View source for Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits

[[Image:Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits cover.jpg|right|225px]]
'''Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits''' was a [[List of bands|band]] consisting of [[Matt Kimbrell]], [[Mats Roden]], [[Craig Izard]], and [[Leif Bondarenko]]. They played regularly in the early 1980s at the [[Old Town Music Hall]] on [[Morris Avenue]] and at [[The Nick]] on [[Southside]].

Kimbrell, Roden and Bondarenko were classmates at the [[Alabama School of Fine Arts]]. Roden went on to train as an actor with the Wooster Group in New York. Inspired by a B-52's concert he saw there, he contacted Kimbrell and made plans to launch a punk/new wave group in [[Birmingham]]. They added Izard, an attorney, to the group as rhythm guitarist and co-writer.

In addition to their regular gigs, the band performed for the opening of a [[Jack's]] restaurant, crashed a broadcast of the [[Country Boy Eddy Show]] on [[WBRC-TV]], opened for The Ramones at [[Brothers Music Hall]], and for Bow Wow Wow at [[Boutwell Auditorium]].

The group put out a 5-song EP in [[1980]], a 45 single in [[1981]], and a full-length self-titled album in [[1982]], all on their own [[Polyester Records]]. After the album's release, Izard left and was replaced by [[Charles Muse]] for the group's supporting dates in New York and the midwest. With no labels interested in giving the record a wider release, the group broke up in [[1983]].

Roden and Bondarenko went on to form the [[Primitons]] with [[Brad Dorset]]. Kimbrell formed the [[Ho Ho Men]], which later evolved into the [[Mambo Combo]].

==Discography==
* Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits (1980) ''First Time'' EP. Polyester Records
* Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits (1981) "Panama City Bleach"/"The World is Killing Me" single. Polyester Records
* Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits (1982) ''Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits'' Polyester Records

==References==
* Geiss, Chuck (February 24, 2005) "[http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2005-02-24-116570.112112-Naked-Birmingham.html Naked Birmingham]". ''Black & White''
* Reynolds, Ed (December 2010) "Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits: Rocking the boat with new waves." ''Oxford American'' No. 71, pp. 62-4

==External links==
* [http://www.myspace.com/jimbobtheleisuresuits Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits] on MySpace.com

[[Category:Rock bands]]
[[Category:1979 establishments]]
[[Category:1983 disestablishments]]