Layman's Envy

“These are good Christian men who are fighting the good fight against Satan and all his minions. I’m proud to say that I’m on their side and they on mine. ***They play musical instruments you say? In that case, I hereby change my position and pray the Lord God that these heretic bastards rot in Hell during their afterlives.” - Ralph Emory, The Primitive Baptist Review

"Is it hot in here? Your darn-tootin' it's hot, because, when Layman's Envy enters the room, this place lights up just like a damn Christmas tree. This bioelectric magnetic engine is risen from the shadows of hermetic solitude and has not only cranked itself into philosophological phrenzy, but is energizing parallel universes within the state of Crunk. Reduce anxiety, for, even though the territory is all but charted, pulling back the curtain is the ultimate focus here, love. Layman's Envy is a band playing rock music with their knuckles in a realm where hard and rigid strikes soft and subtle, where archaic shamanism taunts electro-industrial mechanization with coy absolution. Catholic Hedonism is the cult and Layman's Envy is your seductive priestess with an erratic hormonal imbalance." - Hermes 'Styles' Glimmerman

“A rock band with a sound much bigger than their number.”- The Cherokee Tribune

"This is handcrafted rock-roll music at it's finest. The boys from North Georgia known as Layman's Envy are putting it to you straight, and that's only when they aren't giving it to you tongue-in-cheek. With their stunning audio solidarity and rambunctious mysticism, it's as if the group is constructing a new sonic tower of Babel." - The Gram

“Holy Cow Pasture.”- Jeff Clark, 99x

from The Galactic Archives: Late Twentieth Century:

....In fall of 1996, Layman's Envy gigged the last in a modest series of musical performances which spanned four years and twenty-three days. In that time the group produced two song albums independently duplicated and distributed on cassette tape ('Layman's Envy' also known as 'The Wrecking Ball Tape' 1994, and 'Fly Beyond the Sparrow' 1995) and a full-length self-titled album released on compact disc later that year. Initial performances of the group include a high-school talent show (in which the band played a short original medley), and a three-song set closing a middle-school talent show.
The group presented two extended sets of mostly original songs (with an intermission between them) in the local historic Canton Auditorium, to which they selectively distributed a limited number of handmade tickets.
In the Spring of 1995, L.E. would perform one more talent show, playing an uncomfortably loud rendition of 'Life' - the first cut from the freshly pressed CD - before landing a gig at the fabulous Strand Theatre late one warm Tuesday night in front of an enthusiastic handful of cherished friends.
The trio went on to perform fully original sets twice at the Roxy theatre and once at Smith's Olde Bar, The Masquerade, Canton Armory (a Local Talent Association event in which Holly Lacy and Ginger Crowe sang backing vocals with the band) and the Pterodactyl (featuring long-time friend David Stone on lead vocals).
During this time, Layman's Envy was commissioned to perform the scores of two theatre productions at the group's high school alma-mater, the first of which was a three-performance run of Jesus Christ Superstar, and, a year later, the updated Broadway version of Tommy which was also performed upon the main stage at the 1997 Georgia State Thespian Conference.
The Envy, as they became known, had forged a subtle brand of rock-metal based primarily in the stylings of the British progressive rock of the nineteen seventies, psychedelic-era power blues, and classic pop-metal of the nineteen eighties. Concepts ranged from compassionate power-ballads, to introspective, angsty compositions questioning the nature of religion, society, national governments and the individual psyche.
Over the next eleven years the three reassembled sporadically to record two songs previously in the live set. The band's official reemergence from obscurity is represented in the form of a promotional DVD for the Ultimate Christian Wrestling alliance which features a soundtrack of compositions recorded exclusively for this video production. The subsequent projects the band would undertake include songs the likes of which one may hear demonstrated on the official Layman's Envy Myspace page.