New Blood

Eteraz has been playing shows throughout this year and released their first demo, “Evil Hardcore” this past July. Elika’s aggressive lyrics encapsulate a slew of emotions I’ve wished for years to hear sung in Farsi. The demo is a transcription of a Middle Eastern American experience that’s unembellished and unapologetic. They were kind enough to share their feelings and fill us in on what Eteraz has been up to since they formed earlier this year.

1. Pirouz: Let’s go through the basics first. How and when did you all get together, and when did you start writing songs?

   Elika: Ok let’s see… One day I was hanging out with my friend Pris and she asked me if I wanted to sing in a band she was starting, and I was like, ”Yeah I’m down! I wanna try and sing in Farsi.” She seemed really stoked about the idea too. She’d been jamming with JL, at this time JL played drums and Pris played guitar, and they already had two songs they were working on. It was my first time trying to do vokillz for a band so I felt extremely insecure about it (and still do). It took us a while to find a bassist but when we finally found Hallie it felt like everything was coming together, but then JL just ghosted on us haha! Luckily we found Riley. I saw them play a show last November with MIP and I asked them to jam with us and they were so down, just exclaiming how awesome drumming is and how everyone should drum. Now they’re like one of my closest friends, and I love them so much.

   For a while there it was just the four us, but around this past July I was hanging out with my friend Bee, and we kinda talked about her joining the band. So now we have a second guitarist, which is SO COOL. It’s the five of us now, and I love the other four a lot and feel so fortunate to be in a band with all of them.

2. P: When was your first show? 

   E: Our first show was last February. At this place called the Photon Factory. That place was the from the future, it was so weird… but we played with one of my current favorite Seattle bands, PAIN BOYS.