BAND: Madina Lake
INTERVIEWERS: Chris Hazel (chrish@bandvibe.com) and Liz Wise (liz@bandvibe.com)
INTERVIEWEE: Daniel Torelli @ San Diego, Nathan Leone @ Denver
DATE OF INTERVIEWS: 07/31/07 (San Diego), 09/03/07 (Denver)
BAND MEMBERS:
Nathan Leone - vocals
Mateo Camargo - guitar
Matthew Leone - bass
Daniel Torelli - drums
We have a double treat for you Madina Lake fans out there! Our Kickass Bandvibers, Chris Hazel and Liz Wise got to interview Madina Lake in two cities of The Projekt Revolution Tour 2007! Chris started off first meeting with Dan over in San Diego on July 31st, and Liz did a follow up interview with Nathan over in Denver (near the end of the tour) on Sept 3rd. Check out the pics from Denver (link is provided down this page).
Let's start it off with the interview taken in San Diego with Chris and Dan...
Who am I talking to and what is your role in the band?
Dan: My name is Dan. They call me Chiseled some times and I play drums.
I know it’s early in the tour but how is it going so far?
Dan: It’s been the coolest tour we’ve ever done. We’ve never played on tour before with this caliber of bands and that has been put together this well. A lot of summer festivals that we’ve done before like warped tour there are a million different bands and a million different stages. That’s great because there are a lot great people playing but kids come out and many of the bands they want to see are playing at the same time. So the way Linkin Park Set it up is just one band at a time on this stage and when this stage is done you move on to the next stage. It really allows some of the smaller bands like us to play in front of a lot of fans with out the competition. It’s a dream come true and Linkin Park is cool enough to care that all the bands on the second stage get the exposure they need.
Has any thing stood out during this tour?
Dan: It’s still pretty early into the tour but one thing that we are impressed by is the down to earthness of all these bands. The bigger bands have been doing their own thing for a while now but we’ve already had a chance to meet all these guys because there isn’t a weird rock star vibe. After the show every body is just hanging out with a tight nit family environment and they really make sure you are taken care of.
You guys haven’t been around for very long, but does it feel like to be so successful already?
Dan: We’ve been a band for a little over two years. We took the first six months just to write a record and then we started doing shows in Chicago. We’ve been tour consistently for over a year but our first shows were at the pizza joints and coffee shops and now it going well and we feel good about every thing. It’s hard to see it from our angle because it doesn’t feel like any thing has changed because we’re still in our van every day driving to the next show, playing at night, packing up, and driving to the next place. It’s been frailly rapid compared to some other things as far well the record has been received when it just came out in March. However seeing how long we’ve been in this band and we also come from two separate bands from Chicago that just worked our asses off for years and years from booking agents, record labels, and stuff like that so we’ve definitely have the Experience. All of us in this band are best friends and we are making the music want to make for the right reasons and every thing else is coming little bit easier which I think was a lessons for us from our previous bands. Once we stopped worrying about trying to write the hit song, trying to get the record deal, and just did what we wanted to do the way we want to do it things just seamed less difficult for us.
Explain to me a little bit about the TV show Fear Factor and how this first big break for helped the band?
Dan: We hadn’t even played a show yet and the band didn’t even have a name yet before that TV show. They won some thing like $50,000 and we finished a few songs and lucky for us we took that money and recorded our first three song demo with a guy named Ryan Hewitt who was a good engineer that we wanted to work with. We pressed about 6,000 of the demos and instead of worrying about selling them we just walk around Chicago at ever show passing them out for free and we sent out the EP to record labels which is how Roadrunner Records go a hold of it, ultimately starting our relationship with them.
How has Roadrunner Records been treating you?
Dan: Dude the best!!! We are the happiest band in the world with our label. We tour with a lot of bands that just don’t get along with their labels and it’s like a nightmare, but Roadrunners has been behind us 100%. They love our songs, trust us in the studio, and are just totally down with every thing that was going on. We picked our own art work and did the whole thing with the story. They are cool about letting the band do what the band feels is right and that is the most important thing to us. They are a major record but they work like an independent. Many larger labels only focus on the band that is making money and all the other great bands get left in the dust but Roadrunner Records cares about all of their bands.
Do you get back lash from any old school metal fans because you don’t follow under the same genre as most bands on Roadrunner Records?
Dan: We do get some back lash because there are fans that dig Roadrunner Records just because of the metal bands but then the label is cool because there are some bands that don’t fit the genre. It hasn’t affected any thing as far as the way we work or the way Roadrunner works.
Does the band have any problem distinguishing the difference between the twins?
Dan: Of course in the beginning, we had some problems with their names. From a distance, the twins look the same but not any more because just like in any family with brothers or sisters, they are not interchangeable and once you get to know them they are two distinct personalities.
What is the story behind the band’s name Madina Lake and how it influences the writing during recording?
