Slam Dunk Festival 2017: Madina Lake talk ahead of Birmingham reunion show

Madina Lake are famed for smash hit album From Them, Through Us, To You - a concept album that follows the story of a town rocked by the disappearance of a local girl named Adalia.

This album turns ten years old this year, Madina Lake are back, and they’re loving it.

“When you're in the thick of it, touring-wise, sometimes you lose sight of the regular adrenaline fix you're getting. As well as the consistent connection to your audience” vocalist Nathan Leone tells us.

“As the years pile up since our last show you become further and further removed psychologically and ultimately forget to realize what you are missing in life.

“In short, at the moment it feels great and if I were a betting gentleman, and I am, I would bet it's going to feel extraordinary”.

“It’s always fun to play the bigger songs live. I love playing Here I Stand and House Of Cards - but my favourite usually ends up being True Love”.

To coincide with their reunion, Madina Lake are writing new music for the first time in six years. Shifting from the tale of Adalia - the band have experimented with their new tracks, bringing in the pursuits they have followed since the demise of Madina Lake

“Since Madina Lake, Mateo (Camargo, bass) and I have partnered up in pursuit of a songwriting career. We've written for big action movie trailers, pop songs for other artists, and tracks for TV/Film.

“Each are very different styles musically and I for one feel like it has brought an interesting dynamic to writing for Madina. We're incorporating a lot more theatrical elements and using things like strings and horns even more than we had in the past”.

From new music to old, 2017 marks the year that their debut album From Them, Through Us, To You turns ten years old. This album shaped many young rockers music tastes as they first began to listen to up-and-coming bands in 2007, but how it will shape their future is unclear

“They say hindsight is always 20/20. I'm not so sure in our case” Nathan laughs “I remember at the time being very self-conscious about getting labelled and/or thrown into a particular genre from that record.

“ How it affected us going forward is hard to say. Your new music will always be judged against your first record which can be daunting.

“At this point fortunately we've been able to tune all of that out and write without the pressure of competing with our first record”.

With such a positive outlook on the future, it’s hard to understand how Madina Lake ever ended in the first place. Spates of exhaustion caused the band to take a step back and regroup, as Nathan tells us

Prior to this, the band were shocked with heart-breaking news. in 2010 Nathan’s twin brother and bassist Matthew Leone was hospitalized after intervening in a domestic violence incident involving a man beating his wife which made ripples in the rock community and cast a light on issues regarding domestic abuse

“It had a massive effect on us. Despite not doing anything particularly special personally, I take great pride in the positive effect it had in terms of bringing increased attention to the issue.

“We got countless amounts of emails from people affected by domestic abuse, most of which really appreciated Matthew's actions and expressed that they personally benefited from his story. That was incredible.

“Of course it brought the four of us even closer but to be honest, the whole ordeal really kind of spelled the end of our band, which is okay”.

Despite the dark times Madina Lake have gone through, the band have always come through fighting and achieved high points beyond belief. From winning Best International Newcomer at the Kerrang! Awards 2007 to worldwide headline tours Madina Lake have a lot to be proud of - but visiting the UK is among Nathan’s proudest achievements.

“We were lucky enough to visit the U.K. as kids and actually went to Reading and Leeds Festivals to see our favourite band at the time, which was Smashing Pumpkins.

“It was one of the best times of my life and I never would've dreamed that X amount of years later we would get to play the main stage of that same festival. That was a hell of a moment”.

Now they’re back on English soil and heading for Slam Dunk Festival Midlands, landing in Birmingham’s NEC on May 27 with over 50 other alternative bands across multiple stages - and they’re expecting a raucous reception from their Midlands crowd.

“Midlands crowds are rowdy and epic. Gotta hand it to the Midlands.. whatever they put in the water over there makes for a damn fine music adoring audience”.

With this reunion evoking smiles on faces across the rock community one question looms - what’s in the future now for Madina Lake? Nathan Leone answers the burning questions simply - who knows?

“We discussed a few options moving forward. We're certainly not in a position to relaunch Madina Lake but we are releasing new music and will continue to write together for as long as we can.

“If that means we get together every couple of years to play some shows or whether we just release songs randomly from time to time, I can speak for all of us when I say that we are very lucky and grateful for this band and everything it's done for us!”

Madina Lake will appear at Slam Dunk Festival Midlands and Birmingham NEC on May 27.