Teal Cheese Exclusive- Andrew Michael Wells (Eidola) Interview

AW: “The name is pronounced ‘eye-dough-luh’ and comes from the plural form of the word Eidolon, meaning an ideal or idealized person and an apparition or phantom. Originally we were going to name the band Jagannath after the Hindu lord of the universe, but after a long discussion we chose Eidola instead. We really liked the idea of a collective group of ideals coming together to form an amalgamate, an artistic identity.”

AW: “I started writing music at 13, but I didn’t really start taking it seriously until probably 17 or so. I distinctly remember seeing two shows that first summer I could drive. One was an ISIS show and the other was Circa Survive with Fear Before The March Of Flames, The Dear Hunter and a band called Ours. I remember being so floored by both of those shows and feeling so spiritually elevated by the experiences. After that Circa show was when I knew, without a doubt, that I would be pursuing this for the rest of my life. No matter what.”

N: I see you grew up in Utah, is that where you still live? Also, in what ways did your hometown influence your music?

AW: “Yeah, my wife and I have a house in Provo, Utah currently. I think that as an artist environmental factors always have a substantial impact on your writing. Consciously or subconsciously. Locally, I tend to see more influence in our music from Salt Lake City where great bands like Visitors, Grass, Valerian and Heartless Breakers thrive. There are a lot of talented musicians here.”

N: Who are your top 5-10 musical influences?

AW: “Circa Survive, Dredg, Deftones, Dance Gavin Dance, Snarky Puppy, Animals As Leaders, The Doors, Thrice, ISIS, The Dear Hunter. I like a lot of different things, but those bands influence my writing a lot. I’ve been listening to From Indian Lakes, Icarus The Owl and Artifex Pereo a lot lately, those dudes are insanely good.”

N: I also noticed you went to school for music. What was your major/minor?

AW: (he laughs) “I attended Berklee College of Music for like a semester, but no degree. I believe pursuing a career in art and music is essentially a similar social mechanism as going to college, with art being a lot more fun and openly creative. It’s like you work really hard for a really long time and take intern gigs at shitty bars in weird places where 10 people show up and no one takes you seriously. Sometimes you don’t make any money at all. You do that for years until you progress to the point of professionalism where people want to work with you and listen to what you have to say. Then the real work begins. ”

N: Other than your obvious love for music, what other art form are you partial to? Either as an artist or just an observer.

AW: “As a participant, transcendental meditation is an art form that I’m incredibly partial to. My wife is a phenomenal painter and our bassist James has a great eye for film so as an observer I really enjoy seeing my family working with those art forms as well.”

N: The new album is called “Degeneraterra”. Which I can loosely translate to Degenerating Earth. What does the title mean to you and how did it come about?

AW: “Very good observation! The title means a lot to me personally, as it was the only title we came up with that truly covers the scope of the album’s concept. The name comes from a physics term for a stage of entropy called the Degenerate Era, in terms of quantum mechanics there are a lot of theories surrounding this era in entropy that parallel what we cover conceptually throughout the album. We wanted to take those holistic ideas and apply them to the real world and our history as a species on earth, so combining those words and adding the Terra semblance helped further define the concept as a whole.”

N: What is the Eidola song writing process like?

AW: “Usually I will write a lot of skeleton structures and melodic content or just a bunch of lyrics. Once I feel confident in the core idea of a song I will bring it to our drummer Matt to go over some rhythmic ideas and map out a first draft. Then we bring it to the rest of the band and will usually collaborate together on what works and what doesn’t. We usually go through a lot of different drafts and work together to make sure everything is solid.”

N: I can’t stop listening to the first single, “The Great Deception”. Please tell me a little about what inspired that song.

AW: “Glad you like it man! “The Great Deception” is a meta-narrative in the Degeneraterra concept, and a lot of different things inspired the lyrics of that song for me. The song talks about this story of Marchosias, a marquis of hell in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. The story goes on to say that he belonged to Dominations (mentioned in the De Coelesti Hierarchia) but was cast out after being bound by King Solomon.”

N: I really appreciate that your band has kept it’s signature sound, yet let yourselves evolve. Tell me about the tour you’re about to start. And what’s coming after that? Can we look forward to Eidola headlining shows?

 AW: “Thanks Nick, we definitely want to continue doing that. We have tours in the works for June and later this summer with some rad bands to support the release. We really want to do at least two full U.S. runs before the year is out, release a couple more music videos, record a few acoustic tracks and release “Degeneraterra” on vinyl. We also have about six new songs in the works. As far as Eidola headline shows, that all really depends on how many people show an interest in this album. With how saturated the artistic world is right now word of mouth is more important than ever. Our goal has always been to share this musical experience with as many people as possible, so every individual pre-ordering and spreading the word is critical to our progress.”

Pre order bundles for “Degeneraterra” (out 5/05/15) available HERE!

Watch the video for “The Great Deception”, the first single off “Degeneraterra” (out 5/05/15) below