Have you been spotting these posters all around Dublin? Intrigued?
Well, on Friday 13th (what an appropriate date!) November 2015, local hard rock band Element X will be launching their debut EP "The Prologue" (I have heard it, and it's good, I promise) at On The Rox in Smithfield, Dublin. The record will then be available on iTunes and Spotify. More info on the band's Facebook page.Ahead of this introductory gig, I caught up with Element X to find out more about themselves and this first EP.
FIRST AND FOREMOST CAN YOU INTRODUCE THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND?
Ian: I'm Ian, 28, from Dublin, been playing guitar for about ten years now.
Dave: Dave, 26, from Baldoyle in Dublin and I'm the lead singer.
Sean: Sean, 23, bassist with a love of taking everything I can find apart, just to see how it works.
Rodrigo: Rodrigo, 28, from Zamora in Spain, mediocre drummer, amazing lover.
HOW DID YOU GUYS COME TOGETHER AS A BAND?
Ian: Well, at the start of 2014 I called a friend of mine, Cormac (who was our original lead guitarist), and suggested we start a band. So we put adverts out that we were looking for a drummer, bassist and singer and we were lucky because it was quite quick that the others came to us, and when they did it was very clear that each of them were a perfect fit for the band. Unfortunately Cormac had to leave the band at the start of this year but it was all on very good terms.
Dave: I saw the advert the lads put up about looking for a singer and replied to it. After two auditions they invited me to join and I haven't looked back since.
Ian: After Cormac left, we held auditions again, and Atte joined us a few weeks later. He was with us through the summer and recorded the EP with us, but he recently returned home to Finland to go back to university. So we are now in the process of getting our new guitarist up to speed with the songs and ready to go, we think he's going to do very well.
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NAME ELEMENT X?
Dave: The inspiration for our name came from our wide range of influences and styles. We wanted to find a name that represented what this mix of styles produced, and Element X was the one we settled on.
Rodrigo: It's from the Powerpuff Girls, the chemical x that the doctor used to create the girls, isn't it?.....Wait....ISN'T IT?!?! I've been living a lie all this time??!!??
WHAT BANDS DO YOU LISTEN TO AND INSPIRE YOU FOR YOUR OWN MUSIC?
Rodrigo: I keep my musical style and bands very open, I listen to a very wide spectrum of styles and bands, but I would say that my main inspiration when it comes to songwriting is The Exies and Foo Fighters. My style of playing drums is very inspired by Chad Smith though.
Ian: Well, Kurt Cobain was the reason I started playing guitar, but my main influence comes from Metallica, and specifically James Hetfield. Songwriting, guitar playing style, very influenced by Hetfield.
Dave: As a singer, Ozzy, Chris Cornell, James Hetfield and Kurt Cobain. As a frontman, Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford. Dio is becoming a big influence on me lately.
Sean: I started playing bass when I was 14, listening to the likes of Green Day and Blink 182. Since then, I've been heavily inspired by the bass playing in Muse, Streetlight Manifesto, Rancid and Megadeth.
CAN EACH OF YOU TELL ME THE BEST CONCERT YOU HAVE EVER BEEN TO AS AN AUDIENCE MEMBER?
Sean: U2 in Croke Park 2009, wins by default, as I've been to barely any concerts!
Ian: Metallica in the RDS in 2006. My first time seeing them, and I loved every second. An extremely close second would be Rammstein in The O2. Just an unbelieveable spectacle.
Rodrigo: A few of them, all Spanish bands, Def Con Dos, Extremoduro, La Pulqueria or Marea. I think if i had to choose one I would say La Pulqueria. Very energetic, non-stop jumping and singing and tequila! As for a band from outside of Spain, Bad Religion in En Vivo Getafe 2012 under heavy rain, that was an awesome gig too.
Dave: For me it's between Foo Fighters in Slane last summer, Muse in the 3 Arena in 2012 and Rage Against the Machine at Oxegen 2008.
SO YOUR EP IS CALLED “THE PROLOGUE” , WHICH IS LEGIT FOR A DEBUT RECORD! WHAT ELSE CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT HOW THIS EP WAS MADE IN TERMS OF THEMES, SONG WRITING AND RECORDING PROCESS?
Rodrigo: I had previous expeience recording an EP back in Spain, but doing it in Ireland is an awesome and new experience. The same thing happened with the song writing, you can feel how the culture makes the process slightly different but with the same results and satisfaction in the end. The writing process is awesome because I think that we connect very well musically and the music usually flows very well and naturally. Special mention has to go to Gary at Red Lake Sound Studios who helped us a lot, he really understood our needs and our requests. Plus there was a Super Nintendo and a Mega Drive there.
Ian: The songs on this EP were written during the last year or two. When we decided to go into the studio to record 5 songs we looked at all the songs we had written, we had about 10 or 11, and we chose the 5 we thought would work best together, and also would show all sides of our music. The song writing process is great, I love it. Even though we all have different influences and styles, when a riff or a chorus or something comes along that's good enough to be turned into a song, we all seem to always lock into the same view of where that song should go very quick. The recording process was fantastic. I can't praise Gary in Red Lake Sound Studios enough. He listened to what our aims for the EP were in terms of production and he knew exactly how to get us there. He also had good suggestions of his own for small tweaks here and there, great producer. The recording itself went very smooth, 6 days from beginning to mastering and we are delighted with the results. Just can't wait for everyone to hear it now!
Sean: I recorded in a previous band, but it was great to go to Red Lake Sound Studios where Gary brought the best out of us and our sound. The writing process tends to be fairly unpredictable, and exciting, as we all have such varied interests and we all bring different styles to the table.
Dave: While we were writing, I didnt feel like we were writing our songs for the purpose of a common theme. I always felt like we wrote one song at a time and explored the potential right themes for the music in that song. The recording process for me was a unique experience. It was our second time recording together after we recorded our first demo tracks in a studio in Dublin. That original experience was like a wake up call for me personally as it made me realise the importance of pre production. I believe that made a huge difference when we then went to record the EP, we had that experience to draw from.
HAVE YOU PLAYED THESE TRACKS LIVE BEFORE OR WAS IT A STRAIGHT FROM THE STUDIO EP?
Sean: Nope, never played them before, never even heard them before we recorded them.
Rodrigo: We haven't even recorded them yet.
Sean: My bad....
Dave: We've been playing almost all of them ever since we started gigging last year.
Ian: Out of the 5 songs on the EP, ReaperFire is the newest one, and that was written around the spring time of this year, so these songs have been around for a good while.
FINALLY, DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER GIGS PLANNED AFTER THIS ONE?
Ian: We have a couple booked for a few months time, we aren't rushing into anything at the moment because we want to get fully up to speed with our new guitarist, Liam, first. Our original guitarist, Cormac, is coming back for this EP launch gig for a kind of one night special party thing, and after that we will get to work with the Liam and hopefully get back gigging regularly very early in the new year.
Dave: I'd personally love if we could do some gigs around the country to boost the EP in the next few months. But for now the focus is on getting everything up to speed with the new line up.
No comments:
Post a Comment