Les Incompétents

Les Incompétents were an indie-rock band from West London. They met with negligible mainstream success, but supported, amongst others, Mystery Jets, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, and Babyshambles.

History

Their two singles received airplay from BBC Radio 1, Virgin Radio, BBC 6 Music, XFM, MTV2 and Kerrang Radio, receiving serious support from Steve Lamacq, John Kennedy and Zane Lowe, amongst others. They were also been highly rated by the record store Rough Trade, who listed "Reunion"/"Much Too Much" as their fourteenth favourite single of 2005. [http://www.roughtrade.com/site/chart_detail.lasso?chart_id=singles]

Their second single, "How It All Went Wrong", released in March 2006, was limited to 1,500 copies and sold out on the day of its release. The video that accompanied the song was made on a shoestring budget, at the Tatty Bogle Club in London where the band rehearsed, by music promo directors Type2Error.

On September 1, 2006, the band announced via a bulletin and blog-post on MySpace that they were splitting up. The news came just after their V festival performance being aired on Channel 4's "Whatever" programme. After selling out London's 100 Club for their penultimate show, they played their last ever gig at Acton Town Hall on November 11, 2006. In February 2007, the band released "End Of An Error", a collection of all their recorded material, on White Heat Records, including singles, b-sides, early demos, an introduction featuring David Walliams and live performances from XFM sessions.

Members

The band had a highly fluid line-up throughout their career, with the following line-up at the end of their time as a band:

* Billy Leeson - vocals
* Frederick Macpherson - vocals
* Christopher Burman - guitar
* Shaun Paterson - guitar
* Tommy Atomic - bass
* Lawrence of Templeton - drums

Assault on Billy Leeson

On June 22 2006, Les Incompétents' frontman, Billy Leeson was involved in a row with New Zealander peace activist, former Green Party candidate Christiaan Briggs after getting off a number 29 bus in Camden, North London. [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10389979] According to news reports, this followed an argument on a bus after Leeson accused Briggs of looking at Leeson's girlfriend; Briggs followed the couple off the bus and then punched Leeson who then fell and hit his head on the ground. [http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=PN2330342H&news_headline=peace_activist_jailed_for_attack_on_singer] Two witnesses claim Briggs walked away "smirking", although Briggs' lawyers have claimed he was "smiling nervously". [http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=PN2330342H&news_headline=peace_activist_jailed_for_attack_on_singer] Leeson was in a coma and listed in critical condition for three weeks following surgery to remove a piece of skull that was pushing into his brain, causing it to swell. He regained consciousness on July 27 and is now out of hospital, but requires a metal plate in his head [http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20061002_billy.shtml] . Briggs turned himself in to police when the extent of Leeson's injuries was reported in the news. Briggs was sentenced to eight months in prison on October 23. [http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=PN2330342H&news_headline=peace_activist_jailed_for_attack_on_singer] Leeson does not remember the attack [http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20061002_billy.shtml] .

Trivia

According to the band themselves, in an interview with John Kennedy on Xfm, their name is pronounced as it is written, with the french plural for 'the' pronounced like the English name 'Les', as if it is a British person's attempt at speaking French, "It's meant to sound like an English person mispronouncing a French word/words." "Or it's a man called Les, with the surname Incompétents."

Legacy

In November 2007, it was announced that Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, a new band containing Shaun, Frederick and Tommy of Les Incompetents, would be releasing their debut single via independent British label Transgressive Records. [http://www.nme.com/news/ox-eagle-lion-man/32134]

External links

* [http://www.lesincompetents.co.uk/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/lesincompetents Les Incompetents Myspace]
* [http://drownedinsound.com/content/view/956529 Drowned In Sound article describing the serious assault on Billy Leeson]
* [http://last-straw.net Christiaan Briggs' blog]