Heavy Leef is led by rock guitarist and songwriter David Noel, who has remained fairly unknown since his beginnings in the mid 1980s. Noel has fronted or worked with several groups and musical projects over the years, including Plastic Overlords, I Almost Saw GOD in the Metro, and Alloy Now. An early DIY basement taper, Noel wrote and recorded his first single at age 19, quickly amassing hundreds of songs and albums that largely remained unreleased. The few who have heard Noel's music often comment on his unique and authentic blending of various forms of 70s British rock, including heavy psych, space rock, early prog, British heavy blues, and even new wave. One album produced by Noel that actually was released, Sonic Astronomy by Plastic Overlords, was listed by English music critic Basil Francis as one of the best albums of the last decade.    

In the early 1980s, a teenage David Noel saw an ad claiming that if the Beatles could create Sgt. Pepper on a simple 4-track recorder, anybody could. Believing this hook, line, and sinker, Noel purchased a Fostex 4-track tape recorder and started producing his own primitive recordings.