by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Back in the neo-dinosaur days of grunge, T-dot hot shots Classy Craig and Groovy Greg, fed up with Toronto's uninspired rock scene, christened themselves the Leather Uppers. Trading guitar and drum duties back and forth, clad in too-cool matching threads, the duo rocked like the dickens. Well, some of us thought so.

"In 1991, generally," says Groovy Greg, "two people did not constitute a band, a piece of music 53 seconds in length was not a song and wearing matching outfits was lame. Some people did like our band, which was encouraging, but in a weird way those who didn't like us encouraged us even more."

The pair called their revved-up, stripped-down garage sound "panic rock," a reference to "the innate pressure of a two-man band and the fact that it always threatens to fall apart at any time," as Classy Craig puts it. The duo really did fall apart in '94, on good terms though, and moved on to stints with the Stinkies, Exploders, Brown Belts, Tijuana Bibles and American Flag. In 2002, the Texas label Pantsuit City re-released the Leather Uppers CD OK, Don't Say Hi. The rest is history - repeating.

"Those Texans had the vision," says Groovy Greg. "Releasing our record on vinyl was something we wanted to do, but never did."

"That coincided with a garage fest I co-organized in Toronto called Take Out the Trash," adds Classy Craig. "What could be more fitting for that than a Leather Uppers reunion? The reaction was awesome. Grown men crying, people jumping on stage to hug us mid-set - so much love! It was the reissue that got interest back up, though. We've got a bunch of hot new songs, by the way, it's not just about the past - we hope to have a new album out by the spring of 2005."

But, speaking of pantsuits, can we expect the same matching magnificence in terms of apparel? "We still have the orange-and-brown cowboy/Elvis pantsuit thingies," says Classy Craig. "Maybe we'll do a costume change in Montreal. We've got lots of ideas for new looks, but right now we're rocking these magical purple-velvet Satanist/wizard capes."

"We're not getting older," adds Groovy Greg. "We're getting better, classier and groovier every day."

With Skip Jensen at Casa del Popolo
on Saturday, Sept. 25, 9 p.m., $6

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