ELISIUM BIOGRAPHY

Nate Compton – Lead vocals, guitars

Kirb Compton – Bass, backing vocals

Nate “Junior” Thomas – Drums

Sometimes you don’t really “form” a band, it just happens.  And when it’s three brothers and a close friend who like to hang out together, jam and check out bands it just comes naturally. That’s what happened with Fredricksburg, VA’s Elisium in 2003 when brothers guitarist, Nate, bassist, Kirb and drummer, Gabe Compton got together with lead guitarist, Jason Ayers. The quartet immediately set about doing shows throughout the mid Atlantic United States and played the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati, OH. Ayers departed shortly thereafter, leaving the band as a three piece.

2008 saw the band releasing their debut album, ‘Things They Carried’, via indie label Hard Volume Records. Singer / guitarist, Nate Compton says, “The signing to Hard Volume was a very exciting time,” recalls Nate. “We all were hopeful that a deal with a label would be a first big step toward ‘real’ success.  We had much to learn.  Signing a deal with a label doesn’t mean someone else starts doing everything for you, it actually means you have to work harder than you’ve ever worked before!  We were playing shows all over the place, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, PA, NY, NJ, doing radio interviews and promo photo shoots, it was pretty awesome stuff really.  We filmed a live DVD, and expanded our merch line with some help from the label.”  In 2010 Hard Volume closed its doors, leaving Elisium totally independent once again.  I t was around this time that drummer, Gabe Compton got married and had a child.  Becoming more involved in his family life it was decided that he would leave Elisium to be replaced by Nate “Junior” Thomas.

Elisium continued to tour, heading as far north at New York through 2010, all the while writing new material in anticipation of recording a new album.  With the dissolution of Hard Volume the band went in search of a new home and landed a deal with indie label, Universal Recording Company, releasing the single “AGV.” in early 2011.  “Universal offered to go 50/50 with us on a single.  We countered and asked to do 2 songs to make the trip more fruitful.  They allowed it, and we actually recorded “AGV” and “Safety Dance” in the same trip. After the single it was decided that we would move on and record an Ep on our own.” The single, “AGV” represented a new era in the sound of Elisium.  A more produced, on time, and commercially viable sound than anything they had released up to that point. The reaction from existing fans, and new fans alike was enthusiastically the same – everyone wanted more..  “AGV” opened doors that were previously inaccessible.  “In addition to helping us line up a terrific team of promotion and booking agents, we are now drawing the attention of several large indie labels, and a few major touring organizations, and we owe a lot of that success to the progressing sound in our music that was captured at the Universal Recording Company studio in Atlanta GA,” says Compton.

With the release of the 6 song Ep Becoming, Elisium has unleashed a monster of a disc, pulling in influences from the likes of Tool, System Of A Down, All That Remains and Parkway Drive.  Kicking off with the aptly named “Intro” the record slams straight into “Bombshells“, which is about knowing you’re in a bad situation, realizing you need out and tackling the situation head on. .According to Nate, “‘Sleep Awhile‘ is a song that’s really about fear of death, and losing people to death.  It’s one of those things I’ve always struggled with, and the band has lost a lot of good friends in our time together, so it’s really about why it scares me and how I try to deal with it.  “AGV” is about my sincere disdain for those righteous people who try and sell some twisted version of heaven and salvation, etc.  It can be about any situation though, where your hands are tied by your heart.  ‘Surface‘ is about that moment when you realize the person you thought someone was, isn’t who they really are.  Or when stuff you just can’t get away from returns to the surface.”

As for their decision to cover the 80′s pop song, “Safety Dance“, “We actually started doing this when Nate “Junior” Thomas joined the band.  He suggested it, as a joke, and it worked surprisingly well so we kept doing it.  It’s really really fun to play.”

Having shared the stage with artists such as Nonpoint, Rev Theory, Chevelle and Days Of The New amongst others, the band has toured from Georgia to Upstate NY spreading their vision of what music is and should be. “We’re dedicated to the idea that music is more than just entertainment,” says Nate, “and that our lives, and the very fabric of the universe are united by rhythm and vibrations and harmony. Our lyrics vary from determination, reincarnation, and man’s many attempts at describing the universe,”