re just off of a tour. Did you bring a lot of candy with you on the road?
V: No, we brought a lot of “healthy” food that stayed in the storage compartment of the van basically the whole trip! We had good intentions. Candy was a frequent gas store purchase.
K: I still have two unopened packs of Kale Chips.
C: Steady diet of nothing (but Skittles)
I know this question gets asked a lot, but hey, I like the classics: what was your favorite thing about the summer tour?
C: All of the shows were incredible and super fun, but we played an extremely memorable house show in Boston.
V: I have so many favorite parts of tour! I really enjoyed visiting so many new cities: St. Louis, Milwaukee, Boston etc. The shopping was great too.

What was the worst part? I mean besides when Chris threw the minibar out of the hotel window (PRINGLES FOR 10 BUCKS A CAN ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!)?
C: The worst part was that it had to end so soon. We can’t wait to get back out in November/December!

Why is it that Chris never seems to show off his legs? Is he not a team player?!
C: I just didn’t want my legs to be a distraction or anything. I was a leg model growing up.

How do you feel about being labeled a “girl band”? It seems like some folks reject that kind of categorization, but a name like “Leggy” seems to invite it.

V: I don’t see that categorization as a negative thing at all. Most of the artists and groups I listen to, especially the ones I really adore, are female driven. When we were coming up with possible names, a lot of them were pretty feminine sounding. I definitely assumed from the start that we would probably be considered a “girl band”. Chris is all about girl-power, he actually has a Minor in Women’s & Gender studies!
K: I don’t mind terms like “girl-driven” or “girl-fronted” because I think that can just be descriptive of the vocals or the image of the band. However, “girl band” is often used dismissively and suggests that the band should only be judged as compared to other “girl bands,” or that every girl-fronted band will automatically have similar strengths and weaknesses. In other words, I think the word “girl” should only be used descriptively and not prescriptively.
C: Dudes… I have to take a stand now and say, publicly, that we’re totally, absolutely, definitely a band. Not a “girl” band. Just a band.

Your debut EP, Cavity Castle, is flush with good songs. Did you do that on purpose?
C: Well when we first started playing together Vero stopped mid-practice and was like “do y’all wanna play like, mostly good songs, or write like a few good ones but mostly bad ones?”. Luckily we all agreed that night and decided that trying to write good songs was the way to go in this situation. So I guess it was on purpose.

Did writing these songs come naturally? Or was it like pulling teeth? I like puns.
V: Well it’s interesting. High Heeled Shoes and Honey were written back in high school, then I didn’t really write or play music at all during college. The summer after I graduated was crazy. I was still living in DC, and my roommates, and I were going out every night, over indulging in every vice possible. Then on July 4th I broke my hip, which meant I was bound to the apartment all day. On top of it all, I was totally blind-sided by this rich prick I had been infatuated with. That’s when I started writing again, and the songs came pretty quickly. A lot of the lyrics/ song outlines from Cavity Castle are from that summer.
C: Everything felt really natural for the most part. Veronique had already written most of the lyrics, melodies, and guitar parts so when we got together it was just about jamming things out. Plus we’ve been friends for like ten years which probably helped.
What’s up with the name Cavity Castle, anyways?
K: Before “Leggy” we played a few shows as “Sweet Teeth”. Between that name & all the candy that was in our place, we started calling the apartment “Cavity Castle”. Naming the EP Cavity Castle just felt fitting; it was our first creation as friends / bandmates / roommates.

The three of you, living together as a band in an apartment, sounds like it could be an NBC sitcom or something. Is this like Friends? Or maybe like Gilmore Girls where they had that subplot where Lane was living with the rest of Hep Alien. I mean, that show’s cool right?
K: It’s like the Hep Alien situation if the gender ratio were reversed. Chris is totally Lane.

Now that Breaking Bad is over, is it safe to sell my television, or is there other stuff I should be watching?
V: Pretty Little Liars
C: I’ve had the same 15 X-Files vhs tapes on heavy rotation for a couple years now so I’m not sure if I’m of much help here.
K: I will second Pretty Little Liars but also add my favorite– Mad Men. I’m a sucker for mid-century design and history. Plus, Don Draper rivals Walter White for best anti-hero.

