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Get ready to dive into the world of heavy metal with our latest Denim and Leather podcast episode featuring Tolis Mekras from the Greek metal band Leatherhead! Tolis is the powerhouse vocalist behind Leatherhead’s thunderous sound, bringing raw energy and passion to the stage. Leatherhead blends classic heavy metal vibes with gritty modern edge, making waves with their intense riffs and unforgettable hooks.
In this episode, Tolis opens up about his journey into singing, how Leatherhead’s latest album came to life—and why the vinyl release is such a big deal for the band. Whether you’re a fan or new to Leatherhead, expect an honest chat full of stories, behind-the-scenes insights, and metal vibes that hit just right.
Follow Tolis Mekras and Leatherhead @
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tolis.ughh
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeatherHeadofficial/
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7pekQ0Ewu8Xqb9gX203CHC
- Bandcamp: https://leatherheadgr.bandcamp.com/
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0:00
Okay, in the new episode of Denim and
0:02
Leather podcast, we have my friend Tlis
0:05
Meccas from Leatherhead Band
0:10
and the one that is making the interview
0:14
is the fantastic the most fantastic
0:16
drummer of the Balkans of that band, of
0:20
course.
0:22
Yeah. Thank you, Ro. Thank you for
0:24
having me. I'm very glad to talk to you
0:27
again. It's uh fantastic talking to you.
0:30
Uh congratulations for the great uh
0:33
podcast you have, the great job you
0:35
have. Uh it's very entertaining for us
0:39
as metal fans to watch it, you know,
0:41
every time and be a part of it now.
0:43
Yeah.
0:44
Yeah, man. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks to you
0:46
for accepting the offer to be at at the
0:49
show.
0:50
Uh
0:51
my pleasure. My pleasure.
0:52
How uh I wanted to ask you before we go
0:54
go into Leatherhead, when did you start
0:56
music?
0:57
Uh well
0:58
when did you start singing?
1:00
Singing well uh in the my first steps I
1:04
wasn't uh singing purely you know it
1:07
wasn't that kind of singing as it is
1:10
now. I was doing uh thrust death metal
1:15
with my first band exector
1:18
about 2008. I was very young back then
1:22
about uh 15 years old and after that we
1:27
had two albums with that band. I entered
1:30
uh by accident the voice part of Murder
1:34
Angels my second band because I was
1:37
playing bass there. Uh I entered by
1:41
accident because our uh
1:44
then singer left the group. So no one
1:47
else could uh even talk to the
1:50
microphone. So I did it, you know, and
1:54
uh now it's been 10 years that I sing uh
1:57
with a clean voice, you know, 10 11
2:01
years.
2:01
So you started singing heavy?
2:04
Heavy. Yeah. But uh with a clean voice
2:07
because you can sing heavy with a raspy
2:10
and uh harsh voice but uh not anymore
2:13
for me. Yeah. The last 10 years it's
2:15
like that.
2:16
Yeah. When I when I hear you sing u uh I
2:20
I I immediately have like a you know it
2:24
reminds me on on Asian steel or or bands
2:27
like that, you know.
2:29
Yeah. Well, uh, we had the John series
2:33
here for the show of Agent Steel as they
2:35
are now here in my city, Larissa. Well,
2:38
uh, specifically Agent Steel is the
2:41
reason why I started singing because,
2:44
uh,
2:44
it's it's a I listened to listened to
2:47
that and I was like, [ __ ] what's that?
2:50
It's metal but with a fantastic voice,
2:54
you know, high pitched voice and it was
2:56
like a breaking point. After that, I was
2:59
I was like that. Yeah. I changed
3:01
forever.
3:02
Yeah. I think that uh bands that did
3:05
that maybe before even uh were maybe
3:09
from the same time Overkill were you
3:12
know like trash with with with with
3:14
heavy voices.
