Alyeus

Alyeus is 519Kamikaze's band of the month for May 2011!
" Alyeus is a Progressive Hard Rock band based in London, ON. Their music is a combination of hard rock, ambient break downs and finger melting solos. Alyeus is also a conceptual based group their lyrics tell a tale in Progressive Rock fashion. The first album Forty Days at Sea is the first installment of a three album concept. I came across Alyeus when they played at the Kill Effect show at Norma Jeans in March. I was blown away right from the intro which I thought was the band tuning up at first but crescendoed into an all out attack which I later learned was called Dreaming in Waves. From there the band moves directly into Tritons Horn and the diversity of this local band becomes very apparent. Alyeus carried a stage presence which is rare in the local scene not only are they great musicians but they portray an air of confidence which is not lost on the audience. Don't forget to tell your friends after all no one should take such and epic journey alone. " - - Henry, 519Kamikaze

"Forty Days At Sea is filled with wonderful changes and transitions. There are beautiful harmonies, particularly the operatic sounds on “VII“. The guitars are amazing, playing hard alyeus2rock riffs over progressive instrumentation."

"The music is incredibly melodic, with wonderful themes woven in. There are way cool tempo and time signature changes.The use of instrumentals throughout the album, serves to set the mood for the next theme."

"Alyeus delivers an exceptional concept album with themes that are dark and disturbing, and music that is hauntingly melodic. This is an album that should be listened to in its entirety, from beginning to end at one sitting. If you like progressive rock, and musical themes, you owe it to yourself to check these guys out. Finally, a band that brings back the way cool concept album."

"Pay particular attention to “Dreaming In Waves“, and “Elysium“, which evokes shades of Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans. The coolest song on the album, “Forty Days At Sea“, is a great song in any genre." - I Can't Believe My Earz

"The talents of these musicians individually is quite remarkable and when their brought together the explosion of creativity is astonishing. The piece of music that they have put out in "Forty Days At Sea" is that of a band that has put out at the very least two albums prior to a debut album for ALYEUS to put forth a piece of Prog.Rock/Metal as they have, is astonishing." - Emidio "Rocker" Vaz - Indie Music News

"The album definitely fulfills its promise of progressiveness. Musically, we’re taken through a journey at sea full of epic moments punctuated by agile transitions. A lot of different degrees of heaviness are explored in Forty Days at Sea, which cover a wide range of the musical spectrum. I’m a sucker for concept albums, so I enjoyed the great amount of detail that was put into turning this idea into something concrete, including the excellent cover art, which I usually never notice."

"From a technical standpoint, I appreciated the skills – especially the wide variety of moods explored – such as on “The Great Bird.” The bass really stood out for me. I enjoyed how it was part of the melodic elements like on “Ashes to Angels,” as too many bands don’t use the bass to its full potential. There are quite a few interesting guitar solos (notably on “Triton’s Horn”) and instrumental sections where the musicians’ skills shine through. I thought the drummer showed quite a bit of adaptability and I really liked his playing on the title track, especially in the metal section."

"After listening to the album four or five times, I find myself pretty satisfied with the journey I’ve been taken on by this" - Norm Boivin - Bucketlist Music Reviews

"Concept albums can be a funny thing. Unfortunately, more often than not, whilst the albums themselves are technically good, they tend to be sloppily constructed around loose themes and it doesn’t feel like there’s an actual story being told, but a band that have perfected the art of a good concept album is Alyeus, a progressive rock band from Ontario in Canada."

"Forty Days At Sea is an ambitious release based on a science fiction story being written by the band and not only does it deliver in the storytelling aspect, it also delivers musically as well. Written to be listened to as one continuous story rather than as individual songs, it’s almost like a musical adventure that the listener has been taken along on and it results in a very rewarding listen."

"... It’s like you want to know what happens (even after you’ve familiarised yourself with the album and are on your ninth or tenth listen!) and the album keeps the momentum going from start to finish – no matter whether the story is being told by the vocals or simply just the instrumentation. This truly is like a book, but in musical form."

"... there’s not a lot that can really be faulted with this release as this is quite simply one of the best concept albums I’ve ever come across and is well worth your time to check it out." - Natalie Humphries - Soundscape Magazine

There’s an unassuming home on a quiet cul-du-sac in London, Ontario. It’s one of a half-dozen on the block, each of them unceremonious. The driveway is slick, its garden crushed under the weight of last night’s snowfall. From the street, it’s easy to dismiss.

Take a step further, through the fresh footprints up the driveway. Hear that? Take another. It’s a low hum at first, but grows clearer. Asynchronous tones spill out through the front windows and into the open air. Trudge forward, up the unshoveled path. Nudging open the door, it’s clear there’s something special happening.

