Tiffany // Let’s start with some definitions from the dictionary of Elijah Jones.
First, Elijah Jones.

Elijah // Definitions from the dictionary? Man…You got me on the spot. I really don’t know.

Tiffany // Sorry. Maybe defining yourself is kind of big for the first question. Something easier…the Constellations.

Elijah // Constellations was a studio project that me and [producer] Ben H. Allen (Cee-Lo, Puff Daddy, Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Light Speed Champion) and a couple of other local musicians got together, a vehicle for each inspanidual musician to do their own thing. This was just a thing where we could go in and do basically whatever we wanted. We had the studio time so we just came together and did whatever we wanted. It started out very hip hop-influenced – very deep hip hop – and grew out of that into more of a psychedelic sound. But the idea out of that was stars come together to form a constellation, people in Atlanta being the stars.

Tiffany // Southern Gothic.
It’s a type of writing. It’s southern and dirty. The villain is most of the times the hero and the hero is usually the antagonist. It’s just kind of a loose definition. I liked that it had southern in it and gothic. Those bring a lot of imagery to mind and it kind of fit the storytelling of the songs. It’s kind of a concept record. It’s all about Atlanta and all about the seedy underbelly of Atlanta and the party after the bars close. And about that party not always being a fun time.

Tiffany // Atlanta.

Elijah // That’s my home. That’s where I’m from. I don’t think I’ll ever leave here. I love it and I tried to leave when I was a little kid and I just kind of floated back.

Tiffany // Ok. So how did you get into music? What’s your story?

Elijah // My big brother was my idol and he was a drummer in a band called Broke Whole. I went to go see him at the Rec Room a long time ago. It was a shitty punk rock band with great songwriting. Just, you know, your usual shitty punk band but I was amazed by the crowd’s attraction to my brother. He was playing drums and singing. It just amazed me. The whole idea of going to see this band that wasn’t on TV and wasn’t making millions of dollars, that didn’t have pyrotechnics and fireworks going off in the back. It was even more of a gut reaction and from that point on I knew that I wanted to do music. I grabbed my mom’s guitar, and her piano, and just kind of taught myself.

Tiffany // What was the first time you performed in front of an audience? What was that like for you?

Elijah // I was in church in choir – Oakhurst Baptist Church. The first couple of times I just mouthed the words because I was afraid to sing. [laughs] The first time I really got into it though was after I saw my brother and his band. I was in a band, Vin Correjo, which turned into Gates of Berlin. It was amazing to see people getting into my music.

Tiffany // How would you compare that Elijah – when you first started performing – to the current one?

Elijah // Now I just let things happen and I’m a lot more comfortable with improv and reacting to whatever the crowd’s reacting to. They kind of push you to do more and more. If they’re lying back in their seats then I really do more.

Tiffany // So how did you start working with Ben Allen?

Elijah // Cee-Lo had come to a couple Gates of Berlin shows. A mutual friend of his was a friend of mine. He was involved in doing some stuff with Ben and he just kind of brought me into the studio. They were working on an acoustic hip hop thing and I just started writing to it. I wrote the chorus. Ever since then Ben was like, ‘Yeah, bring him back in.’ Ben kind of took over and then it was me and Ben from then on. We worked on Constellations stuff, then worked on my solo stuff, then back to Constellations.

Tiffany // With the Constellations you were saying it was kind of a studio project. How did that come about?

Elijah // The studio back then was just super open to having people come in and do their thing. We’d need a guitar part so I brought in Devin Donnelly and he wrote some stuff. We kind of brought people in as we needed them. Julian [Dorio] from the Whigs, Brad Hagen from Trances Arc, Cee-Lo. Asher Roth was working on his album and Ben played him some of the Constellations stuff. He dug it so he got on a track. It was a very natural thing that just kind of happened.

Tiffany // When you’re working on something like that – a studio project – do you go into it thinking it’s going to be something you release one day? Or are you just kind of playing around as musicians?

Elijah // I had no doubts we would release it but I didn’t think that we would ever play it live. But, the further we got into it, the further it became necessary that we would play it live. These songs have to be interpreted live. I don’t think we ever had an agenda until, like, a year into recording this record, which took a long time to record. We took months off at a time and sometimes we were working on our other stuff. During this whole time Ben was working on other projects being a producer, mixing Gnarls Barkley and winning a Grammy for that. I was still in Gates of Berlin.

Tiffany // As far as having Asher Roth and Cee-Lo on the album, has that been something that’s really helped bring attention to you?

Elijah // They’re definitely making bigger waves than we are and I’m grateful to both of them for being involved. At the same time, I’m sure there are people out there that don’t like those artists. I think that what they did on our record represents the best of what they do. Cee-Lo is one my idols so it was an honor and a pleasure. To me, its Tom Waits and Cee-Lo…right there. To be able to sit down and talk with Cee-Lo was amazing. Music is my religion and Cee-Lo is definitely a prophet to me.

Tiffany // Cool. So there’s this whole “supergroup” label with the Constellations. Do you guys consider yourself a supergroup? Do you wear capes?

Elijah // We’re not a supergroup. [laughs] We’re just a bunch of really talented musicians.

Tiffany // In any city, scene, or genre of music where people are kind of pushed together there’s a symbiotic relationship where musicians feed off of each other and kind of help each other. Do you feel like Atlanta is that kind of city?

