UNSIGNED SPOTLIGHT

Element

Screaming to be heard, Element draws up their metal roots for fuel. Hailing from Wigan, UK, the boys in Element are sharpening their skills to carve theri own niche in the metal world. Meet Element.
By: Gian Erguiza

Gian: 1. Who is Element? Where are you guys originally from and how did you guys get started?

Hailing from Wigan UK, Element are: Adam Calderbank - Rhythm Guitar/Vocals Rob Urquhart - Drums Andy Higham (Chow) - Lead Guitar Alex Burnell - Bass Guitar

ADAM: I had been in a few band projects with various musicians (I even remember auditioning as lead guitarist for UK band Solitary - holier Than Thou records - back in 2001), but in late 2005 I started a project with drummer, lead guitarist and bassist. By April 2006 I had wrote a batch of songs that we recorded as a 5-track demo "Just Desires" at Urban Sound studios Wigan and the band went on to gig around the northwest of England over the summer of 2006. By October 2006 it was clear the band wasn't gelling together. Dylan (drummer) – through no real fault of his own - could only get to rehearsals once every 3 weeks, gig performances consequently were sloppy, frustrations grew, the vibe would quickly deteriorate and Ian (lead guitarist) quit. I wanted to be part of a serious project and knew that the current outfit wasn't the way forward. I decided to find a drummer to start a potential new project with. Within a couple of weeks drummer Rob Urquhart from Bolton was browsing the online musician ads and replied to the wanted ad I had discreetly placed online. Me and Rob arranged to meet at Urban Sound rehearsal studios in Wigan, set up and jammed along to a few covers and a couple of tracks from the "Just Desires" demo.

I left it a few days to see if Rob was interested. He contacted me to say he was in. I then took the gamble to leave my existing project and start a completely new one with Rob. This was the beginning of Element (November 06).

Within a further 2 weeks lead guitarist Andy Higham (Chow) also from Bolton replied to an advert we placed. Again he came down to the Wigan based studios and jammed with me and Rob. Clearly there was a great energy and vibe between the 3 of us and we immediately began to write material. Material that would later be seen on the April 07 self released demo “Bleed On My Own” which was well received by reviewers “all the energy & passion of say Burn My Eyes era Machine Head and Ride The Lightning & Master Of Puppets eras of Metallica” – live4metal.com.

Alex joined us on bass guitar duties in July 2007 after we had been gigging around for 6 months without. We’d landed support slots with the likes of Diamond Head and Speed Theory as a 3 piece, so things were in no rush to fill the position with just anyone. But after one random local gig this guy Alex (who was a member of one of the other bands on the same bill that night) came up to us when we’d finished onstage and told us he wanted to join us and leave his other band. Thinking he was just drunk and to test how serious he was I told him to give me a call in the next couple of days. He did. That was that.

Gian: What best describes the music that you guys play and how did you guys get started?

ADAM: Our music put simply is riff metal. Old school with a modern twist. We're just playing music that WE want to hear. As a band we're sick of the common place downtuned guitarist relying on the drums to colour up poor lifeless riffs from the same one string; Endless staccatos on the same note or predictable scale. Ask yourself if half of the guitarists are even good. It used to be the riffs that carried a metal band forward, today, for most, it’s the drummer and vocalist. Front men wearing combats, baseball cap, one foot on the monitor, both hands round the mike screaming shite lyrics that nobody can make out. If nothing else we’re just fucked off and bored of it. Its all too easy to downtune the guitar, hit the e string and scream to a steady beat, but theres no enjoyment playing that for us. There are so many great bands we’ve seen and met in the underground unsigned scene that its hard to understand why some of the labels have chosen to sign who they have.

What happened to riffs? Where’d they go? How many guitarists are around today that would make you as a kid play air guitar or a pick up a real guitar? Ok I know there are some kick ass bands around today, Down to name but one, but there are so many bland bands around.

We’re playing riffs/compositions that WE want to hear regardless, and if that style categorizes us then so be it. THAT makes us more metal/underground than any band following the current metal trend.

