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Leitera brings new band to old stomping grounds
By John Benson
New Castle, Pa., native Johnny Leitera can’t wait to return to Northeast Ohio.
The New York City resident said it’s fitting that his new band, Tuff Sunshine, has included a Youngstown date Friday at Cedars West End for its new tour supporting the group’s debut full-length, “Fire in the Hero Building.”
It turns out the founding member of the former Youngstown indie-rock act Boogie Man Smash and Low Water actually road-tested some of the new album’s material during a 2014 show at the West Side venue.
“For sure, it’s always fun to come back to Youngstown,” Leitera said. “I love it there. I have a lot of really close friends. I still come back fairly often. Tuff Sunshine has never played in Youngstown, but I played solo there. So to me it’s like I never really felt or have been that far away. I’ve always kind of kept in the circle and know people there.”
Now his circle of friends will get a firsthand look at Tuff Sunshine, which formed a couple of years ago in New York City. The outfit – Leitera (guitar/vocals), Ani Cordero (drums/vocals) and Turner Stough (bass) – marks a stylistic departure for its singer, who said he’s moved on from The Dead Milkmen-sounding Boogie Man Smash.
His latest trio has been likened to Wilco, The Thrills and The Go-Betweens. Leitera said he’s not sure what to make of the comparisons but stresses if there’s a common thread to be found, it’s Tuff Sunshine’s lack of crazy experimental stuff. Instead, the outfit is influenced by the punk and post-punk of the ’80s and ’90s, as well as Stax recordings of the ’60s and ’70s.
“It’s just rock ’n’ roll, but lyrical aspects are what gives it depth,” Leitera said. “The arrangements are really thought out. We spent a lot of time on it, which we never did before.”
Previously, Tuff Sunshine released two EPs that were mostly of the post-punk variety: minimal and pared down. That’s not the case for “Fire in the Hero Building.”
“I just get bored with bands that don’t move forward to new places,” Leitera said. “It’s really important to always be challenging yourself or at least trying to do things. I’ve never been all about one type of music, just a rock album. I like to think of it as different things.”
As far as the odd album title, the songwriter said while he was finishing writing the album back in New Castle, there was a fire at the Hero Building. He later dreamed about the event. Inspired, Leitera started writing about the incident. In fact, the first line of the title track is taken from a fire extinguisher in his parents’ basement.
“The first line of the song is, ‘Pull the pin and aim for the base,’” Leitera said. “The second is, ‘There ain’t enough spit in all of space.’ I don’t usually write that way, but I really liked the title for the record. I thought it was interesting and evocative.”
In terms of future cases of writer’s block for Leitera, it appears he should always consider “How to use” directions for power tools and such as a source of inspiration.
“That’s not a bad idea,” he said, laughing. “Maybe I can put out a whole record of instructional manuals. I actually like that title.”