It’s been nine years since Madina Lake’s last studio album – 2011’s World War III – but the Chicago emo/alt.rock favourites have never stopped working together. For frontman Nathan Leone and guitarist Mateo Camargo, in particular, the musicians continued to make a living in Los Angeles beyond the rock world by writing songs for commercials, movie trailers and for other artists. It was going well, but… “You kinda start to look at yourself in the mirror when you’re writing as a robot or something,” laughs the frontman, chatting to Kerrang! from his home. “It’s a craft and I respect that, but it’s not that creative – it’s a very calculated and contrived process.” By means of exercising his more authentically creative side, Nathan would find himself dipping his toes back into Madina ...