3:15
Uh course. Yeah. and maybe and of course
3:20
Blitz and Jeladon are one of ones of my
3:23
favorite
3:25
singers, but especially the energy
3:29
Overkill have on stage. It's like, you
3:33
know, it's uh what we want to do with my
3:36
current band.
3:37
Yeah. With Le Kid, we want that, you
3:40
know, that energy. Uh the great when you
3:44
see
3:46
bands like Overkill Live, you think that
3:48
you you will see them for the first time
3:50
and maybe you will see them for the 10th
3:52
time, but it's like the first time every
3:54
time
3:55
you did you see them.
3:58
H unfortunately not.
4:00
I've seen the video. I'm waiting. This
4:02
happened. I I saw them I I saw them uh
4:06
24 years ago in 2001 in uh in in
4:10
Budapest on Zigg Festival and uh and I
4:14
and I've met them and I have a a picture
4:16
selfie with with with Blitz with Bobby
4:19
Blitz. Yeah.
4:20
Yeah. Blitz is is a god, man. He's a
4:24
god. And they kicked us back then. They
4:27
kick us still kick us now. Blitz is a
4:30
cancer survivor. He's like a, you know,
4:33
a superhuman. He's like in his 60s, 65
4:37
maybe. And he's like a like a beast on
4:40
stage. I I really love him. I would like
4:42
to meet him too. Yeah.
4:43
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh then then
4:47
how did you get into Leatherhead or did
4:50
you form Leatherhead?
4:53
Well, uh it was uh sometime before the
4:57
corona virus outbreak that uh I left my
5:00
last band uh Murder Angels. Uh it wasn't
5:06
uh it was for personal reasons only uh
5:09
that I left them and uh my purpose was
5:14
to form something uh uh completely mine
5:18
something that I would feel free with my
5:21
friends to play the music I want and uh
5:25
that's what happened with Leatherhead.
5:27
Uh we had many lineup changes. I started
5:30
the band with the drummer Mike. Uh after
5:33
that uh George entered uh uh the other
5:38
bands, the other mates entered and uh
5:41
now we have uh a last lineup change was
5:45
uh last week in our last week. So uh now
5:50
we are stronger than ever. I think we
5:53
are ready to kick some ass in uh
5:56
everywhere everywhere they call us. And
5:59
uh this summer we will start uh
6:02
recording our uh second album.
6:04
Oh, awesome man. So uh uh did you did
6:08
you have did you have uh before the
6:12
album you had some EP or no?
6:14
Yeah, we had a single. It was uh from a
6:19
a recording type of company because it
6:23
was not it was very relaxed situation
6:26
you know a type of company that it
6:28
doesn't exist uh now so it's like uh you
6:32
cannot find it
6:33
okay
6:34
it's uh it's nowhere to be found the
6:37
physical copy but we had it on CD it was
6:40
a single of two tracks uh the name was
6:44
Tomahawk it was uh released in uh 2002.
6:49
It was with our first basist uh Pericles
6:52
who left uh for Germany and after
6:55
Pericles we uh uh took ways with George
7:00
who is the current basist the last years
7:02
and is a fantastic best player. Everyone
7:06
is a fantastic player in the band. Yeah.
7:08
But you had Tomahawk released on CD
7:10
right?
7:11
On CD. Yeah. because uh the the idea was
7:15
to release it uh to just have a release,
7:18
you know. So, it was only two tracks. We
7:20
made it as a single. It's only a CD. Uh
7:23
maybe in the future we can do it on a 7
7:26
in uh V vinyl or something.
7:29
Yeah.
7:29
I hope so.
7:30
Yeah.
7:30
Yeah. Yeah.
7:31
So, after that you you you started
7:33
recording the the album. Was it a long
7:35
process of recording the album? Well, it
7:38
was a very hard process because uh uh we
7:42
are very
7:43
uh focused on one what we do but uh
7:46
sometimes because uh uh we cannot fit
7:50
our musical you know uh hobbies with uh
7:55
our uh real life jobs. It's very a lot
7:58
of time to be done like uh we had uh it
8:02
was a whole summer it started 2 years
8:06
ago from today or it was it was one week
8:11
later but 2 years ago and uh it was
8:14
finished completely on September. So it
8:17
it went very slow because uh some songs
8:21
were uh written uh at the last minute.
