{"id":6719,"date":"2012-03-12T22:53:53","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T11:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=6719"},"modified":"2012-03-12T23:03:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T12:03:37","slug":"leeno-dee-of-melody-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/03\/leeno-dee-of-melody-black\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeno Dee of Melody Black"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>“Everything\u2019s there, it\u2019s just getting to do it and as long as we keep doing what we do, and as long as we think that we\u2019re doing the best we can with it and we\u2019re not just fooling ourselves and we really are doing the best we can with it, then it\u2019s all good.”<\/p>\n

The last time we spoke with Melody Black as one of our ‘Best Things You’ve Never Heard’ they had just released their debut record ‘Love Your Demons’ and were about to hit the road for a few shows to promote it.\u00a0 With rotation of their video on MTV they got their name out there a little, and now they’re back in 2012 to play some shows starting this month.<\/p>\n

We caught up once again with primary songwriter, bass player and stalwart in the rock world of Australia, Leeno Dee for an update on Melody Black, the tour, new music and what we can expect for the year ahead…<\/p>\n

You’re playing your first shows for the year starting in Sydney later this week, Are you pumped to be back on stage for a few shows?<\/strong>
\nOh absolutely man, we\u2019ve done a few shows in the last year and a half since we got together we pretty much didn\u2019t stop.\u00a0 Come December we just decided, the last show we did was December 23 and we just thought, ok let\u2019s have a couple of months to clear the decks and work on some new stuff as well. So everyone\u2019s pretty much hanging out, we started rehearsing a few weeks ago and it just felt good, new guitars, new set list, a couple of new tunes in the set.\u00a0 This is exciting.<\/p>\n

For those that haven’t been to a Melody Black show and didn\u2019t catch our last chat with you, can you give people an idea of what one of your shows entails?<\/strong>
\nWell I don\u2019t know, as corny as it sounds, we always kind of said it was delivered at maximum impact, it\u2019s entertainment, you come a long you get a show, you don\u2019t get a bunch of\u2026 you know the story by now, we try to put on a show, we try and do what feels right and once again we try not to be corny but we try and be that band that we want to see when we go out and see bands.\u00a0 It\u2019s loud, it\u2019s rockin\u2019, it\u2019s pretty fast paced, it\u2019s pretty energetic.\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n

You’re premiering your new video, can you give us an idea of what to expect?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019re working on two videos at the same time, one\u2019s a proper shoot and one is one that Johno\u2019s been putting together from live footage that we\u2019ve accumulated over the last year, so he\u2019s been adding that to one of the songs, the song\u2019s going to be\u2026 \u2018We Both Know\u2019 is going to be the next video.\u00a0 He\u2019s been working on putting together a whole bunch of footage and cutting all the extra little things to stuff into it, so it\u2019ll be pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With \u2018Love Your Demons\u2019 being out for a number of months now, has the great response to the album continued?<\/strong>
\nYeah, the surprising thing for me is that every now and then I\u2019ll get an email saying \u2018Here\u2019s another review\u2019 and about three weeks ago we got a review from the Brisbane Courier Mail, so people are still kind of discovering it and talking about it which is great and keeps the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

Have you been writing new material at all in the downtime?<\/strong>
\nYeah there\u2019s a bit of a backlog as I never really stop, like I\u2019m always coming up with ideas and stuff and just putting it on my little recorder, and when I get time, I just sit there when I get some alone time and just kind of go through everything and pick out the things that don\u2019t suck and start demoing them up.\u00a0 There\u2019s stuff going back quite a way that I really like that I think will work for this band and then there\u2019s new stuff that comes along all the time, so it\u2019s an ongoing process.<\/p>\n

After being in a number of bands with some differing styles, what inspires you to write for Melody Black?<\/strong>
\nSee I always wrote stuff for this kind of band.\u00a0 I wanted to put the original idea, that\u2019s what I wanted to be Melody Black back in the Jerk days as a side thing, in the same way that you have Slipknot and the Murderdolls and Slipknot and Stone Sour, I was thinking when we finally go off the road and we have a few months off, I\u2019ve got all these songs that don\u2019t suit Jerk for this band that I want to put together.\u00a0 I guess my writing style hasn\u2019t changed, it\u2019s just adapted, you chuck a lot of beats on it, it could be industrial, you play it the way we play it, it\u2019s power pop metal.\u00a0 It\u2019s just the songs you know?<\/p>\n

