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Maverick Drummer, Producer & Solo Artist Keith LeBlanc Creates Groundbreaking Beats With Propellerhead Reason

Maverick Drummer, Producer & Solo Artist Keith LeBlanc Creates Groundbreaking Beats With Propellerhead Reason

Stockholm, Sweden (October 15, 2009) – More than just a session drummer, Keith LeBlanc is also an accomplished solo artist and maverick producer in his own right. He got his start in the early ’80s as part of the Sugar Hill House Band (with bassist Doug Wimbish and guitarist Skip “Little Axe” McDonald), backing up groundbreaking rap artists on the Sugar Hill Records label including The Sugar Hill Gang (“Rapper's Delight”) and Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel on “The Message and Freedom”. From his own Tommy Boy Records release, “No Sell Out” (a Hip-Hop deconstruction of a Malcolm X speech and the first-ever record featuring sampling), to his involvement in creating the sound of funk noise giants Tackhead with Wimbish, McDonald and British dub producer Adrian Sherwood, he has gained recognition as one of the top and most innovative drummers/programmers around. Reason has been part of the artist’s go-to applications for writing and remixing since its release nearly a decade ago.

“I think I switched from hardware to software before a lot of producers,” he recounts. “Other producers would ask me how I did the tracks and when I told them it was Reason they always looked shocked! What I like about Reason is that it is fast. Also, I can work any way I want, anywhere I want, with just my laptop and a good idea.”

LeBlanc prefers to create his own sounds as he’s done for so many years, but having the Reason sound bank at his fingertips has been invaluable. “I always go to the Reason sounds for something. With the NN-XT, I can do anything—from vocals to drums.”

Those Reason sounds can be heard all over his 2008 release, “Chess Moves”. On it, LeBlanc raided the prodigious vaults at the legendary Chess Records, retrofitting standard blues classics with post-funk grooves for this enthralling compilation.

What’s in LeBlanc’s Reason rack? “It all depends on the project. That’s what I love about it… I can make it into anything I need.”

For more on Keith LeBlanc, go to: www.myspace.com/keithleblanc