8:25
Uh some others were uh uh were worked
8:28
very very well, were played very well.
8:30
Some others were just uh something new
8:32
for the band. But uh the result was
8:35
fantastic. And uh this happened uh
8:39
because of
8:41
he has a great uh part in that. the guy
8:44
who uh produced the album, the guy who
8:47
was uh behind the console
8:50
uh who is uh George from Coyote Studios.
8:53
He was fantastic. He made a great job
8:56
and uh we had the best result I think.
9:00
That that co studio is in your city,
9:02
right?
9:04
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did it. Everything
9:06
is made in Larissa. uh apart from the
9:10
the mastering and uh which uh was made
9:14
on Eio Anina and in Germany by B Gabriel
9:18
and Aileas Kalanis
9:21
uh the Greek guy uh the one made for CD
9:25
and the other made for uh the vinyl
9:27
release.
9:28
So awesome. So So uh on the first album
9:31
and you already have a vinyl release,
9:33
right?
9:34
Yeah. And you can see here it's the
9:37
third uh the third press of our vinyl.
9:42
Third press.
9:42
It's this one is urush. Don't look at
9:45
that. It's for rurush.
9:46
So it's so get get it a little bit
9:49
higher. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
9:51
Like that. So uh this one uh is on a
9:55
marble uh silver uh color.
9:59
Wow. Man, it looks awesome.
10:01
Yeah. Uh we have uh we had uh 200 black
10:05
ones and uh uh we had also some blue
10:10
ones. Uh only 100
10:12
uh it was very you know limited edition.
10:16
This one is in 500 copies. So
10:18
wo
10:19
yeah we we are waiting for it to you
10:21
know
10:22
are are the other two uh rounds sold out
10:26
or no?
10:27
Yes it's not available anymore. uh many
10:31
uh two pressings of CDs are also not
10:33
available. It's it went pretty well for
10:37
uh uh first album. It was we are very
10:41
satisfied. The our company No Remorse is
10:44
very satisfied. We are uh totally are
10:48
going to work again with them and they
10:50
are going to work again with us.
10:52
It's called No Remorse Records.
10:54
No Remorse Records. Yeah.
10:56
So it's a it's a Greek company.
10:58
It's a Greek company but uh it has some
11:01
uh co-working
11:03
with uh uh with high roller
11:07
records from Germany. So yeah the
11:09
distribution in Germany went fantastic.
11:13
Germany is one of the uh the best
11:15
countries for leatherhead you know and
11:17
we are looking forward to play there. Uh
11:19
it will happen at the 30 and 30th of
11:24
May. So you sold you sold a lot of
11:27
copies there in Germany.
11:28
Yeah. Yeah. It went very well.
11:31
Amazing.
11:31
It's pretty exciting because German
11:33
people know about, you know, met.
11:35
When when are you playing? You're
11:37
playing in Germany.
11:39
Yeah. Yeah. On the last on the on the
11:41
end of uh of May.
11:44
Ah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Which which city?
11:46
Where?
11:48
It's outside Moonhan. Uh it's a uh uh
11:54
what's the name? Headbuggers open air.
11:56
It's on open door.
11:57
It's a festival. Okay.
11:59
Yes. Yes. Yes. An open air test.
12:00
Wow man. You going to you going to fly?
12:03
Youard midnight. It has many great names
12:07
from TR uh black scene, heavy metal
12:10
scene. It's uh it's very good. Very
12:12
good.
12:12
You going to you going to fly there or
12:14
you going to drive there?
12:16
Uh we will fly.
12:20
We will fly and I hope we won't lose the
12:23
the airplane because uh I'm not very
12:26
good with flights, you know.
