https://www.facebook.com/drowningleo
Sounds like: Alternative Rock
From: North Carolina
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Drowning Leo" come about and is there any meaning to it?
We (Robby and Sampler) worked together remotely in IT during COVID and talked about music a lot during the workday. Once things started to return to normal after the pandemic, we decided to get together and jam with the goal of having some fun playing 90s Alternative Rock type covers and maybe writing some original music down the road if it worked out.
We started those first couple of jams with Sampler on guitar and Robby on drums. At the end of a session Robby asked if his son Cooper (who was 15 at the time) could come down and play drums with us. The rest was history, as they say. After running through a few songs, we decided to go with our current configuration with Sampler on bass, Robby on guitar, and Cooper on drums. As a couple of guys in our 40s we really appreciate the dynamic energy and youthful enthusiasm that Cooper brings to the band. We’ve always seen our band as 3 equal members, and he really is crucial to our band and our sound.
We spent our first year playing a lot of bar and brewery gigs doing Alternative Rock covers just to have some fun and get some stage time together while we worked on writing our own music. After playing those first couple of original shows in early 2024 we dove head-first into original music and began working on our EP and playing anywhere and everywhere we could. We do still enjoy playing some acoustic cover gigs from time to time, with a focus on 90s Alternative covers, some classic Rock tunes, and some acoustic versions of our originals as well.
The name Drowning Leo has to do with a famous scene from a movie we all know about a tragic shipwreck, and someone who could have easily been saved, but wasn’t – possibly due to the indifference of another.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
For all of us in the band what we really enjoy about music is being able to relate to the message of the song, along with a hook that sticks in your brain a little bit. Our goal with our songwriting is to capture those moments in life we all experience, where you just have to say something, or you want to remember how you felt at a certain point in time - whether it be outrage over what we see in the news, internal conflicts, or interactions with our fellow human beings. We want people to be able to sing along with us because they have experienced a similar situation, and we want to center those feelings around hooks that stick with the listener.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
Our sound is a fresh take on the Alternative Rock and mainstream Punk and Ska sounds of the late 90s and early 00s. This isn’t really by design, pretty much anything is on the table during the songwriting process, and the music we love just naturally comes out in what we write. Typically, one of us will come to the table with an idea and we “run it through the Drowning Leo filter” as we say, each providing input on what we envision for the song. We all have varied influences - Pop Punk and Ska, Nu-Metal and the heavier music of the late 90s and early 00s, and of course all the classic Rock we grew up with. All these elements are present in our music.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
We would love to tour with Green Day, Alkaline Trio, and Less Than Jake.
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
As a band we take a firm stance against the use of AI in music. AI does have some acceptable uses in general but should never be used for help with lyrics or musical content. AI is already being introduced into our workplaces and various other areas of our lives and will continue to become more prevalent. Music is one place we need to keep the use of AI to an absolute minimum and at the very least clearly label anything that is generated using AI.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Alternative Rock?
Although the internet would have you believe Rock music is dead, we really feel there will always be a dedicated audience of people who love Rock music, regardless of the genre. This audience includes people of all ages, from all walks of life. As a band we don’t quite fit neatly into a specific genre, so we enjoy playing shows with all different types of bands and seeing fans from all different backgrounds enjoying our music. As we see with some of these large festivals that feature major rock acts from the late 90s and early 00s, Alternative Rock is a big tent that has room for a variety of artists and fans. Alternative Rock is alive and well in 2025!
7. What’s the current music scene like there in North Carolina?
Here in Asheville and around the area in NC we have a ton of amazing artists doing everything from Metal to Hardcore Punk to Bluegrass and Americana, and everything in between. We have several great smaller venues here locally and regionally, and some amazing larger venues as well for national acts. Focusing on the local Rock scene, again, great variety of bands – and everyone we’ve encountered in the local music scene has been great to work with. These artists work hard and are passionate about music and the local scene. Make sure you are supporting your local and regional bands by coming to their shows and buying their merch if you enjoy their music!
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
From our perspective, we didn’t start this band expecting to make much if any money. So, for us it’s been a labor of love as expected. We see streaming more as a tool to get our music and our message out there to the world and increase our following. We all have day jobs, so music isn’t our primary source of income. However, we can understand how the low payouts do affect artists whose music is their primary source of income. The first step to resolving this issue should be to stop using so much of the streaming services’ revenue to benefit CEOs and executive stakeholders. Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, made $345 million last year, which is the equivalent of 115 billion streams – almost double the number of streams the top artists on Spotify produce. More money should go to the artists, period.
9. What’s next for Drowning Leo?
We are winding down from a busy summer of shows and getting into writing mode for our first full-length album, which we plan to release in mid-2026. We already have some tracks recorded and soon will be about halfway through the record. The first single “Conspiracy” was released August 1, and the second single “The Good Guy” will have an exclusive release with Dammit Records on their Damn-Nations compilation September 1, then will be available everywhere October 1.
For live performances we plan to expand our reach and play more regionally in 2026, focusing on larger local markets like Charlotte, Atlanta, Savannah, etc. We plan to book a mini-tour for spring 2026 in advance of our album release.
10. Any shoutouts?
A huge thank you to our spouses and families for supporting us and giving us the chance to do what we love. We love you.
Thank you to all the bands that have shared a bill with us. Every single one of you is awesome.
Thank you to all the great local venues for making live music of all kinds available and accessible for everyone.
Thanks to Feisty Bulldog Productions and Mountainsize Audio for helping us get our music out there.
Thank you to the fans that come to our shows and enjoy our music.
