Sandra Schleret: vocals
Pete Streit: guitars
Christian Gruber: guitars
Tom Saxer: bass, vocals
Max Naescher: drums

CURRENT LINE-UP:

DISCOGRAPHY:

God's Silence, Devil's Temptation
(2003)
Dark Clouds in a Perfect Sky (2004)
Griefshire (2006)
Show Me the Way EP (2007)
Catharsis (2009)

TO THE TOP

Prior to 2006, the Liechtenstein-based band Elis was poised to ascend the hierarchy of the female-fronted Gothic metal scene.  All of that came to a screeching halt, as their lead vocalist Sabine Duenser died from a hemorrhage in July of that year after recording vocals for the album Griefshire.  The remaining members of the band decided to go forward with releasing the album to honor her wishes.  At the beginning of 2007, the band found a new vocalist in the person of Sandra Schleret, who herself had some health problems of her own prior to joining the band.  The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for Elis comes in the form of Catharsis, which came out at the end of 2009.  Recently, Metal Psalter took some time to talk to Tom Saxer (bass/vocals) and Sandra Schleret (vocals) to give some insight about what has been a long and winding road and what the future may hold for the band.

Peter: As everyone who has followed Elis knows, there was a change in vocalists through no fault of the band.  I won’t ask to have the story retold, so the first question I would ask is what are some of the things that current vocalist Sandra Schleret brings to the band?

Tom: She brings her own way of songwriting and she has a very strong and powerful voice. For us, it was very important not to replace Sabine by a kind of clone echo that acts and sings just like her. This wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. We are very happy that we found in Sandra a singer that is totally independent and brings a new spirit to the band.

Peter: Shortly thereafter, the single “Show Me the Way” from Griefshire was released with Schleret on vocals, as well as some of the final recordings of former vocalist Sabine Duenser.  In what ways did it help the band’s transition as far as coming to terms with Duenser’s death and introducing Schleret’s vocals with the band?

Tom: For us, it was the best way to link the past with the future.  We wanted to release the last songs from Sabine, and at the same time, it was our wish to introduce Sandra to the audience. We knew that everybody waited for that and so to us, it seemed very logical to combine these two things into one record.

Peter: Recently, Elis released a new album in Catharsis.  Would you mind telling some of the details of the album from a production standpoint?

Sandra: Well, we worked on the album for a longer time, but it took some time until we found our way to write music in this new constellation. Most of the time, Pete gave me some rough guitar-riffs with drums and then, I had all the freedom to create my lines and lyrics. That was quite cool for me because I was able to unfold my creativity by a lot.  Finally, we recorded Catharsis at the Mastersound Studios in Germany with our long time friend and manager Alex Krull. It was quite fun to do that because we know each other well and this makes working together far easier.

Catharsis has no strict concept, but the lyrics are deal with a disease I had to fight.  About a year and a half before I joined Elis, I got the diagnosis “Morbus Hodgkin,” which is a kind of lymph node cancer.  I had to go through chemo- and radiotherapy, and it was a very hard time for me.  I completely changed my way of living, and since then I see things very different.  When I started working on the vocals for Catharsis, all these feelings broke their way to the surface, and so most of the lyrics are very closely connected to what I experienced at that time.

Peter: Who did the cover art and how, if at all, does it relate to the concept behind Catharsis?

Sandra: The cover artwork was done by Stefan Heilemann (http://www.heilemania.de).  He is a very gifted and cool artist whom we were able to win for that job. Working with him was very inspiring and easy.
The cover is closely related to the story that Catharsis tells because it shows how I felt in that period of my life.  Trapped in myself in that situation, trapped in time, unable to escape, and unable to reach the outside.  At the same time, I was out of reach for my beloved ones, who were trying to help me.

Peter: For the album, the band recruited the services of Michelle Darkness from End of Green.  How did the arrangements work out and how would you characterize his contributions to the album?

Sandra: When I wrote the vocals for “Warrior’s Tale,” it was clear to me from the beginning that I needed a very strong, masculine, and deep voice for the verses: a broken, though powerful Warrior.  I was thinking of a voice like the one of Pete Steele (Type O Negative). I discussed it with Alex and the rest of Elis and we came very quickly to the idea that Michelle could be the right man for us. Fortunately, he also liked our idea and when he sang the first lines in the studio, I had goose bumps. From that moment on, it was clear that he was the perfect choice. So you could say that he gave life to the character I wanted to create in this song.
Peter:  Are there any shows planned in the near future?

Sandra: Nothing concrete so far, we hope to have more news soon!

Peter: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Tom: Thank you for the interview, and a big hello from Austria to all of you! Hope to see you soon on tour!

Elis

Interviewer: Peter

February 12, 2010

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Check out Peter's review of Elis' Catharsis here

Formed: 2003
Valduz, Liechtenstein
Label: Napalm Records
Genre: Gothic Metal