ELITIST
PHOTO BY: John Menenger  l  WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/theelitistband

ALL THE BAND MEMBERS SEEM TO “JELL” REALLY WELL ON YOUR RECORDINGS. WAS IT HARD TO GET THE RIGHT INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED AND MAKE ELITIST THE BAND IT IS TODAY?

This line-up has been an ongoing process. We used to be a band called Another Day in Vain and would play frequently at venues like the Whiskey A Go Go and the Cobalt Café on weekends. However our drummer Ryan left the band to tour with As Blood Runs Black and later left ABRB to become a full time member in Silent Civilian.

The band split up for a while and Julian and Phil went to The Fortune Teller. After a while TFT slowed down to a complete halt when they parted with their singer. Julian and Jake decided to bring back Another Day in Vain with a new name, sound, and style, Elitist.

The original line-up (with Daniel of Volumes replacing Ryan on Drums) was back for a few months but was then altered to cater to the more serious and time-consuming goals of Julian and Jake. The line-up you will hear on “Caves” is Julian and Sean (of The Fortune Teller) on guitar, Robert Platz (also Fortune Teller) on Drums, Mike Danase on Bass and Jacob Katz on vocals. This is the line-up we hope to take all the way to the top.

IN YOUR BAND BIO YOU MENTION THAT THE BAND AIMS TO USE A HIGH LEVEL OF MUSIC THEORY AND KNOWLEDGE TO WRITE SONGS. HOW MUCH MUSICAL TRAINING HAVE YOU GUYS HAD AND WHERE DOES THE THEORY END AND THE COMPOSING ON IMPULSE OR FEELING BEGIN?

Most of the members of the band have been taking private lessons or courses in music for many years. Julian studies classical and electric guitar with A.J. Minette of The Human Abstract, as well as Sean previously studying with A.J. Mike is just getting back from college in New York where he spent most of his time taking music courses. Julian, Sean and Robert were in The Fortune Teller, which the band goal was quite literally to take the structure of a Chopin Nocturne or Concerto and make it metal. That approach can be quite advanced for a lot of people and we wanted to broaden our target audience in Elitist. We did this by backing off of the shred and making our music more catchy, memorable and heavy, but at the same time leaving a slight technical aspect.

IF THE BAND HAS AN INTEREST IN MUSIC THEORY YOU MUST HAVE A BIG INTEREST IN GEAR AS WELL. MANY “TECHNICAL” METAL BANDS SEEM TO ALWAYS USE 7 OR EVEN 8 STRING GUITARS THESE DAYS; DO YOU DO THE SAME AND WHAT GEAR IS CURRENTLY IN YOUR ARSENAL?

As far as gear goes, we stay away from 7 and 8 string guitars. We feel that bands that use 7 and 8 string guitars and keep tuning down till the strings fall off are just limiting themselves musically. We want to limit ourselves the least amount possible, but hit hard at the same time. We play 6 string guitars tuned to Dropped B tuning and Mike plays a 5 string bass. We all play Ibanez (Ibanez Prestige S5470, Ibanez RGA, and Ibanez SR505 Bass). Robert Plays a DW Collectors series Kit. We use Mesa and Framus Amp heads.

WHO ARE THE “MAIN” SONGWRITERS IN THE BAND AND DO YOU HAVE THOSE ONE OR TWO INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE LIKE THESE IDEA MACHINES WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING NEW SONGS?

95% of the Caves EP was written as well as all guitars recorded by Julian. The reason for this is Sean joined the band at the very end of the EP recording / writing process. Sean was able to write one or two sections of the EP but the rest of the writing was Julian. In our later releases and full lengths, chances are there will be a much more collaborative writing process. 

YOUR DEBUT EP TITLED “CAVES” WILL BE RELEASED ON JULY THE 20TH; HOW ARE THINGS CURRENTLY LOOKING IN THE RECORDING DEPARTMENT AND WHAT ASPECT OF THE BAND’S MATERIAL ARE YOU EXITED ABOUT THE MOST AT THE MOMENT?

