TORCHE'S NEW GUITAR PLAYER!!

After 2 years of looking for the right guitar player, we've finally found him. We'd like to welcome Andrew Elstner of St. Louis to the Torche quartet!! We're very excited to have him in the band and have already started writing a ton of new material with him this month. Check out the River Front Times' article about him joining the band:

Tilts vocalist/guitarist Andrew Elstner is joining the well-regarded stoner-metal band Torche. The latter group, which has members in Atlanta, Gainesville and Miami, has known Elstner since he was the vocalist/guitarist for Riddle of Steel. When that band ended a few years ago, it coincided with Torche splitting with guitarist Juan Montoya.

"[Torche] singer/guitarrer Steve Brooks found out I was a free agent, and we've been in touch ever since," Elstner says. "He's also a big fan of Tilts too, so we'd been trying to coordinate a jam/hang session for a long time and scheduling has been tough."

That session finally happened this week in Gainesville, Florida -- and by all accounts, it went well.

"It's been sleep, eat, jam since I got here," Elstner says. "Surreal and awesome."

He adds, "I've been looking forward to this for a long time as I'm a huge fan. But I can be shy in a new situation so it wasn't like 'instant awesome.' We'd all hung out a coupla times before, but there needed to be a couple warm-up days before everyone felt 100% comfy I think."

In Torche, Elstner will be playing guitar and contributing back-up vocals -- "and possibly a lead vocal or two," he says. He'll also be moving to Atlanta in March.

"St. Louis, my friends, my family, my bandmates in Tilts -- everyone has been super supportive and crazy excited as I am," Elstner says. "It's been humbling and awesome. No matter how it all ends, I'm having a good time now, spoiled with the musicians in Tilts and Torche alike. I'm very, very lucky."
- Annie Zaleski / River Front Times