If you read this site regularly, you’re already aware that I’m a huge Chimaira fan. In fact, I pride myself on knowing way too much about them.

I guess I haven’t officially reached stalker status yet, though, because until I read this interview with Chimaira lead guitarist Rob Arnold, I had no idea that the dude had another band – The Elite.

Says Arnold:

“I actually do have a new band, we’re called THE ELITE and people can check it out at MySpace.com/theelite. I am really excited about it, it’s me on guitar, Austin [D'Amond] from BLEED THE SKY on drums — and he’s a crazy drummer, we knew we had to play music together — TJ [Frost] who sang in a band called STEM From Buffalo, and he’s a great vocalist. Mike [Drury] who used to play bass in a band called SANCTUM with CHIMAIRA‘s drummer, Andols, and I before we started CHIMAIRA. We just took our time with this, recorded some tunes and we’re looking forward to launching them. If I have some time to devote to touring in CHIMAIRA‘s downtime, then we’ll take that opportunity.”

Well, needless to say, I went to the band’s MySpace page immediately, and, hey, guess what? They already have an EP! It’s called Ww3 and it costs all of five bucks on iTunes, so, of course, I downloaded it. I mean, I own every shitty solo album or side project any member of any incarnation of Guns N’ Roses ever made, so it seemed like spending five bucks on a Chimaira side project was the least I could do.

Now. It’s been a very busy day for us here at the Mansion, and, honestly, I haven’t gotten to listen to the EP yet. I did listen to one song on the MySpace page just to make sure I wasn’t about to totally flush my money down the shitter, and it was pretty solid – it had kind of an early-Chimaira feel, but Frost’s vocals are considerably more in the traditional hardcore style than Mark Hunter’s. Although Mark Hunter makes a guest appearance on the EP, so that should be cool, too.

I’ll try to write more about The Elite once I’ve had a chance to give Ww3 a few spins. In the meantime, this seemed like good news to share with my fellow Chimaira fans. ‘Cause for whatever reason, I ain’t never heard ’bout this band before.

And while we’re on the topic: Chimaira are on tour right now. Vince and I are seeing them Sunday in Dirty Jerz. Get dates here.

-AR