Contact: Jerry Graham, Warm Fuzzy Publicity
ELYSIA
Zak Vargas - Lyrics/Vox.
Mark Underwood - Guitar.
Steven Sessler - Drums.
Danny Lemonsqueeze - Guitar.
Jeremy Chavez - Bass
Named for the final resting place of warriors in Roman Mythology, the Sacramento, CA based Elysia create epic battle hymns for the Death-core set. Excessively brutal but socially conscious vocalist Zak Vargas espouses on society’s ills from a youthful viewpoint. “I try to write on what is going on in the world and in our lives but from how a kid views it. I think that’s why a lot of people connect with us instead of me writing solely about personal relationships.” Seeing things through a kid’s eyes is not much of a stretch for the eighteen year old Vargas who just graduated high school as well as the rest of the band which includes sixteen year old Danny Lemonsqueeze.
Though the band plays metal, they consider themselves to have the attitude of a hardcore band in their live performances leaning heavily on audience interaction to create the spirit that their punk heroes did. Forming four years ago Elysia was originally a recreational outlet from high school where they could live out their hardcore fantasies. “We definitely sucked back then” Vargas admits “Our first show was playing for all of our friends and it went over better than it should have.” From there the band chipped away at their own identity while playing shows repeatedly. “Back then the Sacramento scene was composed of a lot of older folks, so we were these kids banging away and not getting much acceptance at first. Eventually all those older kids phased out anda new scene built up behind us.”
Playing regionally around Northern California the band began to carve a name for themselves playing mini-tours with bands like Impending Doom and Molotov Solution. “It sounds weird but we built a following and never really played with any sizable bands, it was us playing for locally based bands and their friends and they turned on to us and told their friends and it built from there.” Their draw in the Golden State currently is as high as 400 kids for headlining shows.
Self-releasing their debut full-length Masochist in 2006the band did a west coast tour with KillWhitneyDeadand just completed their first national tour with With Blood Comes Cleansing, Arsonists Get All The Girls and Knights Of The Abyss. Inking a brand new deal with Ferret Musicthe band is set to enter God City Studios in Salem, MA with Kurt Ballou (Converge) this December with a new album to surface in 2008.