LEIGHTON KOIZUMI

BIO

 

 In the 1980s, another garage rock revival saw a number of bands linked to the underground music scene earnestly trying to replicate the sound, style, and look of the 1960s garage bands.

One band protruded in a  very unique way,  with a much more heavier sound and a frontman with a murderous, narling voice. Gravedigger Five began playing together around 1983, practicing under the name "The Shamen" in bassist Chris Gast's garage.[1] The group began writing songs together while its members were still teenagers; lead singer Leighton Koizumi was only sixteen years old when the band began to perform. When the band eventually went on to play the Whiskey A Go Go, the band members had to wait outside between sets, as the members were too young to be in the club. The name "The Shamen" was abandoned after the group discovered that the name was already in use by another band, and so after a night of brainstorming, purportedly at a local Bob's Big Boy, the group renamed their band the Gravedigger Five, a take-off on the old "Monster Mash" backing group The Cryptkicker V.

 

 

After only a few performances the group caught the interest of Voxx Records owner Greg Shaw, who signed the band to his imprint in January, 1984. The band recorded their first LP the same year, sleeping together in a car in an alley adjacent to the studio while not recording. Their first LP, All Black and Hairy, was released towards the end of 1984, but even before its release original bassist Chris Gast was ejected from the band as a result of his substance abuse problems. Shortly after Gast's dismissal the rest of the band fell apart and the group disbanded. The band released its entire catalogue posthumously. Following the breakup of the band, Voxx released the band's first LP, "All Black and Hairy," in 1984.

 

 

In 1987, three years after the breakup of the band, Voxx Records released a second Gravedigger Five LP. Under the title The Mirror Cracked, Voxx packaged a number of unreleased All Black and Hairy session tracks, backed with eight crudely recorded live tracks recorded in 1984. The Gravedigger Five's second release contained a number of cover songs, including two Stoics songs, "Enough of What I Need" and "Be a Caveman." The LP also contained a version of "No Good Woman," with fellow Paisley Underground alum Paula Pierce of The Pandoras on backing vocals.

 

After the Gravedigger Five disbanded, Koizumi and Friedman moved to the Bay Area where they founded The Morlocks, another Paisley Underground garage rock revival band which continued the Gravedigger Five sound. Dave Anderson and Tom Ward continued on together in the band Manual Scan, and afterwards Anderson went on to perform with The Trebles, The Answers, The Crawdaddies and Skid Roper. The band reunited for one final show in 1999, playing Cave Stomp at New York’s annual garage rockathon. 

 

 

The Morlocks began performing together in late August 1984 when the already assembled core band of Jeff Lucas, Tom Clarke, and Mark Mullen, were able to entice former Gravedigger Five members Leighton Koizumi and Ted Friedman into joining the band. The newly formed Morlocks' first performance came in September 1984 at the Rave-Up in Los Angeles; that same night, following their performance, the band received two separate recording offers, opting, after a time, to sign a deal with Midnight Records of New York City

 

That December the band recorded their first mini-LP, Emerge, for Midnight Records. The Morlocks recorded the album with a set of smashed instruments destroyed at a show in San Francisco two days earlier by the band The Tell-Tale Heart, who agreed to lend the band the instruments for the recording session. The album was produced by Jordan Tarlow, the alias of Nadroj Wolrat, who would go on to join The Fuzztones. The label released the album in the spring of 1985.[2]

Following the release of their first LP the band relocated from San Diego to San Francisco where they released a second LP, this time for Epitaph Records.[1] The band's second LP was a live album called Submerged Alive, which featured a performance the band had recorded in Berkeley, California, in 1986.] While the album was apparently recorded live, the LP contained clear studio-manipulations of audience noise, prompting some to label it a "fake" live album.

In the summer of 1987, the band began to fall apart. Just prior to a show at the Fillmore in support of The Cult, bassist Jeff Lucas quit the band. The rest of the band held out long enough to record a handful of tracks under the production of Ron Rimsite before the entire group disbanded. The tracks recorded with Rimsite were eventually released posthumously on two 7" albums.[2] Four years after the band's breakup, a live LP from Croatia called Wake Me When I'm Dead was released. This was followed in 1997 by an officially released live CD provided by guitarist Ted Friedman called Uglier Than You'll Ever Be!, what was for first the final release, 'cause the band disbanded.

Koizumi started to hit stages around Los Angeles with various bands and a few years later reformed The Morlocks with a new line up including  Bobby Bones on guitar & backup vocals, Lenny Pops on guitar, Nick "The Canadian" on bass, and Marky on drums. The band toured and recorded the comeback albumtEASY LISTENING for the Underachiever 2008 only released in Europe on the italian label GO DOWN. However copys did filter Stateside. Somebody in song licensing acquired a copy and the group soon found pieces of it's catchier material used in television dramas and restaurant chain advertisements.