In the wake of catastrophe, Madina Lake have found a new lease of life. We caught up with bassist Matthew Leone as the band were rounding off their recent UK tour to talk solidarity, meeting your idols, and living for the moment.

Planet Loud – Cheers for your time today. So, how’s it going? You’re coming up to the end of your UK tour now, right?
Madina Lake – Matthew Leone (Bass/Vocals): Yeah, we’re getting close now. We’re good, just sad as we love the UK!

Planet Loud – We were at the Brighton show and the energy both on and off the stage was incredible…
Madina Lake – Thank you – yeah, it’s been incredible for us. For a long time we thought that this would never happen again, and after eighteen months on hiatus, to come back and experience that… I mean, in the music business, eighteen months is the average lifespan of a band! To be forced to take that amount of time off, not knowing if we would ever be able to play again: when we found out that we could, we had to deal with the question of whether it still mattered to people. You know, a band’s an intangible entity so we can declare our citizenship wherever we want, and for us, the UK is our home. It’s felt like a way overdue homecoming, and we’re eternally grateful to the people here for their support. The shows over here have been everything we could have wanted and more, and they’ve revitalized us in a way that’s never happened before.

Planet Loud – It’s always felt like there’s a special connection between the UK and Madina Lake.
Madina Lake – Definitely. It’s a testament to the character of the people. It’s funny really because in this day and age America’s shortcomings have already been exposed, so we don’t really have to tell people about it anymore (laughs). In the UK you have real passion and devotion, and a culture where people care about things… When they invest in something, they’re in it for the duration. That’s something we don’t experience in America.

Planet Loud – How has it felt to play those ‘World War III’ songs live? A lot of them are, lyrically and tonally, pretty dark, but live they seem to take on something of a celebratory aspect…
Madina Lake – That’s exactly it: there’s a really interesting dichotomy we experience when playing those songs. It’s incredibly cathartic to play that record, for obvious reasons, to get out and scream some of those words, the musical sentiment to just get out there and rip that into a microphone feels incredible. The celebration part comes when we’re playing to an audience that wants to shout those same words, you know. You get a feeling sometimes like ‘we don’t want the crowd to think we’re saying these things to them’ (laughs). We’ve never had to face that fear because we’re saying those things with them.

Planet Loud – There’s a real sense of solidarity.
Madina Lake – Yeah, there is. We haven’t experienced that in America, because over there everything is disposable, it’s hard to find allegiance. When you get onstage in front of everyone and everyone joins together to convey that message, it’s a very powerful feeling.

Planet Loud – To go back a little bit, how did ‘World War III’ really come together, in the wake of what happened?
Madina Lake – Well, before the ordeal happened, the band was in a very difficult place, that’s no secret. We knew that this would be the most important record for us, because it was the conclusion of this grandiose postulation we were attempting to make, the Madina Lake mythology and all that, and with all the pressures that were coming from our personal lives, as well as the band’s life, we were really struggling. Out of that period, we were a little confused. We didn’t know exactly how to say what we wanted to say, the message got jumbled up in all that too. We had about three songs done, and a bunch of ideas out there. After everything happened: it was like the end of the story manifesting itself in real life. Madina Lake is this mythological town, a surreal fantasy land, and the surreality of it spilled over into real life. It’s as if it became real. The ideas we were postulating about Americans and their ridiculous value systems, the effect of the country’s obsession with money and power, narcissism, greed, the false belief that all that will gratify them. That’s what we were thinking about from the beginning, and as it happened the attacker of mine was the quintessential poster coward for this lifestyle. He is a guy who thought all this would bring him satisfaction, but look at where it’s brought him. It’s the perfect example of how dangerous enacting that American lifestyle can be.

Planet Loud – It’s kind of like over the last few years you’ve seen both the worst and the best of life, and the music industry.
Madina Lake – Yeah. After six years of being in Madina Lake we’re seen a lot of things, you know, a lot of the bad things, a lot of the egos and the bullshit. When this happened, what came out of it was like the exact polarisation of that. We had one of our personal idols stepping up in another show of solidarity, of support, showing the world what the music community can do. I think that if anyone outside the music community was looking , they were taught a pretty valuable lesson about how it can stick together. This little act of evil was squashed by all the good that followed. I can honestly say that now I feel happy, I feel lucky and humbled. We’re in a fantastic place, and I’m sure the same can’t be said for my assailant.

Planet Loud – Talking of your idols, how did Billy Corgan come to be involved in the record, and in supporting the band? (Note: Corgan co-wrote ‘Imagineer’ on ‘World War III’)
Madina Lake – Well, there’s no question that the Pumpkins have been one of our favourite bands for our entire lives. What happened was that they put on this benefit show for me and I emailed him this long and intricate, weird letter, which everyone was telling me not to send it because it was too ridiculous (laughs). But he responded pretty much straight away with something twice as ridiculous! You know that people advise you against meeting your idols but he’s superseded every expectation – it was so amazing and so surreal to work with him.

Planet Loud – Amazing. So, have you been able to think about where you’d like to take the band from here, or is it really a day to day thing?
Madina Lake – It’s a day to day thing in some respects, mainly in that we’re not wasting much time obsessing in the back of our heads about every little trivial thing. Now that the whole trilogy is done with, we’re very proud that we accomplished that ridiculous, unreal ambition (laughs). We feel liberated and revitalised from that. We’re enjoying the moment day to day, but also enjoying thinking and discussing new avenues to explore after this. There are a lot of ideas flying about around what we’re going to do after this, so we’re in a great, very exciting place right now.

Planet Loud – Brilliant, thanks again, and all the best.
Madina Lake – Thank you my friend.