In 2010 Heliosaga was born when Damien Villarreal (guitar/keyboard) was joined by Jordan Ames on the drums, Lucas Drummond on the guitar, Christine Schas on the vocals, and Ken Lambdin on the bass. After a few months, Lucas decided to leave, and while searching for a full-time fifth member Heliosaga completed a five song demo, Equinox, in April 2011.
That following June, Jacob Horning joined the band as a bassist and Ken took on the guitar, and after a brief stint of live shows, Heliosaga began on a quest for locating a new singer. With the quest well afoot, the band concentrated on writing new material, and in June 2012 Chelsea Knaack (ex-DesDemon) joined the band as lead vocalist. Over the next nine months Heliosaga would release a single, “The Light of Ardor”, relocate to Minnesota, and part ways with Ken and Jacob.
In early 2014, Heliosaga began recording its debut album, Towers in the Distance, releasing August 22, 2014.We at RockRevolt had the chance to interview Damien Villarreal, and are proud to announce them as RockRevolt’s Indie Band of the Week!
How was the formation of the band?
I officially started the band in June 2010. I began working with a guitar player named Lucas, a Brazilian who was living in San Antonio, and we started writing some songs together. We eventually met with Jordan, our drummer, and by September we had a full lineup.
Are you all involved in the music creation process?
I wrote all of the music, lyrics and melodies for the album. I always write a basic drum track, but Jordan takes that and makes it better…MUCH better. When I write drum tracks, I don’t pay attention to how the individual parts flow into each other rhythmically, and I don’t normally put rolls or fills. I leave all that to Jordan. Chelsea helped with creating vocal harmonies, where to place them, where to layer or double the main vocal. All of us were involved in the overall production of the album.
Can you tell us something about your recently released debut album, Towers In The Distance?
Well, I can tell you what I think about the album. I think it has a lot of variety, a lot of ups and downs, and I think that makes for a very interesting album to listen to. There is fast, slow and mid-tempo stuff. There are symphonic, Gothic, progressive and even thrash elements woven into the overarching power metal style of the album. I think you can tell that our influences are very widespread.
Which was the band’s biggest influence in this album?
It is hard to say what our single biggest influence was. All of us are big Kamelot fans, and I think you can definitely hear that on some of the songs.
Are you already working on or thinking of recording a new album?
Yes, all the music is written for the next album. It needs to go through our ‘production’ phase where we all sit back, dissect the songs and ask ourselves whether the parts flow into each other smoothly or whether there is too much guitar going on and interfering with the vocals. That was basically the process for Towers in the Distance.
What can we expect from Heliosaga in a near future?
Hopefully we’ll have a full lineup and be out there playing live. We have a video in the works that is already in post-production and should be ready in about a week or two.
Would you like to say something before we finish?
Yes, I’d like to encourage people to support the bands they appreciate! Buy the album and/or shirt, that is the first thing. Like their Facebook page, spread the word about them, share videos, posts and send them words of encouragement. It means the world to some of us.
Thank you for the interview!
And thank you!
Connect With Heliosaga:
WEBPAGE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE
by Victoria Oliveira, RockRevolt Magazine Journalist
