Elyon's Fire

Band:

Elyon's Fire

Members: Ryan Lewis, bass, piano, guitar and vocals; Josh Pappas, drums

Who we talked to: Lewis, 22

When did you get into music? I started playing . . . eight years ago. I got a keyboard for Christmas, and about a year after that, I got a bass. Six months after that, I got a guitar. I just took off with it, played for hours a day. I just kind of learned every song I could and just really discovered a passion for it.

What music were you listening to back then? Everything from Metallica to Jars of Clay to P.O.D. to . . . country artists, too.

When did you decide to start Elyon's Fire? I was in a few bands that kind of weren't going anywhere. Views split, and I decided to start my own band, and I knew some friends through some different churches that I went to . . . and just kind of went from there. That was in . . . December of 2003.

So what have you guys done in the last six years? For the first maybe four years we were together. . . we were kind of going after a punk sound. There (were) four members, and I actually wasn't the singer at that time. I just kind of played the rhythm guitar and wrote the songs. Around the end of 2007, we just stopped playing all together. We had a lot of issues as a band trying to schedule and (there was) a difference in perspectives. We had released an album early in 2007. After the band kind of fell apart . . . the drummer and I kind of picked it back up and put out another album just kind of at the beginning of this year.

Do you think other local bands share your story? Is there potential for bands to make it work in this area? I think there definitely is potential. I've seen a number of bands come and go. I definitely think it's a thing that a lot of bands struggle with, you know a member goes off to college or gets married or something. I definitely see a harder music scene around here, and I think you know some people like Kingsfoil and hopefully us and also Mike Rothermel are trying to . . . (make) an acoustic, mellow scene.

So you guys are taking the band in a different direction musically? We're going to see where it goes from there. The album is called "Flood," and that's kind of a metaphor in my personal life as kind of a hard time but also (at the same time) the band kind of went through some changes. We lost half our members, and that's kind of where the album's coming from. We have kind of a Christian perspective on life, but we're not necessarily singing about God all of the time.

Was this recording experience a lot different since there were only two of you? Yeah. Well, I pretty much take the writing and musical part of it. (Josh's dad) owns a sound company, and so he had access to learn how to record. We actually packed up a whole bunch of equipment and went down to a church in Red Lion and recorded the whole album in about a day and half. (The sanctuary) down there had really nice reverb.

Are you guys moving forward now and booking shows? We're trying to. (Since 2003) we've tried to start a bunch of times and it's never really worked. This time really seems like we've got some momentum. We've got a bunch of shows lined up, and we're excited about the new album and everything. Mainly, we play at coffeehouses. . . with churches and we've got a show coming up (Friday) at Sparky & Clark's, too.

What is coming up for you in the future? Right now, we're planning to play to kind of promote the album "Flood." We'll probably play for a few months and just keep booking some shows. We even have some shows over the summer. During that time, we'll probably also write and possibly try to start thinking about the next album.

- ERIN McCRACKEN, FLIPSIDE STAFF

If you go

For details about the band, visit www.virb.com/elyonsfire. To listen to the interview, visit www.flipsidepa.com.