ELIAS

Jenia meets the Vancouver based band

The Vancouver based band Elias has been creating a buzz across the music industry lately with their incredibly original sound. In October 2009 they released their album “Lasting Distraction” which includes their hit single “All We Want”, a piano ballad.

On March 23^rd 2010 I sat down with Brian Healy (vocals, piano, guitar), lead guitarist Rob Tornroos and drummer Stefan Tavares to discuss the success of their album and their current cross Canada tour with Protest the Hero.

CONFRONT: Since this is your first time doing an interview with our magazine, I just need a brief history of the band to start things off.

BRIAN: Robert!

ROBERT: We’ve been around since, roughly, 2005; just Brian & myself. We’d been in many bands before that trying to get somewhere in this business. In 2005 we released an independent EP followed by an independent album. It was a moderate success in Western Canada. We’ve been to CMW four times. Hard ships led to breaking up a week prior to getting offered a record deal which led the band to re-form but we still have no bass player because he left.

CONFRONT: So it’s just the three of you?

ROBERT: Technically yes. We have a fill in bass player for tour.

CONFRONT: Oh that’s interesting.

ROBERT: Yeah! He does a lot so it’s really cool but technically on the contract there are only three names. What else? We’re signed to Wax Records. We released Lasting Distraction February….

STEFAN: October 2009

BRIAN: Now we’re touring with Protest the Hero!

CONFRONT: Where did the name originate?

BRIAN: It’s from a movie called Platoon and it’s one of the characters in there that kind of represented a feeling that we had when we chose the name. The name was actually around before this band was around so before that 5 year period. Rob & I had a little side project when I was in a different band in 2002. When we decided to work on this project we decided to use this name because we both really liked it. It just kind of stuck. When we first signed to the label they wanted us to change it…

ROBERT: Well we all wanted to change it.

BRIAN: Yeah fresh start

CONFRONT: It’s original though. It’s not one that you can easily confuse with other band names.

ROBERT: If it’s pronounced right it sticks out. The thousands of times it’s not pronounced right you’re like ughhh!!

CONFRONT: What do you usually get called?

BRIAN: “Ell-E-Us”, “Eee-Lee-Us”, what else…

CONFRONT: There’s the hockey player “Ee-Lee-Ush”. Ever get that one?

BRIAN: Oh yes! We get asked about that. People also think it’s “Alias”

CONFRONT: So your album Last Distraction has been released for a few months now. What was it like to make that album? Who did most of the writing?

BRIAN: Rob & I sort of put our heads together on this one and did the collaborating which is what we’ve always done. This was more of a collaborative effort then before because we even started to work together on lyrics and themes for songs. We had some songs from before that we recorded so we put the best representation of old and new. We were in the studio for about five weeks.

CONFRONT: So you two just come together to compare ideas?

ROBERT: Yeah in every way. It can start during a jam at the start of a practice to a drum beat, it can start any way. We wanted to distance ourselves from our old sound; it was a very polar album. A lot of it is “hard-rocky” which might represent the older stuff and the newer stuff is softer and different which represents where we were when we were writing it.

CONFRONT:  If someone were to listen to your album for the very first time, which song would you say best describes your sound?

BRIAN: Good question

ROBERT: Ooh that’s a tough one.

STEFAN: All We Want

BRIAN: That best describes our sound?

ROBERT: All we want probably. Big piano, big guitars, big drums, vocals.

BRIAN: I would agree. The other ones that we like might not best describe our genre.

CONFRONT: You guys played CMW, what’s it like to come down to Toronto and be surrounded by so many different artists for a week?

ROBERT: The funny story is that it’s really fun because you party for the whole weekend but you have to really try and make your showcase the best possible. Our label saw us at our very first CMW showcase four years ago. It was our first real show out in Toronto.

CONFRONT: So playing that showcase was a huge advantage for you guys.

ROBERT: Yeah! It introduces you to people out here. It definitely helps out. Every time we come to these festivals we showcase for specific industry people.

CONFRONT: Did you guys meet any bands? Anybody you wanted to meet?

BRIAN: I told the singer for Plants & Animals “good show”.

CONFRONT: That’s a great band!

BRIAN: Yeah! They’re awesome. We went to the Indie Music Awards and we kind of found our way to the backstage VIP area, I don’t even know how that happened. I think if you want into any place with confidence they’ll think that you’re supposed to be there and they won’t ask any questions.  We were back there ands all the bands were coming on and off stage so I was excited to see them.

ROBERT: Yeah there aren’t really too many big bands that we wanted to meet.

BRIAN: Oh! I met Grieg Nori.

STEFAN: A couple of the guys from Midway State and did you meet the guy from Arkells?

BRIAN: Nope!

STEFAN: Oh, I did!

ROBERT: You get to become really good friends with the Much Music VJ’s like Jesse Giddings.

STEFAN: Yes! That’s true. Jesse Giddings, my boy! That’s very true.

BRIAN: He’s actually coming on part of the tour with us! From Toronto to..I can’t remember.

CONFRONT: Is he bringing Much Music?

