Lionize

Lionize is a band that has an extremely unique touch to it–the music that they play sounds like absolute old school rock that you would find blaring out of your parents speakers. However, the band offers something else–a fresh spin on an old classic. Recently this week, Jenna from Static 180 caught up with Mel of Lionize for a phone interview. He chats about the difference between vinyl and CD recordings, as well as what the new year has in store for Lionize!

Jenna: You guys are on tour, right?

Mel: We are on tour right now, Yes.

Jenna: How’s that going?

Mel: [jokingly] Mainly a disaster. It’s going great; we’ve become really good friends with those guys already. They’re a pretty good fit for us, I would say.

Jenna: Starting off, can you give Static 180’s readers a little background on the band, like how you’ve formed and how you’ve gotten where you are today? And would you change anything about the success that the band has achieved?

Mel: Absolutely not. If anything going forward is the incentive. We’ve been a band for about seven or eight years. Chris and Nate, our keyboard and guitar player(s), went to middle school together. Then Hank came along a couple years after that, and I joined the band about five years ago, so I’m the newest member of the band. We started touring nationally about four and a half years ago. We got signed onto a label. So we used to just tour regional and then it started picking up. We were fortunate enough to tour with bands such as Galactic, so forth and so forth. So, here we are and continue to do what we do and now we’re back.

Jenna: You guys are different sounding. Actually, I like it a lot. It reminds me of music that I listened to with my dad when I was younger. What influences you guys to take the rock and roll sound and bring it to the studio while writing music?

Mel: Cool, thanks!  We just kind of developed our own sound I guess over the years, because we have so many influences. When we write it just all comes out and comes together. It’s riff rock; like heavy riffs and roots. It’s blended with a bit of reggae and then you have yourself some shepherd’s pie! [laughs]

Jenna: What influences would you note for the band as far as artists go?

Mel: Everything from Zeppelin to Sabbath; a lot of classic rock. And then old school reggae; Marley of course.

Jenna: It’s good to have a good variety of music.

Mel: Yeah, I mean there’s even some jazz background! Like me and Chris and the whole band like Coltrain, Charlie Parker and all that stuff. Which I think is really the foundation to all music today. I think it all started from Jazz and Blues and stuff like that.

Jenna: You guys have had five albums, including your latest release. Do you feel that the band has formed the sound you want for the latest record? Do fans have a mixed negative and positive reaction to it?

Mel: I definitely think that this last record we did by far is our big coming out point. We’re very comfortable with the record. It’s defiantly my favorite out of all the records we’ve done. It’s not that I don’t like the other records, but I think it’s more of a comfortable setting as far as our sound. And it’s the best recording of how we sound live. We like to record according to how we sound live and during live shows.

Jenna: A lot of bands don’t really do that today.

Mel: A lot of bands are just kind of…I guess one side is that they don’t want to really experiment, no Pro Tools or anything like that. It’s a real big turn out for us as far as the sound and quality goes with the drums, and the vocals, and the bass guitar. I don’t know, I’d do it again that way in a heartbeat!

Jenna: Do you feel like there’s a difference in sound quality between regular CDs, and vinyl?

Mel: Oh, absolutely! I’m big on the vinyl for sure, all of us are, and it’s just something about putting on a record and really hearing all the little things that I think tend to be over looked on the CDs. You get that really old feel and old vibe to the sound of a vinyl compared to a CD. A lot of people won’t hear that, but if you really listen.

Jenna: You mentioned before that you guys are on tour right now. Has there ever been a tour or fan encounter that’s stuck in your mind? Have you played a show that’s changed your outlook on things musically or motivated you?

Mel: Yeah, I think so! There’s a tour we did with Clutch—our first national tour. We hit Canada on that run and in one of the cities in Canada at that particular show was probably one of the top three best shows we’ve played crowd wise and band wise. Canada’s really good for us. It’s a good moral boost when you do a show for that tour that’s just awesome. And we’ve got a lot of those for sure. There’s tours where we just go out there and are like ‘Well, here we are.’ But that’s all good. It’s what we do.

Jenna: Last but not least, what can we expect to see from Lionize in the new year? Any touring plans, such as Warped Tour perhaps?

Mel: We are not doing the Warped Tour this year. But we will come home from this tour and take some time off, with a possible tour in the spring. And then we have some stuff lined up through the summer touring wise—and fall! Pretty much for the rest of this year is going to be touring and possible vinyl release maybe. And then next year we get to work on a new record hopefully. And we want to see all your faces at our shows!

Jenna: Do you have anything you’d like to say to your fans at this point?

Mel: Yeah absolutely! I’d like to thank all our fans for taking the time out to come and see us and spread the word. Support live music! In these upcoming tours we’d like to meet you! We love you! [laughs]

Jenna: [laughs] Static 180 would like to thank you for taking the time out to do this interview with us!

Mel: Absolutely, any time! My pleasure!

Jenna: And we’d like to catch up with you later on in like the spring for a follow up if you guys are available.

Mel: Yeah, absolutely! We’ll be more than glad to for sure!