INTERVIEW: Angelo Munro On New Band Leeches

Leeches are an Auckland based hardcore punk band featuring two members from legendary New Zealand band The Bleeders. We had a chat with their frontman Angelo Munro. Angelo fronted The Bleeders untill they disbanded last year.

You spent some time in Canada with The Bleeders. As you will most definitely know, Canada has a very strong hardcore and punk scene. Was it intimidating becoming apart of a scene with so many really good successful bands?
Nah not really man. We were friends with 2 of the biggest bands there. Alexisonfire and Cancer Bats so it was all good. They are all good people there and we didn’t see it as competition. Any gigs we played we were real grateful for. Both those bands hooked us up good!

What were you main reasons for coming back to New Zealand? Do you sometimes wish things had worked out differently?
Nah no regrets man. When it’s time to call it a day you call it a day. The band split in Canada three months before the year was up on our visa. I just stayed on for another three months to see out their year and it was fun. NZ rules man, I ain’t bummed I’m home at all.

Moving on to talk about Leeches. Was it hard moving onto a new project when The Bleeders had been going strong for over 6 years?
It wasn’t hard because I wasn’t doing music. I always want to be doing something, even if its just doing covers you know. Me and Ian formed this band because we missed playing and doing the more punk/hardcore stuff.

You guys are kind of like a New Zealand Hardcore super group. Has this made the song writing process easy?
Haha not really, I mean we're really only seen that way because each of us has been involved in bands that have done well. We don’t see ourselves that way. Most bands in NZ punk and Hardcore are made up of members of past bands that have done really well in their own right.

When the idea for the band came about, did you have a specific style of hardcore that you wanted to write or was it more a case of 'lets jam and see what happens'?
Um to a degree yes. I love melodic hardcore/punk stuff. I like that West Coast, North Cali late 90s early 2000s style and was definitely down to have that style happen. But you never really know what it’s gonna sound like till you jam.

You played the No Sleep Till Festival back in December. How was it playing alongside 10+ mega (no pun intended) international acts?
Great man, some great acts on that day and was really glad to be apart of it. Not intimidating at this stage. Done it a bunch before you know.

Do you have big ambitions with Leeches? E.g an Australian tour? Or would you say it's more a band that you're doing for the good times?
We are at the moment sorting out our first run of shows in Australia. Would be fun to go there. I mean this band is definitely for the good times. I’m not trying or no one else is trying to make a career from this shit, but at the same time any music we do we want to do a great job and take opportunities as they come.

Leeches self-titled debut EP is out now.

By Hugh Collins