ChaliceLeonine play the Waterloo Hotel on Friday.
Life just keeps getting better for local band Leonine, with current single Satisfied copping a healthy dose of Triple J airplay.
Singer/guitarist Caleb James is chuffed to hear the song over the airwaves, and so are we. After all, Satisfied, taken from the group’s five track self-titled CD is a driving, melodic pop/rock song, coated with lush harmonies and a slick, solid production. No surprise there, really, as Caleb is one of Brisbane’s most capable producers, as well as a new member of Rhubarb, with whom Leonine will be performing at The Waterloo on Friday night.
“It’s great. It’s our first gig in about five or six months, plus it’ll be the first Rhubarb gig with a keyboardist added to the line-up,” says Caleb. “Of the two groups I’m in, I suppose you’d say that Leonine are probably the more experimental of the two. But having said that, Rhubarb’s current stuff is a lot more advanced as well. It’s almost anti-Exerciser (an earlier Rhubarb hit), not consciously, but the sound has definitely taken on a different direction.”
Juggling the two bands is a challenge Caleb seems up to. Rhubarb may be keeping him busy, but Caleb says enthusiasm is at an all time high in Leonine as well.
“We were talking about it the other night and it’s great because I’m not feeling pressured to write commercial songs in Leonine,” says Caleb. “The recordings that inspire us don’t follow that line, so we don’t feel the need to use that approach with our music either.”
Currently, Caleb is in the process of writing songs that will appear on Leonine’s debut full-length album. I ask him the direction taken by new Leonine material.
“There’s a weird element of folk in there, with 12-string guitars and odd time rhythms,” reveals Caleb. “I suppose I could describe it as old school singer/songwriter stuff mixed with rock. Epic song structures, with Simon going ballistic on guitar and pedal effects. There’s not many 4/4 beats in the new songs.”
With plans to travel interstate with Leonine after the Rhubarb schedule has slowed down, we can catch ‘em right here in Brisbane as part of the Rhubarb Slow Motion album launch. As Ernie Dingo would say, go on, get out there!
