Elder
turned the Doom/Stoner Metal world on it's head back in 2015 when
they released the critically acclaimed album – Lore. It was an
album that you couldn't get away from. It was the Stoner Metal album
of 2015 which established Elder as a force to be reckoned with.
The
band went on an extensive tour promoting Lore in both Europe and the
United States. Now fast forward to 2017, Elder are back with their
upcoming new album – Reflections Of A Floating World. Due for
release in June 2017 via Stickman Records, this is another different
sounding album from Elder. With the band focusing on 70s Psych and
Classic Rock sounds whilst still maintaining the epic sounds they
created on Lore.
I
managed to catch up with Nick DiSalvo (Vocals/Guitar) from the band
and this is what we discussed....
Hi
Nick, Congrats on your new album – Reflections Of A Floating World.
Another great album from Elder. What can people expect from the
album.
Thank
you. Reflections is a typical Elder record, in the sense that it's
different than all the others. On paper the record could be described
as psychedelic, progressive heavy rock with elements of all sorts of
subgenres creeping in, like doom, stoner rock, krautrock, etc. I
think we are getting better at achieving our aims of writing songs
that play out like stories, or convey images, something more
descriptive than simple rock songs.
The
new album is very different to Lore. More rooted in 70s Psych/Classic
Rock though still offering that classic Elder sound. Was that the
original plan with the new album. Release something that wasn't Lore
Part 2.
There
has never been a plan for where the band will go or what we'll sound
like, but I think we hit something close to our "own" sound
on Lore and in certain ways I see Reflections as a logical step from
it, a little more cohesive, sprawling but in a different way,
experimental with different sounds. We have a simple plan: write
music that we enjoy. That is the only plan we follow for the records.
Did
you do anything differently recording this album compared to your
previous albums.
The
studio sessions for this record were still quite controlled, but for
our standards we gave ourselves much more time and room for
experimentation than usual. We had already decided prior to recording
the album that we would be adding a fourth member and were as a
result less concerned with how elaborated the songs became because we
could play them live. That let us put in more keys, more guitars,
etc.
We also brought in some guests for a recording session, our
friends Mike Risberg (who is now our 4th
member) and Mike Samos (doing pedal steel). We set aside a day to do
some live improvisational recordings in this 5 piece configuration
and got an additional 3 hours of material out of it that we sprinkled
in the album, and the rest will probably be used for a bonus release
down the road.
Was
it an easy or hard recording experience when making the album.
I
wouldn't put recording music in terms of easy or hard... it's a
challenge sometimes to realize your visions of how things should
sound, but it's an extremely fun and rewarding task to hear your
ideas materialize before your ears. We had a blast tweaking amps and
settings, doing live recordings, and spending a lot more time picking
apart the recordings than we ever have and I'm more satisfied with
the results than I've ever been.
What
influenced you when recording this album. As the album has some
complex themes running throughout.
Musically
speaking, there are no set influences that inform my songwriting and
we're almost never (directly) inspired by listening to other music. I
try to shut out everything else when writing intensively and see what
comes out, which is a process that I used for Lore as well.
Thematically speaking, the album is meant to be seen as a series of
vignettes portraying aspects about our world and how we make our own
realities. “The floating world” is a term translated from
Japanese that referred to the hedonistic, but also culturally
creative aspects of their society during its period of modernization.
This album is made up of my own “reflections”, excuse the pun,
about our own “floating world”, which seems a grossly decadent,
self-destructively capitalist, consumption driven madhouse. The songs
are about breaking free of this reality, living on your own terms,
and coming to an understanding of what it means to live in a world
devoid of intrinsic meaning.
Did
you feel any pressure when recording the album as Lore was such a
huge success for Elder.
Not
really. We took our time with the album and never approached the
studio until we were sure that the songs were finished and we were
satisfied with them. If our listeners appreciate the music then we're
grateful, but as a creative person you can't let other people's
expectations or taste steer your own direction.
Looking
back on Lore, did it surprise you the way critics and fans reacted to
the album in general. I consider it a modern classic. When I first
heard it – my first thoughts were – HOLY FUCK!!!.
I
am surprised that Lore got us the attention that it did, but looking
back on it, I had the same feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction
then that I do now. Mostly I'm surprised at the comparisons that
album garnered, mostly to bands we've never listened to or had
anything to do with.
I
think the album cover makes the album stand out. Who designed the
cover. Did you have much input into the final version.
Our
album art is always done by Adrian Dexter (except for the Spires
Burn/Release EP). He's always been our artist and we give each other
input into each other's work during the songwriting/album art
creation process and feel like he's a member of the group in some
way. At the same time, we never tell him what to make the artwork
like because it's important to us that he has creative control.
How
hard is it being a band in today's world. What are the most difficult
aspects in being in a band.
It's
hard to carve yourself a niche in the world of rock and roll today
because everything is so quickly played out and attention spans are
sometimes very short. I feel grateful that we started playing when we
did because I think we were just ahead of the curve for when the
“stoner rock bubble” began to blow up. It's hard to make a name
for yourself if there are a million other bands doing the same
schtick. For us, playing music is our life; we've literally tailored
everything else around our creative pursuit. I wouldn't live any
other way, but it's hard to eke out an existence if you're
essentially a worldwide musical freelancer.
It strains relationships,
leads to unhealthy living, and its hard to find a balance between the
worlds of touring and being off the road. For us, it's also very
important to maintain our integrity, to never compromise what we do
and refuse to whore ourselves out. That's not always easy in the
world of social media and we probably make things harder on ourselves
as a result of (mainly my) stubbornness. All in all though playing
music gives my life meaning and the good outweighs the bad many times
over.
Will
you be doing an extensive tour for this album like you did for Lore.
Or will you be taking things much easier.
We
learned after our non-stop touring following Lore that it's not
conducive to our mental or physical health to be out so much, but we
still plan to tour quite a bit. We've got a month in Europe planned
for the summer followed by a US tour in October, and we're talking
about getting to some other continents as well.
Elder
have been going as a band since 2006. Did you ever imagine the
journey that it has took you on. Would you change anything you
accomplished with Elder.
I
absolutely never imagined in my wildest teenage dreams that we would
actually be doing what we are doing now. We quite literally live our
childhood fantasies and I would not change a thing about our course
(except for a few poorly negotiated contracts, hehe...).
Photo by Jaime Gouger
Are
you still involved with different musical projects. I know that Matt
is involved with KIND. Are you all involved with different bands at
the moment. If so can you advise the status of them.
I
am currently drums playing in a Berlin-based band called VUG. We just
recorded an album and are mixing it right now. It's a fun mix of
faster proto-metal riffs with a lot of melodic heavy stoner-ish rock
thrown in. I'm actually not sure what Matt's up to or the status of
KIND right now, but he's always jamming with lots of people. He likes
to make weird recordings with synthesizers and crazy guitar pedals
too. Maybe we'll get to hear it one day.
Before
you go, do you have anything to say to your fans.
Thanks
for reading, support your local record store and don't let the man
get you down!
Nick,
thanks for doing this. All the best with the new album as its' a
brilliant album.
Words
by Steve Howe and Nick DiSalvo
Reflections
Of A Floating World will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via
Stickman Records from June 2nd 2017.
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