Leslie Spit Treeo

Leslie Spit Treeo were a Canadian folk-rock band in the 1988. [cite news|url=http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2003-11-06/stage_theatrefeature_p.html|title=Matinee idol|last=Kaplan|first=Jon|date=2003-11-06|work=NOW Magazine|publisher=NOW Communications Inc.|accessdate=2008-04-25] The band took its name from one of their original rehearsal spaces, the Leslie Street Spit in Toronto Harbour.

The band originally consisted of vocalist Laura Hubert, rhythm guitarist Pat Langner, guitarist Jack Nicholsen and mascot Tag, a dog. (Tag was also listed as the band's official manager.)

They began as a street busking collective, sometimes with Graeme Kirkland contributing on drums, and won a role in Bruce McDonald's 1989 film "Roadkill", playing buskers in a field performing their song "The Sound". They signed to Capitol Records and released their debut album "Don't Cry Too Hard" in 1990, garnerning significant airplay on rock radio stations with a cover of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery" and with their own original song "Heat". They subsequently won a Juno Award for Most Promising Group in 1991.

For their follow up album, 1992's "Book of Rejection", the band brought in guests Jason Sniderman on keyboards, Frank Randazzo on bass and Joel Anderson on drums. That album included the band's biggest hit, "In Your Eyes", a Top 20 hit in the fall of 1992 which featured Randy Bachman on guitar. But they felt that they lost creative control of the recording process, and broke their 7-album recording contract.

Nicholsen left the band in 1993 to pursue an acting career. Also that year, the band appeared in another McDonald film, "Dance Me Outside", again playing themselves in concert.

With the core of the band now down to the duo of Langner and Hubert, their 1994 indie album "Hell's Kitchen" was initially credited to The Spits since the band were no longer a "treeo", but when initial sales were slower than expected, it was rereleased under the band's original name.

In 1996, the band released the double album "Chocolate Chip Cookies" in a cookie bag package that closely resembled Chips Ahoy! packaging; after Nabisco threatened the band with a lawsuit, the band burned all the packaging in a bonfire in Toronto's High Park and rereleased the album the following year in a conventional jewel case. For that album's supporting tour, Langner and Hubert were joined by guitarist Jason Reed, bassist Shaun Noronha and drummer Vince Montago.

"Chocolate Chip Cookies" was the band's last album. Hubert has released three solo jazz recordings and is a fixture on the Toronto jazz scene. Langner is a writer and social worker living in Edmonton. Nicholsen continues to act and sings with The Cameron Family Singers. Tag, the dog, died in 2000.

Discography

* "Don't Cry Too Hard" (1990)
* "Book of Rejection" (1992)
* "Hell's Kitchen" (1994)
* "Chocolate Chip Cookies" (1996)

References