Nathan Ells is a great singer, and I will always love the work he did with The Human Abstract, especially on Nocturne. So I was actually pretty stoked when a reader (who, given the tone and style of her e-mail, I think was actually either a poorly-disguised publicist or manager, but whatever) sent us an e-mail last night tipping us off to existence of Sunlit Ether, Ells’ new project with “former members of October Burning.” I’d never even heard of October Burning before, but it didn’t matter — ya pretty much had me at “Nathan Ells.”

And then I listened to the band.

Right now they have three songs available. They alternately sound like bad 90s alt metal or nu-core, neither of which is a style of music that would be my first, second, or tenth choice to listen to.

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Back in July, Vince and I visited The Human Abstract at the Machine Shop in New Jersey, where they were recording their new album, Digital Veil, with producer Will Putney. Between the (then) six members of the band and the two of us, there were way too many people to do one interview, so we ended up splitting up into groups and conducting three interviews. Below is the first, with guitarist A.J. Minette (before he was a MetalSucks columnist) and vocalist Travis Richter; we’ll run the rest in the coming weeks.

Even though these interviews were conducted before the album was even completed, in a lot of ways, they’re far more interesting now that Digital Veil is done and released (it came out Tuesday on eOne, in case you somehow missed it). For one thing, now when the band talks about the music, you will have already heard it and will know what they’re talking about. There’s a lot of discussion in here about music composition and theory, and about lyrical content; having now heard the album, these interviews feel like having running director’s commentary. After reading this, you’ll be able to go back and re-listen to Digital Veil with a fresh perspective, as well as a better understanding of what the band was aiming for.

But for another thing… yeah, a lot has changed since this interview was conducted. As you’ll see, at the time, the band hadn’t even finalized the name of the album; they had three guitar players, not two; hell, they were still signed to a different label than the one that ended up releasing the record! It’s definitely thought-provoking to see how much things have changed in just eight months.

And so, without further ado, here’s my chat with A.J. and Travis…

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Yes, I know that it was just yesterday that we told you that The Human Abstract would be releasing their new single, “Faust,” today. But now I feel the need to remind you.

The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was walk over to my computer, power up the ol’ iTunes, and purchase this song. Yes, I did that before my morning piss. That way, by the time I was done urinating, the song would be fully downloaded and waiting for me. And the slight discomfort I felt as I delayed the emptying of my bladder was totally worth it. I listened to the song five times in a row after downloading it. I’m sure I’ll listen to it many more times before the day is through. I fucking love it.

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In a dramatic but highly unexpected turn of events, Andy Richter, comedic actor and star of the legendary sitcom Quintuplets, has replaced Nathan Ells as the new vocalist for The Human Abstract.

Wait, hold on a sec. Vince is IMing me. Just a minute.

[returns a little while later]

Excuse me. TRAVIS Richter is the new singer for The Human Abstract. TRAVIS, not Andy. Oh well.

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It always comes down to that when a band loses a member, doesn’t it? And usually there’s a long, drawn-out battle — graciously conducted via the media — in which each side explains their version of the story.

So, it seems The Human Abstract and singer Nathan Ells have parted ways. The band released a statement via their MySpace blog at 3:22pm on Friday afternoon simply stating “The Human Abstract will no longer be working with Nathan Ells. We want to wish Nathan the very best in his future endeavors. With that being said, we are now looking for our new lead singer.” 48 minutes later, Ells fired back from his own MySpace blog thusly: “I want it to be known that the decision made by my band was not mutual, and I was fired.”

Was he fired or did he quit?

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