The Deadbolt Interview - Matthew Leone of Madina Lake Follows 'Attics to Eden' to Warped Tour

Matthew Leone of Madina Lake Follows 'Attics to Eden' to Warped Tour
by Troy Rogers

Amid the fray of alternative pop-punk bands, the Chicago foursome of brothers Nathan and Matthew Leone, Mateo Camargo and Dan Torelli known as Madina Lake are one of the most interesting bands on the alt-scene today. Why does TheDeadbolt crew love the music of Madina Lake after the 2006 release of "From Them, Through Us, to You" and the 2009 release of the band's second full-length album, "Attics to Eden". Interestingly, Madina Lake has stepped apart from alt-pack by following in the musical footsteps of some of music's greatest bands - The Beatles, Blue Oyster Cult, Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Tool, Gorillaz, and The Smashing Pumpkins to name a few - with their continuing concept album story of the mysterious disappearance of a famous socialite named Adalia within a small-town 1950s setting, which unfolds on their latest album, "Attics to Eden".

After a break from playing Soundwave a few months ago while also shooting the video for their second "Attics to Eden" single, "Let's Get Outta Here," Madina Lake now takes to the road on the Vans Warped Tour, which kicked off on Friday, June 26. Only hours prior to Madina Lake making their 2009 Warped Tour debut, TheDeadbolt followed the clues to the mysterious disappearance of socialite, Adalia, where we found Madina Lake bassist and backing vocalist, Matthew Leone, who filled us in on everything from the band's approach to "Attics to Eden" and the celebrity underpinnings of the album concept to their musical history and the alternate band name the guys were mulling over before they settled on Madina Lake.

As we wait for Madina Lake to roll into town on the Warped Tour, any band that covers Iron Maiden's "Somewhere in Time" for a Maiden tribute album scores major musical points with us.

THE DEADBOLT: So how does it feel for you guys to get back out on tour in America with Warped?

MATTHEW LEONE: It's incredibly exhilarating for us, because in a band things move so fast in this world and I feel like that's even more of the case with music and things like that. So when you just put a record out and you're sitting at home, it makes you insane. Finally, we're going to be back out there. Warped, in particular, is amazing because it's such a big, diverse, dynamic audience that is there for you to captivate. It's like they're passing by you and they're walking by your stage and they're looking at you. So it's an incredible opportunity to really command everybody's attention.

THE DEADBOLT: With "Attics to Eden," I've heard that David [Bendeth] really kicked your ass on this record. Can you tell me how the process was different than working on "From Them, Through Us, to You"?

LEONE: On the first record, we did it with Mark Trombino in Los Angeles. So it's the west coast and that vibe really permeated the studio. I mean, it was like we would start one to two hours late every day and we would stop early, and we're one of these bands who like to work our asses off, so it was kind of frustrating for us. I mean, we love the guy and we're happy with the record, but this experience was the polar opposite. We got in there and the guy called us in for our first meeting and sat us down and basically told us how much we sucked [laughs]. So the whole producing continued in that fashion for two and a half months and almost destroyed us. But it gave us the result we couldn't be happier with, so we're grateful for it.

THE DEADBOLT: With the three album installment as one story approach, how did you guys tackle "Attics to Eden" in terms of continuing that story?

LEONE: The first one was called "The Office" and it centered around this character called Adalia, and she's the town socialite in this mystical town of Madina Lake, which is kind of lost in '50s America. It's sort of a social or pop-culture commentary and it's sort of a murder mystery. So there are clues in the artwork and clues on the record and hidden messages and things like that so you can kind of solve that. "Attics to Eden" elaborates on that one and it picks up where that one left off and adds a few more elements. It basically deals with the human psyche, so it's sort of the road to psychological satisfaction or gratification. It's about how you can get comfortable with yourself and with your mind and content in this world and what that journey is like.

THE DEADBOLT: In a way I thought of what the Gorillaz were doing with that separate world and the storylines they created for the animated characters. Is it along the same type of lines?

LEONE: Yeah, that's the point. I remember when I first was attracted to music. You go into this room and the house lights go down and suddenly the outside world doesn't exist and you're absorbed into this imaginary world. It's almost like a secret escape that's just shared between you, the band, and everybody else in the room. So when we started this band, we just thought we would elaborate on that idea and literally create an imaginary world that people can escape into. So that's what motivated us to do it.

THE DEADBOLT: I see a lot of online critics saying that this album sounds like a blend of Muse and Linkin Park. How do you guys take that? Is it a compliment, or would you rather have people saying that your sound is completely unique?

LEONE: It doesn't bother us. Because first of all, we love Muse, so that's a nice nod, and with Linkin Park it's the same. We grew up with pretty diverse tastes in music. We like Paul Simon and eclectic stuff like Brian Eno to some Limp Bizkit songs. There, I said it. We're fans of big pop choruses, I guess, is what we realized through all of that. So I think those bands encapsulate - They keep you on that journey, that real intense kind of heavy, brooding, ominous sound, and Linkin Park has those monster big choruses. So yeah, I have no opposition to that.

