Bill Leeb

Wilhelm Anton "Bill" Leeb (born 21 September 1966,<ref name="mpbillleeb" /> in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian-Canadian<ref name="phoenixnewtimesinterview">Template:Cite journal</ref> electronic musician and record producer. He is best known for being a founding member of the industrial music group Front Line Assembly and Delerium.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, Leeb is known for his work with groups Noise Unit, Intermix, Skinny Puppy, Synæsthesia, Cyberaktif, Equinox, Fauxliage and Pro>Tech.<ref name="allmusic" />

Career

Leeb began his musical career with industrial band Skinny Puppy in 1984 under the pseudonym Wilhelm Schroeder,<ref name="rad1radiointerview" /> contributing bass synth and occasional backing vocals to a few of their recordings and concerts. He left in 1986 and formed his own industrial project Front Line Assembly with Michael Balch, and later Rhys Fulber<ref name="sosinterview">Template:Cite journal</ref> and Chris Peterson. Though Front Line Assembly has had consistent underground success, Leeb's most widely known efforts are through his side project Delerium, which had a major hit in the late 1990s with "Silence".<ref name="allmusic">Template:Allmusic</ref> Leeb composed the soundtrack to the 1999 video game, Quake III Arena, of which the expansion pack, Team Arena, was composed by his band, Front Line Assembly.

In 2017, Leeb appeared as guest singer on the single A Shiver of Want, a release of John Fryer's project Black Needle Noise.<ref name="shiversingle">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022, Leeb contributed vocals for Black Asteroid's single Methane Rain.<ref name="methanesingle">Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2024, American label Metropolis announced Leeb's first solo album Model Kollapse, to be released on September 13, 2024.<ref name="regenmagfirstsolo">Template:Cite web</ref> The first single Terror Forms was released on July 9 along with a video.<ref name="sidelineterrorforms">Template:Cite web</ref> Metropolis released the second single Demons on August 9, 2024, that was also accompanied by a video.<ref name="regenmagdemons">Template:Cite web</ref> Leeb explained that the idea of a solo album was suggested by Metropolis founder Dave Heckman, who died before the album's release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On August 22, 2025 Metropolis released an EP called Machine Vision with five remixes of songs from Model Kollapse and a new song.<ref name="sidelinemachinevisionrel">Template:Cite web</ref> The single Neuromotive (Stacks Mix by Rhys Fulber) from the EP had already been released in April 2025 and accompanied by a video by Tim Hill.<ref name="terrarelictaepsingle">Template:Cite web</ref>

Dispute with Trent Reznor

In an interview with music magazine Spin in 1992, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails made derogatory remarks about Front Line Assembly, calling them "a textbook case of a band" for industrial music and their music "monotonous, boring, uninspired bullshit".<ref name="spinnininterview">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Before the release of the issue, Reznor sent Leeb an apology letter. In one of their following issues, Spin printed part of the apology, in which Reznor expressed that he "should have thought before opening [his] mouth", along with a response from Leeb in which he implores Reznor to "think before making such ludicrous statements" and that he hopes "that others will use a little more thought before they go out of their way to put others down".<ref name="ninreaction">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Acting

In 1990, Leeb appeared in the trailer for the horror movie Chunk Blower together with Dwayne Goettel from Skinny Puppy,<ref name="dmchunkblower">Template:Cite web</ref> playing one of the victims of a killer. Due to the lack of funding, the movie was never made.<ref name="fangoriachunkblower">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Director Jim Van Bebber and Leeb would later use footage from the trailer in the video for the single "Virus".

Personal life

Leeb has both Austrian and Canadian citizenship and speaks English as well as German. He received education at a convent school in Austria where he learned to play the violin. He moved to Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada with his family when he was 14, where he learned English and developed a keen interest in music.<ref name"altvengerint2016">Template:Cite interview</ref><ref name="dsoaudiointerview">Template:Cite interview</ref> He was a high school student at Mount Elizabeth Secondary School.<ref name="outburnqa">Template:Cite interview</ref> Leeb went to Camsoun College in Victoria, British Columbia to study journalism for two years.<ref name="outburnqa"/> He lives in Vancouver.

Leeb was married to the Canadian artist Carylann Loeppky.<ref name="morpheusinterview">Template:Cite interview</ref> Loeppky was part of the tour personnel on Front Line Assembly tours "designing and selling merchandise and put together a visual presentation for the live performance."<ref name="morpheusinterview" /> She continued to create artwork for releases by several of Leeb's projects even after the divorce.<ref name="allmusicloeppkybiocredits">Template:Allmusic</ref>

Solo discography

• 2024 - Model Kollapse
• 2025 - Machine Vision

See also

• List of Austrians in music

Further reading

• Template:Cite book