Most people say that wisdom comes with age but since Elysia formed in 2003, their views have grown and spread through their music. Everything from being banned from venues, drugs, and even this year’s election is touched on, with a style and attitude all their own. Read on about this passionate band about their numerous opinions, their latest album, and you, the fans!

Shout!: Your band has had an abundance of lineup changes in the past. What do you feel the key to longevity is with this current lineup?

Elysia: This current lineup has toured a lot together, we’ve been through great moments, as well as awful moments. That really helps bring a band together and I think this lineup is the most solid yet. We all wrote this new album with equal input, which is quite rare usually, so everyone in this band has a lot invested in this new album emotionally. That makes us very tight-knit.

S!: I’ve read that your new album is said to mark a new era. How do you think your fans will react to this new material?

Elysia: I think our old fans are excited about it, like our fans and friends from when this band was first starting to play shows outside of Sacramento, in Vegas and southern California. All of us were just a bunch of young kids who grew up, and the music of Elysia has finally caught up with us. I also think there’re going to be kids who are sick of the same sounding bands all trying to copy all the major acts, who are going to be into this album. It’s a refreshing album if you’re sick of trends. However, we do know that there will be a lot of more recent Elysia fans who probably won’t like this album as much as the old material. That stuff has been around for like 4 years now, so if there are kids who still aren’t over it, I think it’s just time for everyone to move on. That sound was fresh when we were doing it 4 years ago, but we got all caught up in the quick and huge growth of it. When we played shows back then we were generally the only band on a bill with that sound, now when we tour it’s like every single band on that bill is trying to do that same sound. We’re just sick of a style of music that is only attractive to really young kids who just aren’t old enough to know any better. It’s like the same thing as pop basically; you’re playing formulaic, simple, and catchy music for a young crowd that eats it up, I mean to me that’s the same thing that pop music does. There’s no dignity in it, in my opinion. So we don’t want to be associated with that kind of thing. We want to make music because we love creating music to express ourselves, not to make music that will sell and only be relevant to young kids and little girls.    

S!: What can you tell our readers to expect from this new album?

Elysia: Well Like I mentioned above, the new album has a pretty refreshing sound to it. It’s hard to really say ‘it sounds like so and so’…I have trouble coming up with bands when people ask me who it sounds like. So from what I’ve heard from friends, it has a really strong 90s sort of metalcore sound to it. Ironically, like a lot of the early bands Ferret put out, like we’ve been compared to Disembodied a lot. Also, Botch and Converge a lot. We did use The Poacher Diaries by Converge as a strong influence on this album. The sound has also been referenced to a lot of recent hardcore acts, like I’ve heard it compared to Rise and Fall, and I’ve also heard that it sounds like a Deathwish Inc. band, [Laughs]. My personal thought on the sound is that it’s heavier than the last album. a lot of complaints from our newer fans have been that it lacks heaviness because there’re no breakdowns. It definitely does not take breakdowns to create heaviness, and this album really displays that. There are still great parts for a live show and crowd interaction, there are a lot of parts kids can sing-along to, although there aren’t really any specific one-liners in this album, like the last one was filled with. So it’s not just the sound, but also the lyrics that show a lot of growth in this album. People can expect a lot of anger in despair throughout this album. The mood and lyrical theme of it is really depressing and personal, which I think people will be able to relate to. It’s still a political type album, but it’s not like issue by issue like our older material. The album’s main theme is betrayal and each song tells a tale of betrayal. It addresses my personal loss of faith in God, relationships, society, civilization, and any form of government. It’s very fucking pissed off.

S!: Elysia has very strong views in their lyrics. Why do you feel some people are against this when we live in a nation that lives on freedom of speech?

