Keith Leblanc - Little Axe, Vienna 2009a

Keith LeBlanc is an American drummer and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, and is a member of the bands

Little Axe Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, September 1949)Allmusic biography/ref> is an American musician who also performs under the stage name Little Axe. Career Early career Grounded in blues music learned from his father, a steel worker who ...

and

Tackhead Tackhead (styled TACK>>HEAD, sometimes known as Fats Comet) is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, in ...

. His record " No Sell Out" was one of the first sample-based releases. The song was a success, charting at No. 60 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and becoming the single of the week for several major music publications. His career started out on Sugar Hill Records recording with hip hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, and released several singles on and was a studio musician for Tommy Boy Records. He is also featured on several tracks on the album ''

Pretty Hate Machine ''Pretty Hate Machine'' is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by NIN frontman Trent Reznor and English producer Flood, amon ...

'' by Nine Inch Nails. He now has his own record label on which he still releases music, samples records, and experiments.

Early life

LeBlanc grew up in Bristol, Connecticut. He got his start playing drums after seeing Ringo Starr from

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

on TV. After showing an early interest and focus, his parents bought him a practice pad, and he joined the orchestra in school. A drummer in school encouraged his early interest, inspiring him to cobble together a makeshift kit which he played along to records on his father's HiFi system. He did his first show at 14, after having been snuck into the club by his bandmates who were older.

Sugar Hill Records

LeBlanc's friend Harold Sargent, the drummer for the house band at Sugar Hill Records was retiring, and needed to find his replacement. He brought in LeBlanc, who auditioned for Doug Wimbush and

Skip McDonald Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, September 1949) Allmusic biography/ref> is an American musician who also performs under the stage name Little Axe. Career Early career Grounded in blues music learned from his father, a steel worker who ...

who agreed to take him on after hitting it off with LeBlanc. After replacing Sargent, LeBlanc worked as the session drummer for Sugar Hill Records for four years.

Discography

Solo albums

* '' Major Malfunction'' (1986, World) * '' Stranger Than Fiction'' (1989,

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

) * ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'' (1990, Blanc) * '' Time Traveller'' (1992, Blanc) * '' Freakatorium'' (1999, Blanc) * '' Stop the Confusion (Global Interference)'' (2005, Collision: Cause of Chapter 3)

Tackhead

References

External links

Official websiteOn NMESunday MercuryOn DrumdropsKeith LeBlanc Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Tommy Boy Records artists American drummers Tackhead members Fats Comet members {{US-drummer-stub