Why are we talking about TV? Let’s talk about music: what are you listening to right? What’s on heavy rotation?
V: Currently listening to a ton of Kitty (formerly Kitty Pryde). I feel like I discovered her 2 years after everyone else so I’m binging / playing catch up. Also, a lot of Cherry Glazerr and The Casket Girls.
K: Girls Names, Cheap Time, Splassh. I listen to “Wakin on a Pretty Daze” by Kurt Vile almost every day during my bus commute. I’ve also been re-listening to The Men’s most recent album. It’s got an REM vibe.
C: Public Housing – Public Housing; Pretty Pretty – Leather Weather 7”; IAN – IAN; Flykills – 10 Songs; SMUT – Purse.

What is the worst album from a great band? I’m convinced it’s Never Let Me Down by David Bowie. He really let me down.
V: I’m gonna go with Vision Valley by the Vines. I was obsessed with their first two albums, couldn’t get into the third.
K: I haven’t really given this deep thought because that would require some serious catalog searching, but in the recent past I wasn’t into the Magnetic Fields’ last album. They’re my favorite band so my expectations are always high but it just didn’t have any tracks that made me think “OMG Stephin Merritt, we’re emotional twins and you should write every pop song.”

Do you have any questions for me?
V: Do you ever pretend we’re playing the song “Alexander” for **you**, Alex Daniel??? ;)
… Are you telling me that song is not about me? [EDITOR'S NOTE: the interviewer takes three minutes to sob uncontrollably before recollecting himself.]

A couple of days ago, I was in a really crowded bar. There was a ton of people there and it was really smoky, so I wasn’t having a good time at all. I was getting up to leave, but one of the payphones in the corner started to ring. I walked over and picked it up, and I heard someone on the other end say that Leggy has new material on the horizon. Could you elaborate on that?
V: It’s true! We’re recording again in October. The newer songs are darker, but just as fast; more complex but still lo-fi dreamy punk pop .

At the end of the month, Leggy (awesome) will be sharing the stage with EMA (awesome), Speedy Ortiz (awesome), and Ex-Hex (awesome). What else can we expect from Leggy in the coming weeks/months?
V: New songs, followed by a longer tour than before – plus we’re getting international; heading to Canada this time! We’ve never been, soooo excited.

Thanks for taking time out to talk!

We’d like to thank Leggy for taking time out of the candy-filled schedules to talk with us. They are playing SATURDAY NIGHT (9/27/2014) at Midpoint Music Fest in Cincinnati. If you can’t go, be sure to check out Leggy on Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp. But actually, it’d be nice if you checked out that stuff anyways, even if you do go. And please ask them what their favorite candy is. I totally forgot to ask. - Earbuddy

"Leggy : These Cincinnati teasers aren’t far removed from the scrunch-pop sounds of their townmates Tweens, if a little dreamier, darker, stretched out." - CMJ

Lately, I’ve become obsessed with cassette culture — the lo-fi underground of bands putting out cassette-only releases. I’ll explain my luddite impulses another time. For now, you just need to know that keeping an eye on these underground labels and artists has been like accidentally wandering into a portal to some alternate dimension, one filled with awesome bands — the kind that rarely crack the surface of the mainstream, or even what you might call the “indie mainstream.”

Always a fan of female-fronted rock bands, I wanted to feature five few bands that I feel deserve more attention.

Leggy- Cavity Castle
The band’s debut Cavity Castle EP is a fuzzed-out, candy-coated reverb dream. Fun, sugary garage-pop nuggets out of Cincinnati (of all places). Lavender sparkly tape. What more could you ask for?

If this sounds like your thing check out their entire EP for free on Bandcamp. - Franklin- Morris

If you happen to be into super-sexy, lo-fi, swank-rock, then dust off your go-go boots and get a taste of the brand-spanking-new release by Leggy called Cavity Castle.

