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
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.
