john, best known as a guitarist in the band BILL (and Bill Gage's brother), started bleat in 1993 in order to make any kind of music without restraint under one umbrella. after one lp of warped technopunk ("igloo") and a children's rock lp ("spirograffe"), bleat expanded to a trio with Daren Follower on bass and Darryl Leonard on drums. together they made the tumbleweeds-and-pixies "spoke", and the more straightforward "ugly kisser". a bleat 45 was released in 1996, and a cd in 2001.