To say that Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone has had an eventful past couple of years would be a gross understatement. On June 30, 2010, Leone was trying to aid a woman who was being beaten by her husband when the assailant assaulted him from behind. The 33-year-old attacker was caught and arrested, but Leone suffered head injuries and was hospitalized in critical condition.

Although his road to recovery was long and difficult, the bassist not only survived the attack, he’s since recorded and released a new album with Madina Lake and toured in support of it. “If I had one piece of advice for anyone going through something similar to what I went through is to not take everything so seriously,” Leone told Noisecreep in an interview earlier this year. We’re honored to feature him as our latest musician in our ‘Five Albums That Changed My Life’ series.

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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.

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Another French interview! Read the original here and the (Google) translated one here.

To mark the (long awaited) return Madina Lake in France (an album “World War III,” newly released and from a European tour for three dates in France) we had the opportunity and great pleasure to meet the adorable Matthew Leone, bassist and survivor. Yes, If you have not heard of his tragic of his recovery in 2010 Matthew tried to help a young woman who was being beaten by her husband in the street. He was left for dead on the sidewalk. After 5 days in a coma between life and death and a long recovery period, this trial may have contributed to make him the person he is today.

"For some artists, the interview is a chore, a painful duty it is to force for the good of the group. For others, it turns out to be a fun exercise. Matthew Leone is clearly positioned in the second category. The smile from ear to ear and full of good will (as I have rarely seen), bassist of Madina Lake seemed even happier than me at the approach of the interview."
Click here to read the original interview and here the (Google) translated interview.

To say that Madina Lake have had a tough year is a massive understatement. 2010 saw the band lose their label, management and any means of recording a third album. Then things went from bad to horrendous, when bassist Matthew Leone was victim to a horrific assault, with doctors predicting that his recovery might take up to four years, if at all. However, it was with an outpouring of love and support from fans worldwide, they somehow survived, turning to Pledge Music for help in recording their latest record ‘World War III’.

With Matthew’s recovery miraculously taking only a year and a half, the full band returned to the road in support of their third effort, and DIY caught up with drummer Dan Torelli, to find out how everything’s been going.

How’re you today?
I’m good, thank you!

And how far are you into the tour: you’ve been in Europe for a while before heading here?

Yeah, we’ve done three German dates, a Holland date, two in Brussels and now we’re here. Then, we did Portsmouth, and last night was Brighton. They were awesome – never been to Brighton before which was really cool! Then Portsmouth was great, with the Wedgewood Rooms, but today is always the one we really look forward to. London’s always amazing, and normally, London’s at the end of the tour so havng it the third day in is kinda weird.

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The Music Press is happy to say that Madina Lake are back and firing on all cylinders. The Chicago 4 piece have made it through hell and back after the summer of 2010 when bass player Matthew Leone was almost killed after intervening in a domestic violence incident involving a man beating his wife. Delivering one of the most important albums of their career so far ‘World War III’ was produced by guitarist Mateo Camargo and also features the track ‘Imagineer’ which was written and produced by both Madina Lake and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. The Music Press managed to grab a quick chat with Matthew and Dan in order to find out how they’ve been getting on.

Watch the interview here.

A dark tale from a band bouncing back from extreme adversity.

In Rock Sound Issue 155 Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone admits that, unfortunately, not all recent offers of help have had his best interests at heart.

“People threw benefits in our name and kept the money,” he admits. “I would say sadly that a large amount of money that people so lovingly thought they were giving to me never actually found me. I’m a little reluctant to admit that, as anyone who gave anything in my honour created an energy that definitely reached me, so ultimately it worked and saved me – it wasn’t in vain even though some bad guys got it. There were a lot of wolves wearing sheep’s clothes. Many swarmed us saying they loved and cared and then as soon as we came out of critical condition or it slipped out of the media, we never heard from them again.”

To read more pick up a copy of Rock Sound Issue 155. Madina Lake also feature on the 100% Volume CD that comes with the magazine!