They may have been Los Angeles rockers, but Detroit rock is still in their hearts.

The Leonards, which manager Rich Robinson described as “straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll,” includes members John Pozza, Lenny Grassa, Nick Zeigler, and Greg Arvanigian, known as “Arvo.” All but Zeigler are Central Michigan University alumni.

The group is performing at 11 p.m. Saturday at Rubbles, 112 W. Michigan St.

The four members have other jobs, including Pozza, who runs a law practice in the San Diego area, Robinson said.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Pozza said. “Somehow, we still have the energy we had back in the 80s.”

The Leonards, who are spread across California and the Midwest, get together every year to play in Michigan in memory of their late friend and bassist Tom Payne, who died in 2005 at age 44, Robinson said.

Payne was active in the local music scene in Mount Pleasant and started the “Contraband” program on WMHW-FM while at CMU. The program showcased new and original music, which influenced the station’s current format, Robinson said.

He said the station had a significantly more conservative artist selection before Payne came on the scene.

“Even the Police were considered a little out there for WMHW,” Robinson said.

‘Solid as a rock’

While the members all traveled to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, mostly independently, there were a ton of people from Central in Los Angeles trying to get into entertainment, Pozza said.

The guys met up and performed together for the first time at the Sound Check, a venue in Los Angeles, and began their career as The Leonards, Pozza said.

The July 1989 issue of music magazine Alternative Press described them: “Solid as a rock, the Leonards are like a ‘62 convertible Cadillac plowing into an ‘88 Integra, sporting a musical know-how that covers three decades.”

Robinson said the group became popular in the Los Angeles area and regularly attracted hundreds of fans to shows, though the guys kept to their roots and were never signed to a major record label.

“They really were essentially a Midwest Detroit rock ‘n’ roll band out in the land of hairspray and spandex,” Robinson said.

The band members went their separate ways in 1994 until 2006, when they began to play again, this time each as professionals doing it for the love of the music.

Pozza said he is looking forward to playing again in Mount Pleasant, something he has not done since he performed in 1989 with his old band The Strays.

“We’re really not rusty at all, it’s very cool, it just kind of came back like riding a bike,” he said.

E-mail the author: Connor Sheridan