Artist description Lee Rude combines insightful, clever lyrics with a unique folk-pop sensibility.Over the last five years, the band has played hundreds of shows at bars and coffee shops in Minnesota, New York, Boston, Illinois, and Wisconsin.Lee Rude has earned favorable comparisons to Canadians (Barenaked Ladies, Crash Test Dummies), Brits (John Wesley Harding, Billy Bragg), and Americans (Warren Zevon, Freedy Johnston). The band's name is bent and borrowed from Lou Reed.

Music Style Folk-pop

Musical Influences Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Lou Reed

Similar Artists Barenaked Ladies, Crash Test Dummies, Warren Zevon, Freedy Johnston, Paul McCartney, Billy Bragg

Artist History In a past life, several of the members of Lee Rude played in a band called Charlie Bucket. That band's debut CD, For a Rhyme, is available in finer record stores throughout the Midwest.

Group Members Lee Zukor - guitar and vocals, Volney Hendrix - bass and vocals, Dave Russ - Drums, Jon-Michael Procopio - Guitar, Tom Bard - Keyboards

Instruments Guitars, bass, drums, piano, vocals, cello, banjo, keyboards, drum machines, accordion

Albums For a Rhyme, Here It Comes (forthcoming)

Press Reviews The Popcorn Music review, September 1998. Charlie Bucket - For A Rhyme. Charlie Bucket is a new pop-rock outfit fronted by Lee Zukor, a promising singer-songwriter whose wordy approach succeeds almost as well as the stylings of my favorite verbose rock vets, John Hiatt and Elvis Costello. Charlie Bucket's music is more accessible than most of the pop-rock the kids listen to today ... Zukor is the driving force here, and his 15 songs offer a lot of insight into the psyche of post-college guys in their twenties and early thirties. All of these tunes are intelligent, and some are very funny. Zukor takes on different personas in each of his songs, and his characters will probably remind you of a few guys you know. My favorite tune is "People Are Good," a cynical but sensible assessment of human nature. "Better Still" is arguably the catchiest number of the bunch. It's about a guy who, despite witnessing disastrous relationships among all of his friends, is determined to make it work with the girl of his dreams. "You Are My Everything" is about a guy who's in love with a girl who won't give him the time of day. "One More Day" strikes me as the strongest track lyrically. A vignette about a guy who's unhappy with the constraints of his married life, "One More Day" communicates its character's emotional dilemma as succinctly as a Raymond Carver short story. Also strong is "Unlucky," a song delivered from the viewpoint of a young man who won't admit he has a drinking problem. On a lighter note, the tune Minneapolis is a wacky sing-along tribute to The Twin Cities that anyone who lives within spitting distance of Canada will appreciate. When Zukor sings, "It's so damn cold I can't even think/Let's go inside - c'mon let's have a drink," he could be my Syracuse neighbor shouting at me over the din of our snowblowers. Zukor has a crystal clear voice that occasionally brings to mind Warren Zevon. He's a fine lyricist who could really go places. Charlie Bucket likens itself to Crash Test Dummies and Barenaked Ladies, [but] Charlie Bucket does more for me than either........ Good Times, December 3-16, 1991. Lee Zukor doesn’t want to be like the other kids. You could define his style as A.F.P. (Acoustic Flavored Pop), but the hard part of categorizing Zukor himself is that you can’t quite figure out if he’s a happy pessimist, a depressed humorist, or a schizophrenic with a guitar. You’ll have a good time trying.The opening track, "Balance in My Mind," will amuse the thinking man on its way to Charles Manson’s Top Pick Of The Week. Its lyrical leanings are somewhat crazed though the music never drifts away from its pleasing hooks. [Lee Zukor is] a dark songwriter who somehow ended up with "bounce" in the middle of everything, but there’s a quirky charm to what he’s doing that might catch fire. Lee Zukor is one of those few artists out there daring to be different, so he’s somewhat hard to compare. Better yet, get a copy and make your own check on this unusual but talented psyche.

Location Minneapolis, Minnesota - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).