Rock ‘n Roll is supposed to be dead. The Who weren’t uncertain if it was dead or alive, Lenny Kravitz said it was definitely dead, and Marilyn Manson, well, he said it was dead too. With all the death talk it’s a miracle the genre is able to keep going. Regardless if Rock is dead or alive, Sheered Lepus, a four piece rock band from Jackson county, have found their niche and are ready to rock your socks off in the New Year.

Brady Robinson, a small business owner for six years is just closing up shop to plan for a national tour. Robinson, the lead singer and vox player said it “seems like forever” that they’ve been playing together in some form or another in Ravenswood. For a while Scott their drummer was out of the loop living in Missouri. Robinson said they “tooled around for a while but couldn’t find a replacement.” Through a chance meeting with Jeff Westlake, guitarist of Hydrogyn, the band landed a deal with Destroy All Records (DA), distribution with BCD Music Group. After recording for months, the master tracks are complete, and just waiting on some finishing touches “they’re actually sitting on my desk … I’m scared there’s going to be a fire and it’ll all be lost!” said Robinson.

One Bad Bunny is due out Jan. 9, 2009. A CD release party is planned at the Fairplain Yacht Club in Ripley the same day with Hydrogyn also playing. “For people to really understand us, they need to see us live … we love playing live, it’s where we thrive.” Said Robinson, “and wherever we play, it’s going to be aggressive.” 

Graffiti: Alright let’s start out with the basics, who’s in the band?

Robinson: Vox: Brady (the Fabulous Dancing Pig) Robinson; guitar: Chriss (Shmeg) Smith; bass: Kevin (Boosh) Bush; and drums: Scott Ellis (Elli-mo).

Graffiti: The name, what is a Sheered Lepus? Any special significance?

Robinson: The name does have significance but for now we’d like it to remain a mystery. Sheered Lepus came from the twisted mind of our guitar player Chriss Smith (Shmeg). I didn’t even realize what it meant for years.

Graffiti: Who are you main influences?

Robinson: Black Sabbath is without a doubt our biggest influence. This is shared by the band as a whole. We have very diverse influences on an individual level. Scott is a Lamb of God, Slayer, Pantera guy, Shmeg is an old school metal cat i.e. Iron Maiden (we cover Wrathchild on our album), Priest and also the Who, Floyd, Beatles and straight up good old fashion rock and roll. I am a huge Doors, Beatles fan and old school metal. Boosh likes anything that is good from blues to progressive metal. I should again say Black Sabbath.

Graffiti: What are you listening to these days?

Robinson: Shmeg and I have been really into the Who lately, Boosh has been listening to a lot of Heavy and Hell and Opeth and Scott is listening to Lamb of God.

Graffiti: What’s your favorite venue to play in or see a show?

Robinson: We originated from the sticks in Jackson County and used to play in the little bars up there like The High Tide and Malberrys. Since reforming the band we have been recording for the most part and after getting our deal with DA Records/BCD Music Group our attention moved toward playing. We have recently played at the Fairplain Yacht Club in Ripley. The Yacht Club is a great venue and you will probably see them booking more and more big shows in the future. The owner Jeff Paxton is a great supporter of music and a great guy. They have a new stage that was built for our show there with Hydrogyn in October so there is plenty of room. We brought in one hell of a stage production. On big shows we use Turner Stage Lighting and Dewey Decibel Systems for production. Both those companies are awesome.

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Contact Ben at bmoffat@graffitiwv.com