The Lepers

Formed originally in Lincoln, NE, the Lepers operate as a duo featuring Owen Cleasby on guitar and vocals together with Ken Brock on drums. Their music extends across lo-fi wanderings in the manner of Sonic Youth and into angular, jarring material that recalls the more agitated experiments from the late-'80s scenes in New York and Washington, D.C. The project began in 1993 as a three-piece yet elected to remain a duo so as to sustain focus on its artistic direction. The first album, the self-titled The Lepers, appeared while former bassist Mark Wolberg was still involved, but the second full-length release, 2002's The Love from Above on the Caulfield label, emerged after his departure as the two-piece configuration. Cleasby and Brock continued onward, relocating to Omaha in 2003 once they had spent more than a decade working in Lincoln. Informal discussion surrounding The Love from Above produced enough interest to support subsequent touring throughout the Midwestern U.S. The band kept developing its third album during 2007.