Oliver Elf Army says it loud: We’re from Everett and we’re proud

Oliver Elf Army’s motto is “Everett ‘til the grave.”

The Everett pop band means it, too.

The members of Oliver Elf Army — Martin Adams, Mary Adams and Henry Yarsinske Jr. — live, work and make music in Everett, and fiercely support its growing music scene. They’ve performed at the Everett Music Initiative’s Fisherman’s Village Music Festival, been featured on local radio station KSER 90.7 and frequently play gigs around town.

“The Everett music scene is fantastic,” said Martin Adams, 48, who sings and plays guitar. “It’s super supportive, not competitive. Perhaps the reason for that is that no band sounds anything alike.”

Oliver Elf Army is slated to play Sept. 15 in the Everett Public Library’s auditorium, following a lecture on the Pacific Northwest music scene by Ron Averill, a music historian and an Everett musician, himself.

The band describes its sound as “sinister pop” — a mash-up between dark topics and cheerful melodies. Their sound has elements of garage rock, psychedelic rock and post-punk, with dark-humored singalongs, Yarsinske said.

“Most of our songs are lighthearted tunes about some very heavy things: cult suicides, trans-dimensional love affairs, revenge on school bullies and being haunted by famous ’80s singers,” Martin Adams said.

Martin and Mary Adams, who have been married since 1999, formed Oliver Elf Army in 2009. They named the band after their youngest son, Oliver — the name means “elf army” in Old Norse.

Mary Adams, drummer and vocalist, was born in Everett and is a paraeducator for the Everett Public School District, while her husband is from Belfast, Ireland, but grew up in Federal Way. He works as a mechanical designer for Teague, a design consultant for Boeing.

The couple recorded three albums as a duo before meeting Yarsinske at the Fisherman’s Fest in 2016. They added the 32-year-old bassist — who grew up in Marysville — to the band a year later.

In August, Oliver Elf Army played a festival in Brighton, England. It was their first international performance.

“It went so much better than we expected,” Mary Adams, 47, said. “We played to a ready-made audience of a couple hundred middle-age people who still love to discover music.”

After their show Sept. 15, Oliver Elf Army is taking a break from performing to write and record a full-length album.

Evan Thompson: 360-544-2999, ethompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @evanthompson_1.

If you go

What: “Northwest Rocks” with Oliver Elf Army

Where: Everett Public Library, 2702 Hoyt Ave., Everett

When: 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 15

Cost: Free

More: www.oliverelfarmy.com or www.facebook.com/dubstepforpensioners