The Garagey, Bluesy Brooklyn-Based Band, COURTESY TIER Discuss Their Recent Release “Little Rock” and More!

Courtesy Tier are a garagey, bluesy, Brooklyn based band. On November 6th, they released a three song release called “Little Rock”. The band includes Omer Leibovitz – Guitar/Vocals,
Layton Weedeman – Drums and Alex Picca – Bass.

They worked on this first collection with producer Chris “Frenchie” Smith (The Front Bottoms, Purple, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead) who brought out an aggressive edge in the band and helped them develop a dissonant post-punk sound that they hadn’t had before.

Learn more about Courtesy Tier in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time today! How was the band’s summer?

The bands summer has been great. We have spent most of the summer playing shows around NYC, and holing up in our recording studio, working out new material. The highlight of the summer was getting the final masters for the new record.

Did you have some memorable shows this summer? Where were they and what made them that way? 

Summer shows around NYC are always a good time. A favorite for the summer was a show we played for the Sweetwater Brewery party, which was held at the Kings County Saloon. They were serving a pile of BBQ and sweetwater beer, and also sent us home with a whole lot of left overs. Can always win us over with free food!

It sounds like you are all from some very different places. How did you all first meet each other? Why do you think you all work so well together?

Layton (drumer) and I (guitar vocals) met at Berklee while attending college. Later when we moved to NYC we first met Alex briefly sharing some shows with his old band, but Alex and I also randomly ended up working for the same guitar builder and bonded over building guitars.

How did you come up with your band name? What does it mean?

Our band name Courtesy Tier is a play on “Courtesy Tear” which comes from an old inside joke between Layton and I and a few of our college friends/band mates. The meaning of the name is a mystery we are not yet ready to reveal. The original joke is an in appropriate one. The name is a nod to our old friends.

How has your music been influenced by your various backgrounds?

We all bring fragments of our upbringing into the music. Layton brings an influence of Hip Hop and Jazz which he was exposed to, growing up outside of Philly. Alex brings a sense of Harmony and Americana through his southern roots, and I bring an element of world music, growing up in Israel and West Africa. We all converge on our love for many styles of music, but mainly 70’s rock from NYC.

What artists have continued to inspire you all through the years? Who would you love to work with in the future?

I think we are all constantly influenced by new artists. There are always the usual suspects that we have all grown up with, so no need to mention those!

Tell me about your three song release called “Little Rock”. Was it difficult to select those particular three songs to be on this collection?

Picking the songs wasn’t difficult, although we had a list of 30 or so songs that we wanted to record. It helped to put our trust in Chris Frenchie (producer) and our manager. We sent them demos, and we all seemed to agree on the stand out tracks.

Generally, where do you get the inspiration for your music? Is it a joint process between you all?

It’s a mixed process, some of it has a lot to do with solitude, and the other part has everything to do with our chemistry. When it comes to lyrics and small chord fragments, I really like to spend a lot of time by myself. A lot of those ideas come from books, an over active imagination, and the love of songs about relationships. The most important piece of this puzzle is when the three of us get together to start arranging and playing around with the ideas. The original intent is usually immediately overtaken by whatever it is that happens when we start making sounds together. We also all come from a background as improvisers on our instruments, and so a lot of ideas are born from doing that.

What message do you hope listeners take away from your music? 

If they take away anything at all, that’s fine. Whether it’s that a listener relates to the song, and it’s a companion to whatever they might be going through, or it makes them angry because they hate it. Either way is fine!