Len

Produced and engineered by Mumble C (shush, that’s The Burger Pimp) on vintage gear at Len’s home studio in Toronto, the band created an album that is an inside joke everyone can get. It was mixed by the Dust Brothers’ John King at One On One studios in Los Angeles.

The one track that wasn’t, the loopy rocker “Feelin’ Alright,” engineered by John X and featuring Poison’s CC DeVille on guitar, depicts Len’s mood right before The Work Group signed it and turned its dark days to sunshine.

“Should we just quit?” ponders The Burger Pimp in the lyrics.

“No, it’s not cool to run,” answers Sharon.

“Well, you know, I think she’s right. Let’s show them how it’s done,” The Burger Pimp concludes. “‘Cause it’s not just a matter of upholding your ground. It’s all about your crew and the vibe you put down.”

Indeed, Len is not an overnight success story. Formed in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, initially as a rock group yes, complete with real instruments – The Burger Pimp (then known as Marc) soon relocated to Halifax, where his sister added her sweet snarl to his gruff ennui. There, The Burger Pimp lived a double life, playing rock by night, making beats by day.

“I started working in hip-hop in 1990,” The Burger Pimp recalled. “We started doing these two producer dudes and MC dudes. I guess I got seriously into it when I met Derek (D-Rock) and all these guys from out East. It all started at the same time, but EMI [Music Publishing Canada] signed me [as] a rock group, so I put that out.”

By the time EMI signed Len, the quirky lo-fi band had released an eponymously titled EP in 1992 and a faux-fur-wrapped cassette, Superstar, both through its own label, Funtrip. The publishing money helped fund the re-release of Superstar on CD and self-directed videos for “Slacker,” “Candy Pop” and “Showoff,” which aired on Canadian national music television stations MuchMusic and YTV, and helped shoot album sales beyond 12,000 copies (no small feat considering some major label acts in Canada don’t sell as well).

Still, Len was too unpredictable and defiant for the majors. For a while, in the slacker phase of life, Sharon would go onstage with a huge awkward knapsack on her back, maneuvering around the mic stand and her bandmates; Marc would throw temper tantrums if his gear screwed up. Fans were lucky if they got three songs out of the night. “People kind of liked us smashing guitars and telling them to f**k off and we liked it because we were in a bad mood, so let’s do it,” recalled The Burger Pimp.

Next came 1996’s Get Your Legs Broke, with self-directed videos for “Smarty Pants” and “Trillion Days.” The disgruntled post-pop worker continued messing about with hip-hop grooves on the side, while putting out other urban acts on his own Four Ways To Rock label. “We sold 10,000 to 15,000 every time we released a record,” The Burger Pimp boasted.

But as an artist, he about had it. Fed up, he debated packing Len in and doing the label thing full time, or perhaps record production or video directing – anything to make it fun again. “Superstar’ was the last of the pop songs I was writing, then I thought, ‘This is bullshit; I can’t write this shit.’ I hated playing guitar,” The Burger Pimp explained.

Once he played his hip-hop beats to his publisher, Michael McCarty, life as Len changed immediately – DJs/turntablists replaced trad instruments and samples, while beats became the building blocks for some crazy stuff. Encouraged by the positive response from the industry, the group landed U.S.-based manager Graeme Lowe, labels became embroiled in a bidding war and Sony Music’s The Work Group label won.

And so the fun began with a new lineup and new vision in place. There remained but two pop songs in the archives, which they included on You Can’t Stop The Bum Rush, “Cheekybugger,” recorded back in 1993 in Halifax about a run-in with some idiots, and “Steal My Sunshine,” a drunken studio experiment of edited talking.

“There’s pop elements there; I don’t deny it,” said The Burger Pimp. “But it’s a different thing because when you’re working with loops and you’re working with samples, when you’re working with gear, when you’re working with keyboards and drums and records, it’s such a different trip. My world has changed so much in the last four years.”

Len wrapped up its U.S. tour November 5th in Houston.