Exclusive Interview With the Late, Great Leon Ireland

We deeply regret the sudden death of Leon Ireland, the lead singer of Moksha. On 18 December, petaDishoom lost a dear friend and a dedicated animal advocate, and India lost one of its most prolific rock vocalists.

One of the original members of Moksha, who helped found the Chennai-based rock band in 1995, Leon rocked the roof off every venue the band ever played. The heart and soul behind Moksha, Leon’s animated on-stage antics and amazing vocal range, which was “as high as acid and as low as your mother-in-law”, always left fans in a frenzy and the crowds begging for more.

Highly influenced by hard-rocking heavyweights Iron Maiden, Metallica and Van Halen, Moksha has written many of their own songs and covered tonnes of other bands’ songs. Walk Before You Crawl, their first demo, is a collection of nine songs that range from “Stay”, a ballad that got heavy rotation on MTV, to harder-hitting hits like “Chasing My Life”, the first song they ever wrote. The only Asian band to be included on the Iron Maiden tribute album Children of the Damned, Moksha also recorded their original composition “Dine With the Devil” for a Metallica tribute album.

We will sorely miss Leon and his compassion, his willingness to help us speak up for animals and his contribution to the Indian rock scene. We offer our heartfelt condolences to Leon’s family and bandmates in this time of grief, and we pray that they be blessed with courage and strength. It is with love and fond remembrance that we include the following exclusive interview that our friend Leon recently gave to petaDishoom.

Tell us something about Moksha.
We’ve been around for 11 years now. November 2006 made 11 years. Christy, Timmy, Allen and I are founder members. Tony and Willy are the newest members of the band.

Why do you think it’s important to support animal protection?
Because we love animals, especially dogs. Animals don’t have words to express themselves. It’s not very often that an animal does anything to you in terms of harm, unless provoked.

What do you think you would do if you saw an animal being ill-treated?
We have seen it happening and we have stopped it. We have stopped people from throwing stones and spitting at dogs. It just naturally comes to us. You see a dog on the street, standing by a tea shop – feed the dog; it’s as simple as that.

What do you have to say about animals who are forced to perform out of fear of being whipped or beaten, such as animals in circuses?
We don’t approve of that. There are a couple of circuses which feature people dancing and doing things. That’s OK.

Do you think it is important to preserve wild animals’ natural habitats? Why?
Yes, absolutely. It’s a cycle. If you destroy habitats, everything goes – finally you go. If the Earth goes, forget animals – everybody goes. So it’s not just about animals.

There should be some government initiatives. Look at cities – they are becoming larger, so we are obviously getting into the natural habitats of animals.

These days, tigers are endangered because they have been killed for their skins. Elephants are killed for their tusks for ivory. What do you have to say about the illegal trade in wild animal products?
We have never bought anything made from the skin of any animal. But I think that slowly the ivory trade is coming down. From what you read and what you see sometimes, I believe that in some places in Africa, the elephant population has actually gone up. That’s a good thing.

How did you hear about petaDishoom? What excited you most about the site?
I was on the PETA Web site, and then I found a link to petaDishoom. I was really happy that there was something happening like this here in India.

What would your message be to young people about protecting animals?
Have a heart! Animals are part of your life. Educational institutions should take educating young people about having compassion for animals more seriously. When I was a kid, I would have thrown a stone at a dog, because at that time I was not taught to be compassionate towards animals. If educational institutions take up teaching compassion, they’ll speed up the realisation process. Young people need to be taught. In the larger picture, we need to protect animals and leave them in their natural habitats.