Jeff London (born 1970), is an American musician and songwriter from

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York. He was a part of the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

indie-folk music scene of the mid-nineties, inspired by artists such as

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

and Pete Krebs, and sharing stages with

M. Ward Matthew Stephen "M." Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, Grammy nominated producer and guitarist from Glendale, California. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings. He has r ...

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band the Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...

, Sara Dougher,

Ben Gibbard Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...

, and Ben Barnett. His album and compilation recordings on

HUSH records Hush Records is a Portland, Oregon based record label founded by Chad Crouch. Background Crouch, frontman of the band Blanket Music, organized Hush Records in 1997, when he self-released a solo record called ''Portland, Or''. The following year, C ...

and Jealous Butcher records from 1997 to 1999 established the connection between the sound of Portland indie-folk and a broader Portland-based songwriter school. London is a vocalist who plays acoustic and electric guitar, piano, bass, and harmonica. He is notable for his lyricism.

Early life and education

Jeff London was born in 1970 in Douglaston, Queens. In the early eighties at Camp B'nai B'rith Perlman Jeff discovered musical theater in productions of Pippen and

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

. In 1987 Jeff landed an off-Broadway role as Eugene Morris Jerome in Brighton Beach Memoirs at the Studio Theatre in Lindenhurst. This production was reviewed in both the ''New York Times'' and ''Newsday''. ''Newsday'' said “when you see Jeff London's Eugene you forget Matthew Broderick's ...” Jeff went to college at

SUNY Binghamton The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university in Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four university centers in the State University of New Y ...

where he began fronting bands and eventually writing songs reflective of the alternative culture of the early 90s.

Music career

In 1992, Jeff formed ''Megrim'' with Jason Weiner in

Binghamton Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the con ...

, New York and recorded original, heavy indie music in the vein of

Sebadoh Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his ...

Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, the band was forced to change their name because of legal issues. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter) ...

, and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

. In 1994 upon moving to the East Village Jeff played the singer-songwriter scene and recorded another set of songs that earned him local gigs at

Sin-é Sin-é (; from the Irish phrase meaning "that's it") was a music venue in East Village, Manhattan. It helped launch the careers of several noted musicians in the early 1990s. History Original café The original Sin-é, located at 122 St. Mark ...

and other clubs (including one he rescheduled missing a gig with the dishwasher,

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (raised as Scott Moorhead; November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997) was an American musician. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, he attracted a cult following in the early 1990s performing at venues in ...

.) Just after the New Year in 1995, he drove across the country in a car with a hole in the floor to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. He played the open mic scene there, eventually establishing his Hot Cocoa night at Meow Meow, where he met Ben Barnett and other Portland musicians. His first full-length came out on tape cassette on Jealous Butcher, Uneasy, and he made a name for himself in local publications. With Less, a four-artist collaboration on

, he began working with both Rob Jones and Chad Crouch of those labels, putting out Slowness (1999), which led to out-of-town shows in Seattle, San Francisco, and Chico, California. He then shared half of a split release on the Postparlo label with

Kind of Like Spitting Kind of Like Spitting is an American indie rock band. They formed in 1996 in Portland, Oregon. The band is led by singer-songwriter Ben Barnett, whose work has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith, Mark Eitzel, Billy Bragg, and Robert Pollard. ...

. London has also helped out with bass duties in Boy Crazy. His band lineup has included

Rachel Blumberg Rachel Chaiya Blumberg (born February 10, 1969) is an American musician, artist, and filmmaker, best known for her tenure as the drummer for the indie rock band the Decemberists. Early life Blumberg was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1969. She i ...

Chris Funk Christopher Funk (born November 28, 1971) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays guitar, pedal steel, piano, violin, dobro, hurdy-gurdy, mandol ...

, Adam Selzer, Molly Hardy, Tove Holmberg,

Dave Depper Dave Depper is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the guitarist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie. Music career Depper began his career playing with various Pacific NW artists, including Men ...

, Ben Barnett, and Tofer Towe. Col. Summers Park (2001) was the first to feature his rotating cast of friends and collaborators, and it was well received. Jeff earned entry into SXSW, NXNW, and the CMJ music festival in New York City. Upon his return to New York, Jeff released The Bane of Progress (2008) on HUSH and played live with Greg McMullen, Marla Hansen, Alec Mengee, Robin Ziari, and Andy Moon, followed by a string of shows in New York City and a record release in Portland, Oregon. He also appeared and played on ''In the Land of the Ice and Snow'' (2009), a compilation of Portland bands that supported Portland public schools. Jeff has played regularly at

Pete's Candy Store Pete's Candy Store is a New York City performing space, bar and club located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. It is located at 709 Lorimer Street, between Frost Street and Richardson Street. Notable acts associated with the venue include ...

in Brooklyn over the years and has recently completed the recording of Trouble Trust (2020), out in spring 2020.

Discography

Albums Uneasy (Cassette) Jealous Butcher Records JB-018 1997
Slowness (CD, Album) Hush Records HUSH14 2000
Col. Summers Park (CD, Album) Hush Records, Jealous Butcher Records HSH 027, JB-039 2001
Harm's Way (CD, Album) Schmata Records (Jeff London Self-released) JLP 001 2003
The Bane Of Progress (CD, Album) Hush Records HSH068 2007
Trouble Trust (Digital, Album) Jealous Butcher Records JB-193 2020 Singles & EPs Kind Of Like Spitting / Jeff London - Home: Volume I(CD, EP, Ltd, Num)Post-Parlo Records PPR1001 2000
Jeff London And The Deep Clean - The Deep Clean EP (CDr, EP) Big Time Nobody Records BTN 001 1999 Compilations From the Land of the Ice and Snow (Tangerine) Jealous Butcher Records JB-089. 2010
Are We Golden 1997-2007 (LP, Comp, Ltd, Num) Jealous Butcher Records JB-154 2017

References

External links

Jeff London Biography

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:London, Jeff Living people 1970 births People from Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens American folk guitarists Binghamton University alumni