Thank you for taking the time for this interview. You have been elected for best newcomer act by Kerrang magazine, received thousands of good reviews for ‘From Them, Through Us, To You’… How do you feel about this?
Thank you so much for the opportunity! The Kerrang! Award was the best thing that’s happened to us as a band. To us it is the most prestigious because it is actually the fans that vote and we feel so lucky to have received the support. They have been so amazing to us. Also we appreciate positive reviews of our record because we had written the most honest music we could and never tried to appeal to any trends or mainstream and to have that recognized is fantastic.
Early January you will travel to Germany. What do you think will await you on these shows?
We’ve been to Germany once before and loved it. We headlined that tour which was very premature and it turns out we’re headlining this one as well. Usually bands come and support other bigger bands for a few years and then headline so we’re nervous that we haven’t had enough exposure yet. Hopefull we’ll get to do some festivals over the summer and then return again at the end of the year. It means so much to us to tour around as much of the world as possible.
Do you think that Emocore and the whole Postcore-thing is almost done? Some people say that founding an emocore band nowadays is a sellout. What is your opinion? Do you even care what people say?
Well I think it’s inevitable that people will try to file bands into genres and that’s ok with me. Music is subjective and people aren’t supposed to like everything but as long as they judge the music and not the genre” or the “fashion style” of a band than I’m ok with any label really. As far as sellout I think that anybody who writes to appeal to a trend or genre or radio or to be famous or something is a sellout. When we wrote the record we deliberately ignored everything going on at radio and in the “scene” and just wrote honest rock music. We have no interest in fame, money, trends, etc… just music.
I read about the ‘Fear Factor’-story… Just to make sure: did you already play together as a band before, or was MADINA LAKE the result of this tv show?
We had written 3 songs together but didn’t have a band name. Fear factor had nothing to do with the band, we just went on as a joke and miraculously won money. The eventually used the money to make a demo but there was no other connection to doing the show.
Let´s get to the “crossfire” part of the interview (10 questions that are always the same in each interview):
At home:
01.)
In which way do you write your songs? Does anyone of you have kind of an initial idea, or do you just play on and on until something sounds interesting to you, or another way?
We start with electronics. Mateo come in with programming and a guitar riff and then we write around that. Once I have a melody and everyones parts are worked out I write the lyrics.
02.)
Except playing music, what do you do in your free time?
I read a lot, play football, scuba dive, watch DVDs. On tour we camp every chance we get. In the US Pacific Northwest there are the most beautiful campsites ever!
03.)
Is MADINA LAKE job, vocation or hobby?
When you love what you do it’s not work and we definitely love what we do!
On the road:
04.)
Vegan, straight edge, or rather sex drugs and rock´n´roll? What does a perfect catering look like?
Sex drugs rock n roll. Deli tray, beer, water, redbulls and anti anxiety medication!
05.)
If you could choose, who would be your favourite support band on a headlining tour / who would be your favourite headliner you would support?
Muse
06.)
What was your greatest event live or on tour by now?
Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo was amazing! We played to like 15K crazy Japanese kids and it was incredible
Curious:
07.)
Imagine you are stranded on a secluded island and your I-Pod has a defect. It only will play one song (which is none of your own ones). Which one?
Bob Marley „“Buffalo Soldier“ it has an amazing vibe and the lyrics are very powerful to me ?
08.)
If you could start again at the beginning of your band, would you do anything different than you did?
Nope!
09.)
How much does the music you are doing mean to you? Are there limits in what you would invest (time / emotions / finances)?
There is no limit to what we would do for this band. As a matter of fact we’ve all sacrificed so much (divorce, no money, evictions, etc.) and none of that has even phased us.
The very last question:
10.)
If there was a question you always wanted to be asked, but never were asked yet, what would it be and what would be your answer?
People don’t ask us about Chicago much.. It’s an amazing city and it’s super rich with musical diversity.. from blues to metal to jazz and bluegrass there are a million clubs and a billion cool bands!
Thank you for your patience, all best wishes for the future.
Thank you so much you guys rule