12:29
I I always I'm always running to catch a
12:32
flight.
12:33
So, it will be it will be our first uh
12:36
show outside of Greece or No.
12:38
Well, it will be our second because uh
12:40
we played the first one in Bulgaria.
12:43
Okay.
12:43
It was about 2 years ago. Uh but uh it
12:48
was many many months or maybe one year
12:52
and a half before the release. So okay
12:54
uh it was a starting point for the band.
12:57
We played as a forum. Now we're
13:00
queen dead five people, two guitars.
13:03
Then back then it was only one guitar.
13:05
So it was much different.
13:07
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you as I saw you
13:09
to you toured all around Greece. I mean
13:12
you played a lot of
13:14
we we played a lot of shows. Yeah. Yeah.
13:16
And we are ready to play even more. We
13:18
we love playing uh live shows. It's I
13:21
think it's the purpose of that music and
13:24
I think you will you will be with me in
13:26
that. It's it's
13:29
the purpose of heavy metal is playing
13:31
live. You know that as a musician I
13:33
think.
13:33
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the connection
13:35
with the audience right uh right away.
13:38
Yeah. that can can make your mood and
13:40
give you a new life, you know, an alter
13:44
ego. It's something uh something else.
13:46
Yeah.
13:46
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you what are
13:49
you doing with the next record? You you
13:51
mentioned to me that you're planning a
13:52
next record.
13:54
Of course. Yeah. First of all, we had
13:56
the lineup change. Uh we our guitarist
14:01
in the first release is Zach left the
14:03
band and now we um uh Uh Jim Demetrius
14:10
Commino joined forces with us. Dimitris
14:13
is a longtime friend. I know him more
14:16
than 10 years or maybe 12. I don't we
14:19
played again in another band with him
14:23
Thorn Burial
14:24
uh thrust metal band from Larissa and uh
14:29
he's a fantastic player, a fantastic guy
14:31
and uh I think he will make an impact.
14:35
Also the other guitarist Thanos will
14:37
make also an impact because we have many
14:39
songs from Thanos too now. So it will be
14:43
much more quantity you know in the
14:45
writing process. We have uh uh everyone
14:49
has their parts and uh I think it would
14:53
be even uh better than the first one. It
14:56
has a lot of speed. It has mid tempos.
15:00
It has everything a very much of uh
15:03
quantity and I think better quality at
15:06
last.
15:07
So you already have all the songs?
15:10
Yeah. Uh well we have uh we didn't
15:13
rehearse uh all the songs. We only
15:16
rehearsed uh four of the nine songs or
15:20
10 maybe. I don't know. Uh it depends on
15:23
uh the time we will have uh for the
15:25
recording and the with the new member.
15:27
you know, it needs a lot of time to uh I
15:31
mean stick together.
15:32
I mean, you have all all the new songs
15:35
about the the the full new album, right?
15:38
I mean, you have
15:39
almost ready. Yeah, almost ready. Apart
15:41
from some uh some lyrics and some guitar
15:44
parts, everything is almost ready. Yeah.
15:47
But not rehearsed yet.
15:48
Awesome. That's going to be that's going
15:50
to be released also on vinyl.
15:53
I I hope so. depends on the on no
15:57
remorse but uh uh judging from the first
16:01
one we had the best connection we work
16:05
very well so I'm pretty sure it will be
16:08
man maybe you will sell out platinum now
16:11
you know
16:14
I don't think so but it would be great
16:16
why not we can we can uh you know we can
16:20
uh uh wait for that
16:23
yeah yeah yeah but it will go. Uh I I I
16:26
wish it go Germany and and all of
16:29
Europe, you know, to to to be sold good,
16:32
you know. Maybe maybe you can do a maybe
16:35
you plan on doing European tour or no.
16:39
Well, I will tell you uh the problem
16:41
with uh touring is that uh it needs a
16:45
lot of money nowadays. just to go to a
16:48
show. It's it needs a lot of money like
16:52
uh it's like investment for a band but
16:55
uh you need a big uh amount of money to
16:58
start.
