Elder: Ancient root, future seed

Elder: Ancient root, future seed

Elder are set to decimate the stage at Arlen’s annual stoner rock birthday bash!

By Christine Leonard
28 December 2015 

Bostonian heavy rock outfit Elder isn’t the type to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theatre, but the incendiary heat of their saturnine blues-rock meltdowns can be felt from the back of the room. Originally hailing from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo, drummer Matt Couto, and bassist Jack Donovan have been making stylistically-charged headbanging music since they were kids. That’s probably why DiSalvo bristles being questioned about when exactly Donovan joined the group, following the departure of Chas Mitchell.

“Jack has more or less been around since the inception,” says DiSalvo. “We’ve all been friends going back to childhood. This was almost not even the same band as before the other guy left. As far as this goes, Jack’s been in the band the entire time.”

The value of loyalty isn’t lost on Elder, and with three full-length albums to look back upon, the wise-beyond-their-years band can be proud of what they’ve accomplished together. From the nascent rumbles of Dead Roots Stirring (2011) to the lofty heights of Spires EP and their cataclysmic live albums, Elder is one group that has continued to redefine their sound time and time again. To accomplish this, DiSalvo and company delved deep into the thrum and thrall psyche of influencers like Swedish rock act Dungen, doom lords Sleep, the almighty Black Sabbath, fuzz worshippers Electric Wizard and, perhaps not surprisingly, Alberta’s own Chron Goblin.

“It’s weird to look back and see the progress we’ve made. To tell you the truth, we’ve been on the road so much none of us has had time to be introspective about all the changes we’ve been through. Thank God there’s been no trauma in our lives, other than the trauma of becoming adults. We started playing music when we were 17 years old. Growing up together the main factor shaping our development was playing with the bands around us. We learned what we liked and emulated it on our way to becoming musicians with our own music. All of those new experiences; seeing new things and traveling to new places had an impact on…. [who and what] we are today. We actually met Devin (Purdy) of Chron Goblin in 2013 while we were playing at the Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands. We enjoyed hanging out and have been talking about playing a joint show ever since. Finally, the timing worked out so we will have a chance to come up to Canada and perform with them.”

Released in February of 2015, Elder’s latest full-length release, Lore (Stickman), aspires to mount an intricate fretwork cathedral over the stone circle of their hard-rock foundation.

“I appreciate the 50-50 split of complexity and grooviness,” says DiSalvo.

“That balance is what really draws people into the music. I think we’ve aged and matured, but I think our ‘Dead Roots’ are even more evident in our songwriting. We wanted to surprise people with the new album. Not for the shock-factor, but as a signal that we are changing as musicians and our style is shifting with us.”

DiSalvo continues, “Lore was chiefly composed and written by me and was a true studio album. The question of paring the songs down to make the album performable live was a real challenge. It made us rethink the way we’re going to write albums in the future. I don’t have three hands, so I can’t replicate all of the layers on the album, but hopefully, the versions of the songs we present on stage are just as complex and vivid.”

While the more brutal aspects of their sludge-metal personality may serve to underscore the beauty of Elder’s symphonic compositions, they certainly don’t subscribe to the doctrine of brutalizing eardrums.

“There is a loudness war going on in production at the moment,” DiSalvo observes. “The actual decibels on recordings have been going up notably throughout time. The same thing is going on with doom bands. We’re not interested in being beyond loud. It doesn’t make sense. It’s been done a million times. Even if you have a PA system that can handle that volume it’s not going to sound as impressive as the simple, classic three-piece set up we use. We’re not a stadium band. Nothing insane. We just want everything to be heard.”

Elder will be performing at Arlen’s Bday Bash on January 9th, 2016 at The Palomino with Chron Goblin and Woodhawk.

Rocky Mountain high: Calgary New Music Festival's forward-thinking artistic director Mélanie Léonard

Rocky Mountain high: Calgary New Music Festival delivers a breath of fresh air

by Christine Leonard
11 May 2015

You don’t have to be Philip Glass to wrap your mind around the creative impetus at the core of the Calgary New Music Festival. Clear in her ambition to introduce Calgarians to a new breed of classical musicians, the festival’s forward-thinking artistic director Mélanie Léonard saw a unique opportunity to kick off the New Works Calgary 2014-2015 season with a blast of fresh air.

“The fantastic team of people behind me a NeWorks Calgary was having discussion music about the music scene in Calgary, and it was obvious that we were all passionate about new music. We felt there was a need to bring attention to local ensembles and individual musicians, who are devoted to that repertoire,” Léonard, who also performs with professional chamber music ensemble The Wild West New Music Ensemble, explains. “In partnering with other organizations and venues the city we have been able to come together and present a festival that taps into an established audience while covering a rich spectrum of music that is often difficult to describe.”

