Deadsy: how academia, science, war and more share a single stage and create a singular sound

Deadsy have been living underground for the past few years as multiple record label mishaps kept their debut album, Commencement (which came out on Elementree/DreamWorks in May), from seeing the light of day. But they haven't exactly been gathering dust. With a sound as thick as caked-on mascara, these five heavy metal/new wave alchemists created vivid stage personas where each represents an entity (science, horror, academia, leisure and war), and attracted a cult following. Their goth fantasia wasn't cooked up in some medieval castle, though: The band's leader, Elijah Blue--son of Cher and Greg Allman--lives with mom in her L.A. digs.

MILLA JOVOVICH: What's up. man? It's been so long since I heard your first demos--I'm so happy to finally see a record.

ELIJAH BLUE: Oh, you actually know the music?

MJ: Are you kidding? I still have those demos in my CD case! I feel such a connection to your music: the vibe, the sound ... there's this great sort of metaphysical fascination.

Now, how did all of you hook up?

EB: The core members of the band are the drummer, Alec Pure, Dr. Nner on the keyboards and myself [P. Exeter Blue I]. Alec and I had a couple of kid bands together and I went to prep school with Nner. He wasn't so much of a musician back then, but he was into industrial and new wave music, which became influences for the band. I met Carlton Megalodon, the synth guitarist, three years ago. And the bass player, Creature, is an old friend of Canton's from North Carolina. So everyone in the band goes back a long time with someone else.

MJ: How did all the personas and entities develop?

EB: The project is my brainchild. But it's not a one-man deal--it's something that I just humbly govern and drive. Everyone has accepted their strength, and their strength is required. I just encourage people to accentuate what they're naturally predisposed to do. This is one big, giant art-project-slash-journal. It's the adventures of everyone in the band's life.

MJ: I love that you describe it as an art project, because to me, the music represents so much thought, creativity and passion. It's inspiring. Which leads me to a question: I don't think anyone I was ever inspired by really got along with their parents and other kids at school. What was school like for you?

EB: I ping-ponged around a lot. From eight years old I was away at boarding school.

MJ: Oh, my God. Is what we hear about boarding schools true?

EB: I think people have reform schools and prep schools confused. The schools I went to are places that, for a lot of people, are a real honor to go to. I was exposed to a lot of brilliant minds. I went from listening to Jimi Hendrix to reading Aleister Crowley, and I have strong ties to the Ordo Templi Orientis--a branch of Freemasons [which Crowley led] that started about a hundred years ago--and I try to reference those ties in the music. It's something that's not traditionally acceptable by pop culture's standards, but we feel compelled to go there, and it yields an interesting kind of music.

MJ: When I hear your music, I feel like I'm in a laboratory watching a theoretical mathematician and a scientist working together. One's theorizing and the other's creating.

EB: Yeah. What's also interesting is to not get too inside the head. The brilliant thing about metaphysics is the combination of the heart and the mind, and that's what I think is magic about our music-the heart is never abandoned for the head, and vice versa. We've developed this surreal style and there's something esoteric about it.

MJ: But the music's still really simple and something I can grasp onto.

EB: That's the trick!

MJ: I need to get a copy of your tour schedule.

EB: You need to catch us. Seeing us in the arena is what it's all about: The journey of Deadsy.

MJ: When you're up there and the bass kicks in, you must feel it in your stomach.

EB: It's like being swallowed by a wave or by the curvature of the Earth. You can feel the gravity of what we're doing.

MILLA JOVOVICH "Deadsy,"

"If I didn't have the success I've had in my other careers, I'd probably yearn to be a rock star," says model, actress and musician Milla Jovovich, who met her interview subject, Elijah Blue of the synth-metal group Deadsy, through mutual friends. But you won't find her putting out a follow-up to her first album, released in 1994, any time soon. "There's something to be said for not using all your talents to make money," she says. Jovovich is currently at work with her production company on two scripts, one of which she co-wrote.

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