When do you think we can expect a new album?<\/strong>
\nWell, I kind of think\u2026 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 We initially thought we\u2019d do something this year, so that\u2019s not out of the question, maybe towards later on in the year.\u00a0 This record\u2019s still got a lot of life left in it so we don\u2019t want to muddy up that one just yet, we\u2019ll probably be demoing stuff up pretty soon.<\/p>\n

After the album release last year have you found that after playing together for a while you\u2019ve now got the band where you\u2019re completely comfortable?<\/strong>
\nOh yeah, God yeah. I think the thing is we\u2019ve all got relationships, everyone in this band has played together before in various incarnations of other bands, so that was kind of the reason we first got together and jammed it just gelled immediately, like a lot of other bands have chemistry but it takes you a while to get to know each other.\u00a0 It just kind of meshed immediately, so there\u2019s not really any getting to know each other, although I guess it just gets better you know.\u00a0 Fortunately, and I think I used the line with someone else once, I said that I think I had The A-Team with these guys because if I was going to pick a drummer, if I was going to pick a guitarist, if I was going to pick a singer, it\u2019d be these guys.\u00a0 Hopefully it\u2019ll keep working that way as it seems to be working up until now.<\/p>\n

You mentioned before some new material at the gigs, how many do you think we\u2019ll get to hear?<\/strong>
\nWell, I think for this show we\u2019ve got one that\u2019s going to go into the set that I think is ready to be aired, obviously, we\u2019re pretty good at throwing stuff together pretty fast and getting it out there, but at the same time we want to do it justice as well.\u00a0 So I think we\u2019ve got one new tune we can throw in, and we\u2019re the kind of band also that likes to keep our encores changing all the time and we always just pull covers out.\u00a0 Someone will yell out \u2018I think we should try this song\u2019, everybody will have a listen to it and we\u2019ll run through it and that kind of thing, so we\u2019ll probably have one or two kind of encore things to throw in, you never know what that\u2019s going to be, it could be anything.<\/p>\n

You’re currently only a small number of shows on the run this month, but what are your plans for the rest of 2012?<\/strong>
\nWell it\u2019s kind of growing, there\u2019s stuff being added all the time, these shows have been confirmed, there\u2019s Sydney then there\u2019s a couple of Queensland, then back to Sydney, then Melbourne, a Canberra show has been announced. We\u2019ve got Newcastle, Wollongong and whatever pops up, like last year, we thought there was a time we were going to have a couple of weeks off and then we got asked to do the Misfits, so we did that, things like that pop up all the time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Looking back over your career, and you\u2019ve been in a number of bands, I\u2019ve noticed you\u2019re passionate about Melody Black but is it more a case of you\u2019re just passionate about what you\u2019re doing at the moment?<\/strong>
\nI think so, the thing is, every musicians been in a hundred bands and they have to go through a lot of things to where they want to get and you better be passionate about what you\u2019re doing at the time, otherwise there\u2019s no reason to be doing it.\u00a0 Even if you did find it wasn\u2019t the right thing for you, whatever you\u2019re doing it\u2019s gotta be something that your heart\u2019s got to be in to otherwise there\u2019s no point.\u00a0 The thing with me is, out of everything that I\u2019ve done, the only three bands I really rate are The Candy Harlots, Jerk and this.\u00a0 They were the main three things that really counted, and the other things like Ink, they were good things and I enjoyed them, but the three bands that really were closer to me were The Candy Harlots, Jerk and This.\u00a0 Now The Candy Harlots, I initially joined and ended up more or less taking over once all the original members split, and that was one thing.\u00a0 Jerk, I was the last guy to join and I was massively passionate about that, maybe even more than The Harlots because Jerk ended up being a lot closer to my heart and to what I was in to you know?\u00a0 This band is something I\u2019ve had on my mind for a long time and I\u2019d put together and I\u2019ve wanted it to be exactly what it is, so for me this is more of a coming home kind of thing you know.\u00a0 I\u2019m finally doing something that\u2019s exactly the way I\u2019ve wanted it to be and I\u2019ve got people around me who are in it because they feel the same way.\u00a0 They\u2019re not just doing it to do something or because they were bored, everyone in this band is extremely busy with other stuff, so for them to make time to do this, that\u2019s the litmus test for them to be in it and they really want to be doing this, and if they don\u2019t want to be doing this, they don\u2019t have to, they want to.\u00a0 That equals passion for me you know?<\/p>\n