Encouraging the Classical Revolution to pass through its door, Café Koi will launch the stage-hopping series of concerts that comprise the two-week-long Calgary New Music Festival’s well-paced schedule. One of the Festival’s most popular acts, The Land’s End Ensemble will attune Festival Hall the following evening. Allowing a day, or two, off between artistic epiphanies, Spiritus Chamber Choir will roost in Knox United Church and the Kensington Sinfonia will illuminate Hope Lutheran Church. Avant-garde Flux Quartet and Evan Ziporyn are to collaborate at the Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall, while MRU’s Wyatt Recital Hall welcome’s the contemporary deconstruction of Neil Cockburn. Another reason to check out the National Music Centre, Luciane Caradassi goes it solo on May 13, and the whole thing rounds-up with the Wild West New Music Ensemble May 16 Inspiration Stage (TELUS Spark).

“I wanted to highlight composers and music more closely related to more traditional, romantic, and post-romantic styles, alongside more challenging forms. New harmonies, new sound and new musical material, these artists are utilizing extended techniques for a new musical era. It’s about presenting what’s being written today in the context of the past 100 years of modern composition since composers have started to break free and evolve.”

Given the vast and uncharted territory that is home to the new music genre, how does one go about making high art accessible to the curious and cultured who wish to glimpse behind the veil of philharmonic genius? The CPO’s former associate conductor, Léonard suggests that the most fundamental of human traits are the key to unlocking the unfathomable depths of the neo-classical movement.

“The important thing to remember is that the music, language, and technique are all just approaches that are used by the composer as carriers of emotion. You can apply that philosophy to all art in general,” she says. “For that reason, live performances are an important form of communication about the human experience. There’s a palpable energy and graceful synergy that comes from being in a shared space together; connecting through live art and live music in the presence of musicians, and sharing a common interest with an audience in those moments of grace. There is a synergy that happens when you leave yourself open to new experiences like that. I hope people surprise themselves by stepping out of the box and exploring the repertoires of these new composers.”

Go to neworkscalgary.com for more information.

AB, Alberta, New Works Calgary, New Works Music Festival

The Electric Revival get their freak on

Calgary rockers The Electric Revival get their freak on for their 4th album 

By Christine Leonard
20 February 2015

1930s film director Tod Browning probably never listened to much heavy music in his day, but he most certainly understood what it meant to stand apart from the crowd. Such was the cinematic bite of his black and white thriller Freaks.

While the three members of The Electric Revival may not have had that cult classic in mind when they named their new album, guitarist-vocalist Ian Dillon, drummer Dallas Lobb and bassist Dan Toews are no strangers to playing the role of disenfranchised misfits who thrive on performing before an awestruck crowd.

“We grew up in Innisfail, about an hour north of Calgary. You could only skateboard four months a year, so there was nothing to do but drink beer and play guitars. It also meant that the garage bands you had to choose from were into either country or metal,” says Dillon. “I met Dallas and Dan in junior high, at age 14, and like most small-town kids we left for the city as soon as we were out of school. We had always been in revolving metal bands over the years, so when we started the group, in 2009, we really wanted to get back to the basics, drums, guitars, amps. We tried to be as primitive as possible and focus on being a solid band.”

It would be three years before the nocturnal trio formally introduced themselves to their audience, raising the curtain on their debut album, Presenting: The Electric Revival, in 2012. The blues-soaked trio decided to keep the ball rolling by releasing a new single every week for 13 weeks that summer. Tightening their grip, The Electric Revival launched their glorious Pirate Radio LP in July of 2013 and followed it up with yet another album, 5 Songs by Electric Revival, four months later. No wonder the band was recently picked up by Cruzer Media. And, achieving international distribution was all the more incentive for Dillon, Dallas, and Dan to dive back into the studio and get their eponymous Freak on.

“The new album was recorded over the course of three weeks, during April of 2014, at Electric Park Studio in Calgary. I produced and engineered the record myself with assistant engineer Jonny Vincent and our pre-production engineer, Steven Lilly. Freaks was recorded live off the floor, together as a band, all in one room using very basic recording techniques… and the best modern digital recording equipment available. We were able to get our hands on a couple of cool synthesizers and used them and the organ a lot on this record, we really like the way it helped fill out the sound.”

Full is an understatement. Freaks kicks off with the explosive howler “My Molly My” a blow-your-hair-back and bury-the-needle joyride that slams into the cerebral cortex like a grasshopper hitting the windshield. Swerving out of the fast lane, the CB heartbreaker “Rolling Stone” postures up for a space truckin’ riff-off that would have Johnny Winter tipping his hat in respect. Southern swelter and soul are grist for the mill on “Wild Child” and “Baby Please (Come Home)”, while the two-edged sword of “Feed My Love” cuts to the drone, scratchin’ for an ‘80s punk fix. Did I just say punk? Yes, it’s in there too!

“The songs are about love, death, freedom, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, they explore a lot of territory while maintaining The Electric Revival sound. We never want to limit ourselves creatively. We wanted to the extra mile for the new album, so we threw a big party at the studio for about 30 friends. Just like the good old days!”

Available now, Freaks is fated to send epic ripples across The Electric Revival’s smoke-hazed horizons. 

See the Electric Revival on February 21st at the Nite Owl with Mammoth Grove, The Rumble and 7’s Wild.