Madina Lake: swimming in debutglory

Thu 2nd Aug, 2007 in International News

The founding members of Chicago’s Madina Lake gamely faced death for theirs, crawling through trenches, munching on cow parts, ingesting maggots and eventually being hospitalised, all in the name of rock n’ roll.

A year before they were recovering from their adventure in infirmary beds, twins Nathan Leone (vocals) and Matthew Leone (bass) had joined musical forces with guitarist Mateo Camargo and drummer Daniel Torelli – two musicians who shared the siblings’ vision for creating hook-laden, pop culture-inspired hard rock with a message – to form Madina Lake, named after the fictional 1950’s town from a story Matthew penned.

Accepting a challenge from TV daredevil show Fear Factor in hopes of scoring the grand $50,000 prize to kick-start their career, the brothers had to dangle from a helicopter and chug ground up cow parts while clambering through a trench. Though they both picked up a nasty infection that nearly killed them, their ambition proved solid and they won. Upon recovery, IVs were quickly traded for mics and a touring vehicle. A demo was put together, shows were booked, a record deal with Roadrunner Records was promptly landed and the debut album From Them, Through Us, To You was recorded.

The album’s debut single is the turbulent ‘House of Cards’ which is led by a driving beat and deeply tormented vocals, revealing secrets like “I’m afraid to be alone / I’m afraid that one day you’ll find out.” Nathan says the track is about “people who keep a million secrets. No one will admit it, but if you pry a little you’ll find out the weirdest things about people.”

From Them, Through Us, To You is released in July on Roadrunner Records.