Welcome to Prevail Music, a recording studio founded by graduates of Fanshawe Colleges Music Industry Arts program. Inside, past the photos of famous musicians that adorn the red walls of the front foyer, the atmosphere is electric as the four members of Alyeus (pronounced Ah-lie-us) are preparing to record their first album, Forty Days At Sea. The album promises to be an epic, depicting a tumultuous journey. But just getting to this point, waiting for that red “Recording” light to fire, wasn’t easy for Kyle, Ivan, Andrew and Dean. It took weeks of waiting, punctuated by desperation, jubilation and the realization that your strongest ally can be a total stranger, half a world away.
Alyeus

Alyeus (from left: Dean Greco, Kyle Alexander, Ivan Recinos, Andrew van der Voort). Photo: Alex Scott.

Alyeus’ origins are familiar. The band’s singer, Kyle Alexander, met guitarist Ivan Recinos in high school where the two bonded over music. When Kyle was putting the band together in 2009, he reached out to his schoolyard friend.

“Ivan, I need another guitarist and I don’t trust anyone else,” Alexander recalls.

When bass player Dean Greco joined the group later that year, the band was complete. But despite having a full lineup, the group wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

“It basically came down to a whole bunch of inexperienced guys trying to expand,” said Alexander. That was the root of the friction, which came to an end when Andrew van der Voort answered a Wanted ad on the classifieds site, Kijiji.

“(van der Voort’s induction) totally changed the music,” said Alexander. “It wasn’t what we were used to. It was kind of fun.”

“We could really explore,” added Recinos.

Explore they did, trying new sounds and styles Alyeus had never attempted. Once the dust had settled, the band began playing shows around London with renewed vigor. Clubs like The Roxbury and The Black Shire and Call The Office became regular haunts. Soon, however, the venues began to repeat themselves, and the group grew restless.

“We wanted to stop that circuit,” said Greco. “But it’s just so tough. London’s a difficult scene.”

Alyeus is a band with ambition, a quality reflected in their music. The group had devised their songs around a single concept, spanning multiple albums. After months of playing shows, it was that ambition that demanded the band put the performances on hold and record its tracks, to make them real.

Immediately the band stumbled. Even in the age of low-cost computers and digital instruments, recording an album isn’t cheap. If Alyeus was going to realize its dream, it needed support. It needed funding. And so they did what 21st century bands do. The four took to the internet to plead their case.

On January 1st, 2013, an Alyeus profile popped up on the crowdfunding website, IndieGoGo. Like Kickstarter, it’s a place where entrepreneurs and creative types go to drum up support and capital for upcoming projects. The band’s page featured a brief explanation of its plans and a short video introducing the group to the world. On the right side of the page sat its fundraising goal, $5000, meant to cover the recording of the album and merchandise to be sold at shows.

“Okay, now we’re just going to let people know,” Alexander remembers thinking after the band’s donation page went live.

“I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? We need this.”

The promotional video for the campaign made by the band

And so, the four got to work. They sought donations from friends and family, told fellow musicians, and began pounding the digital pavement. Scores of emails, tweets and Facebook updates rained down on anyone who had even a tacit connection to Alyeus. The message was clear: we want to make an album, and we need you to help.

“We knew we were really going to piss people off, but we had to let them know,” said Alexander.

The barrage wasn’t enough. Once the initial excitement had warn off, the band had only earned $400 toward its goal. There the counter sat, stuck, for weeks. Disappointment and frustration began to set in. Without local support, without the help of fans, Alyeus’ campaign seemed all but dead, another would-be rock act that fell flat on the web.

And then something extraordinary happened.

The news blindsided the four men, coming in a flurry of text messages on an idle February afternoon.

“Did you see - A New Atlantis

Meet Alyeus, a local progressive rock band mostly made up of former Falcons: lead vocalist and guitarist Kyle Alexander (Business Marketing, 2009); bassist and vocalist Dean Greco (Music Industry Arts, 2013); and drummer Andrew Van Der Voort (Music Industry Arts and Audio Post Production, 2012). Along with lead guitarist and vocalist Ivan Recinos, they sat down with Interrobang in May to chat about the meaning behind their name, their upcoming album, and the victories and challenges they’ve faced as a band.

Drawing influence from everything from Tool to Rush to Coheed and Cambria, Alyeus blends hard rock riffs with atmospheric passages into what’s been called a “landscape of sound.” They describe their upcoming debut album, Forty Days at Sea, as part of a trilogy of concept albums that tell a story of war, a struggle for existence and a well-kept secret.

