Eleos
Talking to some of the band members after the Rainbow Rock festival, the drummer told me that they came to the festival not knowing quite what to expect, but they were so touched by all the love they received by the audience! Their plan is already to come back next year, and they are all welcome to do so.
The band was established in 2006, in Kristiansand, Norway. Eleos isn´t an actual punk band, and I found their sound a bit unique. You could easily call it metalcore, with influences of punk and rock n’ roll. Yet this was the band that came closest to a punk sound this year. Which is great, since we had punk rock before, and metalheads just accepted it straight away.
In the secular world punk rockers are known to be rebellious, or at least break something while they’re out touring. The singer definitely looked, dressed and was singing and giving a perfect resemblance to a punk rocker.
The rest of the band looked more like thrashers, with the drummer bearing more than a slight resemblance to Christian Liljegren of Narnia, or even to Lars Ulrich of Metallica. He was also happily sharing about his Swedish grandfather who moved from Sweden to Norway.
It was clear that these guys are hardcore Christians doing God’s work. Despite the punk vibes and pulling off rockstar looks, these guys didn’t come with any rockstar attitudes. After a brief visit to the venue upon arrival, and then having some minor problems with the hotel bookings, resulting in a bit of waiting at the hotel the first night, they finally arrived at the venue quite early on Saturday. They seemed fit for the fight and had just the happiest attitudes as when they sat down briefly in the café the night before.
With song titles such as “Love Shaped Hole”, “Home” and “Purified” they handle topics that most Christians can resonate with.
They left behind them no trashed instruments or smashed greenrooms. They were nice guys from Norway with a wonderful attitude, giving us a great time. I might just have made friends for life with some of them.
And how can you not love a band that invites the audience to dance on the stage along with them?