16:59
Yeah.
17:00
So it's not in our uh our uh plans right
17:04
now because uh our uh uh main plan is to
17:09
produce good music and after that maybe
17:12
we can do something like that. We can
17:14
think about it. But in every
17:19
not
17:21
the other month maybe
17:24
there is like there is like one uh one
17:28
thing that I I was kind of uh bothered
17:31
by that uh when when there's big huge
17:35
names like huge metal names they offer
17:39
some smaller bands to pay for the tour
17:42
you know you pay them money so they take
17:44
you to tour I I don't like that. I
17:46
dislike that idea, you know. It's like a
17:49
uh well, my opinion is that uh because
17:53
we live in uh the 21st century, well,
17:56
music is always is everywhere and it's
17:59
free. So, uh the companies won't give
18:02
you money to tour. That's that's a fact.
18:05
So the bands have to the big even bands
18:09
the even the big ones have to do
18:12
something to earn some money apart from
18:14
the shows because you have many money to
18:17
give uh much money to give uh uh on the
18:21
tour uh for the bass for the guys that
18:24
will help you the stuff you know uh so
18:28
it's
18:29
everything goes uh not well for the uh
18:34
for with the small bands like us because
18:37
uh it's too much money to do that. Uh
18:40
it's like an industry so we cannot tell
18:43
it's good or bad. It's the way it is
18:46
right now. Unfortunately or fortunately
18:48
for some other people it goes like that.
18:50
It works like that.
18:51
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you know
18:54
I don't like it either. I would love to
18:56
for someone to call me and tell me okay
18:58
come on play.
18:59
But it's it's not that diffic it's not
19:01
that easy. It's it's much more
19:03
complicated. Yeah, but it's kind of
19:05
weird, you know, to to to pay to play. I
19:09
mean, uh I don't know.
19:12
I wouldn't do that now. I wouldn't do
19:14
that. I don't have the money to do that.
19:16
Yeah.
19:17
But,
19:19
uh I think it's it doesn't worth it
19:22
because you give uh like
19:25
a car for playing uh 10 12 20 shows, I
19:31
don't know.
19:32
Yeah. Uh, and you you just give them a
19:35
car or a small house maybe. I don't
19:37
know.
19:38
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
19:39
And the other month, uh, you don't have
19:42
that money and you don't have live
19:45
shows. You just have in your resume that
19:48
you played with the one band or the
19:52
other. But
19:52
I saw I saw a very I I saw a very
19:56
interesting concept of one label. Uh I
19:58
think it was in England or I don't know
20:00
it was European. So they what they did
20:03
they have a they have a band on a roster
20:06
you know it was like it was not metal
20:07
but it was some kind of rock band
20:10
and they uh you know what they what they
20:12
did as a commercial they were they were
20:15
uh uh they got the gigs for the band
20:19
like for a whole uh 200 people or 100
20:23
people of a venue and they pay for all
20:26
of the tickets you know and they say the
20:29
show is sold out you know but the label
20:31
does that and it does that on a few on a
20:34
few venues
20:36
and then when the when when when the
20:38
word is out that the band sells out then
20:40
they ask for the band from the other
20:42
venues or from the other promoters they
20:44
ask okay these are selling out so we can
20:46
now call them and that's like a like a
20:48
new thing happening you know but
20:50
[ __ ] that
20:51
yeah man
20:52
I didn't know that
20:53
yeah man but the the the label invests
20:55
like for a few sold out shows it buys
20:57
every ticket you know so the band plays
21:00
in an empty room.
21:03
That's awful. I wouldn't play. I
21:06
wouldn't play, man.
21:07
But they do they do that as a concept.
21:10
They do it as a concept and then it it
21:12
returns to them a lot, you know.
21:15
Yes. Yes. I don't that's that's not the
21:18
concept of music from the beginning.
