Christian band We Are Leo mixes it up on new album.
Hailing from the great state of Wisconsin, We Are Leo made its debut on Dream Records with 2014’s “Fightback Soundtrack,” a popdance record build around the band’s faith.
After a successful remix contest, the guys in We Are Leo are proud to announce “Fightback Soundtrack: The Remixes.” The record, which was unveiled earlier this month, features fresh takes on the band’s songs from acts including Unikron, J.G.F., Josh Sentner, Kevin Aleksander and more.
I caught up with lead singer David Duffield to talk about their music, his faith and overcoming depression.
Q: How did this new remix project come about?
A: It started with the remix contests that we did on Soundcloud. We received several hundred song submissions from DJs, producers and electronic musicians around the world who took the vocals from our songs and morphed them into some really cool stuff. When the contests ended, we just sat there with all this great material, and we really wanted to get it out to more people than just those who had been part of the Soundcloud contest. So we picked all of our favorites and put it together as “Fightback Soundtrack: The Remixes.”
Q: How did you start in music?
A: I grew up loving to sing. I could feel God’s presence when I sang to Him. For me, music has always been about the songs. These words were burning in my soul, and I had to let them out. I would be awake at night, with these songs in my head. I started to share them with people, and the response was unreal! To think that the songs I wrote were having an impact on people just blew my mind! From there, it was trying to figure out how to do it better and better.
Q: How did you find faith in Jesus?
A: I had a lot of questions about life and felt very depressed in my teenage years. I remember feeling like there was no point to my life and like nobody cared about me. Everything I knew about love at the time had been a failure. I told God that, if He was real, I wanted to know Him and wanted Him to redefine what love is in my life. I remember going to a conference and hearing the speaker talk about people that say they believe in God but aren’t living for Him. I believed in God, but my life was not reflecting that belief. I decided to turn around, but it didn’t all happen in that moment. Over the last 12 years, God has been showing me how to live for Him. I went from someone overcome with depression to someone who is stable and confident in who I am in God.
Q: What would you say to someone who is battling depression right now?
A: We can’t believe the lies of our enemy. The biggest thing that changed me was starting to actually believe the word of God. When you believe what it says in the Bible about how much God loves you and how valuable you are, you can combat the thoughts of depression with those truths.
Q: I have watched you guys play numerous times, and it’s always such a fun show.
A: We put in a lot of practice and really take the live experience seriously. We realize that people have a short attention span and are used to lots of stuff going on, so we try to keep it fun and hold their attention. We also take our faith seriously, so we make a point to share our heart and mix it up with the fun stuff.
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