“Recovery (definition) – the regaining of something that’s been lost or taken away…”
eLAY is a Birmingham UK native who has been around for many years on the music circuit previously as an in demand first-call session drummer and latterly a solo artist, singer songwriter multi-instrumentalist and producer. That was until his world came crashing down after he suffered an unexpected stroke…
This was by no means a devastating stroke compared to some, but if it wasn’t for the intervention of his father who found him in bed unable to move or talk, he most likely would have been permanently incapacitated or dead.
Fast forwards many long weeks and months and his recovery was well under way. What was his one major motivation? To get well enough record and release a new, two track EP which he has now completed. What an amazing feat? And one which very few have the determination to fulfil but we are not dealing with a normal artist here we are dealing with someone with extraordinary drive and self-discipline. Something that helped him win a national UK championship for drumming at only age 19!
In order to learn a new skill or a musical instrument you have to strip the seemingly complex, down to the raw bones. You need to develop good technique and repeat movements at a very slow place over and over again. Gradually the human brain develops the ability to play faster. It memorises the movements so you don’t have to think about what you’re doing and concentrate only on playing with feel and emotion.
eLAY had already done this on the drums to the highest level, how then must the mountain must’ve seemed when after so many years you find yourself unable to move or talk or play and instruments you had played with ease for so many years previously?
He describes his sound as Indie-Funk. His music is eclectic, electronic with a modern twist. His vocal style & look are quirky but confident (hence the Indie influence). Definitely not you standard artist and I think he likes it that way. He’s trying to push the boat out and do something new, without cliché or stereotype. Has he achieved that well you should find out for yourself but when you do, take into account the battle he must have endured to get to this point after such a debilitating condition?
Who knows? that drive might just be all he needs to get his material out into the bigger market.
He’d be the first to say ‘anything is possible and at anytime’