Elysia: There are a lot of young people involved in this scene who just don’t want to hear about important things that affect them. So many people just want to read the same lyrics over and over again, about killing people and such. Fuck that though, this band sees the shit we talk about as the most important things humanity is facing, which is it’s extinction. This band is against any unsustainable economy, government, or society. Our Earth is rotting away and with it so are we. It’s as if humans have lost their humanity in their own self-destructiveness. What kills the Earth kills you and me. We’ve been taught by our societies to hate our bodies, our Earth, and each other. Tthat’s the only explanation to why people can allow themselves to be poisoned with pesticides and polluted air. To us, what this band is about is a natural human instinct, the survival instinct, and the dedication to the continuance of humans and our Earth. It’s radical, and that type of thing bothers people. They don’t want to be told that their comfortable lives are actually being lived immorally, or not even immorally, just that they are being lived wrong and in a way that hurts people. For people to understand that civilization is killing itself they must first break down every single belief that has been indoctrinated in us since birth. This album talks about that breakdown and the realization that all things we have been taught have been from our oppressors, therefore our society, governments, and religions have betrayed us and are traitors to our trust in them. God doesn’t love us when he’s letting his creation kill themselves. Our society and relationships are loveless and the things we use for entertainment only bury our natural feelings of sorrow and depression. Everyone has depression buried inside of their hearts. Everyone knows they are slaves to their work and to the benefit of others. The song “Box of Need(les)” addresses how people use things like T.V. and alcohol/drug filled weekend nights to further bury these feelings. Our governments can only break the social contract we make with them, they benefit from the world hating us. Hostility towards the U.S. has only increased since the Iraq war and we are now more susceptible to attack than ever. These institutions will always betray the people they are supposed to benefit, by benefiting those with power with more power. If someone has a problem with this, they can talk to us about it at a show, instead of talking shit on the internet or whatever they do.

S!: Being banned from venues can put a damper on a bands career. How has being banned in some places affected you personally and as a band?

Elysia: We haven’t recently had any problems with this. However, early in the band’s career we couldn’t get booked anywhere in Sacramento. Sacto was just a big venue called The Boardwalk, which we weren’t big enough to get booked at yet, and then two church venues. We played both those church venues once and then were banned afterwards. A few months ago we were allowed back at The Underground, because they had switched their booker there. Their security lets kids get beat on but when a fist comes near them they choke the kid out and drag them outside, bloodied and with torn clothes. We spoke about that at the show and we’ve never been asked back since. As far as the other church venue in Sacramento, Club Retro I don’t even know if we are banned from there anymore, it was such a long time ago.

S!: Being so opinionated, what are you views on this years election?

Elysia: Well, being that we really don’t believe in this system anyway you would think we wouldn’t care, but we are still reasonable people and we realize that dams killing our rivers and fish aren’t going away anytime soon and neither will the system [Laughs]. So honestly, we would like to see Obama as the next president. 

S!: What is your relationship with Ferret like and why did you sign with them?

Elysia: We started to get a bunch of offers that we were just kind of sitting on because we really wanted to hear from Ferret before we did anything. We love their track record and we knew that they treat their bands very well. They finally got in touch with us and ended up working out a better contract than anyone else had offered. We all thought they were awesome dudes, we loved that Carl sings in Nora and has band experience, so we went with them and we’ve been happy with them since.

S!: How did you get involved with the Young Guns tour?

Elysia: I actually think it was Mike’s [the singer of Knights Of The Abyss] idea that he brought to Carl. Carl and Ferret organized it, got the fresh new bands on the roster with new releases coming out on the bill, and that was that.

S!: What has been your most memorable moment so far during this tour?

Elysia: Just playing with all these great bands and great crowds!

S!: What can your fans expect from you next?

Elysia: We are doing a run with Shai Hulud and Full Blown Chaos in July/August! After that tour, just keep an eye out for more touring! There’s also talk of doing vinyl!

S!: Any last words to our readers?

Elysia: Pick up our new album Lion of Judas if you’re sick of the same old shit! Don’t forget the new Banner release Frailty, and for you metal lovers pick up the new Knights of the Abyss Shades.

• MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/elysia