Lefwitch

The history of this band could get pretty long-winded, so we'll make this as short as possible...... The beginning starts in 1990, with the band cutting our teeth at the infamous Tri-Lighter(known to most of you now as Rookies) in Davenport. Originally a 5-piece band, we paid our dues, opening for many of the local and touring bands, eventually getting our own weekend slots. We continued on, playing a select few clubs in the Quad Cities, and spiraling out into the general Midwest area, including Chicago, Cedar Rapids, Rock Falls, Dixon, etc. A few drummer changes, and the departure of our lead vocalist(if ya know us, you probably know the story) leads us to 1993, the release of our first studio effort "Death Become Us", and the 4-piece lineup that would continue on for a couple years, growing our fanbase along the way. And during that period, we signed on with a small record label in California. We traveled out to L.A. and recorded tracks for a new album, but issues with the label led us to end our contract, and we moved on. Later, our long-time drummer, Rich Thobe, decided to leave the band for personal reasons, and once again we were on the hunt for a new drummer. Enter Brian Gordon, who would remain throughout this period of the band. We finally recorded our long-awaited, full-length CD in 1998, entitled "Call To Darkness", and played countless shows in support of it for the next couple years, until early 2000, when the departure of our long-time guitarist, Lyle Leftwich, forced us to end that era of the band. Doug, Craig, and Brian went on to form the band Rust, and shortly after taking on board a new lead vocalist. They recorded 2 demo CDs, and had very good success in the 7 years of their existence. Lyle went on to join the band Knucklehead, where they recorded a full-length CD, and had success with it as well. And eventually Knucklehad morphed into The King's Kiss, with Doug on bass, and Lyle on guitars. Craig jammed with several different bands, including playing lead guitar for Chuck Star Project. Rich eventually got back behind his drum kit, and joined the band Oratory for a period of time, then got together with Doug, Jeremy Draper, and Lyle to form a short-lived band called BYLF. And shortly after that, Doug started jamming with Sugar Nipples, splitting bass duties with former Knucklehead bass player Mark Detl. Move ahead to early 2008, where Rich Thobe gets the wheels in motion, and convinces Doug, Craig, and Lyle to get together and jam some Lefwitch tunes just for shits & giggles.....nothing serious. We got together.....and it was like the magic was still there.....so we started practicing on a regular basis, and after a few sessions, it was decided that Lefwitch would come out of retirement, and play some live shows, just to see if there was still any public interest in the band, but mainly just to play together on stage again after 8 years. We played our first show on July 12, 2008, at the Rockin' Ham in Davenport.....the club we had dominated years before when it was called Debbie's Tap. The show went great, we had a BLAST, and the crowd had a blast hearing us play once again!! And so begun the resurgence of Lefwitch.......We've only done a handful of shows since then, including one at Rascals in Moline....a club we had never played before, and the response was phenomenal! But unfortunately, during this time, Doug had been battling with health issues, and was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a neurological disorder which was affecting his playing abilities. Though he wasn't about to quit the one thing he loved to do for so many years, he did decide to step out of The King's Kiss, a VERY tough decision, and also back off playing regularly with Sugar Nipples, so he could focus on getting his disease under control. And we're thankful to say now, he's getting some control back, but had to give up singing lead vocals, & has handed the reins over to Randy Sarver. Also, with the addition of drummer Paul Burroughs III, Lefwitch is ready to continue on!! Recently, we've been learning a few new cover songs, but our main focus is writing NEW Lefiwitch material, and we're also planning some live shows for the upcoming year. Also, we're discussing recording a new CD in the near future.....so stay tuned for more info on that, and our live appearances! So there you have it.......our history in a nutshell. Any longer and we could have just written a book.......oh yes, many interesting stories we could tell!! We have SO many people we could thank for their support and help over the years, it would probably crash the servers, so we'll just give a big FUCK YEAH! to EVERYONE......you know who you are!! But we're gonna keep this shit going as long as we're having fun, and in the words of the infamous Dee Snider...."If it aint metal......IT'S CRAP!!!! See ya next time!!" We've got armadillos in our trousers.....