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“It’s nice to hear that performance and music,” original Psychic Ills’ member Elizabeth Hart says about the recent Levitation release of the band’s 2012 live performance at Austin Psych Fest. “It's definitely like going back in time.” Though this release is a heavily emotional one to Hart, it’s the happy memories and the beauty of the art that Psychic Ills has put out into the universe that she remembers, loves, and embraces.
Read the entire interview with Psychic Ills’ Elizabeth Hart below:
Elena Childers (EC): So tell me about how you guys got linked with Levitation?
Elizabeth Hart (EH): We had actually met Black Angels years ago at South by Southwest—Maybe it was like 2006 or 2007? We played on the same bill and kept in touch through the years.
EC: So you guys were friends before they even started the festival?
EH: Yes!
EC: That’s so awesome! So then the Live at Levitation that is coming out, tell me about that. That was from a while ago now?
EH: Yeah, that was from.. Oh my gosh.. 2010? No, 2012. [Laughs]
EC: Wow, you guys have been through a lot since then, to say the least.
EH: We sure have. You know, it’s nice to hear that performance and music, it's definitely like going back in time. We’ve been through many evolutions since then, I would say.
EC: And even recently, you’ve been through a lot, too.
EH: We’ve been through a lot recently, yes...
EC: So what was your reaction to hearing this performance again?
EH: Well, nostalgic... [Takes a breath] And sad too... But great to hear it, ya know, a live performance from that time, it brought back great memories too.
EC: Yeah, it feels good to have a live performance from then being featured now and forever captured, ya know?
EH: Yeah, Psychic Ills does not exist without Tres so I am glad we have this moment in our history recorded. Last fall, I released an album in honor of Tres on Sacred Bones called “Songs for Tres’ with other member of the band. I asked the guys if they would each contribute a song—we did some covers and I wrote a few songs too. In July, we released and album with Rvng Intl. that we had recorded in 2010 with Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers that was never released at the time. So there are some Ills and ills related things that have come out recently and maybe some more music that has't come out, or that could come out down the line—we’ll see, I don’t know.
EC: Oh cool—I would love to hear unreleased Psychic Ills!
EH: There are a couple of things that we never released at the time when we were an active band so we will see..., I don't have any immediate plans for it. The timing of this, the Levitation release, and the Gibby Haynes release just kind of happened at the same time unintentionally.
EC: Well, the Live at Levitation in 2012 still holds up so beautifully.
EH: Thank you. My husband, Ivan, who was Ills sound engineer, mixed the album. It was nice to work on it with him, especially because he understood what Psychic Ills sounded like live. He did a great job trying to capture that because, ya know, sometimes live recordings aren't the best, the vocals are all in the drums, etc.
EC: Yeah, it transports you. Like, without even knowing that it was actually from 2012, it feels brand new. But then you read about it, and it’s crazy that this is actually a decade old. So that’s a beautiful thing to still be pulled into that live moment.
EH: Awe, thank you.
EC: So you personally, what are you working on musically?
EH: Well, actually, I have an album that just came out this month on Sacred Bones Records, Luca Yupanqui ‘Conversations”.
EC: Oh my god, congrats!
EH: Thanks! ‘Conversations’ is a remix album with some pretty incredible artists that we feel very lucky to have gotten to collaborate with. Ivan and I released the original album of this music, Luca Yupanqui ‘Sounds of the Unborn’ in April of 2021 also on Sacred Bones. It is an ambient experimental album. Ivan and I also had a band together, Tierra del Fuego, and were playing a lot right before the pandemic. We had just recorded and finished our first album in March of 2020. [Laughs] So that one got put on the back burner for a while as we focused on other projects that made more sense to release during that time. The Tierra del Fuego album will come out sometime later this year or next. And personally, in the past few months, I’ve been working on a solo project which is in the very beginning stages.
EC: Exciting! It all sounds very cool, can't wait to see what's next for you, and hear these new songs and sounds you're working on. Thank you so much for chatting!
Psychic Ills - Live at Levitation is out Sept 30, 2022. The album captures the band’s spellbinding 2012 performance. The Reverberation Appreciation Society is honored to share this live recording and forever showcase the powerful psychedelic rock experience that was, and will always be, Psychic Ills.
Available for purchase HERE.
