By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 26, 1997
Brian Liesegang didn’t have a difficult time finding a job out of college. After graduating with a degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago five years ago, Liesegang joined the rock group Nine Inch Nails.
Around the same time, he moved from Hyde Park into his Lincoln Park apartment. Aside from his bedroom, where bright sheets make do as window treatments, Liesegang’s 1,600-square-foot space has a put-together feel that belies the relatively small amount of time he actually has spent there.
“I think of this place as an expensive locker to keep all my (stuff) in,” Liesegang said, laughing. “I was on tour (with Filter) for 18 months straight and didn’t step foot in here for such a long time. But even then my house got cluttered. It’s funny because I’m a complete slob, but I can’t stand a mess. I like minimalism, but I have a pack-rat mentality.”
Despite his claims, Liesegang’s apartment is uncluttered, spotless and welcoming. The first thing a visitor notices is how inviting his living room is. Maybe it’s the holiday lights strung along the walls, or the small forest of plants flourishing in his front window (“They thrive on cigarette smoke and loud music,” Liesegang jokes). It’s a room that’s comfortable enough for him and his friends to lounge around in, playing video games on his Sony Playstation.
But the brick walls also help make the room acoustically sound. That’s important for Liesegang, who, until a few weeks ago, was in the Chicago-based band Filter. Since quitting the hard-rocking group, Liesegang has been busily at work recording a solo album, collaborating with fellow University of Chicago alum Chris Holmes of Yum-Yum, and getting his side-project band, the Replicas, ready for a Nov. 8 gig at the Double Door. That group includes Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan and former Filter drummer Matt Walker, who now
plays with the Pumpkins.
Liesegang has a unique decorating style. His walls are bare except for a couple of framed landscape shots, a signed lithograph by John Lennon above the fireplace and Filter’s gold record for “Short Bus” on a hallway wall near the bathroom. (The album has since sold more than 1 million copies in the United States.) But if you look closely behind the plants, computer circuit boards are visible. He’s hung them up throughout the apartment.
“I want to get them all over this room,” he said, pointing to a second bedroom that he converted into a recording studio. “They make a really cool contrast to all these plants.”
