More than two years since the release of “Cake,” the Leadbetter Band has announced the release of the highly anticipated fourth album, “Spell,” alongside an animated video made with other local artists to showcase the album. The Bend-based band’s new 12-track compilation will be the second album that includes bassist and vocalist Aaron Moore and drummer Kaleb Kelleher, alongside guitarist and vocalist Eric Leadbetter. “Musically, this is our most evolved and diverse collection of songs on a single album,” says Leadbetter.
Creation of this album began months ago in a workshop with Nick Harris, a friend and mentor of the Leadbetter Band, to establish goals for the album. “The vision of this album came together as a collection of original tunes, new and old, that had a common thread of growth and inspiration,” shares Leadbetter. Then, in February, with a clear vision in mind, they started recording at Bluejay Productions studio in Jacksonville, Oregon, with help from co-producer and engineer Mark Johnson.
“Mark has been a mentor and supporter of the original music of ours for over a decade,” Leadbetter said. The support and guidance of these two allowed the core tracks of the album to be successfully recorded early on. With horn ensembles also appearing on three tracks on the album, the Leadbetter band worked with Collin Braley, a music maker and educator in Southern Oregon, to arrange the horn parts before getting them recorded. The rest of the tracks were then finished in the band’s home studios in Central Oregon.
On top of this musical endeavor, the band decided to tackle a new style of animated video. This was a joint artistic creation of the Leadbetter Band, Ryan Harris, who designed the art on the album cover, and Micah Buzan, the director and animator of this video. “It took several months to make happen, due to the nature of oil painting, and hand drawn animation techniques,” recalls Leadbetter.
Another interesting fact about the band’s video creation process is the incident that took place during its production. While on tour in Washington, the band got in a car-totaling wreck with a semi. Thankfully though, no one in the band was injured. Despite this shocking experience, they decided to power on with their next gig, as Leadbetter put it, “We made it to the gig just hours after the wreck, and put on a very emotive and powerful performance to a full house. It was healing.”
And as if by some serendipitous act of fate, it turned out that a similar event had taken place in the music video, which was being created simultaneously. “Micah had animated a scene in the video where our spaceship was being destroyed by an evil force. We were near destruction, when the beings on the planet we had saved, returned the favor and saved us! The synchronization of real life happening parallel to this artistic expression was powerful,” reflects Leadbetter. The video highlights the track, “Sky to the Ground,” and its lyrics, alongside the album cover, inspired the art and story of the video.
While the video has already been released and is now available on YouTube and the band’s website, the exciting new album is set to be released on all streaming platforms on Dec. 4. Hard copies of the album will only be available at the album release party, taking place on Nov. 29 at Silver Moon Brewing, the same venue where Eric Leadbetter first performed in Bend in 2008.
Leadbetter Band Album Release Party
Sat. Nov. 29, 7-10 pm
Silver Moon Brewing
24 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend
bendticket.com/events/leadbetter-band-11-29-2025
$12.24
This article appears in the Source November 20, 2025.
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