Elise Marie
Mar 1, 2026
Leif Meche is no stranger to the stage.
Leif Meche Band, which consists of Leif Meche (vocals and guitar), David Guidry (drums), Jordan Bearb (bass), Neil Melancon (lead guitar), and Abbey Melancon (backing vocals and tambourine), is based out of the Lafayette, Louisiana area. Primarily a rock band, they also dabble in blues and soul. All it takes is one listen, and you’ll know exactly what I mean.
The band is no stranger to the stage; they have played at numerous festivals across Louisiana. Their setlist spans a wide range of ’90s and early 2000s rock and alternative, classic rock, blues, a touch of country, and, of course, original music.
At the beginning of this year, I had the chance to sit down with Leif to talk about the band’s journey, share a few stories about music, how life’s been, and discuss what’s on the horizon for the band. Read on to learn more.
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MaM: This interview was a long time coming, so what have you all been up to? New drummer now, how has that been?
Leif: It has been great, man! Kind of a cool story about our new drummer, David Guidry. It’s like a childhood dream for all of us in my band to play with him. When we were younger, we used to play heavier rock and follow the local rock scene. One of my favorite bands to listen to and play back in the day was Meriwether from Baton Rouge.
MaM:Â I love Meriwether!
Leif:Â Oh yeah! Our drummer was their touring sound engineer.
MaM:Â See, I wish I had known that during our photo shoot. I could have talked to him about that. I love Meriwether and miss them so much.
Leif:Â Yes. He could have told you everything about them. And not just that, he played with other local bands, like Evil Empire, a Rage Against the Machine cover band.
MaM: Guess I’m going to have to get familiar with them because Meriwether was one of my favorite Baton Rouge local bands, and to this day, I still talk about them. They played a show at the Varsity Theatre around 2017, and I was sad I couldn’t make it because it was one of the last times I could have seen them.
Leif: They put on a small festival in Rayne called the ‘Independence Music Festival,’ and Meriwether played. We played with them a few times back in the day, too, and we got to open for them, and we knew some of the guys in that band for a long time.
MaM: I know, just like many local musicians, we all started somewhere. Who would you say inspired you the most?
Leif:Â My very first band was in 1998, and we got the name from an old Def Leppard album. The band was called Hysteria, and it was very dark. At the time, we were listening to some pretty heavy stuff. I was listening to Acid Bath, and I was a big Metallica fan too.
MaM: Oh, I’ve seen Metallica twice!
Leif: We just went to see them within the past year. I brought my kids to see them. I also have a son named Lars. The songs we covered were heavier in that band. Then, as we got older and more serious, we evolved into a band called Karver, which included Jordan Beard and Blake Meche, one of my best friends and our former drummer. He lived on Carver Street, so that’s where we got the name. We changed the spelling from a C to a K to make it look cooler and more rock/metal. We played more rock-sounding music. We listened to a lot of Chevelle and Deftones and covered that kind of music. We also had originals and wrote our own songs.
MaM: One of the songs I really like is ‘The Cowboy and the Lady’. Who is the cowboy, and who is the lady?
Leif: The cowboy is my grandfather. Someone nicknamed him ‘Cowboy,’ and I didn’t discover that until I was older. When I was a police officer, people who knew him would say, ‘Oh, Cowboy! We know Cowboy!’
When I was six years old, my dad passed away. My birth mother went down a different path. My grandparents took us in, and they’re who I refer to in the song. I don’t talk about my dad much in the song because I was young when he died. He was 32 when he passed. It wasn’t suicide or drugs; it was a disease.
The song is about being at peace. My grandparents saved my life. Even though they’re deceased now, I feel like I had the best parents anyone could ask for. So that’s what the song is about, the ‘Cowboy’ and the ‘Lady’ and God putting those people in my life.
MaM: What kind of music can we look forward to hearing this year? More rock or more blues. I personally feel like you guys bridge that gap.
Leif: I think what we’re going to make this year more rock influenced. More up-tempo. We’re just going to jam. It’ll have a groove, something you’ll want to move to. Of course, there will also be a few songs that hit you in your feelings, but it’ll lean more toward the rock side. I want more of a traditional rock ’n’ roll style. Even our cover songs are geared more towards that. Think The Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz, just some good old rock ’n’ roll. That’s what I want. The lyrics will still mean something to me. Honestly, I’ve never written a useless song that didn’t have meaning, and I don’t think I could.
MaM:Â I know a group that once wrote a song specifically for commercial radio play.
Leif: I don’t think I’m capable of writing lyrics that mean nothing. This might sound weird for 2026, because the world feels like it’s in a strange place, but I’ve never been happier in my life. I know it’s only going to get better, but I’m in a really good spot. I’m blessed. Now I want to try writing about other people. Dig into real-life struggles like people-pleasing, mental health, and faith. I already do that in some of my love songs, but people interpret them their own way. ‘Black’ by Pearl Jam came out around the time my dad died, and it’s always been such a powerful song for me. I watched a live version where Eddie Vedder dedicated it to Chris Cornell, and when he sang the ending, saying, ‘We belong together… come back…’ He was crying. I thought, ‘That’s MY song.’ And it always has been.
MaM: The summer of 2024, you opened for Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Raising Cane’s River Center. How was that experience?
Leif: It was a very cool experience, humbling. It could go either way when you open for someone that big. We’ve opened for national acts before, but this was different. They were down-to-earth people. I was excited because he’s one of the best guitar players in that genre. I’m a big fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Jimmie Vaughan was supposed to play that night, but plans changed. Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s drummer that night was Chris Layton from Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s drummer, and that was legit to me.
They treated us well. He’s actually been sober for over 20 years now, and backstage, we were told it was a sober tour. I admired that and how strong he is on that journey. We gained many opportunities from that show. Even though momentum slowed a bit afterward, we got better as a band because of it.
MaM:Â And you got bigger; you added two more members.
Leif: Yeah, we don’t have anything new to release yet, so we haven’t been pushing hard. But by the end of this year, I hope to have something out and maybe aim for places like House of Blues or Jazz Fest in New Orleans.
MaM: Any festivals on the horizon?
Leif: I’ll know more in a couple of weeks. I’d love to play the International Rice Festival again. They’ve taken good care of us. We’ve been able to open for Chris Cagle, Little Texas, Frank Foster, and Aaron Tippin. That main stage is one of my favorite places we’ve ever played. We’ve also got the Rayne Frog Festival and the Boudin Festival coming up.
MaM: As creatives, we express our deepest feelings in our work. What feeling do you want to convey most in yours?
Leif: In the music, I want to inspire people. I don’t know if I’d call myself talented, but I want to encourage others to get out there and do it. Start a band, chase something. Play music like it’s your first time ever being in a band. Music has been such a beautiful gift to me. It’s been a lifesaver. If someone can’t walk into a church and feel saved, maybe music can be the next best thing. I like showing emotion. I don’t care what I look like on stage, I just want it to be real.
MaM:Â That matters. Especially now.
Leif: Yes, and one of my favorite things to do whenever I cover a song is to know the meaning behind it, what it’s all about. They can be cheesy, heartfelt songs, like ‘3 am’ by Matchbox Twenty, where Rob Thomas talks about his experience with his mom’s cancer. It’s a great song, and not everybody knows that. I like to cover it as a nod to that experience and that meaning.
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Catch Leif Meche live across Louisiana this year, performing both acoustic sets and full-band shows. For the latest tour dates and details, visit the band's official website.
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*All photos by Elise Marie
Questions or comments? mixedalternativemag@gmail.com