Leggy is (as they call themselves) a group of 'blonde- heavy nu-garage, indie-punk poptarts' consisting of Chris Campbell [drums], Kerstin Bladh [bass] and Véronique Allaer [guitar].

The 4-song EP was recorded at Trapdoor Studios, a retired 19th Century Methodist church in Union City, Ohio and was produced by John Hoffman [Dead North, Sleeves] and Jerri Queen [Tweens, Vacation, Black Planet].

Though two-thirds of the band happen to be female musicians, I recommend that you don't approach Cavity Castle with any presumptions about Leggy trying to pull off a riot-grrrl renaissance. Their sound is far more involved than that.

The title of the first track, "Sweet Teeth," comes from the band's original name and is a naughty, guilty-pleasure of a song. "Sweet Teeth" resonates with the same 60's girl-group vibe that has become an infectious theme in local music lately and is the foundation for up-and-coming bands like Black Planet and Tweens.

Leggy shows another facet of their songwriting ability with "Sky Blue," a song that is more adventurous, has a stronger driving force and highlights Campbell's playing with catchy rhythm breaks. In "Sky Blue" as well as most of Cavity Castle, Allaer's reverb-saturated vocals radiate with an emerging sex appeal.

I usually manage to find one track that I favor over the others and for Leggy that song has to be "Alexander." There is an unrefined, yet darker depth to the song's mood; and the disjointed rhythm, combined with Allaer's Maureen Tucker-like vocals, reminds me of some of the more abstract offerings by The Velvet Underground.

At just over three minutes, the song "High Heeled Shoes" is the longest track on Cavity Castle, making the entire EP very quickly and easily digested - yet not enough to make you feel full.

Luckily, you always have the option to start over at the beginning and enjoy it all again. - WVXU Cincinnati

What the world needs now is love sweet love. Or Shandon’s Stout. Or the unexpected return of Margaret Thatcher as Great Britain’s first democratically elected zombie prime minister. Or another lo-fi two plus one dream pop band from Cincinnati with barely concealed garage rock undertones.
But at least we do have another lo-fi two plus one dream pop band from Cincinnati with barely concealed garage rock undertones and they even have a name. Leggy. Leggy by name and noisy by nature or so these six songs would suggest anyway and, with strident ambition much to the fore, this forthright band steal all the reverb they can get and just let loose.
Consequently, the sentimentality that underpins “High Heeled Shoes” soon gets used as fuel for the alienation rocket. The song might be candyfloss coated but it soon reaches the orbit of the planet called John Waters. Picking the best from the rest, “Alexander” is so jagged, both lyrically and in performance, that it should not be sold to anyone under the age of sixteen and “Honey” takes a metaphorically oblique approach to the kind of activities that might take place a motel and, in all likelihood the Bates Motel at that. Leggy are darker than you might expect but they haven’t lost their sense of humour during that journey into the shadows.
Available from Bandcamp with a limited number of cassettes available. - Bluesbunny Music Reviews

Those who live by the adage that "Less is More" probably haven't been properly introduced to the album Nice Try - the second release by Cincinnati's Leggy.

Leggy is a 3-piece band consisting of Chris Campbell [drums], Kerstin Bladh [bass] and Véronique Allaer [guitar], whose sound is the musical equivalent of peach schnapps - equally sweet and dangerous.

Much like their first album Cavity Castle - when it comes to Leggy, more is definitely more - and Nice Try provides plenty more: more reverb-soaked bubble-gum pop riffs; more post-punk garage distortion; more sugary-sweet sex appeal; and best of all - more Leggy.

Staying true to the recipe that made Cavity Castle such a success, the six tracks on Nice Try were recorded and produced by John Hoffman [Dead North, Vacation] and Jerri Queen [Vacation, Tweens] at Trapdoor Studios. Mike Bridavsky did the mastering and put the final polish on the album that Musically Fresh says is "‘...nice like Vanilla Ice Cream, Apple Pie, and Romeo and Juliet… if Shakespeare had Punk-Rock dreams."