The EP is sounding great we will be releasing an EP Sampler on May 21st to help us get the hype up and hopefully boost record sales. Everything is coming together perfectly, and all though not everyone was a part of the writing process we are all in the studio together working as a team to produce and give our creative input. This teamwork is what is going to make the EP stand apart from others.

WHAT AVENUES ARE YOU CURRENTLY EXPLORING TO MAKE THE BAND’S MUSIC AS AVAILABLE AS POSSIBLE; AND DO YOU THINK INDEPENDENT BANDS WOULD BE “LOST” WITHOUT THE INTERNET?

The EP will be available on all iTunes music stores (US , UK, Japan etc.) Amazon.com, Lala.com, Napster, Myspace Music, Zune and a few others. This will not be available as a hardcopy in stores like Best Buy just yet. For now it is an online release only. The internet is an incredible tool and resource for independent bands who are trying to gain recognition. We have really used the internet to our advantage in trying to gain notoriety without playing shows. But that’s not to say that bands that don’t use the internet are lost. By playing shows and meeting the right people, and of course having good music, any band can make it to the top. Look at Trivium or Killswitch Engage, when those guys started the internet wasn’t as largely accessible as it is now and they are some of the most successful in the genre.

WHERE DOES THE BAND RECORD MOST OF ITS MATERIAL, AND DO SOME OF THE BAND MEMBERS DO THE “HOME STUDIO” THING AS WELL, IN CASE A GOOD SONG IDEA COMES AROUND?

Actually all of our demos are Guitar Pro files. Everything is written on guitar pro prior to recording and we agree or disagree on sections upon studying the guitar pro tracks. The song ‘Odeon’ was written on a five-hour airplane flight. We all have means to record riffs on our own but we tend to wait to hit the studio to lay down real tracks. As far as recording goes we are fortunate enough to record with Diego of Volumes. He is a talented engineer and has an awesome studio in Woodland Hills, California. This is where we spent all of our time tracking and mixing the EP.

THE BAND WILL BE PERFORMING LIVE IN AUGUST AGAIN DUE TO YOUR DRUMMER’S FOOT SURGERY RECOVERY. THIS WILL SOUND LAME; BUT DO YOU HOPE THAT HIS DOUBLE BASS WILL BE FASTER AS A RESULT OF A SIDE EFFECT FROM THE SURGERY?

Yes, part of the premise of Robert’s foot surgery was to enable him to play better. His foot was constantly hurting him at practice and he decided that it would be smarter to get the surgery now instead of having shows come to a standstill for a number of months. This way we can release our music, shoot the music video and start playing shows and touring.

THE BAND IS PLANNING A MUSIC VIDEO AS WELL. ANY IDEA YET WHICH SONG FROM THE EP WILL BE MADE INTO A VIDEO OR ARE YOU GUYS STILL DEBATING AMONG YOURSELVES?

The music video will be shot for the song which the album is themed after “Caves”. This is one of the more intense tracks off of the EP. We wanted this to be a themed song and if you listen closely you can hear a certain triad or grouping of three notes being repeated from the very first riff to the last. We wanted the listener to imagine the experience of walking through an epic cave like in the Planet Earth series.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE BEST MUSIC VIDEO YOU’VE EVER SEEN AND ARE YOU MORE FANS OF CONCEPT OR PERFORMANCE STYLE MUSIC VIDEOS?

Protest The Hero’s “Bloodmeat” music video is badass. As well as August Burns Red’s Composure music video. Music videos that have a great theme and lighting are always the best. Music videos that don’t have a new frame every fourth of a second so you don’t get a headache watching it. I’d say we lean toward concept rather than performance style music videos.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR ANYTHING ELSE FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

Look for our EP on all the online stores July 5th. The Caves sampler will be up on the Myspace May 21st. Shows mid to late August and the Caves music video in September. Get stoked and ask us any additional questions on our Myspace we try to respond as frequently as possible.

INTERVIEW BY NEIL VAN ZYL