Plotting The Future of Rock and Roll

David R. Elliot releases new single and plays The Cellar Pub this weekend.

This Friday will mark a bit of a homecoming for David R. Elliott when he takes the stage to perform at The Cellar Pub. Born in Saint John, Elliott spent a lot of time performing in Fredericton before recently relocating to Halifax where he performs his own material and plays guitar with Mike Trask & The Precious Memories.

“Fredericton has always been a sort of other home,” said Elliott, “just because I’ve been playing there for almost seven or eight years, and I used to come up and party with my friends who went to university there. I met a lot of my good friends in Fredericton and have collaborated musically with a ton of people there.”

Last month Elliott released a new single. Taking A Chance On Love, recorded at The Echo Chamber with renowned Halifax-based engineer Charles Austin, hints at both a new full album of tunes from Elliott, and the growing popularity of artists releasing “digital singles”, complete with a b-side.

“I think a lot of people like releasing singles because it’s quicker and often cheaper,” said Elliott, “and it’s a good way to have some merch to sell at the shows, that isn’t too expensive for fans to buy. Also, people tend to make decisions pretty quickly about what they do or don’t like, so it’s probably good to keep it short and sweet. That being said, my approach to the single is a bit old-fashioned, I guess, in that I just released a digital single to bring attention to the fact that I’m working on a full-length. Not that I wouldn’t release a 7 inch or cassingle, which I think is cool, but I’m pretty focused on the next album. That’s kind of my main art form – the album.”

Taking A Chance on Love represents Elliott’s recent progression as a musician and a songwriter. The polished sound, production and arrangements combine to make this release a serious tease towards what we can expect later this year, blending Elliott’s deep-rooted early rock and roll influences with his love of 90’s guitar rock.

“This single was chosen as the first release from the album because it sort of bridges the gap from the last record, which was more rooted in blues, country, and early rock, to the next album, which is very guitar-based 90’s rock, with a lot of 80’s influence from bands like the Replacements and Sonic Youth, or hardcore and college rock and so on. In a way, I wanted to fulfill this vision I’ve had since high school of making this big catchy guitar noise album where I could pretend I’m in Nirvana sometimes. The older I get the more interested I am in every way to make music, and who and where and how it gets made. For me it’s impossible to talk about influence without categorizing them by album. I’ve released stuff that’s informed by early Marilyn Manson and electronica and I’ve released stuff influenced by Stompin Tom and George Jones. There’s stuff informed by A Muppet Christmas Carol and Cam’ron, so it’s a little all over the place. But I try to make the records cohesive by keeping a loose sort of aesthetic theme.”

With a full-length album in the works and a tour schedule quickly filling up, the year ahead looks like a busy one.

“I’m starting to put together a schedule for the band and I this summer,” said Elliott. “Trying to get on some festivals of course, and hammering out some tour stuff in support of the new album, Sunshine, which I hope to release in June. I’m planning a lot of shows in the Maritimes, as well as Quebec, Ontario and hopefully some dates out west. I’ll be putting together a music video and some live footage and stuff for PR purposes while getting the album all finished and mastered and finding the money to release it. It will probably come out on cassette with a limited CD run for people that want those. I play guitar for Mike Trask & The Precious Memories, and we’ll be relatively busy as well I think. We seem to be accruing a fair amount of festival interest and such, so it’ll be a bit of a balancing act. I’m looking forward to a very busy summer of constantly playing music, and I very much intend for this album to get the support I feel it deserves.”