By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Moorestown Sun
Moorestown native Layton Weedeman has always wanted to be a musician.
Growing up on Central Avenue, in the same house his mother grew up in, Weedeman constantly practiced on the drum set his parents bought him when he was 13.
Although he tried out for the jazz band at Moorestown High School, he said he didn’t stick with it.
He did, however, stick with the drums, taking private lessons that lasted all the way through high school — and that got him somewhere.
Today, the 27-year-old Weedeman lives in Brooklyn, working as a certified optician by day and making music with best friend and band mate, Omer Leibovitz, by night.
Weedeman and Leibovitz make up The Courtesy Tier, a two-man band that released its debut album, “Map and a Marker,” last March.
The band was formed about a year-and-a-half ago, but Weedeman and Leibovitz have been making music together for about nine years.
They met in 2001 while both attending Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In the years following, they stayed close to the Boston area, forming two or three bands that had as many as seven members at times, but always sticking together.
“Layton and I — between all those bands — have always connected and kept working together,” Leibovitz said.
While in their last band, Weedeman, Leibovitz and a bass player decided to move from Boston to Brooklyn to be closer to their families.
When their bass player left, the two were left to make music together with Weedeman on drums and vocals and Leibovitz on guitar and lead vocals.
The music they make is of a genre that critics have coined blues/punk, a sound that Leibovitz describes as “blues cranked up past rock and roll.”
Leibovitz said the sound incorporates blues guitar riffs and techniques, like finger picking, with very hard-hitting drums, making a sound that he said one critic equated to “the Black Keys on overdrive.”
Weedeman and Leibovitz both said they reached a milestone in their career with the release of their first album — something they had been meaning to do for years.
“During the past nine years, with all the different collaborations we did with other band mates and friends, we had recorded a couple of times,” Weedeman said. “We had gone into the studio and meant to make a CD and release it, but it never actually went all the way through.”
The duo released the CD on their own with little money to make it happen.
“Releasing our record was a milestone because it was something we had done completely by ourselves,” Leibovitz said. “It wasn’t a milestone that we put it out, it was a milestone that we were able to without any funds, without any money.
“We recorded all of it ourselves and just kind of trudged through the mud to get it finished and get it out.”
Throughout the years, both say they’re grateful to have stuck together and to have each other’s continued support.
“He’s my best friend and we never take it for granted that we’ve been able to stick together for so long and make music, not only just to have fun with it and to tour and go out to different places, but also being able to work together really well and being able to see eye-to-eye and always get things done,” Weedeman said. “Being in New York, there are tons of artists and bands here.
“There’s a lot of competition. We never take it for granted that we can always count on each other.”
Although the Moorestown High School jazz band thing didn’t exactly work out for Weedeman, he said he always played in bands throughout his youth. He remembers playing in battle of the band competitions at the Moorestown Recreation Center.
“I was always heavily involved with music,” he said.
And he always stuck with those drums.
Weedeman, whose parents still live in the Central Avenue house where it all began, said he’s always enjoyed coming back to Moorestown to visit his family ever since leaving for college.
“I think Moorestown is a great town,” he said.
“I love coming back to Moorestown because it’s so relaxing. It’s quiet and it’s very quaint. I think there are a lot of creative people there and I still enjoy going back there now.”
Weedeman and Leibovitz dedicate their days to their full-time jobs, but at night, they come together to work on their craft. Their shows are primarily based in Brooklyn and New York City, but they said they plan to come to Philadelphia at least once every month or every two months this year.
Their next Philadelphia performance was scheduled for Jan. 12 at Panda Bar in University City. Weedeman said they were the first of three bands scheduled to perform at the show.
For more information about The Courtesy Tier as well as upcoming concert dates, visit their Web site at www.thecourtesytier.com or follow them on Myspace at www.myspace.com/thecourtesytier and on Twitter at twitter.com/TheCourtesyTier.