Elijah // Definitely. In the last maybe five years you’ve seen some of the hip hop groups opening up for some of the punk rock groups. Atlanta has always had a strong hip hop community but now it’s turning away from the crunk aspect of southern hip hop into more of the Outkast, pushing-the-envelope kind of hip hop with groups like Hollyweerd and Gripplyaz.

Elijah // You’ve also got the Black Lips and Deerhunter and bands like that. All of those bands are in other projects. There’s Collective Efforts, Pink Police. Then you’ve got Adrian Adrian Barrera, who’s now doing Barreracudas. It mixes all up. Everybody is supporting each other.

Tiffany // Do you feel this is ultimately a positive thing or do you think it can stagnate a place?

Elijah // I think it’s great. It’s not just one scene. It’s not like just the punk rock kids go to the punk rock shows. Someone will get them inspired to go to a hip hop show. It just makes for a better community. Mix it all the fuck up!

Tiffany // So, you redid Tom Waits’ Step Right Up. Where did that idea come from?

Elijah // We’d decided that we did actually want to record a full record but it was just taking a while to get it all put together. We didn’t know what was going to be involved in the end process and which songs. So, we thought, why don’t we just put something out? Cover a song and put it online and see what people think about it. So, I was riding home and I had that record in my car. I called Ben up right then and suggested Step Right Up by Tom Waits. He called me back the next day and he was like, ‘That’s perfect.’ So we went into the studio and I was trying to do Step Right Up but it’s such a loose, strange song that it wasn’t working. It just felt a lot more dancy and rhythmic than Tom Waits’ version and we definitely wanted to do a Constellations version. So Ben was like, “Why don’t you just go and write your own lyrics? Write whatever, man.’ So I went home and wrote three verses. The next day we recorded it.

Tiffany // Do you write most of the lyrics for Constellations?

Elijah // I write all of the lyrics. Well, Ben wrote some of the lyrics for some of the hooks, like Love is a Murder and We’re Here to Save the Day.

Tiffany // How important do you feel it is to rep the Atlanta scene? That song is so Atlanta and really cements you guys as from here.

Elijah // On this record it was an obvious choice to write about Atlanta because we’re dealing with Atlanta musicians that are all knee-deep in the Atlanta scene. That’s where we came from so you’ve got to put yourself on the map. You have to represent for yourself.

Tiffany // So you’d definitely say that that’s something you always want to do, make sure people know that you’re from Atlanta?

Elijah // I feel it’s extremely important. Like, the Black Lips singing about Magic City titties. That’s stuff that just makes you feel a part of it. From that you can do whatever you want. I think it’s real important to represent where you’re coming from to let people know who you are. It puts a face to a name.

Tiffany // So now that you guys have that song I guess you get free drinks and all that.

Elijah // Yeah. It’s pretty good. [laughs] I should’ve mentioned some more bars.

Tiffany // So which bands locally – Atlanta, Athens, around – do you really jock? Who are you into? Who do you go to see?
Black Lips, definitely. Hollyweerd, definitely. Let me think. The Whigs – those guys are amazing. The Selmanaires. Futureshock – they’re doing their thing. Gripplayz. Deer Hunter. Barreracudas – really, really good. It’s endless, really.

Tiffany // And, what are some of your favorite venues in Atlanta, acoustically, crowd-wise, whatever?

Elijah // Well, Star Bar has supported us since day one. Wes and Luis were always heavily involved. Now they’re in the band. The Earl. It’s a staple and has one of the best sound guys in the southeast. And the Drunken Unicorn is like family, Murphy, Armando, and that crew.

Tiffany // Recently there was this thing about you guys being suspended from Hype Machine [for falsely driving up ratings]. What was that all about?

Elijah // I have no idea. We got a response from [Hype Machine] saying that it was just four accounts, none of them that were anything from the band. What can you do? I appreciate somebody going out there and trying to hustle for us though. Bad publicity is good publicity.

Tiffany // What’s it like being a musician and really trying to get your music out in a digital age?

Elijah // I’m just now learning how to use my girlfriend’s iPhone. I’m absolutely retarded when it comes to that. I don’t know how to check an e-mail. It’s a good thing I have nine people in my band because some of them know how to use the computer. I definitely don’t. I’m absolutely digitally retarded.

Tiffany // Well, as far as having people show up to your shows when you’re out of town or people being familiar with your music on a bigger level…

Elijah // I think it’s the radio. Radio has been the number one thing that has helped us out. We’ve got a huge, huge following in Milwaukee and that’s just because some guy got our CD and he’s been blowing it up. Every city where we’ve had success has basically been from radio or just, like, friends spreading the word. There’s a lot you can do with the digital age but I think when it comes down to it music is still something where it makes a difference when your friend says check this band out rather than just texting it to you or something. It’s so easy to just press delete. A person sitting in front of you that you care about saying, ‘Hey man, you should check out this band’ is something different.

Tiffany // It’s really cool that you guys have had luck with the radio. A lot of people say radio is dead.

Elijah // Radio is dead. When I listen to the radio there are very few things I like to hear but every once in awhile I hear something I’ve never heard before. With the digital stuff you can sample songs and stuff but it just doesn’t connect to me like it does when I go to a record store, buy a CD, put it in and listen to it front to back. It’s not always the single that catches you. Most of the time for me it’s been the B-side. Like, Appetite for Destruction. I didn’t get it until I heard Rocket Queens. Then the whole record made sense.

Tiffany // You look into your crystal ball. What future do you see for the Constellations?

Elijah // I can’t go into too much detail but there’s some big shit happening for us right now. I’ve been back and forth from New York a lot lately. So, definitely things are going in the right direction.