During the late '80s, the UK punk scene found itself at a stylistic crossroad. Amidst the post-UK82/post-Crass climate, a new direction emerged with the mantra of harder, faster and heavier. Rather than participating in this Aural Arms Race and creating more riffless racket, Sunderland's Leatherface boldly injected melody, hooks and melancholic emotion into their songs. To this day Leatherface continue to be a highly regarded band across all of the sub-sects of underground music. Perhaps part of that lasting appeal is that the band forever retained their underground status, never fully getting their "big break." It's not that they were incapable of achieving something greater, rather it simply was not part of their destiny. Many of their contemporaries at the time did make the leap from indie to major labels, yet none of those bands hold a candle to the entity that is Leatherface. None of them strike a chord with people the way that Leatherface manage to. None of them have the sentimentality, the personality or the sincerity that Leatherface have always carried. Laurence Bell was the man behind those records, first with his Roughneck Records imprint and then with Domino Records. While some may feel a gruff punk outfit like Leatherface sticks out from much of the Domino catalog, Laurence cut his teeth in DIY punk. It was on his first label, Head Eruption, that Extreme Noise Terror released their slammer "A Holocaust In Your Head" in 1989. He also did the punk zine Harsh Reality and fronted the band Perfect Daze with members of The Stupids and ENT. Laurence was kind enough to speak with us and was extremely forthcoming with info. You can sense a sincere fondness for the era as he recounted his experiences. He came off as earnest and humbled to have been a part of such a special run of records, and we are grateful to him taking the time to share his memories. Full interview: www.NegativeInsight.com - - #Leatherface #Mush #DominoRecords #punkvinyl #NegativeInsight
