Location: Chicago, IL United States Formed: January 2004 Influences: Refused, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins, & More
Madina Lake is about more than music for the members of the band. Throughout Madina Lake’s music is a running social commentary, a mirror to a homogenized society; an emotional reaction to artifice and superficiality embedded within brilliant, shimmering pop songs and drive to affect a change with that sound.
The band’s identity is rooted in the common appreciation of a variety of musical genres and a growing discomfort with the American cultural erosion – more specifically the media’s obsession with celebrity and general lack of values. While other bands seek to broach these topics by addressing them lyrically, Madina Lake elects to confront these issues in a more spirited manner. Rather than complain ad-nauseum, the friends set out to center their music and overall theme around a parable created by bassist Matthew Leone.
“The music comes first, but we wanted to create an all-encompassing piece of art,” he says. “I wrote a story that complements the record. It’s about a mythological town called Madina Lake. Madina Lake is a microcosm of what’s happening in America today. Everything that we feel is wrong with our culture is addressed in the story. I wrote the story and the songs just followed its concept and vibe.”
