Interviews

Seemless

Interview with Jesse Leach on May 8, 2007 by Archive Bot

Jesse Leach is a bit of an icon in the metal/hardcore community. He helmed the vocals on Killswitch Engage’s swan song, Alive or Just Breathing. After that record and its touring cycle though, Leach left the band and they continued on after finding new frontman, Howard Jones. Leach soon resurfaced with his riff fueled new project, Seemless. The band released their debut record on Equal Vision and garnered comparisons to past bands such as Led Zepplin and even mid-nineties alternative heavy types like Stone Temple Pilots and Down. With the release of their sophomore effort, What Have We Become, the band hit the road in the winter with heavy hitters In Flames. I was able to talk with Leach (who is one of the nicest guys I have ever met) about the sound of his new band, the struggles he’s gone through, and his overwhelming desire to play music.
 
By: Ian Lashbrook
 
Wanna go ahead and introduce yourself first?
 
Jesse Leach: [mumbles through a mouthful of hummus]
 
[laughter, followed by more mumbling]
 
JL: Hi, I’m Jesse from Seemless.
 
So you guys are getting’ near the end of this run with The Sword, In Flames and Lacuna Coil…how’s the tour been goin’?
 
JL: [more mumbling] I’m sorry. First and foremost, In Flames, Lacuna Coil, The Sword, the bands themselves, the crew, some of the nicest people I’ve met in the “business industry,” treat us like human beings, like regular people which is something you don’t get a lot when you tour with bigger bands, so that speaks volumes about them. Tour’s been great, ya know. There are some nights that have been better than others but on the whole, it’s been a great tour.
 
It seemed like at the beginning of the night [when Seemless played], people were not quite sure but by the end, you guys got a hell of a reception.
 
JL: That’s kind of how it works for us. We come out and people are kinda tryin’ to figure us out, especially since this is the second metal tour we’ve done. The last one we did was with Trivium, so it’s just like metal kids, ya know, and some metal kids are closed-minded and some aren’t. Fortunately, we’ve been able to win over people just by our live performance cause there’s no BS; when you see us play, that’s us. There’s no gimmicks, there’s no trickery, there’s no costumes, you take it or leave it, you like it or you don’t and fortunately, people have been really diggin’ it and we’ve been doin’ well.
 
I was curious, since you guys have all been around in the music scene for a while, what’s different about touring now that you’re gettin’ older?
 
JL: Man, there’s a lot of differences. I’d say first and foremost, we are a family. We are the kind of band that if someone is down and crying, or whatever the case may be, we’re there for each other. It’s not like, “Ohh, get over yourself.” We’re not just dudes in a band, we’re bros, we’re brothers. Everyone we take out on the road is the same way; if you can’t handle that, you don’t tour with us. Our unit is really tight and I’ve never had that before. Second, being that we’re older guys, we know a lot of the BS and we know the kind of people to keep at arm’s length, so there’s not a lot of drama in this camp; what you see is what you get. And I think an appreciation. All of us have worked out butts off. I, personally, was workin’ seventy hours a week, two jobs, not too long ago, so I remember what that’s like and how much of a mundane existence it is when you get caught up in that routine of working just to survive. I’d much rather play music to survive…we’re not doin’ too much survivin’, we’re pretty broke right now. I almost lost my house to foreclosure and stuff and things have been really tough, but man, when you’re brought to the brink of yourself, you just look at the world differently and I think all of us have changed our world view, bein’ out on the road. There’s something very romantic about it. We’ll be drivin’ down the road, listenin’ to Allman Brothers or The Band and just envisioning what it must have been like to be in one of those bands touring back then. It’s like that scene in Almost Famous, that’s us, that’s how we roll. We make the best out of any situation we’re in and I love my brothers and I love the music we play and I love it because it’s a little bit different than what’s in trend right now. I’m a firm believer in being true to yourself and not worrying about trends and fashion or style or anything like that. I also can’t wait to share this music with people. The new album we just recorded, we all love it. After we recorded that album, we were like, “Dude, we gotta tour, we gotta do this, we gotta give it one last shot.”…cause if this doesn’t work out, I can’t tour any more, I can’t, I can’t afford to. I’d like to try to and so far, so good, man and it looks like things are gonna be movin’ forward.
 
