Los Angeles-based band Elle Belle is set to release their new album, "How Do I Feel?" on September 1 via Little Record Company. The album follows their 2020 release, "Post Everything." The band has shared the first track, "Gone Are The Days," which offers a heartfelt and nostalgic journey through time, touching on disillusionment, war, and aging. The album was created during a challenging period for Christopher Pappas, the mastermind behind Elle Belle, involving health struggles, a cancer scare, his mother's heart attack, and the loss of a close friend. Despite the hardships, the album explores the complexity of human existence and emotions, serving as a profound reflection on life. While Pappas doesn't provide a definitive answer to the album's title question, the experience led him to realize the resilience and power of simply continuing to move forward each day.
How did the band form?
Elle Belle is a project I started right after I couldn’t finish the second album of my other solo project Miracle Parade. I had hit a sort of creative dry spell and decided to change it up with Elle Belle.
What are your previous musical projects?
How'd you first get into music? I’ve had a ton of projects, some current ones are a jangly power pop band called The Everyday Visuals, and a lo-fi duo with my friend Jon called DBL DRGN. My father was a musician so music was always around in my house growing up. I recorded some of my first songs on my father’s reel to reel 4-track. When I was in 7th grade, I started a band with my friend, and my dad let us play in between his band’s sets at the local bar in town. I remember the day after our first show, I was out with my mom and a guy stopped us and asked, "Hey, are you the kid that played last night? You were great!" and I remember thinking, "This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me."
First concert that you ever went to?
My first local concerts were probably my dad’s band Rasmyth! They were an acoustic trio, so I grew up with a lot of CSNY and America in the house. The first "big" concert I went to was when I was nine years old, I went to The Beach Boys (Mike Love unfortunately, not Brian Wilson). Funny story: Chicago opened, and during their set, there was this guy walking around with a tray of sodas, and he was accidentally spilling them on people. Thinking he was being "wild" at a concert (think like when athletes spray champagne on themselves), I joined in and threw my soda on his back. But as soon as it hit him, he turned around, furious, and I instantly knew I had messed up. I felt so terrible. As a side note - during that time, the Satanic panic and idea of "hidden evil messages" in music was really prevalent, so in my little kid brain, I thought that maybe Chicago’s music had made me evil and that’s why I threw the soda. The picture of me at nine years old, stressing out that Chicago had turned me evil as Peter Cetera sang "Glory of Love" is a really hilarious scene. I was an anxious child.
Can you explain what your writing process is like?
"The writing process" is really another way to say work flow, and my philosophy is that work flow should change based on the goals and project. When collaborating, the song can live or die by how adaptive you can be in "your process". My work flow with Elle Belle has evolved and changed over the years, but the constant has been that it most always starts with a melody. My iPhone notes are filled up with mostly humming, sometimes I’d sing an odd lyrical idea here and there. But the common thread is that there’s always a melody.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
Too many to unpack here! Nirvana, Sonic Youth, R.E.M. are the big ones from my childhood that made me want to be a songwriter. For the past several years, afro-pop and Ethiopian jazz have been dominating my playlists. In fact, I’m not sure I would have made it through the pandemic if it weren’t for Ethopiques, an anthology of wonderfully curated playlists. Those playlists turned me on to so many artists that I went deep down the rabbit hole with. I’m also lucky to have incredibly talented friends - a new band I’m obsessed with is Tragic Magic, I’d put them on this playlist - but they’re working on recording their first EP now. I’ve been fortunate to be in the studio with them and the songs are killer! Also, my friend (and collaborator/producer/engineer!) Pierre is working on some new stuff that sounds incredible. It’s been a while since he’s released something and he hasn’t missed a beat creatively.
What's the live experience like, and your philosophy on playing live?
Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be its own thing? I’m at my happiest when going off-script. I love winging it. Perhaps I’m a bit lazy and just don’t want to rehearse. I think those unrehearsed, off-the-cuff moments are where you really connect with the audience and yourself. I have a tendency to overthink things, over prepare, etc, so I love that in live music, there’s no second take (or third… or fourth… or "okay last one"… or…). I’ve actually tried to make my recordings MORE like my live shows. I recently wrote and produced a jam band record - for a great up and coming band called Dogs in a Pile - and the jam scene’s view on recording and live performance was something that I ended up taking a lot of inspiration from. There is an absolute commitment to improv and making every show unique. You can imagine that mentality can be anathema to attempting to get the "best take" of something while recording. Ultimately, there is no "perfect version" of the song, so the only goal should be to try and create a moment that’s worth capturing.
What has your touring experience been, best shows? Worst shows?
I haven’t toured since the world shut down, and I’m really looking to get back to it since I love it. I’ve played so many fun shows, Opening for Jenny Lewis comes to mind, the crowd was so warm and welcoming. My friend in SF Steve hosts these house shows that I’ve had the fortune of playing a few times, and they’re always so magical. I love house shows a lot for their intimacy. My worst show was in Brooklyn - I remember there were like 4 people there and one of them fell asleep during my set. I don’t blame them - I was awful that night.
What's up next for the band?
I’ve got nearly a whole record’s worth of new songs that I’m dying to start recording - but I guess I should really focus on releasing this record first.
https://ellebellenosignal.bandcamp.com/