leh-lo

Purchase Leh-Lo's "Zig-Zag" on iTunes!



Leh-lo's debut cd "Zig-Zag" is now available online at CD Baby.



when producer ron st. germain (311, soundgarden, bad brains) saw me using my full name lehlohonolo tony rabalao, for the liner notes on the 1st joydrop record, metasexual, which he produced, he started calling me leh-lo for short. i thought it had a nice ring to it, and i liked the way it rolled off the tongue. thanks ron!



i was born in south africa when apartheid was in full effect. my parents moved us to canada when i was two years old. most of my childhood was spent in ottawa, but toronto is where i've spent my adult life and cut my teeth as a musician. drums are my first love, singing and songwriting came later.



as a musician, i toured and recorded extensively throughout north america and europe, playing drums with; joydrop, kyprios, blinker the star, tara slone, big sugar, billy klippert, ivana santilli, liam titcomb, kazzer, the premiums, and bass is base. i'm currently musical director and drummer for kalan porter. it was while touring with bass is base, that i formed the juno nominated alt rock group joydrop (tommyboy/bmg) and wrote many of the songs on our two releases, metasexual and viberate, including the top 20 billboard hit "beautiful" and the top 40 billboard hit "spiders".



my songs have been placed in television shows; the west wing, v.i.p., special unit 2, witchblade, vital signs, and motion pictures; gingersnaps 2 and my first mister. i recently composed the score for a short film called amma, featuring maestro, which was screened at a short film festival in toronto. two songs, "just like you", and "all alone", off my new cd zigzag will be in an upcoming tv movie called "too young to marry". a 3rd song, "the numbers" will be on a compilation included with a book "2012", soon to be released in the u.s.



a couple of years ago i was urged by my good friend and joydrop bandmate tom mckay to sing my own songs and record a solo album. i agreed and together we produced my first release "zigzag". the majority of it was recorded by jordon zadorozny (sam roberts, melissa auf de maur) at his studio in pembroke, ontario. for mixing we enlisted tom's production partner, mark plati (david bowie, the cure, prince) and spent a couple of weeks at his studio in the east village, nyc. i wrote all 11 songs on acoustic guitar first because if i'm feeling them in their most basic form, then i've got a good foundation to build on.



i've always loved timeless records that you can lose yourself in from end to end, with a strong melodic sense and a story to tell. those are the types of records i strive to make, but you can be the judge of that. i'm really proud of what we accomplished. stepping out from behind the drum kit to front and center stage was a humbling experience at first, but oh what a rush! see you out there soon!