Leon & Maria (from Green Leaf).

Today we have Green Leaf, one of the most talked about here on 100.3 RJ, the station with the best indie and alternative rock. Here’s Green Leaf! Well half of them.. *Leon giggles* Hello Leon and Maria. Where are the other two?

Maria: Hola!
Leon: Rebecca and Luis are at home writing at the moment. When it comes to things like that they don’t like to be interrupted. So yeah….

Let’s talk more about the album. Um it doesn’t have a title…but we got to listen to it and I must say it’s different. Explain to us.
Maria: The whole concept of the album is Spectrum Overflow. We’re not trying to be different, were trying to be us. The first track explains it all. We have an understanding and respect for art (the word) but not by what people portray it to be. And we understand the whole purpose of being a pop artist. We understand the whole reason of being a rapper. However (With the exceptions of some pop/rap artists, to those who claim it to be “ART”, the whole reason of fixing your voice or fixing the lyric to fit the beat defeats the purpose or what you originally meant to say. And people attempt to cover it up with flashy multicolored/wardrobe music videos to make it seem like its art. So our goal was to be raw, not sound too plush but at the same time make awesome music that you can listen to again and again.

So you guys seem to do a very good job trying to keep your personal life well you knowprivate. What…
Leon: No. We’re not actually “trying” at all. That’s just the way we are. Our music is us, so we’re not trying to hide anything, otherwise we wouldn’t share our music with the public. If you’re a “musician” and you are telling me you keep your personal life private then your music must be fake. It annoys me that a lot of people make a big deal about it anyways. *mimics* OMG they know about my private life, what in the world shall I do?….Um what do you expect dude? You’re in Hollywood and you know you’re going to be surrounded by the paparazzi. You’re basically asking for attentions so don’t act like you’re totally surprised. Also, if you really did want to keep your “personal life” private you wouldn’t talk about it. It’s that simple. And if you seriously read and believe what’s in the blog slap yourselves in the face right now! *Maria* slaps herself.


Your single debut “Insomnia” which by the way we love to play her on RJ, peaked #2 in the UK and it become a Top 40 hit in the US as well peaking #25 there. Did you expect all the success?
Maria: Hell Yes. *giggles* Just joking. Um of course we didn’t. The song is the least of mainstream in our album, so honestly we’re even shocked it’s played on the radio. Not that the song is bad, it’s just that it is not mainstream. Thankfully our fans devoted their personal time to request it on their favorite radio stations. Our purpose in the song however was not to make sure it’s a success but to spread the word on how bad Insomnia is and how pop culture influences it big time.

Talking about” Insomnia”, you got to admit the music video is pretty insane. Who came up with the whole idea?
Maria: We did. We had the whole music video in mind even before we made the song. We envisioned everything which is pretty cool because we hardly ever do that. We always go with the moment. Our director thought we were crazy. The budget was just getting higher and higher as our ideas were being spilled. Thanks god we had some killer video effects.

What was the most challenging part about making the music video?
Leon: The most challenging part was the water scene. We had to play heavy instruments in 2 feet deep of water, which may not sound so hard. But man, after a couple of takes your legs start to get swore. But it was also the most fun scene and we can’t complain. Especially since Eve who plays Trish had the most challenging role, she outdid all of us. She really knew what we wanted and her acting was amazing. We definitely look forward to working with her in the future.

You guys are nominated for 2 IMA’s. What are your predictions?
Leon: Right now we’re so focused on our music that we don’t have time to think about award shows. If we win we win….I guess. We are still shocked we are nominated though, totally unexpected since we didn’t get a chance to plug in.

You guys will be going on tour. How you are guys feeling and how is everything going?
Leon: We can’t wait. The tour is going to be amazing! We have so many surprises and we are upgrading our stage presence. However, since the stages will be small, we have to work with it, which is the only difficulty we’re having. We’re still learning as band and we want people to understand that. That’s why when we got to Round 3 on The Battle of the Bands we were really proud. That’s pretty good for a band that just got together after many years of just…. thinking. We still have so much to learn and people cannot expect us to be the best since we just started. Seems a bit unrealistic to claim you’re the best and you have only been out for a while.


Well, thank you for taking your time and passing by, Green Leaf! You the listeners can catch Green Leaf live on VH1’s Storytellers April 18th and of course “Insomnia” will be playing today so don’t go anywhere!

Luis: thanks! Look forward to seeing you guys live then.