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This month, the members of Harrisburg band Digital Elvis will take the stage at Dragonfly for their first show ever. Well, unless you count the warm-up gig they did in July for 800,000 of their closest friends.
That show happened at Milwaukee’s Summerfest, the “world’s largest music festival,” which draws upwards of a million fans to Wisconsin each year. Through a rather serendipitous chain of events in early ’09, the first (and only) song Digital Elvis had ever recorded found its way into the hands of Summerfest organizer David Silbaugh, who promptly offered the band a slot in front of Carolina Liar.
“He didn’t know we were a two-man band with only one finished song,” laughs Derek Euston, who wrote the song on a whim with Harrisburg singer-songwriter Matt Ryan.
Needless to say, the two accepted the show and began the task of assembling a real band to prop up the façade they’d created. Having already been part of the area scene – Euston was a member of The Underwater, and Ryan fronted Moto Guzzi – they didn’t have much trouble recruiting members. Into the fold came former Tamboureens bassist Matt Gochenauer and Dead 50’s drummer Ross Moody, and a band was born. Now all they needed were enough songs to fill a set.
“We busted our asses to make that happen. I remember still writing and arranging new stuff like a week and a half before that show just to have enough material for the set,” Euston recalls. In the end, however, it was certainly worth effort. “Summerfest was a blast. We drove 12 hours through the night and went straight to the Miller Brewery for a tour at 10:30 a.m., had a couple beers, then checked into the hotel and passed the eff out. Those were good times.”
That songwriting frenzy also yielded the material for the Digital Elvis’ debut EP, untitled at press time, which will be given for free to everyone in attendance at the band’s Harrisburg show. Influenced by a grab bag of artists that includes Stone Temple Pilots, Roy Orbison, The Killers and Johnny Cash, Digital Elvis write ominous, shimmering modern rock spiked with clanking drum machines and cascading countermelodies, all of it creaking under the weight of Ryan’s commanding baritone. It’s the kind of music that, like Muse’s albums, is great for a kegger, but would also be a suitable soundtrack for when the robots rise up, kill all of the humans and take over planet Earth.
“We’re really just trying to work hard and get our songs out there. The sky is the limit in this situation,” Ryan says. “We’re so new that we’ll just have to see how the chemicals mix together as a band.” - Fly Magazine
Discography
"Sound From The Orange Forrest" 6 song debut EP
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Bio
For many artists, the summer festival circuit is a goal to reach, performing on a bill that includes the likes of BON JOVI and NO DOUBT. For Harrisburg, PA’s DIGITAL ELVIS it seemed like a good place to get started - playing for about 800,000 of their closest friends.
Through a rather serendipitous chain of events in early ’09, the first (and, at the time, only) song DIGITAL ELVIS had ever recorded found its way into the hands of Summerfest organizer David Silbaugh. Silbaugh was so impressed that, without knowing anything else of the band, promptly offered the band a coveted slot on the festival. To the uninitiated, Summerfest is certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the “world’s largest music festival”, drawing upwards of 1 million people every year to Milwaukee, WI.
“I hear a lot of bands, and I knew [DIGITAL ELVIS] had something special going on the first time that I heard them,” says Silbaugh of the band’s impressive first offering.
But the reaction was a little surprising for the then fledgling DIGITAL ELVIS. “He didn’t know we were a two-man band with only one finished song,” laughs guitarist Derek Euston, who had written the song on a whim with highly regarded local singer-songwriter Matt Ryan.
Needless to say, the two accepted the show and began the task of assembling a backing band to round out the sound the duo created in the studio by performing all of the parts themselves. Fortunately for Ryan and Euston that was the easy part - finding more-than-capable musicians is an easy task when you’re armed with great material. And thus Matt Gochenauer and Ross Moody were brought into the fold, and a full band was born. Next came the hard part - writing enough material to fill a set that was up to par with “The Sounds” - the track that caught Silbaugh’s ear in the first place.
“We busted our asses to make that happen. I remember still writing and arranging new stuff like a week and a half before that show just to have enough material for the set,” Euston recalls. In the end, however, it was certainly worth effort. “Summerfest was a blast. We drove 12 hours through the night and went straight to the Miller Brewery for a tour at 10:30 a.m., had a couple beers, then checked into the hotel and passed the eff out. Those were good times.”
That songwriting frenzy also yielded the material for DIGITAL ELVIS’ debut EP - Sounds From the Orange Forest. With Sounds, the band delivers a diverse collection of tunes that showcase both their seeming grab-bag of influences, including STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, ROY ORBISON, THE KILLERS and JOHNNY CASH, as well as their penchant for adventurous songwriting, wrapped up in a tight package that is deserving of a title as obtuse as Sounds From the Orange Forest.
The record - a collection of ominous, shimmering modern rock spiked with clanking drum machines and cascading countermelodies, all of which creaks under the weight of Ryan’s commanding baritone - is a musical dichotomy - cohesive in it’s diversity. It’s the kind of music that, like MUSE’S albums, is great for a kegger, but would also be a suitable soundtrack for when the robots rise up, kill all of the humans and take over planet Earth.
So where does a band go after getting its start at one of the most highly regarded music festivals in the world and releasing an EP of commanding pop songs disguised as a musical grab-bag of genres? For DIGITAL ELVIS’ brain trust of Euston and Ryan, it’s important to focus as much on building the story as it is looking ahead.
“Right now, we’re really just trying to work hard and get our songs out there. Summerfest was a great start, but we’re focusing on playing smaller shows and being able to connect with our audience,” Ryan says. “But we’ve certainly got our eye on the big picture, and we know that the sky is the limit in this situation.”
For many artists, the summer festival circuit is a goal to reach, performing on a bill that includes the likes of BON JOVI and NO DOUBT. For Harrisburg, PA’s DIGITAL ELVIS it seemed like a good place to get started - playing for about 800,000 of their closest friends.
Through a rather serendipitous chain of events in early ’09, the first (and, at the time, only) song DIGITAL ELVIS had ever recorded found its way into the hands of Summerfest organizer David Silbaugh. Silbaugh was so impressed that, without knowing anything else of the band, promptly offered the band a coveted slot on the festival. To the uninitiated, Summerfest is certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the “world’s largest music festival”, drawing upwards of 1 million people every year to Milwaukee, WI.
“I hear a lot of bands, and I knew [DIGITAL ELVIS] had something special going on the first time that I heard them,” says Silbaugh of the band’s impressive first offering.
But the reaction was a little surprising for the then fledgling DIGITAL ELVIS. “He didn’t know we were a two-man band with only one finished song,” laughs guitarist Derek Euston, who had written th
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