Tony Leo followed a musical path from Beatles records to classic rock to Van Halen to punk and eventually into indie and jazz territory. His song "Venus" came together in a single day with collaborator Chris, built around an alternate tuning — top three strings dropped a whole step — that Tony had carried since a college Nick Drake project. His album <em>Alien Punk Journal</em> got its name after a coworker told him his grown-out hair made him look like an alien punk, and Tony realized the phrase perfectly described his college songwriting journal.