The second track on Nice Try is "Grrrls Like Us," an empowering "Who needs you?" kind of song with lyrics that feel like they've been ripped from the pages of a broken-hearted diary entry:

There are plenty of fish in the sea
But girls like us don’t grow on trees
We sip peach champagne
til we ain’t that shy
u’ve got a $20 in yr pocket and mischief in yr eyes :)
Cheap champagne til we ain’t that shy
I’ve got a clover in my locket and cherries in my Sprite
However the song that captured my heart is "HHS 2" - a wonderfully danceable tune that is every girl's dream and every father's nightmare - the proclamation of love for the proverbial "bad boy."

You wanted to go on a walk outside
but I was wearing high heeled shoes
So I left them behind.
You made me smile when you kissed my hand lightly,
like a prince or a king.
We played pretend all day that day.
The music and vocals on "HHS 2" combine to generate a smoky sensuality that lands you somewhere in the realm of Nancy Sinatra, Cat Power or Trish Keenan [Broadcast].

Everything about Leggy I find loveable in a quirky, lovesick way. Completely by my own doing, I have missed hearing from this band -- and I am so happy to know that they're still out there, making the same lo-fi, soda-pop rock that endeared them to me in the first place. - WVXU

Entirely assured but without the merest hint of arrogance or posturing, the sophomore EP from Leggy is a confident and supremely competent collection of sharply written garage pop, delivering the kind of intelligent hooks that ensure it will be a welcome resident of your auditory cortex for the foreseeable future. Basically, irresistible. - A Lonely Ghost Burning

LEGGY

Hailing from Cincinnati, Leggy offers a brand of rock both crushed out and fuzzed out. Thanks to the gulped vocals of guitarist Véronique Allaer, the trio’s punchy songs are the punk-pop equivalent of diary entries written in block letters with a poof-topped pen, the ink blurred ever so slightly by a tear or two falling onto the page. “Dang” (Jan. 8) builds on the happy-sad energy of the band’s superbly scruffy 2015 EP, “Nice Try,” with Allaer’s knotty takes on romance giving the crashing “Backyard” and the regret-filled kiss-off “Lana” a gooey, bittersweet center. (JOHNSTON) - The Boston Globe

So… Do you like St. Vincent? Yes. Good.

Now how about Joan Jett? Yep. Excellent.

Well, it seems like you’re onto a winner. Now, I want you to imagine music that puts the taste of The Distillers in your mouth whilst simultaneously reeking of Lana Del Rey and Joanna Newsom. This song will bring to mind The Ting Tings, The White Stripes and a peculiar hybrid of Siouxsie Sioux and Rancid. Think Anais Mitchell on downers singing a Jihad Jackson track. Then add some fuzz, distortion, some Jefferson Airplane reverb and you have it… the nonchalance and flippancy of Véronique Allaer, whining in capricious angst like Molko or Smith (or heaven forbid, Morrissey), combined with a placeholder bass and drums that inject into the knee like a misplaced adrenaline shot.

Phew, okay. Now I’m done with the reference heavy part of the article (you know, the bit you have to put in to show off your music reviewer chops), let me get down to the meat of it. The lyrical content has a touch of Lolita to it. The fickleness conveyed by the insistence of responsibility on her lover’s part and then her consequent acceptance of fault chimes like a matured “Missed Me” by the Dresden Dolls, that is without the disturbing subtext of sexual abuse. Succinct and precise lines such as “I thought you said it was okay to kiss? I never tried to treat you badly” contain a heel-turn that I can personally remember from conversations with exes, that of being blamed for your feelings and then apologised to despite the relinquishment of fault.

It’s a youthful manipulation accompanied by shreds of candor or attempts at self-deception: “You had me, you had me”. The outro of “I was watching you in the daylight/Over and over in the back of my mind” leaves you wondering whether she really likes whoever she’s addressing the song to or just likes the idea of them. The track encapsulates a common romantic struggle – enjoying the feeling of being wanted more than your current relationship. Perhaps the rest of the album (DANG) contains a song about the importance of self-validation and the pursuit of someone equally independent. You know, the inevitable next step.

