Bill Leeb

Austrian born electronic musician Bill (born Willhelm) Leeb got his first start in the early 80s with friends and fellow Vancouver locals “Skinny Puppy” under the moniker of Willhelm Schroeder. Playing synth bass with the band live and having a few of his bass lines appear on 1985 “Bites” album were Leebs first encounter with the insturment he would grow to favour later on. He also had stints doing backing vocals for 1986’s “Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse”

It was around this time that Bill Leeb decided to part ways with Skinny Puppy and pursue his own musical interests, culminating in a number of cassette releases around 1986 such as “Nerve War” and “Total Terror” which have since been re-mastered and reissued for CD. 1987’s “The Initial Command” was more experimental than previous releases and stands out as a bit of an oddity in Front Line Assembly’s extensive discography. 1988 saw the release of “Convergence” “Corroded Disorder” and “State of Mind” which would help to establish FLA’s aggressive industrial influenced take on electronic body music of the early 80s. 1989 saw the release of “Gashed Senses & Crossfire” along with FLA’s first European tour. This release included hard-electro club hits “Digital Tension Dementia” and “No Limit”.

1989 also saw the first release of FLA’s Delerium side project in the form of “Morpheus”.