Listen Up: Josh Leggett of Foresight

Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo

Foresight: (from left)Colin Smith, Cam Taylor, Charles Brandon, Bradley Hatchel and Josh Leggett.

Josh Leggett told it like it was when he advertised for musicians for his band, which eventually became Foresight.

“I got tired of being kicked out of bands in Memphis ’cause I didn’t want to play thrash metal or just insane punk,” said Leggett, 28, Foresight lead and rhythm guitarist and singer. “I put an ad on Craig’s List and it was just really rude.”

Photo by Michael Donahue

Foresight: (from left)Colin Smith, Cam Taylor, Charles Brandon, Bradley Hatchel and Josh Leggett.

He wanted musicians who were “willing to play good music and not play thrash metal.”

Leggett didn’t want musicians over 40 years old. “You gotta have an image. The whole point of this is marketing. And I can’t have a bunch of guys with no talent who look good and I can’t have a whole bunch of guys with a lot of talent who don’t.”

And he didn’t want girlfriend interference. “The main problem I’ve noticed with every musician is his girlfriend. Your girlfriend doesn’t decide when you’re coming to practice. Your girlfriend doesn’t make your dreams.”

Charles Brandon, 26, contacted him. “He’s the only guy who responded to the ad,” Leggett said. “This is what he said: ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about. Here is my number.’”

“I was just looking for a gig, man,” said Brandon, who sings and plays piano and guitar in the band.

The band plays Wednesday at Sham-Rock Fest at Mi Pueblo restaurant in Hernando.

Leggett, who grew up in Ohio, honed his guitar skills at Lebanon Correctional Facility, where he served time for aggravated robbery. “I was a bad guy. I was a bad kid. Made a lot of bad decisions.”

He recalled his first day in prison. “I walked in there, I was scared. You’ll see pictures of me when I was 17. I looked like Justin Timberlake. I had blonde highlights and my face was all young. When I walked down the range, they were whistling at me like I was Britney Spears. It was scary.”

Leggett, who began fighting when he was 9, could take care of himself. “I have no scars on my face, but my hands are broke up so bad I’m surprised I can play guitar.”

He changed after he’d been in prison about five years. “I realized I didn’t want to be a loser my whole life. I did long enough time where I’d seen a lot of guys get out and come back. These guys ain’t never gonna do nothing with their life and I want something better for myself.”

He took up guitar after abandoning it almost 10 years before. “I started playing my last year in prison. My dad bought me a guitar and a whole magazine subscription to ‘Guitar World.’ And I just took it from there. I had nothing to do. I got really good at it.”

When he got out of prison, Leggett moved to Eudora, Miss., where his dad lives. He met Bradley Hatchel, 32, at their job working as stage hands. They formed a band called Life After Parole.

Leggett placed his Craig’ s List ad four months ago. The lineup includes Hatchel on bass and acoustic guitar, Colin Smith, 21, on drums; and Cam Taylor, 21, on basscq and acoustic guitar.

The name, which Hatchel came up with after seeing the word in a movie, fits the band, Leggett said. “We know that we’re gonna go somewhere, eventually. So, we kind of saw it coming.”

Leggett said the music and lyrics he and Brandon write appeal to men and women. “You’re not getting pulled to a concert with your girlfriend or she’s not getting pulled to a concert with you. Both of you can sit there and rock out and love it.”

Describing his songs, Brandon said, “Crazy stuff just happens to me all the time. I just reach in the bucket of inspiration.”

Leggett writes about other people, but, he said, “I tap into my own feelings.”

Family members have gotten behind Leggett’s dream. “My sister’s going into entertainment law because of me. She was in criminal law because of me, then she switched her major about seven months ago.

“If we get a major record deal — me and Charlie talked about it — we want to go back to the old prisons I was in and give them a free show and talk to them. Like, ‘Hey, there’s better things for you out there.’”

Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

Foresight and the Chris Gales Band at Sham-Rock Fest

The concert, which benefits the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association DeSoto chapter, will be held 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday at Mi Pueblo restaurant, 2340 Mount Pleasant in Hernando. Admission: $10. Call: (662)-449-1920.

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