Left Lane Closed

Left Lane Closed is an upbeat pop/rock band that formed a few years ago in a semi-old garage. After a few months playing amidst old lawn mowers, rusty tool boxes and old bikes, Rene(vocals/guitar), Baltasar(drums/vocals), and Jofuss(bass), broke out of the garage and into the club scene in their hometown. They've had gigs at numerous public functions, as well as in outlying cities like Monterrey, Mexico, where this happy little band has quite a following! Left Lane Closed is surely a band that'll get you goin'!

Rene, Baltasar, and Joseph always went to the same elementary and middle school, but never really knew each other, after all, they were several grades apart(Rene is 2 years older than Baltasar, and Baltasar is 2 years older than Joseph). One summer, Baltasar got a drum set, and his sister Renee invited Rene to jam out with him. Rene agreed, and went to Baltasar's to play. An unnamed guitarist kept trying to drown Rene out with his much louder guitar, yet Baltasar took a liking to Rene's style of playing and singing, so after a while, that guitarist was never invited back. Soon, Baltasar moved to guitar, while Kenny came from Houston to play drums and his sister came to play bass. After a while they left, and Baltasar took the drum throne again. In need of a bass player, the guys recruited Joseph, who was Baltasar's sister's ex-boyfriend. He would always hang around at rehearsals, but knew nothing about music, so the guys taught him to play the bass, and in no time at all, he was playing great bass licks. The guys put out a demo composed of three original tracks, and started playing at parties, and after word of mouth spread about them, the unnamed guitarist mentioned earlier begged to come back into the group, but was put on probation by Rene and Baltasar. Soon enough, he screwed up and was kicked out again. The band got more and more popular, and to date, the members are still writing more and more songs to be included in their first and second albums. Keep on the lookout; they may be coming to a city near you soon!

The first place Left Lane Closed ever played at was a luau at St. John Neumann Catholic Church. Baltasar(drums/vocals)'s mom volunteered the boys to play here, and they were an instant hit. From their, word of mouth spread on their catchy sound, and they were then invited to play at numerous parties and public events. The first paying gig came at Barilero's sports bar in Laredo, followed by The Downtown Alley, also in Laredo, where the guys started getting a following, and thus played there on a weekly basis. The guys also played at Sal's Pizza, where heavy metal and hardcore punk rule, and naturally almost got a beating from kids sporting mohawks, black trenchcoats, pentagrams and white makeup. Wrong audience!!! But good word also spread to Monterrey, Mexico, where Left Lane Closed played several times, each time returning by popular demand.

I(Rene(vocals/guitar)) have always been into Elvis's music, but the Beatles have influenced my music more than anyone else. The Foo Fighters have also influenced the sound my songs have, as have Matthew Sweet, and this really cool band called the Gigolo Aunts. Baltasar(drums/vocals) has always been into Collective Soul, he like, worships them, and Joseph is really into hard core punk, like the Ataris and stuff like that.

I(Rene)use an Epiphone Les Paul Standard guitar. As of now I have a little Fender amp that I use with it, but I NEED A BIGGER AMP! I use all Danelectro pedals. Baltasar(drums/vocals)uses Yamaha drums, and Joseph(bass) uses Squier and Washburn basses through a Peavey amp and occassionally uses a Zoom bass effects pedal.