Who is Leroy Brisk?

Who is Leroy Brisk and where does he come from? Leroy Brisk was born out of a world of computers and high-technology. In the mid-1980s he played and sequenced a Casio CZ-5000 synthesizer keyboard and a Casio RZ-1 sampling drum machine. He recorded onto a 4-track tape recorder. He wrote device drivers for MIDI interface cards and graphics controller cards.

Sometimes hard to track down and often difficult to get a straight answer out of, getting Leroy Brisk to take a break is a challenge. One can not tie him down or classify him. With heavy influences from the “new wave” and techno bands of the 1980s, punk rock, jazz and hip-hop, Leroy Brisk creates sounds that defy pigeon-hole classifications. Is it Ambient? Sometimes. Is it Techno? Not necessarily. Is it Downtempo Electronica? Perhaps. Is it different? Very possibly.

You may have seen him and never realized it. You might find him walking around mid-town Manhattan or the financial district, reading a book while listening to Orbital, Underworld, and the Chemical Brothers by the water fountain in Sydney’s Hyde Park, exploring the Jenolan Caves near Eastern Australia’s Blue Mountains, walking in the rain with a lover at the Bronx Zoo, viewing paintings at the National Art Gallery in Reykjavík (Já, Já, Ekki taka myndir), piloting a Cessna 172 around New England, installing network wiring in an office, walking laps around Stamford’s Cove Island Park, performing last-minute installation checks at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix (well, technically North Scottsdale), crushed next to you on the 4 or 5 subway car to or from the Wall Street station, deploying new computers and monitors in school classrooms or in the offices of a major wealth-management corporation, moving seating locations and installing new widescreen monitors in the office of a major multinational insurance corporation, installing the network and Point-of-Sale system in pre-paid wireless stores, providing desk-side computer and printer support in the offices and labs of a global biopharmaceutical corporation, sitting next to you on the semi-express Metro-North train into or out of Grand Central Terminal, unpacking and installing enterprise-level printers at the newly renovated headquarters of a multinational food, snack and beverage corporation, waiting for a connecting flight out of Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, Houston, Detroit Metro, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte or Reagan National, overseeing the construction and fitting-out of a 50-foot steel trawler in southwest Michigan, grocery shopping at Costco, removing malware from your computer, working behind-the-scenes at Madison Square Garden, enjoying a Björk/Sigur Rós concert in Coney Island, providing support and training for the back-office computer in your convenience store, or just waiting in line at a movie.

In June 2003, Leroy Brisk met a bright, talented, and energetic young Ecuadorian woman from Sydney, Australia. In the realm of cinema, she would be the stock character known as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl — A quirky, playful, and free-spirited woman who sweeps in to inspire the brooding male character and change his life.

By late August 2003, the two had agreed to collaborate on a one-year project to create a music album with the intention of playing it at public events. However, a few weeks later, she unexpectedly had to return to Sydney. Leroy followed shortly after to spend an amazing and adventurous month with her during Sydney’s beautiful spring-time. Upon his return home, during an unusually frigid New York winter, Leroy started the project on his own with some long-distance Instant Messaging and email feedback from Sydney. The now long-distance relationship eventually disintegrated by mid-2004 so Leroy finished the album by himself. The resulting first album, 2004's BONK, reflects upon aspects of that relationship while the second album, 2006's Afterwords, focuses on events after the relationship was over. The third album, 2008's WindChill, completes the arc and provides an endcap by finishing with a new arrangement of BONK's opening track.

What does “BONK” mean?
It’s the word she and I used when referring to sex.

Oh, you mean “boink”, don’t you?
No, we said “bonk”. She’s from Australia and that’s the slang term they use there and in other British-speaking countries.

Is that your girlfriend’s butt/bum/arse/booty/derrière on the cover?
No.

Whose is it then?
Someone else.

Is she still your girlfriend?
She and I never agreed on the status of the relationship or if a “relationship” ever actually existed let alone if we were ever boyfriend and girlfriend — this point of contention was covered in the song “Sex Toy”. Being in time zones 12 or 14 hours apart (depending on the time of year) also became a major limiting factor. Through the years we occasionally kept in touch through email but to an outside observer it would appear that whatever it was we had was over.

What's that symbol on the cover of “Afterwords”?
It’s the Chinese word “hòu” meaning “After” or “Future”.

Any reason why you chose Chinese?
Whereas the cover of “BONK” was colorful, I wanted something stark and simple on “Afterwords”. I wanted something black and white and this character works the way I wanted it to.

But to answer the question, yes, there was a reason. During production of “Afterwords”, something happened between a long-time friend and I that kicked things up a notch, but ultimately she didn’t feel comfortable with the change. The song “W4 Method” covers this topic.

Did you know it’s actually spelled “afterwards”?
It’s acceptable to spell it either way, but for this situation it’s supposed to refer to the words said after.

No, really. Who is Leroy Brisk?
Ok, ok. Leroy Brisk is a maverick who uses tea-leaf reading to create creative strategy of mansplaining in big data. There! Are you satisfied now?