Well, you guys are on Equal Vision, which is weird. I mean, they’re a diverse label with everything from hardcore to ambient rock but you guys really stick out…
 
JL: Which is good, I think. People see the EVR logo, I don’t know how many people do that, but they assume they know what it sounds like. But EVR, lately, man…some of my favorite bands, some of the albums we listen to on a regular basis are on EVR. Circa Survive…
 
Yeah, I’m seein’ Anthony play a solo show the day after Christmas in Philadelphia…
 
JL: Ohh, man. Yeah, he’s a great vocalist and he’s in The Sound of Animals Fighting and I love that album.
 
Really?
 
JL: Ohh god, yeah!
 
The new one?
 
JL: Ohh yeah! You’re talkin’ to a mutt right here, I love electronica music...ambient, noisy…
 
No, I agree, but that record threw me. Maybe it just wasn’t what I expected.
 
JL: Man, there are like four or five tracks on that album that are stellar…
 
No, I know. There were a couple songs that I thought sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, but there are a bunch of other tracks!
 
JL: Yeah, there are a couple tracks I skip over…but, uhh, Codeseven, Bear Vs. Shark, I mean, the label’s stellar and the sad thing is that bands like Bear Vs. Shark, Codeseven, they’re gone and I can listen to any of their albums non stop, like start to finish. So, EVR’s been treatin’ us like gold. Yeah, they’re not a major a label and they don’t have a lot of money, they don’t have a lot of push, but they’re doin’ everything they can for us and…they don’t tell us what to do at all. Like, we made an album on their money and they didn’t check in on it once. They just said, “Make an album. Do it.” We handed it in when we were done and they loved it, everyone in the office when we went in there one day. And it’s so important for a band to be able to be a band on its own and I’ve dealt with labels that their bottom line is control and they wanna manipulate it and they think that their suits and their businessmen know better than you do as a musician. I mean, as a businessperson, that might be the case but not as a musician. I would never allow anyone to control our sound, never. So, EVR is just great for that reason and they’re all really nice people.
 
For people who haven’t heard the new record, how would you describe it compared to your last one?
 
JL: It’s a major progression from the last album. It’s a lot more diverse. I think diversity is the key. We’re a rock band but we’re not limited to the genre of rock. There are sprinklings of metal, there are slight sprinklings of even prog, ambient…I think the most important thing to know is that the majority of the album is live; there are no click tracks, there are no triggerings, there are no vocal fixings; it’s raw, rock music and what you see is what you get…minus, ya know, the last track, which is a nine minute song. We worked really hard on that track. There’s slide guitar on it, there’s Hammond organ on it. That’s probably the only one that we can’t reproduce live as a four piece. But, we’re a live band. And that’s another thing too, you can listen to the album and it’s a good foundation for who we are but you gotta come see us live. I mean, we live for this music and I think it really shows on stage.
 
Was going in and doing a lot of live tracking what you guys wanted to do from the get go, production wise?
 
JL: Yeah, and I think, don’t be surprised if we keep movin’ forward and put out live albums. I would love to put out a live DVD or put out an EP of just all live songs and put it out on vinyl and make it a special thing, ya know? I don’t think we realized it until we started touring a lot, like this is how we work really well, in a live setting; it’s a lot more raw, it’s a lot more powerful.
 
Bringing up the negative things that you mentioned earlier in regards to the band’s stability and future, it seems to me, as someone familiar with your lyrics and how you write, it seems that the new record is a little bit darker than what I heard from you in the past…
 
JL: Yeah, that’s very perceptive of you…
 
What was your idea, lyrically, going into the record.
 
JL: It’s very much a document of where I am in my life…where I was and where I am. I went through some hard times, through a lot of things and I think, for me, I gotta be honest with what I’m writing. If I’m writing something and I’m not living it, I can’t sing it, it just doesn’t work for me, which is why I’m in the band I’m in now; I can’t lie to myself. And for me, honestly, I had to look at and embrace that darker side because it’s a part of all of us and I think that people can relate to that. I will always inject hope and I will always strive to be a positive lyricist but I’ll always be an honest and truthful lyricist. I think songs like, “Cast No Shadow,” maintain…those songs speak volumes and are a very honest portrayal of stuff that I’ve been through. I’m not afraid to show another side of myself.
 
Are all you guys from the Massachusetts area?
 
JL: Those guys are from the Massachusetts area; I’m from Long Island. I have been all these years but I just play in Massachusetts.
 
Well, the Massachusetts scene in general, right now, is just huge. And you guys seem to fall into that group but seem to be doing something a bit different.
 
