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| ELYSION FIELDS: Like me the band is tired of genre labels so let's just call them ELYSION FIELDS, modern metal band from Chicago, Illinois, USA. The CD New Beginnings is out now! I highly recommend this band. |
By Dr Kieran James (University of Southern Queensland)
E-mail interview, 3 February 2012
Kieran James: Hi, mate. Thanks very much for agree to do interview with our websitewww.busukwebzine666.blogspot.com. These are the questions:
KJ: First tell us the band history, such as when you started and who are the members?
Elysion Fields:The band first started back in 2007. Josh and Scott were both in between bands at the time and decided to get together and test the waters. After a while, a bunch of songs were on the board and we finally decided we needed to find other members. We’ve been through a bunch of member changes leading up to this current lineup, but we all believe this is the strongest lineup we’ve had and hopefully nothing changes from there!
KJ: Why did you choose your band name? I'm aware of the Megadeth track Elysian Fields but the spelling is different.
EF: We wanted to go with something that related to mythology from the beginning. Scott is Greek so one day he was looking through a Greek mythology book and came upon the term Elysion Fields. The meaning behind it was just so awesome that we couldn’t resist!
KJ: How is progress for your album? I heard three tracks on YouTube, “Our Sacrament", "We are One" and "Forerunner". The first is most aggressive; you could call it straight out death-metal. Will this be the album opener? By the way I'm very impressed by all three tracks.
EF: "Our Sacrament" and "We Are One" are actually both on our full length CD that we released in November/December 2011. "Forerunner" is on our EP from 2009 (which you can get for free by visiting www.elysionfields.fanbridge.com)! Back to your question about opening the CD though…that track is called "Conquest of Man" which is also on YouTube as well!
KJ: How would you describe your style and what bands do you credit as main influences?
EF: We have kind of grown tired of all of the sub-genres of metal that seem to crop up at every corner so we tend to just refer to ourselves as Metal. Everyone knows what metal sounds like as opposed to going up to someone and describing ourselves as “Melodic Death Metalcore”..hahah. We like keeping it simple when describing ourselves! As for our main influences, those are kind of all over the place. We all listen to a lot of different music from Metallica to the Beatles, from Beethoven to The Black Dahlia Murder, from Thrice to Dream Theater. We wouldn’t have it any other way!
KJ: The three vocals are impressive, the death growl, the black-metal shriek and the clean vocals. There is atmosphere and chemistry. Nothing seems forced in any way. Are there two singers or three and who actually does what?
EF: Chris actually does all of the screaming and Josh does all of the clean singing on the album.
KJ: Our website www.busukwebzine666.blogspot.com mostly features Indonesian bands and we have mostly Indonesian readers and many in other countries too. Do you like any Indonesian bands either death-metal or metalcore? One band you absolutely should check out is Death Vomit from Yogyakarta who toured Australia in September 2011.
EF: We hate to say but we aren’t well versed when it comes to knowing a ton of bands outside of the US. We aren’t opposed to it at all, we love checking out new music! Anyone out there reading definitely hit us up and let us know of anything you think we should hear and we will listen to it!
KJ: What are your touring plans and any plan or dream to tour this part of the world such as Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia?
EF: Right now we have mostly tours planned for the US. We are planning to go out in March and July and will hopefully by then have a lot more concrete idea of where we will be going after that. It would be a dream come true to get out of the US and tour around the world, especially those regions you mentioned!
KJ: I just wonder if you heard of a German band called Sacrificium? They did the death growl/ black shriek very well on their last album Escaping the Stupor.
EF: We have not but we will definitely check it out! Can’t go wrong with German Metal!
KJ: How is the metal scene in your Chicago these days and can you give us the names of three or four or five upcoming bands from there we should pay attention to?
EF: The metal scene in our area is definitely growing! However, the one thing we seem to notice is that it seems to be so fragmented with only certain friends supporting other friends’ bands and it is truly a shame. We believe in supporting everyone and always have; it is the only true way that a scene such as metal can grow! They aren’t necessarily from our area, but we would definitely love to give a shout out to the following bands:
Spies Like Us: https://www.facebook.com/SpiesLikeUs
Our Judgement: https://www.facebook.com/OurJudgment
KJ: Last one: Any message or word for the fans?
EF: "We love you guys. Seriously. Without you all we would never be where we are today and we will never be able to thank you enough for our support. Go grab some merch if you haven’t and wear it proudly. Pick up our CD, New Beginnings and blast it throughout your neighborhood. Let the word of EF ring loud in everyone’s ears. We are here to stay and we are taking you with us whether you like it or not!"
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