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I’m interviewing always quotable, outspoken and flamboyant lead singer for The Disco Kings, Leapin’ Leon Thunder. How is it going Leon? How is the band doing?
It’s going good. Thank you for asking. The band is thankful for a GREAT ‘08. And we’re looking forward to making it VERY FINE IN ’09! LOL. We want to thank all our special clients, fans and friends alike who ‘gotta have disco in their diet’ and insist on boogieing down with The Disco Kings of Party Entertainment!!!!
Does the band's name have any significance?
Of course. We argued and debated as we normally do over anything on the merits of various names for the band at its inception. And we wanted our name to signify and embody what we aim to deliver each night. We are the unequivocal Kings of 70’s Disco Tribute. We put the glide in your slide and the dip in your hip!!!! LOL Collectively, we’ve been doing it the longest and the most. Though some will stake all kinds of claims just remember we’re Coke and their Pepsi! We’re the real thing (Leon chuckles)!
And L.A. being the music capital of the world each of us in The Disco Kings pride ourselves at being the best of the best. Sort of the New York Yankees if you will of the 70’s disco music scene (….we better win a World Series! LOL). Or Muhammad Ali being ‘The Greatest Of All Time’ is probably a better analogy. He’s been my hero since childhood by the way.
Leon, you’ve boasted on The Disco Kings’ website as being the quote/unquote emancipator of live 70’s disco music. What does that mean? Talk a little bit about that.
Certainly. While this particular incarnation of The Disco Kings has been at it a while. We all did our stints working the trenches in other bands. It’s actually a tale with many peaks and valleys. We literally had to climb over many a lesser and greater band to offer you the gem you see and hear today!
LOL.
If you recall back around ‘96/’97 there began a sort of resurgence of 70’s disco in the clubs with a certain band going around playing to tracks. Well I was in a successful classic rock band I’d founded at the time. We decided to go check these cats out. While the show was OK there was something missing. I told my guitar player at the time we could do all those tunes live and not have to be limited by track length. And deliver the real thing. In other words we could make a song as long or as short as we want. Besides I thought the general public was getting ripped off. If you think about it in concept if you’re playing to tracks it’s almost like karaoke. That’s cheating!
What did you do?
Well, I decided we would need good vocals all the way around and good instrumentation to fill in lots of orchestration that was arranged in allot of those studio recordings. No tracks, though. All live or bust. In short we would need to deliver stellar musicianship from five players. We used to be a four piece rock band and we added keys to make it a five piece disco band! My idea!
Sounds good.
Everyone in the band was up for the challenge. Within weeks we delivered our product to raving success. We were killing ‘em everywhere we played. People went nuts. We were the first all live 70’s disco band. And again, it was all my idea! Nobody else was doing this at the time. Then with the success came the greed and the other personality defects. The long and short of it is one of the band members (who shall remain nameless) who was booking the gigs for this particular band (whom I shall not name, either) was underpaying the band!!! Ripping us off. I got tired of it. So, I had to split that scene.
Oh, no. How sad. What did you do?
I got sad then I got mad. LOL. What do you do in America and you’re ticked off for getting ripped off. I started another band with rejects and remnants of the prior band and we began to take off. Happy ending right? Wrong. One – more –time I ran into ego, more personality defects and of course more greed. And more poignantly some major differences in opinion in how to market the band and what kind of show to put on, etc. These guys were becoming borderline geriatric and it showed in the performances. I felt we owed more to our paying public. I pleaded. When I saw things weren’t going to improve I decided to bow out rather than deliver substandard entertainment and cheat our trusted clients and fans. It was depressing. The band was morose. I didn’t want to be a one-man-show backed by the aging ‘rockers with walkers revue.’
How funny!
You think it’s funny? To this day that band touts having been together x amount of years, etc. And doing so many shows together and putting so many people to sleep. Ya-Da- Ya-Da. Look, If you want to be bored to death and be put to sleep in the process I might have a link for you. Can you dig it?
I’m almost ashamed to say I started that band!!!!
They used to be good.
And while, today, they are not a horrible band by any stretch there are some major points of difference in their show and ours. Like I said, musically they are OK.
But we’re great on all aspects. For example, I’m hitting notes no man should be able to hit. I’m talking Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor, Cheryl Lyne. You name it. I started all this live tribute mind you. Did I tell you that already?
Yes you did. LOL.
OK. Then I invite you to watch our video online. Watch it all the way. It’s only a few minutes. Be critical. See the differences in performance styles. You will not see and hear anything like us anywhere else. I guarantee it!!! If you find yourself electrified and intensified all at the same time then we’re your band.