Anyway, “Even Lana” is great to swing your best friend around at a house party to. It has kick, vocal prowess and something grungy at its core that really suits the 90s resurgence brought on by Lorde, FKA Twigs and early The Weeknd. Hopefully their upcoming album, DANG, will be released in the summer so it can be received in the appropriate fashion: listened to sitting on a garden wall smoking roll ups, with a bottle of cider in hand and some guys smoking weed at the end of your garden. - Independent Music News

At the Beautiful World Syndicate record store in South Philadelphia, the three long-time friends of Leggy hunt through stacks of vintage vinyl before their in-store performance. Inside of the small, independent shop, the cashier’s Yorkie puppy perches itself beside stacks of used record players, and sixties folk music echoes through out the room. But soon, the quiet, hole-in-the-wall store will house the booming, lo-fi garage rock of Leggy, one of Ohio’s most vibrant bands (You can view photos from the show here).

In January, Leggy released their third EP Dang, a nine-minute adrenaline rush recorded in a single night. Over repetitive, assertive punk-influenced guitar riffs, the four-song release is defined by Veronique Allaer’s shrill yet controlled vocals, which detail vivid images of Lana Del Rey in love and babies smoking cigarettes.

Draped in her bright pink hair and long, leopard coat, Allaer turns around, leaning over a shelf of records. “I’m feeling margaritas–how about you?” she says across the store. Her bandmates agree and head down the street, where they text their local friends to meet them for drinks before the show.

Over two pitchers of frozen lime margaritas and a massive bowl of chips and guacamole, Leggy reflect on the past several months of endless touring before heading back to play an intimate yet loud set to a crowd filled with new fans and old Philly friends.

You’ve been touring almost non-stop since October. How did you find time to record the new EP, Dang?

Kerstin Bladh: We had a day off at the very end of our summer tour. It was the day before our last show, and our show in Columbus fell through, which is really close to Cincinnati. So we had the night off, and we hit up our friend and recorded in his basement over like, four hours.

Veronique Allaer: The most we did was like, two takes.

Chris Campbell: We were just on tour for about a month, so we were so used to playing the songs that it made recording go a bit more quickly.

There’s a lot of themes in your music that play with the idea of what a cliché is, like in “Even Lana” where you reference Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Jeans”, as well as storybook romances like Dear John. On the last EP, Nice Try, there’s the lyric from “Grrls Like Us” that says, “There are many fish in the sea/but girls like us don’t go on trees.” How do you think you’re deconstructing the idea of what a love song is?

VA: I really like messing with phrases and idioms, like “fish in the sea.” I try to work those into the lyrics.

CC: I think her lyrics are about very realistic relationships, as opposed to idealized relationships. A lot of times, lyrics aren’t actually depicting romance. There will be songs that are extremes, like being miserable, but Veronique’s lyrics are kind of in the middle.

KB: She writes a lot about her life, which I know, because I know everything about her life. It’s so specific. When the guys hear her songs, they’re like, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

VA: Those are the best songs, though. The songs I love by Lana [Del Rey] are the ones where you can tell she went through something and then wrote about it.

Tour seems like such a bizarre way of life, but you’ve been going on a string of few-week tours consistently over the past year. How has that lifestyle been?

VA: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tour is addictive. You just meet new people, and every tour that you go on is better than the last tour, because you’re moving forward musically, and more people know you.

KB: I think touring forces you to live more in the moment. It’s kind of like, if you’re really high or tripping on acid, and someone calls you like, “Hey, do you know what time you’re supposed to be at work tomorrow?” And you’re like, “What are you talking about?” It’s another world, and all that matters is the show that night.

VA: When you come home from tour, it’s a comedown. You don’t know what to do with yourself. You just pace around the house, and then decide to go back out.

KB: But our first night on this tour, we got bed bugs. We stayed at a really bad motel in Detroit on Eight Mile Road.

