By Consuela Frye

Sitting on one of the cozy couches at D.C. Chase's one Thursday night in June, I sipped (ok gulped) a margarita, and checked out my fellow partiers while I waited for the band, the acoustic duo Luscious Leo, to begin. An eclectic crowd filled the place and overflowed outside onto the patio. I was curious, almost nervous even, to see how these Norfolk urbanites were going to react to a down home classic rock cover band. They are never gonna go for it, I thought. What they want, I don't know, but classic rock ain't it. However. By the third or forth song, some city kid was already yelling, "Free Bird," and he meant it. And this was before anyone barely had time to catch a buzz. So I knew everything was going to be ok. The crowd had the right spirit, and the band had the versatility to keep the party going until everybody got kicked out.
H.L. Wilson and Scott Bailey formed Luscious Leo just six short months ago. Both are experienced musicians that play well together, sharing guitar and vocal duties, harmonizing at every opportunity. H.L. played for years with Blackwater, a country band based out of Richmond. He also spent time in Nashville as a songwriter. Scott performs frequently in the area as a solo acoustic act, and you also might remember him from The Maynards, Semi Ð Sweet, The Scott and Walter Show, and way back, The Sultans of Swing. (Remember those drunken days at Batterson's on Hampton Blvd)?
Together they have an ocean of songs from which to choose. Specializing in generalizing is what helps them work the crowd, and is one of their strengths as entertainers. "There is something for everyone," says H.L., "from old country standards to something current." This is not a calculated approach. At D.C. Chase's they just naturally drifted towards the right songs, mixing some modern songs with high energy classic rock classics: Clapton, The Eagles, Zeppelin, The Beatles, and The Almann Bros, with U2, (classic rock or not Ð you decide), Dave Mathews, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson. Another night with different people it might be bluegrass all night long. Or Snoop Dog. Maybe Otis Redding. Even Danzig and Sabbath. Scott's goofball front man humor kept things moving between songs, which became more off the wall as the night progressed and the Jagermeister flowed.
The band was loose, fulfilling their mission as entertainers, but the performance was tight, fulfilling their mission as musicians. Scott credits this to H.L.'s insistence on perfection and professionalism. Luscious Leo loves to play songs that show off their chops. If the song doesn't have a cool solo to nail, they'll make one up. They don't miss. The same goes for the vocal harmonies. Scott said this about Luscious Leo: "If you are a music lover and want to pay attention, you have a good time. If you are just out to hang out and drink a few beers, you have a good time." This means you can chit chat or sing along and not care. But if you are one of the few that cringes when the band blows a harmony, or you love to just zone out on complex guitar solos while your friends play pool, you won't be disappointed. Actually you'll be impressed, and you'll be buying the band shots before you know it.
Maybe you are out on the patio and you only pulled yourself out of your conversation because if you didn't you were going to pee your pants. Your throat is a little sore, and your ears are ringing a bit from trying to talk louder than the person you were talking to and talk more about yourself. You sprint inside to find yourself in the inevitable D.C. Chase's 45 minute bathroom line. Luscious Leo is playing "Southern Cross." You lean back on the coffee station and tap your foot to the music. "I forgot what a good song this is," you think, as you sing along a little bit. You can feel the good part coming, and as they go into the chorus, melting into those luscious high harmonies, it gives you chills, while the words make you feel a part of the wonder and amazement that is living and is life . . .
"I like to play music," says Scott. "I love it." He claims that playing with someone as good as H.L. really allows the momentum to grow. "There's nothing cooler than the feeling of being in the middle of something that's bigger than yourself. When you play a cool chord, and you hear yourself singing, and on top of that you hear somebody else singing, and there's an emergent thing that happens that's bigger than yourself. When you play a cool chord, and you hear yourself singing, and on top of that you hear somebody else singing, and there's an emergent thing that happens that's all of a sudden bigger than you can be by yourself. That's the coolest part about playing with anybody, but especially playing music with Luscious Leo." Both H.L. and Scott play with an attention to musicality and texture, as if they are tapped in to the essence of the music, beyond just robotically reproducing sounds. This honest love of music generates a lot of contagious energy. By the end of the night tons of people were singing along, and hot chicks danced in front of the stage, the true measure of any band.
Luscious Leo plays all over the place, all the time, from the oceanfront to deepest Chesapeake. Check out their schedule in the Splash calendar. Or if you don't want to go out, stay in. For a bargain price Luscious Leo will play right in your living room and you can just hang out at home. Invite some friends. A group of LL fans started this trend a while back and have been celebrating special occasions this way ever since. Sounds like fun doesn't it? For booking call 423-1135.