Most folks’ reaction is they watch us one time and they want to bolt out of their chair and get in on the act. It’s a celebration!!! People who’ve gone to see the other guys live (in front of big audiences even!) and then watch our video have hired us because of the difference in energy we bring. And they are happy they did. The difference is like night and day. We’ve sold hundreds of thousands of smiles literally.
You got me hooked Leon!
Let me tell you. We all love what we do. We’re not faking it. It’s all live. And even though we’ve been at it a while we play it like it’s brand new with that same energy. Remember when you were 12 or 13 and heard Boogey Oogey for the first time? Maybe you had your radio by your bed and you didn’t want your parents to hear. But you just had to hear that song one-more-time. Travolta made it exceptionally cool. Everybody was in on it. Every artist had a disco record. Even TV shows had disco theme songs. It became a part of Americana. And American means global baby!
So you guys are really into it.
I’m inspired and on fire! Wait ‘till you see us live. And I’m being serious. We grew up hearing this stuff and watching our brothers, sisters, parents and friends getting into the disco craze. This is just as much a tribute to them as it is to the whole era itself. You can’t fake that kind of energy. That’s why people choose us! We are the real deal. The band and me are having the time of our life. The audience knows it too. They want in. It’s an endless cycle that sparks with a glimmer from Leapin’ Leon’s eye and a giant hip thrust. LOL.
Can you dig it?
Dumb question. Who founded The Disco Kings then? And are you the illustrious leader?
Well, once again I found myself singing a razor line for another disco band. We were on a gig at a local casino when I met another mercenary on guitar named Maurice Jivin’ Johnson. The chemistry between us was undeniable and instantaneous. We both had attitudes. The audience went nuts. We killed that night! There was a whole lot of talk about a sequel. We decided to put together our own band. We got with another accomplished musician out of Sweden by the name of T-Bone Andersson. He was another disco veteran with great chops and we immediately clicked. We tried out some other players for the rhythm section and actually did some gigs with them. We wanted a stellar live show with non-stop energy. And thankfully we ran into some other gun slingers on the scene, Sean The Wand Taddeo on bass who I’d known for years. It also turned out we were neighbors, also. And then we picked up another free agent by the name of Sam D. Lite on drums who had been hitting the heavy artillery on the disco scene for equally as long. From the first gigs we did with these guys we knew the line-up was complete. These changes represent what you see and hear today. We’re pretty proud of it. Everyone in the band is multi talented. And while I front this band in many aspects we’re also sort of a democracy. I always thought good leaders are really servants, anyway. And I am a first and foremost a servant to all mankind and an enemy to no one. In the band most things are collective and we try and share evenly in all our talents, rewards and responsibilities. Always making music and fun our top priority. Without our faithful clients and fans there would be no us. LOL. We’re like your favorite dysfunctional family or gang. We love making music together and hanging out when we can.
From what we can tell people really loose themselves at your gigs.
Yeah, it’s great. It’s like a deliverance of sorts.!!!! Some people go to church. Some go to hockey games for that special feeling. The rest of them party with The Disco Kings! LOL. We do lots of corporate parties where you’d expect co-workers to be all uptight. And once they see us it just takes off from there. And that’s before we even start playing!!! LOL. We make a grand entrance every time. It’s over the top. It’s in your face. Its total abandon just like the 70’s disco scene really was. We turn every event into a Studio 54 all over again. We love it. People love it. People are getting down all night ( or at least as long as we’re playing ! )! We insist on having everybody in on the celebration.
Where do you see The Disco Kings going from here.
I don’t know. I keep wondering when this is going to dry up. It almost seems to good-to-be-true sometimes.
But people keep wanting to have live 70’s disco at their parties, corporate events, weddings, etc. And they keep asking for The Disco Kings. And for that we’re grateful beyond words.
I suppose in the bigger picture it’s a testimony to the musicianship and talent that typified a special time in our country’s history. It’s burned into the American psychic permanently and for the rest of the world for that matter.
The Disco Kings have captured that in a special way and we deliver it and share it with our audiences who are our closest friends every time we play!
You don’t get that type of entertainment we offer on a regular basis anymore. Certainly not on a day-to-day basis. We’re real musicians who still play and sing and dance. Live! And we stay in shape. I personally earn my meal ticket by singing and dancing! It’s a treat for your eye as well as your ear! That’s the intent.
So as long as people keep wanting to see us play in our ‘get ups’ we’ll keep it all revved up with no let up!!!! Dig what I’m saying?
Peace
