Jeff London (born 1970), is an American musician and songwriter from

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York. He was a part of the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

indie-folk music scene of the mid-nineties, inspired by artists such as

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

and Pete Krebs, and sharing stages with

M. Ward Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...

, Sara Dougher,

Ben Gibbard Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...

, and Ben Barnett. His album and compilation recordings on

HUSH records Hush Records is a Portland, Oregon based record label founded by Chad Crouch. Background Crouch, frontman of the band Blanket Music, organized Hush Records in 1997, when he self-released a solo record called ''Portland, Or''. The following year, ...

and Jealous Butcher records from 1997 to 1999 established the connection between the sound of Portland indie-folk and a broader Portland-based songwriter school. London is a vocalist who plays acoustic and electric guitar, piano, bass, and harmonica. He is notable for his lyricism.

Early life and education

Jeff London was born in 1970 in Douglaston, Queens. In the early eighties at Camp B'nai B'rith Perlman Jeff discovered musical theater in productions of Pippen and

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...

. In 1987 Jeff landed an off-Broadway role as Eugene Morris Jerome in Brighton Beach Memoirs at the Studio Theatre in Lindenhurst. This production was reviewed in both the ''New York Times'' and ''Newsday''. ''Newsday'' said “when you see Jeff London’s Eugene you forget Matthew Broderick’s ...” Jeff went to college at

SUNY Binghamton The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the State ...

where he began fronting bands and eventually writing songs reflective of the alternative culture of the early 90s.

Music career

In 1992 Jeff formed ''Megrim'' with Jason Weiner in

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, New York and recorded original, heavy indie music in the vein of

Sebadoh Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his ...

Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ( ...

, and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

. In 1994 upon moving to the East Village Jeff played the singer-songwriter scene and recorded another set of songs that earned him local gigs at

Sin-é Sin-é (; from the Irish phrase meaning "that's it") was a music venue in New York City that helped launch the careers of several noted musicians in the early 1990s. History Original café The original Sin-é, located at 122 St. Mark's Place i ...

and other clubs (including one he rescheduled missing a gig with the dishwasher,

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

.) Just after the New Year 1995 he drove across the country in a car with a hole in the floor to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. He played the open mic scene there, eventually establishing his Hot Cocoa night at Meow Meow where he met Ben Barnett and other Portland musicians. His first full length came out on tape cassette on Jealous Butcher, Uneasy, and he made a name for himself in local publications. With Less, a four-artist collaboration on

, he began working with both Rob Jones and Chad Crouch of those labels, putting out Slowness (1999), which led to out of town shows in Seattle, San Francisco, and Chico, Ca. He then shared half of a split release on the Postparlo label with

Kind of Like Spitting Kind of Like Spitting is an American indie rock band. They formed in 1996 in Portland, Oregon. The band is led by singer-songwriter Ben Barnett, whose work has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith, Mark Eitzel, Billy Bragg, and Robert Pollard. O ...

. London has also helped out with bass duties in Boy Crazy. His band lineup has included

Rachel Blumberg Rachel Chaiya Blumberg (born February 10, 1969) is an American musician, artist, and filmmaker, best known for her tenure as the drummer for the indie rock band The Decemberists. Early life Blumberg was born in Portland, Oregon in 1969. She is ...

Chris Funk Christopher Funk (born November 28, 1971) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays guitar, pedal steel, piano, violin, dobro, hurdy-gurdy, mandol ...

, Adam Selzer, Molly Hardy, Tove Holmberg,

Dave Depper Dave Depper is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the guitarist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie. Music career Depper began his career playing with various Pacific NW artists, including Meno ...

, Ben Barnett, and Tofer Towe. Col. Summers Park (2001) was the first to feature his rotating cast of friends and collaborators and it was well received. Jeff earned entry into SXSW, NXNW, and the CMJ music festival in New York City. Upon his return to New York Jeff released The Bane of Progress (2008) on HUSH and played live with Greg McMullen, Marla Hansen, Alec Mengee, Robin Ziari, and Andy Moon followed by a string of shows in New York City and a record release in Portland Oregon (sources). He also appeared and played on In the Land of the Ice and Snow (2009), a compilation of Portland bands that supported Portland public schools. Jeff has played regularly at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn over the years and has recently completed the recording of Trouble Trust (2020), out in Spring 2020.

Discography

Albums Uneasy (Cassette) Jealous Butcher Records JB-018 1997
Slowness (CD, Album) Hush Records HUSH14 2000
Col. Summers Park (CD, Album) Hush Records, Jealous Butcher Records HSH 027, JB-039 2001
Harm's Way (CD, Album) Schmata Records (Jeff London Self-released) JLP 001 2003
The Bane Of Progress (CD, Album) Hush Records HSH068 2007
Trouble Trust (Digital, Album) Jealous Butcher Records JB-193 2020
Singles & EPs Kind Of Like Spitting / Jeff London - Home: Volume I(CD, EP, Ltd, Num)Post-Parlo Records PPR1001 2000
Jeff London And The Deep Clean - The Deep Clean EP (CDr, EP) Big Time Nobody Records BTN 001 1999
Compilations From the Land of the Ice and Snow (Tangerine) Jealous Butcher Records JB-089. 2010
Are We Golden 1997-2007 (LP, Comp, Ltd, Num) Jealous Butcher Records JB-154 2017

References

External links

Jeff London Biography

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{authority control Living people 1970 births People from Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens American folk guitarists Binghamton University alumni