Tuff Sunshine is an American rock band based in the

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. The band is led by Johnny Leitera, who works with several backing musicians who join him onstage and on tour as well as in the studio. They include notable artists such as

Linda Pitmon Linda Pitmon is an American drummer known for her work with the supergroups The Baseball Project and the Filthy Friends. Pitmon played percussion in band and orchestra in high school. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and drumming was a he ...

(The Minus Five/

The Baseball Project The Baseball Project is a supergroup composed of Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon formed in 2007. The performers came together from discussions between McCaughey and Wynn at R.E.M.'s March 21, 2007 induction i ...

Filthy Friends Filthy Friends is an alt-rock supergroup based in Portland, Oregon. The band is fronted by Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney) and guitarist Peter Buck (formerly of R.E.M. and Tired Pony). The other members of the band include alumni from bands such ...

) bassist Turner Stough (

Shilpa Ray Shilpa Ray is an American singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, New York with a DIY punk experimental sound. Her music has been compared to Blondie, The Cramps, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins and her singing has been compared to the style of Patti Smith ...

/I Am The Polish Army) and founding member Ani Cordero (

Os Mutantes Os Mutantes (meaning '' the mutants''; ) are an influential Brazilian rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement, a dissident musical movement during the Brazilian dictatorship of the late 1960s. The band is considered to be one of ...

/ Rasputina), among others. Drummer Ani Cordero was a founding member and left the band amicably in 2016 to pursue a solo career and still plays occasional shows with the band. Leitera and Tuff Sunshine have shared bills with such diverse artists as Tim Rogers/

You Am I You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted ...

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

Jonathan Richman Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...

and

The Dead Boys The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed by vocalist Stiv B ...

. Leitera also plays and tours as a solo musician and has played all over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the UK and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 2019

Sam Sifton Sam Sifton (born June 5, 1966) is an American journalist and food editor at ''The New York Times.'' He was previously the paper's national editor. Sifton has also worked as deputy dining editor (2001); dining editor (2001–04); deputy culture edi ...

of The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

premiered the video for "We Seal Every Deal With A Kiss" in his "What to Cook" column (Leitera is an avid home cook who posts about food and "mom and pop" restaurants using the hashtag #nochains). Tuff Sunshine have self-released two EPs ''"Half-Mast/Steadfast"'' (2012) and ''"Kids Know"'' (2014) which was produced by

Martin Bisi Martin Bisi (born 1961) is an American producer and songwriter. He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, The Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Ang ...

. The band also has released a limited-run full-length vinyl LP ''"Fire In The Hero Building"'' (2015) which has garnered praise from ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

,'' ''

The Big Takeover ''The Big Takeover'' is a bi-annual music magazine published out of New York City since May 1980 by critic Jack Rabid. History Establishment Jack Rabid and Dave Stein began publishing ''The Big Takeover'' in May 1980 as a fanzine dedicated to N ...

'' and ''

Magnet Magazine A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

''. ''Fire In The Hero Building'' received airplay on independent stations

WFMU WFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey. Since 1998 its studios and operating facilities have been headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. It broadcasts locally at 91.1 Mhz FM, in ...

and

WFUV WFUV (90.7 FM) is a non–commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Fordham University, with studios on its Bronx campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. WFUV first went on the air ...

in New York City, and the band performed live on

's "Three Chord Monte" show on June 5, 2017. In 2010 Leitera was

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

Magazine's "Writer of the Week" while with his former band

Low Water Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

. In 2012 DJ/presenter

Nic Harcourt Nic Harcourt (born September 23, 1957) is an English-born American radio and television presenter, producer, and journalist best known as the former Music Director and on-air presenter for the Santa Monica, California-based radio station KCRW. Har ...

featured the song "Let 'Em In" on his syndicated radio show "Connections". The band were named "Artist of the Day" in the UK blog

Louder Than War ''Louder Than War'' is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by journalist John Robb in 2010 and is now ru ...

in 2013 and played the Team Clermont CMJ Showcase in 2015. They also recorded a

Daytrotter Daytrotter is a recording studio, music venue and subscription-based music discovery website located in Atlanta, United States. It hosts recording sessions with indie music acts. The original studio in Rock Island, Illinois, was founded in 2006 ...

session while on tour in the Mid-West in 2016. Their debut full-length LP ''Fire In The Hero Building'' was released in 2017 via

Brooklyn Arts Press Brooklyn Arts Press (BAP) is an independent publisher of poetry, literary fiction, non-fiction, art books, and music. The company was founded in 2007 by writer Joe Pan (formerly Joe Millar) in Brooklyn, New York.

Discography

*''Half-Mast/Steadfast'' (EP, 2012) *''Kids Know'' (EP, 2014) *''Fire In The Hero Building'' (LP, 2015/2017, (Brooklyn Arts Press)) *''Dig Deeper, Peanut'' (LP, 2019 (Declared Goods))

References

External links

*{{official, http://tuffsunshine.com/ *http://www.popmatters.com/post/196853-tuff-sunshine-dreamin-audio-premiere/ *http://stereoembersmagazine.com/james-tate-meets-paul-westerberg-tuff-sunshines-fire-in-the-hero-building/ *http://nyc.thedelimagazine.com/22771/garage-pop-trio-tuff-sunshine-unveils-video-for-dreamin-plays-cmj-on-1017 *http://louderthanwar.com/new-artist-of-the-day-tuff-sunshine/ Musical groups from Brooklyn