Transmission Fields

Transmission Fields is an atmospheric indie pop band built around the songs of Lee Neitzel and brought to life by four distinct voices: the trance-like pound of drummer Jason Perkins, the grinding rock bass of Jason Weiss, the precise, riff-perfect guitar of Neil Hunter, and the sonic wizardry of keyboardist and guitarist Jay Garrigan.

The story starts in 2004, when Lee traded the hard, competitive edges of the Chicago music scene for Charlotte, North Carolina, and found something different waiting for him. Charlotte was communal and inviting, happy to make room for a songwriter with an acoustic guitar and a head full of songs. He started playing out, and the people who would eventually become his bandmates began drifting into his orbit, most of them friends first and collaborators second.

Lee met Jay Garrigan one night while Jay's band Poprocket was promoting a gig by playing free three-song sets in any bar that would have them. One riff in, Lee was a convert, and the two built a lasting friendship on mutual admiration for each other's songwriting. He crossed paths with drummer Jason Perkins while photographing Perkins' band The Situationals, since Lee is a photographer as well as a songwriter.

After a short-lived project called Lee Neitzel & The Black Sea, Lee went hunting for players who wanted to build something atmospheric and weren't afraid to experiment. Perkins brought in bassist Jason Weiss, his bandmate from Holster, a group reminiscent of early Talking Heads, and the three became the founding core of Transmission Fields. Their debut, Words, Numbers and Phonetic Sounds, earned them local and regional acclaim.

Six guitarists came and went before Neil Hunter answered a Craigslist ad. His exacting tone and technical command made him an instant fit, the kind of player who felt like he had been in the band since the very first note. Jay Garrigan completed the lineup last, layering atmospheric textures on vintage Moog synthesizers and doctored, deliberately odd guitars. The band went on to sign with indie label Spectra Records.