Review Fix Exclusive: Leon Marshall Talks ‘Going Nowhere’ and ‘Chain Smoking’

Review Fix chats with guitarist and singer Leon Marshall, who discusses his origin in music and new single, “Going Nowhere.”

Review Fix: How did the project start?

Leon Marshall: I started playing guitar from a young age (not that you can tell from my skill level today!) and I started gigging at local open mic nights and folk clubs when I was about 16. I stopped playing for a few years to study Art and Sculpture and then picked the guitar back up a few years later and haven’t put it down again! I’ve been regularly writing and gigging since!

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Marshall: I’ll often come up with a lyric when I’m out and about and I’ll hang onto it until I get back to my home studio, and then I build on it from there. It’s usually a lyric that comes first. Recently when flicking through my song book I realised that it was nearly full of choruses with no verses, and verses with no hook, so I’ve adopted a new rule now that I have to always finish a song if I start it, even if it ends up rubbish, I can always fine tune it later, but I always finish it. 

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?

Marshall: At the moment my standout song is probably ‘Chainsmoking’ and my creative process was a bit different with that one, I wrote it on the way home from a gig in Edinburgh. I’d been booked to play for a proposal at the top of Arthur’s Seat, I made the 4 hour drive to Edinburgh, climbed to the top (which as a heavy smoker was a struggle in itself!) hid behind a rock waiting for ‘the signal’, played the song, he popped the question, she said yes and I drove the 4 hours back home. I was exhausted and chainsmoking in an attempt to stay alert, I came up with the first line of the chorus and the rest fell into place. I sang the whole song over and over so I wouldn’t forget it until I got home and could write it down. 

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2020?

Marshall: My goal at the moment is to keep writing, better my writing, and hopefully get back out gigging in front of big crowds again! 

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Marshall: When I’ve finished a song, I give it a couple of days to see if the hook is still stuck in my head and if my other half is still wondering around the house singing it to herself, if not I’ll move on and try again…I want people to remember the hook. 

Review Fix: What’s next?

Marshall: After just releasing my latest single “Going Nowhere,”I’ve just finished getting a few more songs done in the studio, so I’m really looking forward to sharing those with everyone! 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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