Band of the Day: Leach

We reviewed Leach’s latest release, Hymns for the Hollow, recently. Time for the band to give us some words back in exchange…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

From an average mid-sized Swedish town called Borås. It’s close to Gothenburg so that’s where the real music scene is.

How did you meet?

Met each other in 1st grade, when we were 7 years old. Went to the same schools until high school.

How long have you been playing as a band?

Started off in 2003 at our local youth center. A place where you can borrow instruments and other equipment. Always been into the same sort of music so we gave it a try. Problem was, none of us knew how to play anything so the struggle was real those first years. Always pushed it to play over our abilities. In the early days it was all about playing fast and aggressive, something that have evolved into incorporate more and more melodies into it.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

It’s Leech but misspelled on purpose. At the time most bands that came forward all had three- or four-letter band names. So we wanted to go the opposite and have a name that was short, didn’t really mean anything but rolled nicely off your tongue. We had no idea that it could also be a surname.

What are your influences?

Mainly American bands like Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Iron Reagan, Crowbar, Agnostic front. Of course a big dose of Swedish acts like The Haunted, Raised Fist, Entombed. As for the UK – we’re into bands like Napalm death, Cathedral etc.

That being said, we listen to a lot of different kinds of music in which of course influence us in different ways. Electronic, rap etc.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

Well, we’re not unique in a matter of musical content. And that has never been a goal really. Naturally, we’re a product of all our influences. What we want to achieve is to be recognized for our music. To be unique in that matter that when our music comes on you should be able to hear that it is us and not be mistaken for anything else.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

It differs from song to song. On ”Chapter two” it’s about letting yourself go in matters of self fulfillment and to push yourself into doing the things you wanna do but somehow never seems take a shot at.

In ”We Have It All” it’s about the feeling that a lot of people seem to have these days. They got the life with a good job, nice car etc but it feels like there’s always something missing. So the chorus is a play on words: We have it all, we have nothing, we have nothing at all.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

I believe ”Intense” is the right word for it. Trying to have a high energy performance with short breaks.

We’ve done all in all probably like 60+ shows. In 2018 we did some festival appearances and did a show In Zurich opening for Slapshot. In the planning this spring for a German tour so if anybody wants us around, feel free to contact us!

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

A few years back we did a local show with a lot of old friends. That was crazy to say the least. They were drunk out of their minds, moshing and breaking things. Half the crowd left the room and instead stood just outside looking in through the windows ’cause they didn’t wanna get hurt. It all culminated when a guy we know lifted up a table and broke it onto his head. The head went through the table so he continued running around with it round his neck. The night resulted in a cracked head (obviously), two cracked eyebrows and a lot of twisted ankles. I think there’s a video from it somewhere…

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

Joachim uses a Ludwig kit with various brands of cymbals (Zildjian, Paiste, Sabian) and Wincent drumsticks.

Anders uses Yamaha and Fender basses with EBS amplifier and Ampeg +TC electronics cabinets.

Markus uses Jackson guitars. A Kemper amplifier with Engl cabinets.

For now we’re in between lead guitarists but Victor who’s been with us the latest 15 years uses Schecter guitars, Peavey 5150 head and Engl cabinets.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

We have some local west coast shows but as I said we’re planning a German tour later this spring. It’s really too early to point something out right now but if anyone reading wants us in their town (not necessarily Germany), give us a shout!

What are your plans for 2019?

Gonna start out with the recordings for next album in June if everything works out the way we want it. We have our own recording studio for tracking and I think we’re gonna use our long time Mike Cameron Force for the mixing parts and maybe Jacob Hansen (Volbeat) again for the mastering. We’ll see what happens.

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

That’s a tricky one! Opening for Slayer on their last leg of their last tour would be the best ever happening. Otherwise maybe opening for Napalm Death. Seems like they’re always on tour with different styles of other bands so their fans might be open minded when it comes to openers.

We’ve done some shows with another local band called Grayscale Season. They have kind of a grind thing going on so that would be a nice fit all together.

From previous Band of the Day, Gender Roles: If you could invent a pedal what would it do?

A pedal that communicated with the sound engineer. When you want something louder in your monitors, refill of beers, etc.

Leach: facebook | instagram | bandcamp

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