INTERVIEW: Elements

Hi guys, welcome back to VENTS! How have you been?
We’ve been great, thank you! Since we last spoke we’ve been touring our EP ‘Where We Once Begun’, and even got to play at Butserfest last year. How have you been?

Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Make It Out Alive”?
We decided soon after we released our last single that we wanted this to be the next video, because we really love the hook in the chorus and we feel like it’s a great representation of us as a band; there’s a lot of different stuff in their musically, it’s one of the best examples of our sound. We filmed half of it in a rehearsal studio in Southampton, which has a gritty bunker-esque look to it, and the other half at night in a maze in the Isle of Wight. It’s the first video we’ve done that has people other than ourselves in it – you could call them actors, we suppose! By having different faces in the video we felt like people would be able to relate more, as they can see the actors as characters we’re singing about rather than just about ourselves.

Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?
It’s kind of about when you get stuck in a bad place, and when you’re in that place you sometimes can’t see how you will ever get out of it but you want someone there to help you through it. A few different things went into this song and it was quite an emotional one to write and record, you can definitely see that live as we really throw ourselves into it.

How was the film experience?
Cold. We were out in a maze in the Isle of Wight in the dead of night filming the ‘narrative’ half of the video. The actors we had in the video were friends of ours – the guy you can see in the video is actually the frontman of These Septic Stars, a local band we’re good friends with, the guy who filming does all our videos for us, and the girl is a model friend of ours from our drummers hometown. So it was a very communal experience. We love getting our friends to help us out with our videos because it’s just a good opportunity for us to have fun while we work and make it a memorable experience. Filming the live shots was great fun as we got to do it essentially in a bunker underneath a bridge, the place just looked great. Especially once we’d filled it with the awesome lights you see in the video.

How was the recording and writing process?
Awesome! We spent a week in Sheffield’s Steel City Studios recording with Phil Gornell (Bring Me The Horizon, ROAM, While She Sleeps). He was massively helpful in the development of the dual vocal sound that people have come to associate with our music, and moreover it was just an incredible laugh of a week. He’s very good at putting people at ease and making a fun working atmosphere, every day was just great fun.

Does the new single mean we can expect a new album – how’s that coming along?
Perhaps not a new album just yet, but we will have new music out later in the year. We’re currently working on new material right now and have some studio time booked up for later this year.

Any tentative release date or title in mind?
We’ll definitely have something new out before the end of the year! We can’t wait to show people what we’ve been working on lately.

After the success of your previous material – are you folks feeling any pressure?
Well, now we are! But seriously, we feel like the last EP really set the bar for us as a band, and we found that in recording it we finally found what our sound is as a collective. We’re looking forward to developing it further and pushing our boundaries a bit more this time around.

Any plans to hit the road?
There certainly are! In fact, check our page on the 21st for an announcement about our tour plans this year!

What else is happening next in Elements’ world?
We’ve got plans to be in the studio working on a new single this year, as well as some exciting tour plans coming up. We also have a show we’re massively looking forward to in August supporting our friends in DEAD, who we always love to play with.