CC: But the worst thing that’s happened on tour is when our car broke down in the desert out west. We had to scrap it and get this super expensive rental, which ended up getting a flat tire anyway.

Do you think you’re learning how to tour more effectively over time?

VA: It just gets easier the more you do it, because your name is out there more.

CC: You learn different ways to prepare and budget time with each time.

VA: Even booking the tours–I know what to say when I email someone, what to include, just short, straight, and to the point. I used to include these giant paragraphs.

KB: We’ve toured once a month since October, mostly around the Midwest.

CC: I think the only areas we haven’t been to are the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast.

VA: I just booked us a tour for the south, though.

Do you think your shows are getting better as the tour goes on?

VA: I’m just glad we got to record that EP right after we had been touring for a month. We had thirty days of practice.

KB: We’re so tight with each other after tour. But we’re already tight, because we live together.

VA: We’re tight enough that I know about Kerstin’s Jared Leto fan blog.

KB: I was twelve. I taught myself web programming just so that I could make that website. I had my own domain name. I did my own coding. I think he’s a total piece of shit now, as an adult, but it’s okay. I met him when I was in sixth grade because my dad’s a sound guy and got me into a Thirty Seconds to Mars show, and he had like, this groupie, and she was so mean to me.

Did having a parent in the music industry get you more interested in being a musician?

KB: It got me more into live music. Even shitty local Cincinnati bands that I got to see just because my dad was doing sound were really exciting.

VA: Also, Kerstin and I started playing together when we were in high school. We were allowed to fuck around using her dad’s nice gear, which was awesome.

CC: I tried to join their band so many times.

KB: He would just comment on our Zanga.

What were your first internet screen names on sites like Zanga and MySpace?

CC: My screen name was a Radiohead lyric, and my picture was Thurston Moore instead of myself.

KB: I was xmidsummerdayx.

VA: Mine was a Brokeback Mountain reference. It was IAmJackNasty.

How did your high school bands evolve into your post-college bands?

VA: A couple of our songs from our high school band, we used on the first Leggy EP. I played drums in that band, so it was very different.

KB: We played together until our junior year of high school, I think.

VA: And then we met boys. We went to an all-girls high school, so we weren’t spending our time socializing outside except with each other.

KB: We reworked “High Heeled Shoes” and “Honey” for Leggy. Then we did “High Heeled Shoes” again as “HHS 2.”

VA: The newest EP Dang is the first one that we all wrote the songs together for. I think the songs sound more cohesive.

KB: It’s more of a collaborative effort. We’ll get into a vibe where we’ll be able to write like, three songs in a couple of practices.

VA: It definitely helps that we’ve known each other for twelve years. We were fourteen, and we’re twenty-six now.

KB: We used to steal Pokémon cards from garages together.

How did that turn into Leggy?

CC: I think the idea to start playing music again together happened when Veronique came back to town. Kristin and I stayed in Cincinnati for college, but Veronique went to D.C.

VA: Once we finally started as Leggy, we just went full-force with it right away.

CC: We all live together as well, so we just hang out all of the time. It made touring a lot easier too, since we’re already used to living with each other.

Has it been hard to live together, or is it just natural?

CC: There was one moment on tour in Wichita, Kansas. Our friend pulled us outside and was like, “Look guys, we need to have a talk.” He wanted to confront us about all of this stuff, but we were like, “No dude, we’re fine.” We’ve just been tight forever. It’s like when you argue with your best friend, and then you just drop it.

VA: We bicker like siblings. No one gets butthurt. I hate that term, but it was so applicable for this sentence. I hate the word “butthurt.”

CC: It sucks when I get guys coming up to me after shows like, “Yo dude, what’s it like being in a band with these hot girls?” And I’m like, “It’s like, being in a band with my friends?”

There’s a lot of great bands coming out of Ohio right now. Did you play in the Ohio scene with these bands?

KB: Right now, the front page of She Shreds Magazine‘s website is like, Heartless Bastards, All Dogs, and us. It’s a dream team.

VA: Ohio overload! - Impose Magazine