He is the lead vocalist for the extreme metal band Act of Defiance from Los Angeles[1] and is also active as a solo country music artist.

[10] He then formed the heavy metal super-group, Act of Defiance, with Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover, both former members of Megadeth, and Matt Bachand of Shadows Fall in February 2015.

[11] On July 14, 2019, it was announced that Henry Derek Elis was playing lead guitar in a new Los Angeles based Doom band Qaalm.

Qaalm made a stream of their demo available on Bandcamp and consists of Pete Majors Ex Harassor – Lead Vocals, Henry Derek Elis – Lead Guitar, Christopher Jon Ex I, Parasite- Keys & Samples, Brock Elmore – Guitar & Backing Vocals, David Huet – Bass and Etay Levy – Drums.

The album also includes contributions from Aubrey Richmond & John Schreffler Jr. (Shooter Jennings), Jarboe (Swans), Tara Vanflower (Lycia), Neal Tiemann (DevilDriver), and Sera Timms (Black Mare).