A Quick Chat with ElementxL

Tell us a little bit about your musical journey that led you to what you do now and your music project?
I started playing guitar at the age of 13 and that started me on my musical journey. I fell in love with guitar and anything that pushed the boundaries of my playing, so was drawn to melodic and heavy metal music growing up. As I got older I started to expand my musical tastes and fell in love with hip-hop and electronic music, which got me into producing music. I have had a few bands and musical projects over the years which varied in genres, from punk and heavy metal to electronic/dance and have played shows and festivals around Australia, with artists like Tash Sultana and Northlane. I started ElementxL as a way to bring together the diverse range of influences and sounds I had picked up over the years and give myself the freedom to create music without genre-ties or boundaries. ElementxL (pronounced Elemental) is a concept based on the ancient Greek philosophy of the elements - earth, water, air, fire which they believed everything was made up of. 

I think it’s a good analogy for our emotions, we all experience so many different feelings and expressions of ourselves and I think music really taps into that. Sometimes you might feel like you connect with a sad or melancholic song, while others you may want a happy upbeat song or an angsty anthem. I want to be able to express the different aspects of myself with this project and not feel like anything has to sound a certain way. The combining element of the music will be guitar, which is almost like my paintbrush which I use to help tell my story.

What have been some of your biggest influences (music or not)?
I’m influenced by anyone who is pushing the boundaries in what they do and isn’t afraid to share their authentic self with the world. I love hearing new sounds or expressions that I haven’t heard before and am inspired by so many artists and forward thinkers. It’s always evolving and changing.

You took a  pause between your last release can you tell us about that?
I focused my time on developing my sound and experimenting with different genres and styles. During July 2022 I started to experience pain and stiffness in my hands and it stopped me from being able to do simple tasks. Things worsened over time and by the end of the year I could barely walk or lift my arms up. I was in and out of hospital for the first few months of 2023 and was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called Myositis in March which i’ve been recovering from with treatment. 

How has your auto-immune disease affected your musical journey?
It stopped me from being able to play guitar for almost a year and that was a really difficult period, not being able to do the thing I loved most. It slowed things down a lot for me which was really challenging and frustrating, but overall i’m doing so much better than I was and really appreciate the little things more so now. I still experience some bad flare days which are worse than others, but I have to be patient and kind with myself and the healing journey. I’m a strong advocate in positivity and the power of the mind and I am more motivated than ever to do what I love, create music and tell my story and hopefully help others along the way.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?

I would say my music is an interesting mix of styles and sounds that you haven’t heard together before

Now take us through this your single ‘NOSEBLEED’, what is the track about?
“Nosebleed” is about me battling through self doubt and criticism and coming out on top. It’s about realizing your potential and overcoming negative self-talk and going after your dreams and goals no matter what.

What is the  concept behind the clip?
The clip follows the visual journey of me being beaten up by negative self-talk and doubt, holding myself back. It then follows the journey of me talking myself out of it and coming out on top and back to my centre.

It also parallels the journey of being beaten down physically from my autoimmune disease and coming out on top and not letting it stop me from living my dreams and life.

Who did you work on with the video?
I worked with my good friend Alexander Leeway, we went to the same high school together. He is an amazing director and cinematographer and really spent the time to understand the lyrics and what the song was about to make a visual representation and story to tie in with the journey of the track. It was great working with someone who is a master of what they do and I felt very inspired working with him. We had a great crew and team who worked tirelessly to make sure everything looked as best as it could.