Lower Leisure Class wsgs. Wowza In Kalamazoo

With whole-hearted soul and voice, Kalamazoo’s Lower Leisure Class write, release, and perform energized earworms grounded in rock ‘n’ roll while sailing through the sonic stratosphere.

The sextet’s acclaimed debut LP, Stories from the Lower Leisure Class, supplies “an unmistakable, identifiable restless sound” to listeners who’ll keep “spinning this record… over and over again”, according to Local Spins’ Ryan Boldrey. “To see this group shape their music around those stories is where things take off,”, writes Derek Phillips at Glorious Noise. “It’s new, but steeped in nostalgia and references any good midwesterner will recognize.”

Their stage skills burnished to a fine shine as members of powerhouse Michigan bands including King Tammy, the Sinatras, and the Sleestacks – all of whose Leppotone recordings command a cult following to this day – the LLC move audiences to dance, sing along, activate, and engage. 

Wowza in Kalamazoo began as a remote recording collaboration between Ike Turner and Zach Hench (along with the brilliant Sarah Beauchamp), but quickly metastasized into a full-tilt rock band comprising Franki Hand (Petrillo), Chafe Hensley (OUT, Minutes, Hornet), Brad Miller (Brown Company, Dr. Xeron & The Moogulators), Jimbo Bruce (via Ferrata) and the above-mentioned Turner (OUT, Minutes, New Standards Men). As the group expanded so did their approach to writing songs, including more emphasis placed on improvisation and capturing work as it happens vs. grinding songs into dust. Looking to go FURTHER, Wowza’s sound is akin to that of space Needle, Can, and Träden.