JL: I think we’re definitely doing something different and we’re proud of it and we’re happy to be doin’ something different. I think that scene is very over saturated and I think people, now and are going to, be looking for something that’s refreshing, something that’s different, that’s honest. And all those guys in that scene are total friends of ours; we love them and we support them and vice versa. They go to our shows and stuff like that. But I’m really happy with what we’re doin’ and I’m really glad we’re set apart; it works for us. If anything, it fuels us. Ya know, even people who go and came to the shows in the beginning to see the “singer of Killswitch,” I fed off the fact that some of those people didn’t like it. I was like, “Good, that’s fine with me.” Like I said before, I don’t care about trends, I don’t care about expectations. You’ve got to be true to yourself as an artist and that’s totally what the four of us do. I’m proud of it.
 
In terms of your sound, what inspires you? What do you lean on musically?
 
JL: Everything man. I mean, if I were to tell you what we listen to in the van on a regular basis, defiantly a lot of ZZ Top. We’re all pretty much obsessed with ZZ Top. Umm, The Band, Allman Brothers, but also, like I was sayin’, Circa Survive, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree is a huge influence on us and I think it shows a little more in this album, like on the last track, the track on the album called “Deep Below.” I think Pink Floyd is a huge influence for us. But it runs the spectrum, it’s not just rock that influences us. I mean all of us listen to blues, electronica, different things, ya know? And I think that’s what’s important to our sound; all of us bring something different to the table and I feel like we’ve sorta just begun with our sound. I think this album is truly who we are now but just bein’ out on the road and living has inspired us and I’m sure our next album is gonna go even further with our sound and broaden it. Personally, I mean, Jeff has been playin’ slide on the road a little bit and I’ll be damned if we don’t have some slide stuff on the next album. I’m a huge fan of it!
 
And it would work great to, cause you guys have that blues based riff thing goin’ on…
 
JL: I think you’ll always hear the groove. I think you’re always gonna hear the blues and good riffing but I think we’re definitely gonna try and experiment more and expand our sound in the future. I mean, we’re using a sampler now, just between songs, to have some sort of ambience and continuity because some of the best bands, I mean modern bands…like I went to see The Mars Volta and there was not moment where they let up on you. Even when they weren’t playing, there was something goin’ on. I drew from that, Derek and I are very conscious of…we had a discussion on this and he was like, “Wow, why don’t you get a sampler and let’s just keep it going.” So there’s no awkward moments where you’re like “such and such and so and so.” You know, I talk in between songs when I feel like it but if I don’t, I don’t have to cause there’s something going on.
 
So how does the writing process work for you guys?
 
JL: Usually, on this album, it was Jeff and Derek jamming or Pete and Derek jamming or the three of them together. And I live about and hour and a half away so those guys would get together and jam…“Hey we gotta new song, check it out.” They record it, sometimes with a microphone and a tape deck, that’s usually what we did, and then get it to me and I’ll sorta work with it, play with it, come with a good skeleton idea. I’ll give my input, “Hey, what about if this part we calm it down?” It’s constant collaboration but the way it really works is that those guys will write the actual music, I’ll come in with vocal melodies and lyrics and we work together. We’ll suggest stuff to each other and nothing gets completely shot down, we try everything and it’s a very collaborative work. A couple of songs on the album, I didn’t even have good ideas till we got into the studio. For example, the song “Seven,” which is track six. Jeff and I and Pete and I were at the studio and we went up to one of the rooms with acoustic guitars and I was like, “Hey man, help me out with this.” I was stumped, like what could I say? Or what could I sing? And we came up with the vocal melody on guitar and Pete played a blues riff and I mimicked it with my voice and we pieced it together. It was a very relaxed and good environment; we don’t let our egos get in the way when we write.
 
What’s next for you guys?
 
JL: Uhh, we’re lookin’ at some possibilities, nothing is set in stone. This is our third, almost consecutive tour; we’ve had a couple weeks off in between. We’re lookin’ to get back on tour at the end of February and ride it out, like I said, as long as it lasts, seein’ what we can do with it, moving forward.
 
And what’s your vision for the band in the future?
 
JL: All of us, and this might sound like a cliché or something, but all of us just want to be able to pay our bills and live and survive out here. There’s no stars in our eyes, we would just love to make a living, continue doing what we’re doing, because it’s such a great experience. But if some reason we’re not able to do that, hey, at least we gave it a shot and at least we stuck to our guns.
 
www.seemlessband.com
www.myspace.com/seemless
www.equalvision.com
 
Thanks to Greg at EVR for hookin’ this up and thanks to Jesse for his time and honesty.