I believe in the project, I believe in the music, I believe in the members. It's such a positive experience that I've had with this band over the last two years that it makes you want to put your best foot forward and put everything that you have into it. - Reese Ortenberg

When I found out Eidola was playing in New York on Sunday, 3/15, from a fellow musician, I was surprised I hadn’t heard of them yet. An alluringly genre-defying band founded in Utah in 2011, Eidola traverses post-hardcore, progressive metal, and experimental, ambient rock.

In the midst of the dreary March cold, Eidola was uplifting. The iconic Gramercy was packed for the show, and spirit couldn’t be higher as the band took the stage. Andrew Wells energetically welcomed the crowd (“How the fuck are you doing!? No better place to be on the Lord’s Day than with you all!”) before kicking things off. He and Matthew Dommer, two of the band’s founding members, alternated vocals: Wells’ powerful, clean tones resonated seamlessly with Matthew Dommer’s vitalizing screams, an interplay that only grew more impressive when they slung guitars. Directly beside Wells and Dommer, Skylar Caporicci played a foot from the audience, engaging them with a crystal-clear view of his guitar craftsmanship. All the while, guitarist Sergio Medina elevated the crowd boundlessly as he darted across the stage, interacting with each musician while maintaining his flawless riffs (though I mention Eidola spanning genres, I don’t think I’ve heard of anything more prog than four guitarists!). Medina created rapport with drummer Matthew Hansen, the third member of the original lineup, whose rhythms interlaced tightly with the other instruments. Finally, Reese Ortenberg drew unexpected parallels to a rocket scientist preparing a ship for takeoff as he impressively switched between bass, backing vocals, and keyboard. 

A particularly rousing moment was the band’s performance of “Empire of Light,” from their latest album Mend: “Can’t shake the feeling I was made for this, it’s been a long time coming up…” As the audience raised their hands, clapping along to the song, pushing it forward, they reciprocally exchanged energy with the musicians (all while crowd surfing and moshing). After the song, I saw a fan in the back euphorically raise her hands in the air, laugh, and run toward the front, while I likewise witnessed pals catching up toward the back of the venue. The themes of unity and purpose, threaded throughout “Empire of Light” and Mend, were ultimately reflected in the atmosphere, amplifying Ortenberg’s sentiments.

I had the chance to sit down with Reese Ortenberg and Sergio Medina and get their insights on Eidola’s work and vision. 

Laurel: I've seen that as a band, you’ve worked with a bunch of producers over time. I was wondering what it’s like to collaborate with them and how your process has evolved.

​Sergio: I've been with Eidola maybe four records deep now. The producer comes in sort of close to the finish line. We spend a lot of time on the demos, so by the time the producer gets to the record, it's mostly just engineering: recording the drums, recording the guitars. They add a little bit of input, but the bulk of the material is already there for us. We try to be as rehearsed as possible. Producers like Kris Crummett, who we did The Architect with, or Mike Sahm, who did Eviscerate, or Stephan Hawkes, who did Mend—they provide a lot of input in terms of how to make certain parts pop a little more vocally. But for the most part, Andrew and the rest of us try to be as prepared as possible by the time we go in.

Reese: I got to participate in the most recent records. Skyler and I are new members of the band, as of about a year and a half, two years ago. And when we got into a room and were able to write together, I saw into that process of us really piecing the songs together as a unit. And there was definitely input from Stephan as he was tracking us through the writing process and getting everything down so that it wasn't lost to the ether. But it was mostly the six of us in a room, producing on the fly off of each other and seeing what worked and what didn’t, trying out different things here and there. It was a really cool experience.

L: That's fascinating. I know some bands that work together with the producer, while other times they bring in a really fleshed-out idea…​

S: Yeah, it's different because some bands or artists need a producer who can help write songs from the ground up, and Eidola’s not that band. We usually pick how many songs we want to do, write that number of songs, and then record them. But sometimes you work with a producer who helps you literally create the song from start to finish or compose a rougher demo that you might have—it's varying degrees. A producer can start with you from the ground up, or just do what Stephan Hawkes or the guys we work with do: help us take our stuff to the finish line. But not to discredit what they do, because they make such small adjustments that make a world of difference.

L: Absolutely, it's interesting to hear about all the differences. I’ve also noticed that many of your songs and albums are philosophically oriented, and I was curious to hear how that's a shared interest for the band.

R: Coming at it from a new blood perspective, I've always been a fan of concept albums and concept bands. The first tattoo I ever got was a Coheed and Cambria tattoo, and that band is so driven in lore and stories. I'm a huge fan of Deerhunter, and they're also in that vein, where it's all a story. So coming into Eidola—and I don't even know the full extent of the story—but having there be lore, concepts, a philosophical nature, and a story that encapsulates it all is really, really cool to be a part of. And I'm learning a lot as I ask questions about bits of the lore or discover things from Reddit threads that people have pieced together. Coming at it from that perspective is very interesting.​

S: I worked with the label that put out Eidola’s record in 2015 and in 2017, and then I joined soon after in December of 2017. I don't know very much about the concept. I know a little, but there are definitely fans out there who will ask questions like the one you just asked and who know the narrative way better than me. And sometimes I even think better than Andrew, who wrote and created this entire world. That story ended with our last album. Now, the material that we put out from this point forward will be based on different concepts, but outside of the main narrative. But I know very little. As I said, there are fans out there who know way more about it than I do. And it's kind of adjacent to religious themes. At first, when I met Andrew, he was a Buddhist. Now he's Christian. But the band itself is like a—I make this joke all the fucking time—we're like that coexist sticker, which is really stupid hahaha…that you see in Portland on the bumper sticker of a car…

R: I don't know, like a Volkswagen.

