Live in the arena

Leonides: The exotic freaks of the pop scene

The somewhat different indie rock from Germany: Leoniden are coming to Vienna live with their new album.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Universal Music, Robin Hinsch)

Explosive live shows and introverted lyrics don't have to be a contradiction in terms. The best example of this is Kiel-based indie rockers Leoniden, who are currently gracing the Vienna Arena with their "Sophisticated Sad Songs". Jakob Amr and Lennart Eicke talk to us about Wanda, Parov Stelar, candlelight and punk rock.

A brief flashback to the summer. At the second edition of the Lido Festival in Linz at the end of June, the sun heats up mercilessly on the concrete and asphalt. The air conditioning in the backstage area is faltering, but the German indie rock band Leoniden can hardly contain their enthusiasm. "We have our own barbershop and pancakes with vegan sausages and vegan bacon. Even the peanut allergy sufferers in our band are totally thrilled and you can also swim in the Danube." The band was also generally impressed. "Unfortunately, we overlapped with tears, we would have liked to have seen them. But before the electro swing starts, we're gone," laugh Jakob Amr and Lennart Eicke in the "Krone" interview, "it's also arrived here in Kiel by now. But that doesn't have to be the case. You don't have to like everything."

Luck and talent
From Kiel in northern Germany, Leoniden have started an unprecedented success story that reached a sensational climax in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. Their third album "Complex Happenings Reduced To A Simple Design" reached number one in the German album charts. What's more, the work was a lush double album that didn't shy away from hooks and bends and conveyed the band's complete musical oeuvre. "But we didn't become famous overnight and never had a TikTok hit," the two say, toning down the success somewhat, "a number one like that also has a lot to do with luck. If Helene Fischer or Taylor Swift release an album, we don't even theoretically have a chance, you have to be fair."

The fact that the band has grown so healthily and congruently makes the two chiefs particularly proud. "We have written 21 songs, some of which are difficult to access. Not the kind of 21-track double vinyl of the Toten Hosen or something like that, who can count on such success. But it's important that we don't think about it for a second when we're writing songs, otherwise we'll get whistled at in the studio. There's nothing worse than being a band that only does what's popular and pop in order to be successful. First and foremost, we do what we like and what we think is right." Among the many tours in the last seven or eight years of the band were some with Wanda. "They don't stress themselves and just do their thing. That's terrific. That's how we approach things too."

Clearing up misunderstandings
After such a monumental double-decker, it was almost obvious that a follow-up would go in the other direction. The ingeniously titled "Sophisticated Sad Songs", which was released in August, features just ten songs and also breaks musically with much of what was served up by the Leonids in 2021. "Above all, we wanted to clear up two misconceptions that have been with us since the early days of the band," the duo explains in unison, "on the one hand, the claim that Leoniden don't make happy music. On the other hand, the theory that sad music has to take place in front of a black curtain with a piano, candles and white lilies. Quite the opposite - it can also happen at a punk concert, where people dance together and energy is released."

Well, it can't be denied that Leoniden's lyrics are usually infused with a certain melancholy. On the other hand, they counteract the heaviness of the content with explosive concerts and a striking stage performance. "Our concerts don't work in the classic transmitter-receiver model. It's more like a ping-pong between the two poles. It builds up, gets bigger and bigger and in the end becomes something holistic. When Lennart throws his guitar what feels like 600 meters into the air, it's always funny to see how surprised newcomers are. It's part of us, part of the Leoniden show." "Sophisticated Sad Songs" has a moshpit in the making on the cover artwork. Here, too, the Leonids play with layers of meaning. "We're flirting a bit with the end of the pandemic and the fact that the mood is now back."

The cast from a world
The Leonids claim a special place in the domestic music sector. "The German pop market is very harmless and soft-boiled. In a way, it's all the same. We don't really fit in anywhere and are the exotic freaks. Some of the music we make is challenging, some of it is exhausting. On the double album we had an intro that could have been from Turnstile. Then another song that sounds like Jon Hopkins. Now it all seems more of a piece and from one world. There is room for music like ours. It's a bit like Bilderbuch and Wanda here in Austria. In a way, Bilderbuch are braver and more artificial, but Wanda are such a blatant overall package that you could cut them out and put them in any era." Maybe that will happen with the Leonids one day.

Live in Vienna
The Leonids will be performing live in the Vienna Arena on October 18. Tickets for the concert highlight with the up-and-coming German indie rockers are still available at www.oeticket.com.