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LEO Ian Eddy
– lead vocals, guitar Writing music means something different to every artist. For Leo founder and frontman Ian Eddy, it is a language that speaks to his soul, inspiring an insatiable motivation to create. He named the band LEO as an acknowledgement of this inexplicable force. “I’m an Aries, and Leo is supposed to be my perfectly matched partner,” he explains, “I named the band LEO because music is my perfect partner.” Eddy’s lucid vision is captured and defined on Leo’s debut album, Nightmares. Featuring 14 songs written over the past six years, the disc is a sonic diary, a confessional journey through a host of emotional moments. Combining disillusionment, anger, strength, and hope, the album is a paradox ranging from the mild and melancholy to the bold and thunderous. Each song draws upon a broad spectrum of influence that includes Led Zeppelin, Helmet, Jeff Buckley, Ours and Muse. “Na Na” starts with a lone, surging guitar riff and builds into a hard-chugging rocker fueled by soaring vocals, poignant counter-melodies and crashing drums. “Horizon” blends muscular rhythm with gorgeous harmonies, creating a unpredictable landscape of tension and purity throughout the song. “Chemical Cell,” the first single from the album, is ominous and cunning, combining slithery guitars with an evocative groove enhanced by Eddy’s foreboding vocals. “It’s about a particularly tumultuous relationship that landed me in my own a chemical prison of sorts,” Eddy admits. “The experience forced me down a self destructive path. My indulgences started confining me and eventually defining me. It took a lot for me to escape it.” Not all of the songs are about false love and its aftermath. “Nightmares” is about perseverance in the face of adversity, and “Broken Record” addresses the transition from youthful innocence to the reality of adulthood. In 2001, singer Ian Eddy formed LEO in Cleveland. Early on the band experienced a metamorphosis, experimenting with an ever changing roster including Chad Szaliga, the current drummer for Breaking Benjamin. Szaliga appears on three tracks on NIGHTMARES: “Chemical Cell,” Na Na” and the title track. Eventually, Ian chose Michael Roberts (guitar, vocals), Rek Mohr (bass) and Mark Grabowski (drums) as the permanent line up. Recently, Leo toured
the U.S. with The Burden Brothers and showcased at South
By Southwest 2007 in Austin, TX. The band is currently gearing
up to tour with The Sick Puppies and has been on tour with
Breaking Benjamin.
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