S: Or Subaru hahaha. The band, to me, feels like that in terms of where we all sit religiously—some of us may not even feel that religious, but both of our vocalists are Christians…Andrew used to be Buddhist….

R: It also does feel, even from the concept point of view, more like an exploratory view into it all. It’s not explicitly a Christian band or explicitly a Buddhist band. It is approaching the concepts that all the religions have to offer in this overencapsulating story.  

S: Yeah, I know you [Reese] have an Avatar: The Last Airbender tattoo.

L: Oh my gosh. I love that.

S: And I like to think of Eidola as Uncle Iroh's “The White Lotus”—it feels like that to me. That might be blasphemous to say to some people, but I don't know...

L: I totally get what you're saying. I study some philosophy, so I love looking at how different ideas come together and the similarities between different religions. And Avatar is sick!

Another question: Having been in many bands and seeing how Eidola has changed over time, do you have any advice for college or high school students forming bands and trying to find people who share a unified vision?

S: I didn’t go to college—I went to Las Vegas Academy, which was a performing arts high school. You had to audition to get in, and it felt very much like a college. We had a theater program that was advertised all over the city because our productions were so good and an orchestra that would travel all over—it was very prestigious. And it felt like, towards the end of your senior year, that they would kind of beat that creativity out of you by prepping you for college. In a way that—in my head, at least—I went, “Wait, why did I just spend four years learning how to play guitar, through jazz and classical studies, only to be told to pick a different major to go to a college?” So I think I had to get off the beaten path to figure it out. But it came with a lot of hardship and sadness. And going off the rails like that doesn’t provide you with the structure. Now, I think college does, but I don't know if that safety net or that comfort zone is good for that kind of growth. So I don't know if I'm the best person to ask. There's a band called alt-J that I fucking love, and they all met at music school. And they said the only thing that music school was good for, for them, was meeting each other. They were making the music outside of that. But to tie this off, I’d say, find people who share either a musical or narrative vision or concept with you and rally behind them.

R: That's exactly what I was going to say. The biggest thing I've learned is that no matter how hard everyone strives in a project, every single band is really run and spearheaded by one or two people. So if you're in a band and you're not the one or two people, do everything you can to support a vision that you believe in. And if you are the one or two people, you've got to just hunker down and do everything in your power to get that music out there, to finish it, and lead the charge. Because Andrew and Sergio are unbelievable at leading the charge in this project. I mean, it is absolutely a collaborative team effort with the band's current lineup…

S: Reese is doing more shit, instrumentally on stage, than mostly everybody. He's playing bass and keys while doing backup vocals!

L: That's insane.

R: Part of it is doing it for the love of the music. I believe in the project, I believe in the music, I believe in the members. It's such a positive experience that I've had with this band over the last two years that it makes you want to put your best foot forward and put everything that you have into it, because there is something on the other side, and it just keeps proving itself over and over again. Last night we had these double shows where we played one album front to back and then another album front to back, and they were just the most magical experiences. And that's what happens when you allow someone to see a vision through to its utmost degree, and you're supporting them through it, and also having that person just bulldoze and lead that charge to get there.

And then going back to the college thing—I went to college for “music”—I'll put in very big air quotes. I did music engineering. I made some good connections during that. But all of this—Eidola and some of the other projects I’m in—existed outside of college.

But college really helps push the professionalism that these bands and these gigs require. It was instilled in me, thankfully, from a very young age, to be the professional that's needed. I know for a lot of dudes it's something that's learned over years and years of trial and error. I thankfully bypassed some of the craziness and stories I hear about bands trying to figure stuff out. But every band goes through growing pains, every band goes through its tribulations, and it's whether or not you believe in it enough to stick with it and work through all the bullshit to get it to where it needs to go.

S: Yeah. But it's very hard, and you're going to want to quit all the time. I'm 32 years old now, but I started touring when I was 18, right out of high school. I went to half a semester of college and felt horrible. It felt like everything against what I was programmed to be doing, which was playing guitar in front of people. Sticking through it is the hardest part, but it yields the best rewards.

​​I also asked Reese and Sergio about what’s in the works for Eidola.

​R: We don't have a set release date, but there is a new Eidola record on the horizon. It's done, it's recorded. We're just waiting for some mixes. From a new blood’s perspective, it's definitely a new chapter because it involves everyone, which is a really cool thing to say. The caliber of musician in this band is through the fucking roof. Everyone in this band pulls their weight to an extreme degree.

​S: …And the new bloods are better at their instruments than the old guard.

R: New record on the way. And very excited about it!