Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to artists that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have a Q&A with ELOAĦ.

METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:

ELOAĦ: Hello everybody. We are ELOAĦ, a singer/songwriter rock band with new age, jazz and pop influences. We are: Orion Roos on electric guitars, Peter Douwenga on bass guitars, Johan van der Meer on drums and percussion, Dominik Mittergradnegger on saxophone, Lila Herderberg on vocals, and myself (Elmar C. Fuchs) on vocals, acoustic guitars, and keyboards – and many guest musicians that differ from project to project.

METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?

ELOAĦ: Since I grew up learning classical piano, and taking classical singing lessons, classical music is certainly an influence. As a teenager/twen I discovered my love for a variety of styles, for example melodic roc and metal (e.g. Savatage), Celtic/new age music (e.g. Loreena McKennitt), singer/songwriter music and chansons (e.g. Herman van Veen) and jazz (e.g. Keith Jarrett). But that is just me. Every other musician of ELOAĦ has a different story, different tastes – parts of all that go into our music.

METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?

ELOAĦ: Our latest album is a collection of ballades and soft rock songs entitled Proud to Love You. The fourteen songs on this album were inspired by the different emotions around romantic love – from ecstasy to agony, from serenity to heartache, but with a clear bias on the pleasant aspects. Isn’t love what makes our existence worthwhile? Isn’t it worth all the suffering, waiting, fear and despair that often accompany the experience? Isn’t it true that we can do anything, endure anything and be anything if we do it in the name of / or with the power of love? And, most importantly: Isn’t it heaven on earth when it (finally!) works out? Especially the last question is embedded in most of the songs which can carry us deeply into the realm of the heart – we just need to allow them to enter.

METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?

ELOAĦ: As a band we rarely play live – together, that is. Every musician of ELOAĦ is playing in other band(s) which do play live, though – for instance, Lila Herderberg plays frequently with LiLA y Geckos trio in Graz, Austria; Orion Roos regularly plays with Maestro and Metalbats at several locations in the Netherlands; Johan van der Meer plays the drums at certain live events in the Netherlands as well, and my last performance was a piano improvisation at an event in the planetarium in The Hague last year. We are at the moment discussing a possible live set after the recording of the next album, though.

METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?

ELOAĦ: Happily continuing the way we work now – creating music together that we all enjoy, exploring new styles and genres, recording new albums – and doing a few live performances.