One on One with Emperors and Elephants Own Jason Meudt Story and Photos By: Coren E. McLeod
One
on One with Emperors and Elephants Own Jason Meudt
Story and Photos
By: Coren E. McLeod
I
do not know what it is about music that just keeps me excited. I love to explore the different genera’s of
music in every category that is out there.
I tend to not limit myself to just one particular sound of music. However, when I find something that I truly appreciate,
I dive deep and go relish in the beauty of it all.
I
have been a fan of Emperors and Elephants for quite some time now. I seriously do not know what it is about this
band that I sincerely love. Maybe it is
the fact they are my hometown boys.
Maybe it is their miraculous songs like “Locust” and “Man of God” that
gets me pumped in the morning. Or maybe
it is the element of Jesse, Jason, Ron and Jeff all being sincere guys to all
of their fans each time they meet them.
Over
the beautiful Memorial Day holiday, I took a little road trip to Madison,
WI. The world’s largest Brat Festival
was happening over the weekend. I was
too excited to attend for multiple reasons:
1) Hello, brats…. Duh 2)
Beer. Especially Capital City
Brewery… Yum. 3)
Emperors and Elephants just so happens to be playing the festival. So, I had to get my ass up to Wisconsin to
see my favorite band kill it on stage in the bright, hot sun.
And
to make a long story short, Emperors and Elephants did just that on the Ho
Chunk Casino stage at 1 pm on that fateful Sunday. All of the Wisconettes got to witness Jesse
sing with his powerful vocals some songs from their “Devil in the Lake” debut
album. Plus, a lot of people were
delighted to hear some new, hardcore songs from their upcoming 2nd
album. It was a fucking treat to get an
earful of what the new songs were like.
Well,
a dream came true of mine and I was able to talk with the astonishing and vigorous
drummer for E and E: Jason Meudt. Since I have been a fan since day 1, I wanted
to ask about Emperors and Elephant’s new album, how it was working with
quintessential bad ass producer, Scott Wilson, and what it is like to work with
dudes almost every day.
1)
So, there is a new
album Emperors and Elephants have been working on. What should fans
expect from this album?
We have a lot going on with the new
album. Emperors and Elephants as a whole really developed over the past few
years. We feel great about every song on this album and have been playing some
new songs live. They are going over amazingly
well with audiences.
2)
What did you want to
come across on the new album? When will it drop?
There is no release date as of
today. However, we are close. We really came out of our shell on this
album. You will know it’s us but I feel
the songs are more developed.
Jesse and Jeff worked on all the
melodies. Jesse would sing ideas in his phone all the time
and it was such killer stuff and then he would send it to Jeff. Jeff
would start laying down guitar and that’s how most of the songs on the album
were born. I helped some with arrangement and key boards. A few songs
would just go old school and the 4 of us would go down to the jam room and
write a song in 5 minutes. Than it is
done.
Scott is bad ass and not bad to
look at. (Ha ha). He is a hard worker and a great producer. We
recorded our album in Colorado at Sunshine Studios. Scott had Jesse doing some
amazing harmonies that we would never have thought of.
5)
Summer is among
us. What is happening with E and E?
We are waiting to tour when the
album drops. So, this summer we are
doing mostly festivals on weekends. That seems to be the best way to get people to
come out and see you over the summer. All
of us in the band have always been fans of playing festivals.
(The next one Emperors and Elephants will be the Bam
Festival in McHenry, Illinois on June 17th, 2016. Yes.
My ass will be there. Like you thought otherwise.)
We have lots of influences all over
this album. No 2 songs are alike. I
really do not want to say what influences we have. I'm eager to hear what fans have to
say.
I, for one, as a drummer like the
song “Your Will” from our first album. I
always get pumped on beating the shit out of my kit on that song.
Also from the new album we have a tune called "Not
Today." That song just hits hard right out of the gate. The new album is
for sure a work out on drums. All the guys
in Emperors and Elephants really pushed me on this album.
We have amazing fans and friends
that support us. We get blown away every
show when they come out. They take care of us on the road. It is just full on support. So, THANK YOU!
I love these guys like my brothers.
We fight and we hangout. We are family.
I can’t see doing this with any other guys.
(Thank goodness. These guys are
amazing!!! IMHO…)
Jason,
thank you so much for chatting with me.
As one of your biggest fans (wink, wink) you know I will be out there
supporting Emperors and Elphants at most of your performances this summer.
And like
always, get your ass out and support #localmusic. Make sure you check out their Facebook page,
Twitter and all that other social media crape that is out there.
https://www.facebook.com/EmperorsandElephants/info/?tab=page_info
#Metal #EmperorsandElephants
- Read the full story at UnRatedMagazine.com
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