Interview: New Elements at Galactic Get Down 2018
At all festivals there comes the unfortunate time of night where amplified live music must end. Galactic Get Down was no different. However, most of us didn’t go to bed when this shift took place. We always want more music.
Some people brought out their speakers while others jammed out on acoustic instruments. In this particular case, festival goers were also presented with the opportunity to witness live bands while the music was broadcasted through a personal radio and into a headset in the form of a silent disco. This was made possible at Galactic Get Down by The Romerdome Familia and their “Silent Jamz.”
As amplified music came to a close on both Friday and Saturday night, the Silent Jamz took over. Friday night featured El Dub while Saturday night featured New Elements.
While the visual experience didn’t have very far of a reach, the audible experience extended about halfway across the campground, reaching as far as the fire circle.
New Elements is an electronic jam band that specializes in “rockadelic dance fusion.” Complete with groovy breakdowns, boots and cats, and wonky synthesizer melodies, it combines a multitude of genres into a sound which makes it quite difficult to not move along.
On Galactic Saturday, I had the pleasure of having a small chat with Adam Smith, the bassist from New Elements about the band’s origins, its plans for the future, and a few other topics. Here’s how our conversation went:
- How did the name of your band come about? What does it mean to you?
We actually argued about the name for a long, long time. We had a bunch of names we were working with, but we couldn’t decide on one, so we brought it down to a vote. Scotty, our drummer, hated the name, but the rest of us liked it, so we went with it.
The name New Elements symbolizes that we’re on a new adventure and trying out a new genre that none of us have played before.
I also liked that NE is the abbreviation for “neon”, so we could use that as our logo.
- Who, or what, is most influential to your sound?
That’s a tough one. We come from all different musical backgrounds and we all primarily listen to different genres. I’m really into electronic jam bands. I burned Chris, our guitarist, a CD to introduce him to the sound. He really fell in love with Umphrey’s McGee, and I think you can tell. He writes a lot of our music. The rest of us write, too… He just writes faster.
- What’s the most memorable set you’ve ever played?
One of my favorite sets was Earth Rhythms 2017. What happened was that I was also playing with Sammy Strings that weekend, and the schedule ended up conflicting. The compromise was moving the New Elements set to three in the morning in the middle of the woods. It worked out really well, actually. It started raining towards the end, so we had to load all of our gear out in the rain, but it was a super fun set.
- Has New Elements ever considered adding vocals?
Totally. I think that a lot of the reason we’re only an instrumental band right now is because none of us sing. Currently, we’re not all that interested in a full time singer, but we have worked with guest vocalists a few times. We even have a song that we wrote with Tom Tom from The Northern Medicine in mind.
- New Elements is performing the Silent Jamz this weekend. How do you think that will influence the set?
It’s really a trip. We’ve played some silent discos before. When we start playing, we’ve all got headphones on, so it sounds like we’re playing a regular show. If you take your headphones off, you just hear f**king crickets. It’s really weird. Tonight you’ll only be able to hear Scotty whacking on his electric drum kit.
Also, quick shout out to Romerdome for having us on the Silent Jamz this weekend.
- What does New Elements have planned for the future?
Well, I’ll be heading to the west coast for a while, and we might be going through some lineup changes. Despite this, we’re going to keep working. We’ve got about half a record of new music already, and we’ll probably put out an EP around March next year. I’ve also thought about recording our live sets and releasing those. We did it once at The Cabooze and it turned out really well.
- What space character(s) do you think would enjoy your music the most?
Truly, I think that our music is made for space. Specifically though, Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We make robot music.
Oh, and Elon Musk. He would dig our music in space when he goes to get his car from wherever he parked it.
If New Elements caught your attention, check out their debut album, Arrival. You can also catch them playing the Harmonium stage on Saturday, September 1 at Shangri-La for a more audible performance.
The Romerdome Familia will also be a Shangri-La, returning with the Silent Jamz. If you acquired a personal radio at Galactic Get Down, don’t forget to bring it along.