In my eyes the best metal was written over 20 years ago and all the bands we idolize today have veered away from the very formula they created in order to try something different. Unfortunatley this is the nature of a true artist, to always try something different, however it leaves us craving for another Cowboys From Hell, Burn My Eyes or Master Of Puppets. On our debut Under The Influence we wanted to put our spin onto a similar formula adding the year, culture and modernism of 2008. The evolution over the years of this particular riffy style as a genre has evolved into something… different yes, but as good? No I don’t think so. THAT’S the era I/we grew up with and Metallica/Pantera/Sepultura/Megadeth/Slayer/Machine Head etc etc were in essence my guitar tutors. Inevitably this style and the above bands (and many more) can be heard coming through our music.

Since the self release of our debut album "Under The Influence" at the end of April 08 we have had a barrage of reviews and for a number of them to make comments such as "Exactly the album I would like Metallica to bring out" or "If Metallica had released this instead of St Anger they wouldn’t be in the controversial position they are now in" etc etc. I don’t think you can quantify or explain just how much that means to us or to any band to have that said about them. We're just 4 guys, financially broke from Wigan UK that love writing and performing our music that we write/gig when we get home from work.

All of a sudden we're being told that our music is what they would like Metallica, one of the biggest bands on the planet to be releasing. On the flip side of this it must be said that we're evolving musically and already on with new material for a 2nd self released album next year and we're making more of a conscious effort to harness OUR sound and to step away from the Metallica thing. More Element. Its taken this album for us to FIND the direction that we now know now to go in.

Every band starts somewhere, new lads Evile (Earache Records) started as a covers band, Metallica started out playing Diamond Head covers forgetting to tell the crowd they were someone else’s songs, Aerosmith were labeled a Rolling Stone tribute act, Pantera were glam/power metal, ACDC, er I mean Airborne now on Roadrunner Records he he…. No but seriously the list goes on. I think the release of our debut "Under The Influence" was us getting our first stamp out there. People to hear the name and to hear what we can do. We’re now a little wiser at how to approach recording, writing material, performing, gauging people/crowd reactions, press reactions and on this second album we're going to be pushing ourselves in every single way and I think there will be something every true metal fan can appreciate on there. Due to be recorded June 2009.

Gian: If there was any artist or band that you guys would like to share the stage with one day, who would you guys choose and why?

ADAM: If we were able to travel through time we would love to play Donington with the following bands:
Metallica (1989 era)
Pantera (1992 era)
Sepultura (Arise era)
Machine Head (Burn My Eyes era)
Megadeth (Countdown To Extinction era)
Slayer
Alice In Chains (early 90's)
Down
Tool
Iron Maiden
Black Sabbath
Guns n’ Roses (this ones for Chow)
Motley Crue (this ones is Chow)
NOFX

On the 2nd stage we would have:
The Police
Dire Straights
Motorhead
Queen
Lynard Skynard
Hendrix

Failing that, we’ve played with the up and coming Evile before. I think given the chance again we’d give those men a run for their money and a bloody good show for the crowd which is what its all about!

Gian: What is the message that your band is trying to convey or what are you guys trying to accomplish?

No message. We’re not trying to preach to people and have nothing to preach about. What we’re trying to accomplish? We wanna play Donington/Download. Want to play to a bigger audience, support bigger bands, and grow our fan base. We’re not in this for money. We’ve self financed everything we’ve done and just about break even on merchandise such as t-shirts etc just so we can sell them at cost price and get as many people wearing them as possible. Money goes straight back in the pot for more.

With the way the industry is at the moment there will be some big changes to the way bands release/tour within the coming years. We’re not signed at the moment. Whether we sign to a label that will work hard for us or not we will continue to write and release our work and push ourselves further each time. As mentioned we’re happy with the overall reception of “Under The Influence” however, we’re hungry for more. Now that we’re musically evolving I do believe that with the right backing this project could do some damage. We’re only at the beginning of this trip.

Gian: Any additional comments or shout-outs?

ADAM: That’s gotta go to Ajeet Gill at Hellfire Studios Birmingham UK. The effort and energy he put into our album was second to none. He did it purely because of his passion for the music. There are MANY things I wish we had more time on in the studio, but you gotta have a cut off point. For a weeks work/budget he pulled it out the bag.

Element
www.myspace.com/elementsound

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