BRIAN: I think so! It should be alright.

CONFRONT: The tour kicks off tonight! What are your expectations?

STEFAN: It’s been kind of a gong show day. It’s a sweet venue.

ROBERT: I’m excited to see what crowd Protest draws. Hopefully they like us, we’re kind of a different sound.

BRIAN: We’re banking on the whole multi-genre taste of people because we are so different. We’re excited to get the audience response but a little nervous at the same time. We don’t want to be too wimpy for them.

STEFAN: Yeah, we don’t want to get beat up.

CONFRONT: Have you guys played a lot of Eastern dates?

ROBERT: Lately we have but this is our farthest Eastern date so far. We usually stay in Ontario.

CONFRONT: Oh so you’ve never played in Montreal before!

BRIAN: Nope! This is our first time.

CONFRONT: That’s kind of exciting. There’s very loud crowds here.

BRIAN: Everyone keeps saying they’re crazy about music here and crazy about metal. That’s why we’re a little worried. There’s going to be a lot of people who are going to want to slam dance and we’re going to start playing a piano ballad and get thrown bottles at.

STEFAN: And tomatoes…

CONFRONT: Do you have a favorite city to play in?

STEFAN: I’d say Vancouver.

ROBERT: Toronto for me. We’re getting really good shows there lately.

BRIAN: Toronto feels like our second home now because we’ve played so much there over the past 6 months that the crowds are starting to grow and it feels like home. You start to see so many familiar people.

CONFRONT: Stefan you have a brother who’s also in a band (Brodie Tavares plays bass in The Februarys), what’s that like? Did you two grow up in a musical family?

STEFAN: Not really a musical family. I think my dad always wanted to become a musician but he never did so he just bought us instruments and watched us. We just decided to stick with it.

ROBERT: Stefan actually really wanted to be an accountant.

STEFAN: Yeah that or a lawyer. I was actually applying for school when these guys came to see me about the band. I ditched my dream for them.

BRIAN: And medicine was your safety wasn’t it.

STEFAN: Yup. Brodie’s sweet, he’s in a band called The Februarys.

ROBERT: Do you know them?

STEFAN: Name drop.

CONFRONT: I do!

STEFAN: We played together growing up but we just never ended up in a band together.

BRIAN: I think they’re trying to steal him from us.

STEFAN: Yeah, constantly.

CONFRONT: You said you’d be a lawyer if you weren’t in a band, what would you two be doing?

BRIAN: I would be teaching.

CONFRONT: What would you be teaching?

BRIAN: Geography. That’s the thing too, when we had broken up I had applied for school and then this came up.

CONFRONT: And you Rob?

ROBERT: I’d be a landscape architect. I like that. Urban planner. You have to go to school for that shit. I have an eye for landscaping.

CONFRONT: Does the band have any plans once the tour is finished or are you just concentrating on this at the moment?

ROBERT: This has been the end of a crazy 5 months in Toronto. We’re going to play some ski festivals and stuff.

STEFAN: We just found out about that today actually and it wasn’t even from our label. One of my friends was like “Oh you’re playing the Telus Festival!?”

ROBERT: So no grand scheme plans. More touring hopefully.

CONFRONT: Finish the sentence “I have never”…

ROBERT: I’ve never been late.

BRIAN: I’ve never been pierced or dyed my hair.

STEFAN: I’ve never had a tattoo.

CONFRONT: You really don’t hear that often from guys in bands.

STEFAN: We’re all ink free.

BRIAN: None of us have piercings or tattoos.

CONFRONT: “I would never”…

ROBERT: Kill an animal…myself. I like them.

BRIAN: Indirectly though he likes his Montreal smoked meat too much.

ROBERT: I’d never hit an animal with my car.

BRIAN: Yeah he’d never do that intentionally.

CONFRONT: Do you hit animals with your car on purpose?

BRIAN: It’s like a game for him.

ROBERT: Never on purpose! I’m not going to go into a ditch if there’s a rabbit crossing the road.

STEFAN: I would never shake Meg Whites hand.

BRIAN: Is it because you disrespect her as a drummer?

STEFAN: No I just think she probably has a dirty hand.

BRIAN: I would never not shake Meg Whites hand. I would shake it harder.

STEFAN: That works.

BRIAN: Double negative?

CONFRONT: Last question, where do you hope to see yourself in 20 years?

STEFAN: Married with kids and with a motor home.

ROBERT: Retired and living alone in the Mediterranean with my cat.

BRIAN: Your cat would be like a cheetah or something.

ROBERT: He wouldn’t have any hair and I’d just sit there petting it.

BRIAN: In 20 years I’d like to be semi-retired or maybe doing solo albums with my own personal studio somewhere tropical would be nice too.

CONFRONT: Near Rob?

BRIAN: No pretty far. I could be Caribbean and you could be Mediterranean.

ROBERT: With my cat.

CONFRONT: Thank you guys!

ROBERT: Thank you!

To learn more about Elias you can visit the following websites:

http://www.eliasband.com
http://www.myspace.com/eliasband
http://www.youtube.com/eliasband