Ben Batres – Elm Street

There are many reasons to love Melbourne natives Elm Street. Despite being one of a rare few these days to play traditional metal, there is an honesty about them as a band and as individuals that is just as appealing as their strong brand of heavy music. Since the release of 2011’s ‘Barbed Wire Metal’ Elm Street has seen critical acclaim and recognition both locally and internationally. “We put everything we had into that one,” Batres notes, “and it turned out great and opened so many doors for us.”

With a tour of Europe in 2013 under their belt, Elm Street continues to tour widely today and have been steadily building up their name for an international market. So with all that being said, it was my recent pleasure to speak with Ben Batres, frontman and guitarist for Elm Street. A very welcoming fellow, we discussed their forthcoming sophomore album, the journey of the band over the years, being tweeted by Wes Craven, and more!

Officially forming in 2003, Elm Street’s history extends even further back when Batres discusses how he and the others began Elm Street when they were 14 – 16 years old. “It’s a passion that the four of us have always had. We’ve only had the one lineup change. But we’ve always been like a family. It’s evolved with our age, evolved with the music. What a lot of people don’t know is that we didn’t even know instruments when we first made the band. We just made this out of our love of heavy metal. We went to different teachers and learned our own instruments. We basically learned how to write music together.”

Further adding, “The passion just keeps going because there’s always something there to be excited about. If you keep active, and you keep putting your heart and soul into something, then it’s the best all round.”

Going on to speak about how the tracking has been coming along for the as yet untitled new album, Batres’ response was honest, “It is a bit of a slow process,” he began. “Purely for us, we are putting everything we have into this. We want it to sound as natural as it can. We are three-quarters the way through the vocals, and once we’ve done that, we can move onto the mixing stage. So it’s nearing completion, obviously a bit slow because we are doing things so anally, and we are very picky with the songs and choosing it correctly, but it’s sounding so good! I can’t wait for people to hear it because it’s been a long time coming!”

One of the things I admire most about Batres and Elm Street as a whole is their work ethic as a band. “[laughs] Yeah, it’s sort of like a full time job, man! We have to work this 9-5 and put on this business face and then we can go home and work on our craft and refine it. All the guys work really hard at everything that they do. No matter what sort of day that you have at work – whether it be stressful – we’re always positive on ‘what could be’ in the future. So we’re always working 110% on the album, on the songs, and anything a band might need to do, we’re always putting our heart and soul into that. It’s good to have people around you that are like-minded and it’s not just one person pushing it forward and the rest are hanging back. It’s good to have four people that are balls to the wall, all guns blazing style.”

‘Barbed Wire Metal’ out now

It’s somewhat of a rare thing these days to find a band as in sync with one another as Batres describes. I affirmed this with him that it must be advantageous not only to them as a band having this but to the process as well. He agreed. “Luckily we’re still on the same boat and we’re all still sailing in the same direction and the right direction, so it’s good.”

Hit 2015, Elm Street are due to tour the US for the very first time alongside Skull Fist and Night Demon. Needless to say, they’re quite excited! “We’ve always toured with American bands [in Europe and elsewhere] and they’re always telling us about the scene over in the States and that we should get over there. So the right thing came along and we couldn’t say no. We’re so excited to get over there and open some new doors and finally perform to a different market. That’s what keeps you as a band to get motivated. It’s always good to be the opening band – warm up the crowd – and then just hang back, have a few drinks, watch a band that you love, and then mingle with the people after the show. Then go to the next city and do it all again, so it’s always good!”

The lyrical aspect of Elm Street’s new album touches on universal themes we can all relate to. “This album is based purely on life experiences. We’ve done so much in the last couple of years, and seen so much of the world. All of the lyrical themes are some sort of cry to the life experiences we’ve been through. That’s why I think the delivery on this album is a lot more natural, a lot more heartfelt – there’s a lot more feeling, a lot more dynamic. It’s a better product because it’s something anyone can relate to.”

Continuing with, “That’s what you need from music. Sometimes you want to put on that face of black and actually relate to that song.”

One thing I’ve always wondered was the origin of the band’s name. Whether it was based on the movies or even a street they all grew up on. “I wish we had a cool story like that – would have been good if we all lived on Elm Street and a couple of us had nightmares or something like that! [laughs] – but nah, it was nothing like that. When we were young, we just wanted that old school name that you say it and you know what sort of music you’re going to get. You know [with Elm Street] you’re going to get something that is traditional-sounding. We’re [also] huge fans of the Freddy Krueger films, and A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3 had one of our favourite bands Dokken on there with the “Dream Warriors” song, so we thought of so many things we could do with merchandise and marketing. Looking back, to even have the maturity to think about marketing and how we’re going to do this in the future, it’s worked out well and the name’s stuck.”

“I think it was just last year actually we even had Wes Craven (director of A Nightmare on Elm Street) on Twitter tweet “Elm St’s Children” on his page,” Batres went on, “and just from that I think we got an additional 2,000 Facebook Likes in 2 hours! It’s cool to have something like that and it’s working well. I’m just hoping that at no stage we don’t get a letter saying we’re sued for rights or anything like that!” he joked.

Wrapping up our interview, Batres gave a few final words about the new album and what Elm Street’s fans can expect: “We’re working hard behind the scenes and I’m sure people will see that once the final product’s out. Everything we’ve got planned in the next year and the next couple years, I just can’t wait to do!”

‘Next In Line’ USA 2015 Tour (Skull Fist w/ Night Demon & Elm Street) – Presented by Rock the Nation USA

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