What’s the meaning behind your band name, Alyeus?
Kyle: “Everything we do is concept based, so it’s all entirely story- driven. Alyeus is actually a character in our story that appears at the end of this first album that we’re doing, but ultimately has a greater meaning within the story.”

Ivan: “We needed a band name ... We wanted something neutral so someone could just listen to our music. Alyeus was actually my grandfather’s name and also my dad’s; we just spelled it a little different. And we just really liked the name and it kind of just stuck there.”

Kyle: “It sounded cool, and we created our own spelling, which apparently is not as unique as we thought.”

Andrew: “There’s a guy in California who has the exact same spelling of the name.”

Kyle: “And apparently is our number-one fan.”

Ivan: “He likes all our Facebook posts. He wants a shirt. And the album when it comes out.”

Can you talk about your fundraising campaign that you ran for your album?
Andrew: “It was a website called Indiegogo and basically just for bands, music, and artistic stuff mainly, and so we signed up for that. We were having a discussion as to whether we should label our band as ‘rock’ or ‘progressive rock.’ We set up this (fundraiser on Indiegogo) with all these packages like if you donate $10, when the album comes out we’ll send you a CD, or you can donate $100 and we’ll send you a t-shirt and a CD and some other stuff. And then we had these crazy packages that were like $1,000.”

Kyle: “Our top one was $2,500.”

Andrew: “Yeah, we’ll come to your house and clean for you.”

Ivan: “We’ll play a show for you, we’ll send you a signed instrument.”

Andrew: “This guy from Germany donated $2,000 and was like, ‘I like what you’re doing, I found you by searching the word “progressive,”’ which is where that story went and why we decided to keep that.”

Ivan: “Just to add to that, the reason we were thinking of changing ‘progressive’ is because a lot of the time, people take a negative look at it...”

Andrew: “If you don’t sound like Rush, you’re not ‘progressive.’”

Ivan: “Yeah, or like, you have to be very meticulous or snobbish about it. So we wanted to avoid those things, but it’s okay to take the negative because there’s a lot of positive out of it.”

Kyle: “With the whole process, we raised a bunch of money and coming towards the last couple of days of the fundraiser, this guy in Germany, he messaged us again and said, ‘I’ve already put all this money into it, there’s a couple grand still to go (before the goal is reached), and I want to make sure that you guys can do what you set out to do. I will do whatever I have to do to make sure this gets off the ground.’ So he ended up giving us $4,500 in total. We worked out a deal: he became our executive producer on the project and also we gave him European distribution rights.”

Andrew: “He preordered 200 CDs.”

Kyle: “And he’s going to sell them over in Germany.”

Ivan: “And to add to the story, we’re going to name a character after him, too.”

Kyle: “That’s kind of our German sugar daddy. We’re so incredibly grateful and very, very lucky to find him.”

Ivan: “He changed our life. He made us be able to record this album.”

Andrew: “He basically funded the whole album.”

What’s the hardest part of being in a band?
Kyle: “I think finding out your identity and actually sticking to that. For us, it’s taken three years to get to this point. We’re just recording our final vocals for this album – it’s almost all done. And it’s about just knowing what you want to do, finding that out, knowing what you’re good at, what works between the band members and how to get that writing style and just being honest with another.”

Andrew: “And don’t hold grudges. When things go wrong, you have to let everyone know and then fix it and keep going.”

Ivan: “I think writing is really hard. Some songs we’ve taken a year to write, but other songs we’ve done in weeks. And I think that all just comes with we want to make the best possible song. A lot of the time, we’re always going back and forth like, ‘Shou - Fanshawe College - Interrobang

"Alyeus (Ah-lie-us) is one of the most musically ambitious bands in the London scene. Inspired by Tool, Mastodon, Coheed and Cambria, and other heavy progressive rock bands, their debut full-length CD, Forty Days at Sea, is part of what they expect will be a five-release concept epic based on a fantasy story they are writing together. The second installment, an EP, will be out later this spring, courtesy of a free recording session at CHRW that the band recently won.

Forty Days at Sea is a real accomplishment. The music is dense, technical, moody, and catchy all at the same time. It’s also a very coherent record – impressive, given that the songs are written collectively. All four members – Kyle Alexander (lead vocals, guitar), Dean Greco (bass, vocals), Ivan Recinos (guitar, vocals), and Andrew Van Der Voort) - are great players and songwriters. Story seems to be in their blood. The band’s own tale includes a robbery, unexpected free recording sessions, and a mysterious German benefactor (they might be the biggest band in Europe right now, but no one has told them)."

URL contains full Interview with Kyle and Andrew of Alyeus - John | London Groove Machine