THE DEADBOLT: With you and Nathan as brothers, how does that help or hinder the band dynamic? Do you guys fight like The Black Crowes, or is everything chill?

LEONE: [laughs] Everything is pretty chill. I think if you ask the other two in the band, they don't even look at us like brothers. All four of us are kind of on the same page with everything. The thing I think it does help is when you're dealing with a band and the touring conditions, being on top of each other 24 hrs a day, constantly traveling, and being exhausted. Each others' personalities can literally drive you insane. The nice thing is that Nathan and I are taken out of the equation because we're already used to dealing with that. So it's one less personal dynamic to deal with, you know? I think it helps in that way.

THE DEADBOLT: What are you currently listening to?

LEONE: Explosions in the Sky, I've been loving. The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Airborne Toxic Event, I like that record, too.

THE DEADBOLT: So what do you guys do on the road between gigs? Is it Playstation 3? Do you guys write songs? What do you do?

LEONE: Good question. We can't afford the Playstation yet [laughs]. So we're still just buying the DVDs of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dexter, and Entourage. You know, we're all over that shit.

THE DEADBOLT: I don't know if you're privy to this info, but how are your votes on the Kerrang Awards going?

LEONE: Good question. I think we came out with pretty good numbers. I generally tend to tune that stuff out because it kind of stresses me out. It's such a weird complicated game being in a band, you know? It's like if you could relieve yourself of all of the stress of worrying about whether you're going to be able to keep your record deal or not, based on album sales, then I think this would be the ride of a lifetime. But you almost can't keep yourself away from it, because if you're not selling enough records, you're like, "Oh, shit! What if we can't make a third record, or what if this is it for us?" So I think we kind of decided to stay as far away from that stuff as we possibly can. But it sure would be nice to win that.

THE DEADBOLT: Instead of Madina Lake, what were some of the other names you guys were kicking around before you settled on this one?

LEONE: Good question. I remember we were deliberating between Madina Lake and Cuba Road. Cuba Road is this place where Nathan and I grew up. I imagine every town has a place like this, where there's this folklore that's attached to it, where all of the kids go to because something happened there, like it used to be an insane asylum or somebody was murdered there. The kids go there to scare each other and probably drink and do drugs. Ours was called Cuba Road.

THE DEADBOLT: I noticed that you guys are going full bore on the merchandising end with clothing, DVDs, books, and more. How do you keep track of everything going on around you?

LEONE: You know, it's kind of difficult, and at some point you have relinquish a little bit of control over this stuff. That's not easy for me to do because I'm one of those micro-managing control freaks, especially when it comes to any of the creative stuff, the merch designs and all of that. I think that the problem I have mostly is, we've never come from any scene. We've never been a trendy band and never been considered cool, or whatever. So I'm interested in the art and the art-form and the look of things, the message that we want to convey and different ideas we want to incite. So the battle that becomes a tug of war. And then people that work for us, telling us, "This is selling big this year, so it's gotta look like this," you know?

It's an irritating quandary to be in, because they're like, "Well, you want to keep doing this as a career, right? So you have to sell it and you have to make something that looks like this." And we're like, "Yeah, but that's not what we're into." So we always wind up with this compromise that's dramatically leading to what we want and then it sells lukewarm and we've got to find a way to eat [laughs].

THE DEADBOLT: With this album, you guys are taking a shot at celebrity. But isn't that ironic since you're in the industry and you're starting to become celebrities yourselves?

LEONE: Yeah, it's very bizarre. I think we were ambitious in the beginning and a little idealistic, thinking that we could have everything we wanted and the way we wanted it. And when we had a little bit of success in the U.K. with that first record, and you got a little bit of that feeling or attention of celebrity, in fact, we hated it. We knew we wouldn't like it. But it kind of gave us a lot of anxiety and depression and it made the walls close in on us. So when you're sitting in Chicago with no record deal and you're just partying every night with your friends, talking about all of the problems of the world and your ideal band situation and all of the great things you can do, if it's a great idea then you actually go and do it and it becomes a reality and the whole thing changes.

THE DEADBOLT: So you basically have to "do what you have to do" so you can "do what you want to do"?

LEONE: Yeah, and that doesn't sit well with us. We get in our own way, basically.

THE DEADBOLT: How often do you guys play Adalia's Journey?

LEONE: [laughs] I think when it first came out, I played it a good amount. But I'm so bad at figuring those things out, I haven't played it for a long time. Have you played it?

THE DEADBOLT: Yeah, I was playing around with it. Dude, I can't figure it out. I have so much work to do, so I can't really get sucked into it.

LEONE: Totally, me neither. I mean, if I get sucked into one of those things, I'm done.

THE DEADBOLT: And when will we see that robot in a video?

LEONE: [laughs] What's awesome is, we're building a costume in real life right now for our bro-tech on Warped Tour who is going to walk around in it. So it'll pop up on YouTube at some point.

For more on Madina Lake and "Attics to Eden," head this way to enter our latest co-teamed Total Assault contest in the Madina Lake Signed Guitar Giveaway.

-- Troy Rogers