Elder
Druid are a Doom/Sludge/Stoner Rock band from Ballymena, Northern
Ireland. I've been keeping a close eye on this band as some the songs
they've been posting on their BandCamp Page have been first rate.
Elder
Druid are about to release their debut EP – Magicka on Sept 23rd
2016. I wanted to catch up with the band before they release Magicka,
to see what they have in store for us with their debut EP.
From
the sounds of it, the EP is going to be HEAVY AS HELL. I recently
caught up with Jake Wallace (Lead Guitars) from Elder Druid to see
how things are going with the band and what the future holds for the
band. Read on for more info......
Hi
Jake, Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you today?
Things
are good man, the elusive sun has made an appearance and the weekend
is beginning.
Can
you give people a brief overview of how the band came together and
where it is today?
A
few years back we were compiling a list of words that we liked and it
just so happened that the words ‘Elder’ and ‘Druid’ came up
and we thought it sounded like a good band name. The band hadn’t
actually even been thought about before this so I guess this was the
conception. Today, we’re about to release our first studio EP,
‘Magicka’, and doing a few shows in the North and South of
Ireland.
How
would you describe your music in your own words?
I’d
say it’s a fairly even mix of stoner rock and sludge/doom, we’ve
tried to fuse both genres so that it doesn’t lean too heavily to
one side.
Why
did you choose the name Elder Druid for your band. Any specific
meaning?
As
I mentioned, it was a pretty basic story! We just decided to make a
list of unusual words or words that we thought were interesting for
whatever reason. ‘Elder’ probably had something to do with The
Elder Scrolls game series and I have no idea where ‘Druid’ came
from. We imagined what an Elder Druid would look like and it set the
visual imagery which laid the foundations of what we wanted to sound
like.
You’re
about to release your new EP in September. Can you give more details
on what the EP is about and what people can expect from this?
The
EP is entitled ‘Magicka’. The 5 tracks we recorded all
incorporate the themes of fantasy, magic, the occult and big fucking
wizards! The visual imagery has always been pretty clear because of
the lyrical themes and the riffs go hand-in-hand. People can expect
some big doom riffs and a lyrical adventure through our minds.
Was
it an easy or hard EP to record for? Are you apprehensive with this
being your proper debut release?
It
wasn’t as difficult as we first expected as we’ve been playing 3
of the tracks over the past year or so. The main challenge was
getting the last two songs as tight as possible before we went into
the studio. The whole process was made a hell of a lot easier as Andy
Shields (Hornets) was the man in charge of the studio time. His
patience and attitude was instrumental in allowing us to create
exactly what we envisioned. We’re probably more excited than
apprehensive about the release because as of yet, we haven’t heard
the final product so it’s good to finally get something worthwhile
recorded and released.
What
inspires you all when writing and recording music?
We’re
obviously inspired by all the greats of the stoner rock/doom metal
world, bands like Kyuss, Sleep, Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Down
& High on Fire. It is quite hard to pinpoint exactly where our
influences stem from, it is more a collective thing that has been
built up over time. Another huge inspiration for us is other bands
from Northern Ireland playing the same kind of music as us. I don’t
think any of us had any idea that there were so many bands
contributing to this scene and it’s great to share a collective
appreciate and respect for stoner rock/doom metal.
The
artwork is very cool indeed. Who designed the artwork and how much
involvement did you have with the final design?
Cheers
Steve, the original illustrator of the ‘Smoke Demon’ was Alfi
Andy, a guy from Indonesia who got in touch with the band a number of
months ago. We printed the design on t-shirts not long after we
bought it from him and then decided to base our EP artwork on it. We
wanted something that would accurately convey what we were going for
so I did some Photoshop work with the ‘Smoke Demon’ and came up
with the final design.
Will
you be releasing this EP yourself or via an Independent Label?
We’ll
be releasing the EP ourselves. Our official launch is on Friday 23rd
September where we play a show in our hometown. We’ll have physical
copies for sale on CD, as well as digitally via Bandcamp, iTunes,
Amazon, Spotify etc.
The
Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal community has given you a warm reception
over the last twelve months or so. Has that surprised you the way
people have taken to your band?
Yeah
it’s always a surprise to know that there are people from all
corners of the world listening to and digging our music. The whole
community is very different from other genres, there is a huge degree
of mutual respect and bands really help each other out when they can.
There have been a number of people that have done write-ups or
reviews on our music and they’ve been a huge help in getting our
name out and about.
You’re
from Northern Ireland and it seems Northern Ireland has a superb
upcoming Doom/Stoner Metal scene with great bands such as Slomatics
and yourselves. What is the scene actually like over there. Do you
get to a chance to perform regular gigs?
The
scene is actually great, I don’t think any of us really knew the
extent of it until we started playing as Elder Druid. Obviously
Slomatics are the godfathers of doom in Northern Ireland and everyone
in the scene looks up to them. There are a huge number of bands we’ve
played with that deserve recognition so we’ll name-drop a few here:
Molarbear, Goatschlager, Korvid, Maw, Nomadic Rituals and Hornets
(the band Andy who recorded our EP is from). We perform regular gigs
in our hometown of Ballymena and we’ve played across the country in
Belfast, Portrush and Draperstown. We’re heading down to Dublin at
the end of this month to play along with some of big bands from
Southern Ireland including Two Tales of Woe, Ten Ton Slug &
Mother Mooch.
What’s
the song-writing dynamic in the band. Is it a group collective or
down to one individual?
It
usually always begins with a riff. Either myself or Mikey will bring
a riff to the guys and we’ll work from there. We usually figure out
a general structure and get the guitar parts down. Then Dale lays
down some bass, Brien lays down some drums and once the music is
down, Gregg goes off and works on one of his psychedelic tales
through the occult.
What
are the long term plans for the band. Do you plan to play more gigs
in support of your new EP. Or even play a few dates in the UK. Or
release a full length album.
We
intend to play a few more gigs around Northern Ireland after we
release the EP and then hopefully get over to England for our first
time. We’ve some friends based in London, Brighton, Liverpool and
Gregg is based in Leeds for part of the year so a UK tour is
definitely on the cards eventually. I’d say a full length album
would be our objective for this time next year.
Thanks
for doing this interview. Best of luck with your EP. Can’t wait to
hear it. Do you have anything to say to your fans before you go?
Just
want to say cheers to you Steve and Outlaws of the Sun for taking the
time to have a chat with us. Cheers to Andy Shields for being a true
wizard in the studio and cheers to everyone who has got behind us so
far, hopefully the EP will go down as well as we imagine.
Words
by Steve Howe and Jake Wallace
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