Interview by Ali Williams
CORELEONI have a new album on the way, Generection and guitarist Leo Leoni sounds exactly as you would hope somebody still making rock records after more than thirty years would sound: pleased to be there and keen to keep going.
The album came together quickly. The band collected ideas, got together and worked through them while everyone was still fired up, and within a few months the record was finished. It was actually completed by the end of last year before switching record labels, which pushed the release back several times.
Generection also gave us one of those conversations that probably could only happen during a HEAVY interview. Leoni explained the thinking behind the title through generations, Generation Rock and Homo Erectus, while my brain took a less dignified route and landed somewhere around aging genitals, he, fortunately handled that revelation with admirable patience before we eventually settled on “Generation Metal”, which seemed to solve the entire discussion.
That generational spread is already sitting in front of CORELEONI every night.
Leoni says their audiences now run from grandparents through to grandkids, with people who have followed the music for decades standing alongside much younger fans. He clearly enjoys seeing it and has no interest in drawing lines around who rock music belongs to. The same applies to genre.
His position is that music should bring people together, not give them another reason to start carrying on at one another. Somebody can love The Beatles, somebody else can love Bob Dylan, and somehow civilisation can continue. Metal fans may occasionally require reminding of this when the subgenre police arrive with their clipboards, but good music does not stop being good because it has been filed under the wrong heading.
He is also conscious that musicians have an audience beyond the songs themselves. “We are not politicians,” he says, but people listen to artists, and Leoni believes musicians should think about what they are putting out there. Melody stays with people. Words stay with people. He does not turn the point into a lecture, he simply acknowledges that if people are listening, it is worth being aware of what you are saying.
Fans come up repeatedly during the conversation, particularly those who have supported this music for more than thirty years. He does not talk about that loyalty as though it arrived automatically with longevity. He is thankful for it, and seeing people still show up remains one of the reasons he enjoys getting back on the road.
The industry surrounding those shows has changed enormously. Records are consumed differently, streaming has taken over, and carrying millions of songs around on one device still seems slightly ridiculous when you remember what buying music once involved. Live music is another story.
When the subject turned to technology replacing musicians, Leoni was fairly confident we were safe until somebody starts sending robots out to play gigs. I am with him on that one. Technology can reproduce sound, distribute music and apparently now do half the things humans used to charge each other for, but a live audience reacting to actual musicians is still very much human territory.
CORELEONI are also happy to see younger bands continuing to come through. While talking about the Australian rock scene and some of the newer acts making serious ground here, Leoni summed it up simply: “The young dynasty goes on.”
CORELEONI will be doing plenty of circulating themselves, with touring planned through September and October around the release of Generection. Australia is not on the itinerary yet, although Leoni was very receptive to the suggestion.
By the end of the conversation we had covered records, touring, generations, robots, the Australian rock scene, blue jeans and Doc Martens, the latter earning immediate approval because some subjects require no further debate.
Generection arrives September 11.
