Heavy Alternative Rock
Richmond, Virginia, USA

Joe Albanese, Cat Albanese, and Willie Dizon were formerly in Four Living Creatures before forming Elder. After Elder, Joe and Cat Albanese formed Fell Desire.

“In 1991, when Joe Albanese and Willie Dizon formed Four Living Creatures, an aggressively dark Christian rock band, they had no means of forecasting the long and winding road that they would have to travel before that first and most important of all career moves - being signed to a record label. It's probably good though, because had they been able to see their course, they might have opted for one more traveled by, and less instructive.

Four Living Creatures experienced the typical mixed reactions to their shows and the typical lack of enthusiasm from record labels to music that dealt with the scarier moment of Christian life. But the band persevered, recorded their first full-length release, borrowed a Picasso for the cover (from his blue period, natch), and drew the interest of Brad Wells, who had an indie venture at the time called Frozen Rope Records. Wells contacted Gray Dot Records for distribution of the Four Living Creatures record as well as one by Harry Gore and the Measles, and Gray Dot began to market the release, as unique to its genre as was Shaded Pain to its in the eighties.

And then the band broke up. The stress of the road exacerbated existing tensions, and Four Living Creatures played their final show in Atlanta. A splinter band eventually signed to R.E.X. Music as Sweet Nectar, temporarily occupying Dizon's attentions. However, in 1997, Dizon left Sweet Nectar, and reunited with Albanese and his wife since 1992, Cat, as well as Jonathan Maple on drums, and Bryan Whitfield, who had just ended a long fight to be released from the Air Force as a conscientous objector after he converted to Christianity. The band moved into a communal home, following the example of early church models, and recorded Used to be Adorable under the guidance and financial support of Pastor David Alexander from their local church home, Abundant Life.

Used to be Adorable was a stunningly powerful effort, and practically a one-day record, and it caught the eye first of Liquid Disc Records / Vector veteran Steve Griffith, who offered the band his production and studio in return for part of their publishing royalties in the eventuality that they were signed. Elder accepted. The second ear it caught was that of David Vanderpoel at 1997's Cornerstone festival, when Joe and Willie burst into the radio trailer where Vanderpoel had an on-air shift in progress. The band was desperate for a dubbing deck to run demos on for other labels at the festival, and what Vanderpoel heard was impressive enough for him to interrupt his show and broadcast the demo live on air. (It's never been confirmed that he actually did dub anything for other labels.)

The rest as they say, is history. Or future, in this case. In early October of 1997, Elder and Griffith recorded their new twelve-song tour de force, So Long Babylon, a shrill indictment of carnal life and its plagues and woes, and an even tougher look at America's pasteurization of Christianity. While So Long Babylon (renamed to Plagues and Woes) is bound to unsettle the unrighteous, it is the record that Elder survived to make, and a valuable addition to the Christian music lexicon alongside L.S.U., Scaterd Few, SpudGun, and other socially-focused records. And “Š Babylon” holds its own in its target audience of Christians listening to Jane's Addiction, Tool, Black Sabbath, and Rage Against the Machine.”

(from http://graydot.com/support/eldx.html)

199? Independent

Joe Albanese
Willie Dizon

1996 Liquid Disc Records (LDD9979)

1. Introduction
2. Ninety Nine and One
3. Suddenly Religion
4. Manic Mate
5. Parochial Southpaw
6. Iron Lung
7. Ali's Song
8. Virgin's Song
9. Number Nine
10. Red Earth
11. Rumble
12. Dedmansbontupic
13. Salida

1997 Bulletproof Music (D3013)

Joe Albanese - Lead vocals, guitar
Wilfredo P. Dizon - Bass, backing vocals
Jonathan Maples - Drums, backing vocals
Cat Albanese - Percussion, backing vocals
Bryan Whitfield - Guitar, backing vocals

Kim Whitfield - Backing vocals on “I Can See You”

Produced by Steve Griffith

1. Sugar Medicine (3:29)
2. Never Learn (4:25)
3. Little Man (2:25)
4. River (4:25)
5. Down the Stairs (4:44)
6. Much (3:26)
7. White Whine (4:07)
8. Tomorrow (3:33)
9. Sorry (4:47)
10. Peat Bog Man (3:07)
11. America Jones (4:00)

*Re-master bonus songs:*

1. I Can See You (1:56)
2. Empire (demo version) (4:48)