It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon in Lloyds down at the city, a table for two, a pint and a dictaphone are obvious sign of an interview, but for who exactly? Before too long a wild-haired skinny bloke in skinny jeans, cowboy boots and a leather jacket walks down to the bar, none other than Lionsex’s Jef Leppard. Dressed to kill and with a few stories to tell about the band.
Lionsex, to some it’s a bit of a dirty name, to certain websites it was deemed too naughty to use as a profile name, but to the Lionsex crew, Jef included, “It’s a simple name that’s not too rude, a bit fun and really easy to remember.” It seems quite strange looking at what’s different and what’s the same since the name was picked up and first started gigging it up.
“I used to sing in a covers band.” begins Jeff, telling us the story of Lionsex’s inception “It was okay but not really anything pushing forward and we were lucky to play more than a few gigs. But then I got contacted by a couple of lads who were always on the Guitar hero and wanted to get something started up, so we went on from there and Lionsex was born.”
The thing is, from day one, the band have been pigeon-holed into various genres, be it sleaze rock, glam-rock and whatever else is going, but despite not minding the odd label, Jeff lays down that really, the band are happy just being themselves.
“People say we’re a glam band or a rock n’ roll band, but we just consider ourselves as just a rock band, we just dress the way we do, we’re all different, you can tell that Davy’s into his Manson, Tommy’s into his Incubus , I’ve got my own thing going on. We’re all separate
“The plan with the album was fairly simple, but funding it would be a bit harder, so we released a demo called “Demolicious”, what we made from that would go towards the recording costs, and in return the people who bought the demo would receive a copy of the full album.”
As for the recording of the real deal, it’s also a story in itself, as we’re told by the frontman.
“We were lucky enough to play with The Dirty Youth and come across their drummer Matt Bond, who actually records music, recently with the likes of Bullet For My Valentine, down at Notting Hill studios” Explains Jef.
“We started to record with him and also had Jeff Rose and Martin Ford working on things too, which is also great as they worked with Trivium and Skindred as well as Bullet For My Valentine. We’re really pleased with what we managed to get out of the whole experience and are proud of the album and the way it’s turned out”
“The songs are all about things that we actually experience as opposed to pure fiction” begins the frontman, “like with M.I.A. it’s all about how when we got the band started and I started having less time for relationships and essentially I was missing in action.”
“But there is one bad thing about releasing the album though, because now everyone knows the words through the sleeves in the cover and fans are now singing along to all of the words and if I f**k up the words on a live set, people are going to know about it.” he tells us with a a bit of a laugh behind him.
“The title “Get It” works in a few ways too…” explains Jef “I guess in one way it’s selling itself, you know, asking people to “get it”and buy it, but it’s also about people who understand us and “get it” and know what we’re all about. Then there’s “get it” as in taking flack, we’ve had a few people been a bit unsavoury just because of the way that we dress. I guess it’s a bit of a mixed meaning, but it’s simple and it works.”
Onto an even more up-to-date note though, things seem to be getting back on track for the band though, despite the temporary minimal lineup the lads are still gigging it up and enjoying it immensely. The slot for lead guitarist may soon be filled too as Jef states that “There may be someone on the cards” with the current try-outs.
Along with that there’s even more new material on the way, plus a single out in the next few months, if there’s one thing the Lionsex pride don’t do, it’s sticking around in one place for too often and indeed have found some fans in various fields in the country.
For one thing, the band have been looking at doing some cross breed of rock, dance and electro with some remix material alongside Simon Vegas, maybe even getting onto a live electro Lionsex performance, something that sounds quite unhinged, yet really intriguing at the same time. But still, Lionsex love playing some old fashioned shin digs more than anything else.
“We really enjoy playing the Buckingham Band Jam too though, playing there, you feel more as part of the party and not on a plinth, more like you just happen to be playing part of the musical backdrop than be high up in some sort of running order.”
However, there’s still one question bouncing around that I haven’t touched yet, but Jef flaunts it at pretty much every gig, just how does someone stay as skinny as he does, in fact it’s only him and a certain frontman from Frantic Alice fighting for pole position. Nonetheless, the question bring out a bit of a laugh from the wild-haired singer.
“You know, ask any member of the band or anyone I know and they’ll tell you that I love my food. We were recently around our old drummer Nando’s place and everyone was passing the food around and it was piling on my plate. I’ve just always been a greedy, skinny bastard.”
Setting notes aside and finishing our drinks, it’s off to do a quick photoshoot around the outskirts of the city centre, plus inadvertently getting on the wrong side of a security guard, but hey, that’s rock n’ roll for ya! On a more serious side, though, it was good to see that despite the way they dress or do their hair, there’s still a genuine down to earth sentiment from the band.
Craig \m/