Yeah, so it\u2019s not really a project, it\u2019s more of what they want to do?<\/strong>
\nYeah, it\u2019s not a project, I hate the idea of treating things like a project, it implies that it\u2019s something you\u2019re gonna do and then when you\u2019re done with it, you let it go. The only reason I would let this go is if I wasn\u2019t enjoying it, but I still wouldn\u2019t call it a project, I\u2019d call it a band, you can\u2019t control the way things go, you can\u2019t control what people do, you either think at the time you make the best decision, you either replace someone or you give it up.\u00a0 That\u2019s happened in the other bands I\u2019ve been in in the past and I hope it doesn\u2019t happen in this band because I can\u2019t imagine at this point having a better line up.<\/p>\n

For Melody Black, what does the big picture look like for you guys?<\/strong>
\nIf we want to get serious about it and take into account what\u2019s happening in the world and what\u2019s happening in the music industry these days, the big picture is kind of pretty narrow really, I think all you can hope for is that you do something you enjoy and that other people enjoy.\u00a0 First of all I\u2019m adamant that you\u2019ve got to like it, you\u2019ve got to be happy with what you\u2019re doing, because if you are then other people are going to get it as well.\u00a0 So the big picture for me and for us is, do what we do, put out music that we enjoy that other people will get off on as well, put on a show that still makes people talk and makes people walk away and say \u2018Shit that was good!\u2019 makes them want to come back, and just forge a career that way, making records as long as it\u2019s viable to make records and as long as it\u2019s viable to still press CD\u2019s and people still buy CD\u2019s, and if they don\u2019t we can just go to digital and people can download stuff, I guess it\u2019s just making more music and keeping people interested.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think really anyone in their right mind can talk about world domination, all that kind of stuff, so in a way it\u2019s kind of gotten pure now.\u00a0 You know you\u2019re not going to get rich from it, so you\u2019re doing it for maybe a better reason now.<\/p>\n

Have you considered taking the record overseas at all?<\/strong>
\nYou know what?\u00a0 We\u2019ve actually mailed, physically mailed copies of the CD\u2019s overseas for people that have bought them, in the US and Europe so far, and it\u2019s just like the internet works for and against you sometimes, in this case it\u2019s worked for us as people have been exposed to it and they\u2019ve wanted it and put down their credit cards and bought physical copies.\u00a0 Obviously we\u2019ve sold a few downloads here and there, if we end up being fortunate enough to do some licensing deals that could be a part of the big picture too which I hadn\u2019t thought about, part of the thing would be it would be great to go and play for people overseas, take it Japan, take it Europe, take it to the US.\u00a0 Everything\u2019s there, it\u2019s just getting to do it and as long as we keep doing what we do, and as long as we think that we\u2019re doing the best we can with it and we\u2019re not just fooling ourselves and we really are doing the best we can with it, then it\u2019s all good.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>Sydney, Australia<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> Johnathan Devoy – vocals, Leeno Dee – bass, Tubby Wadsworth – drums, Phil Bowley – guitar.<\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>http:\/\/melodyblack.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release: <\/strong>Love Your Demons (2011 – Riot! Entertainment)<\/p>\n

Check out our ‘Best Thing You’ve Never Heard’ feature on Melody Black from last year…<\/a><\/p>\n

Catch Melody Black on the following dates<\/strong>
\nMarch 16 at The Bald Faced Stag – Sydney- with Graveyard Rockstars and Vanity Riots.
\nMarch 23 at The Shark Bar – Miami Gold Coast.
\nMarch 24 at Jubilee Hotel – Brisbane – with Darkc3ll.
\nApril 13 at Club Blink’s Black Friday Blast – Sydney.
\nApril 21 at Revolver Upstairs – Melbourne.
\nMay 19 at the Basement – Canberra – with Perpetual End and Knights OIf the Spatchcock.<\/p>\n\n

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