21:21
It's very weird promotion, you know.
21:22
It's very weird.
21:24
We live in very weird times, man. So,
21:27
nothing surprises me anymore. It's like
21:31
you can you can expect everything from
21:34
everyone. It's like nothing to it has
21:38
nothing to do with the way we
21:40
romanticize that music
21:42
and music by itself, you know. It's
21:44
everything is different. I don't know.
21:46
Yeah. Like it's not it's not art
21:48
anymore, you know.
21:50
Well, yeah. It's it's complicated. But
21:53
fortunately, we we we our music is
21:58
produces new talents. So, I think it's I
22:02
don't know. It's it's more pure like
22:04
that. I don't know. I maybe I'm wrong,
22:06
but
22:08
No, you're you're right. You're right.
22:10
Because uh as long as you as long as we
22:13
do the do music, you know, like uh now I
22:16
faced the reality that that I'm not
22:18
going to live from my music, you know, I
22:20
got to work something else.
22:22
You you you too. But uh but uh you can
22:26
always do it as a hobby and be satisfied
22:28
with your art, you know.
22:31
Yes, of course. Of course. It's it's
22:33
always a hobby. But uh we do it you can
22:35
do it with so much love that it's it has
22:38
to be done correctly and uh it's like a
22:40
job. Yeah. But you don't get paid
22:43
but it's okay because it's okay. Yeah.
22:46
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a do it yourself
22:49
kind of kind of thing. Uh,
22:53
leave and let die. It's sad. Yeah, [ __ ]
22:56
it. [ __ ] everything. Yeah, we will do
22:58
it.
22:58
What are your future plans music wise?
23:02
Music-wise, we are uh uh expect for the
23:07
album that we are preparing.
23:09
Okay.
23:10
Uh we are uh planning to play
23:12
everywhere. Uh me personally, I have
23:16
some uh plans for the next albums
23:19
like uh some concepts. We may have a
23:23
concept album in the future. It would be
23:25
the maybe one of the first uh Speed
23:28
Metal concept albums or something. Uh we
23:31
want to uh take the leatherhead story,
23:35
the one we uh presented uh from three
23:38
songs in the first album and make it a
23:41
whole album uh like the the second part
23:44
of it because now we are in the in the
23:46
prequel or something and now we want to
23:49
make it like a movie, you know. It would
23:51
be fantastic to do something like that,
23:53
a concept album. It's like a pure
23:56
statement of the artist, you know,
23:58
lyrically,
23:59
musically, it's like seeing a movie.
24:03
Uh, it's I think it's uh the biggest
24:07
thing we can do as a band is that and
24:10
maybe we can reach it on the third
24:12
album. It's that's the plan. Uh, I'm
24:16
trying to figure out the story and uh
24:19
trying to get some music from the guys,
24:21
get some music of mine and uh we will
24:24
make it. I'm sure we will make it.
24:26
Oh, that that sounds fantastic, man. I
24:29
hope.
24:30
Yeah, maybe maybe a comic book or
24:32
something. I will I we have many ideas,
24:35
but uh we need uh you know, first things
24:38
first, we have to have the stuff first.
24:41
Yeah,
24:41
we have to have the songs, the tracks
24:43
first and then everything will take its
24:45
way.
24:46
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It will it will
24:48
happen if you have the idea. So, uh
24:51
Okay. I wish you all the best in
24:53
recording the new album and with touring
24:55
and with playing and thank you for being
24:59
uh my guest on the show.
25:01
It was my pleasure. It will it will
25:04
always be my pleasure talking to you.
25:06
And uh I just want to tell everyone that
25:11
uh you are the greatest guy because they
25:14
only know you from podcast. I know you
25:17
very well and I hope we will talk again
25:19
with a new album.
25:21
Yeah, we will. We will when it comes out
25:22
we will do it again. Thanks, man.
25:24
Fantastic. Thank you very much. My
25:27
pleasure.
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