Dan: The story itself sets its music in a town called Madina Lake created in the head of Matthew Leone or bass player. It takes place in a city that is still set in the 1950’s theme in the high American mountains isolated from human contact and the out side world. So what that allows us to do is use this town as a metaphor for real life. There was a lot more we wanted to say but we are not that kind of a band that wants to come out with some political agenda or some kind of view on a particular person in pop culture. We don’t usually dig it when bands do this because we want the music to supersede every thing else. But we decides to create this fictitious place and Mathew our bass player was the one who actually penned this story about Madina Lake with these particular characters that represent true things in life and real people. These different people mean different things to each of us but they are absolutely true in that regard. So with out having to say these very specific things we can tell these stories and convey these meanings. The goal was to have the music stand along and we didn’t want to create a concept album. People can go buy the album and listen to it any order.
Will the story be out available for the fans and is there any deadline for its release?
Dan: The story is finished but it’s not out yet. I’m not sure how we are going to distribute it and don’t think we are going to sell it because it not made to make a profit. It may go out to people that have helped with the Roadrunner street team or to give out at concerts. It’s in manufacturing right now but we are just dealing with some of the art work and they is no dead line for it to come out yet because these things take longer than planed.
What is the most rewarding part about playing on stage every day in front of crowd?
Dan: The most rewarding part is going to new places and meeting new faces.
So the fans are a crucial ingredient to the band and it’s on stage performance?
Dan: We’ve been doing the same thing every day and we give every thing we have on stage weather we are playing in front of two people at a pizza joint or in front of a huge crowd like the Projekt Revolution Tour. But what it is all about is meeting those people and we try are hardest to sign as many autographs and shake as many hands. With out our fans, none of this would be possible.
How is UK crowd for you guys?
Dan: Its awesome man, they embrace us really quickly there. A lot of people come here come to show just for the big headliner, but in the UK people are there for all the bands and are freaking out right from the beginning.
What’s next for Madina Lake after the Projekt Revolution Tour?
Dan: After this we go to Europe for the first time, then we do our first headline tour in England, then we will finish up the year back in the States, and then we will hit Australia for the first time during the new year.
If you can give any band one piece of advice, what would you tell them?
Dan: Be honest, stay true to your self, and do what is passionate for your self because other wise why are you doing this if it isn’t for the love of music?
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Next up, we have the Denver interview with Liz and Nathan...
BV: This is the last date of the Projekt Revolution tour. Are you happy it’s over?
Nathan: No! We’re actually pretty bummed. This is by far the best tour we’ve ever had. All the bands have been amazing. The people that organized the tour have been very professional. There are no egos on this tour, which has been great since there are some big names. We’ve done tours with smaller bands, that pull maybe 50 kids, and they were just jerks. So it’s such a bummer that this has to end.
BV: So what’s going on with the MTV VMA thing?
Nathan: To be honest with you, I don’t even know. At the beginning of this tour, we brought out a couple cameras and filmed behind the scene stuff for MTV, did some interviews with Linkin Park and Taking Back Sunday. So we’re basically going to do the same thing at the VMAs. It’s cool because they’ve given us free will to do what we want.
BV: You guys are headed to Europe? Who with?
Nathan: Yeah, we go to Europe. I think we’re in Paris on the 13th (of September) and touring Europe for a couple weeks then the UK for about a week. We’re headlining this tour, but we’re taking our friends in Halifax, Envy on the Coast, and My American Heart.
BV: Have you gotten to know, hung out with a lot of the other bands on the tour?
Nathan: Yeah, like I was saying, it’s the first tour without a bunch of snotty people. The way it’s all set up is the catering is backstage and everyone sort of hangs out there. We’ve met a lot of good friends on this tour.
BV: Any favorite band(s) on the tour, most influential to you, or learned from?
Nathan: We’ve never done a tour like this in our lives. So one thing we’ve learned is how much you can learn from bands like Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance. They know so many ways to handle the travel and how to treat people and they put on the best show that they can.
BV: So you guys are traveling in this little van. But you’ve gotten signed to Roadrunner… What’s up with that? Will you have a bus for Europe?
Nathan: (laughs) I think we will have one for Europe. It’s funny because we don’t really care about those material things. I mean it does suck just having the van. Everyone drives, overnight. Busses are expensive as hell so unless you really need one, I don’t think you have to have one.
BV: Have you been breaking down on the tour?
Nathan: Oh yeah! We’ve popped a million tires! (laughs) We’ve been pulled over at security checkpoints twice in Canada. We got searched for three hours with dogs in Indiana. It sucks.
BV: You recently won a Kerrang award for Best International Newcomer. How did that feel?
Nathan: It blew our minds! We’re a relatively new band so we’re just taking everything in stride enjoying every single moment. It doesn’t matter to us if we’re playing a show with 100 kids or a thousand kids. So to win an award is something we’ve never experienced but I think just helps validate us as a band.
BV: How do you try and draw fans/people to come early and see you, on 2nd stage?
Nathan: There’s not really much we can do about that. I think that the kids who support our band are going out of their way to get here early and see us. It’s just been a privilege to play this tour so we were totally fine with playing first.
BV: So where is Madina Lake?
Nathan: Um, nowhere. It’s just fictitious.
BV: I think that’s about all I got, anything you’d like to add?
Nathan: It’s been awesome. Thank you for your support. We appreciate it so much!
For more official information on Madina Lake, please log onto:
http://madinalake.com/
http://www.myspace.com/madinalake
http://www.wheresadalia.com
Check out Bandvibe's photo coverage of Madina Lake at Projekt Revolution:
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