Elephant Band
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Elephant Band

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The best kept secret in music

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"Elephant Band - Lessons in Songwriting"

There's a quality lying somewhere between courage and foolish bravado that, in referring to it, one generally references the male sex organs, namely the testicles. I've always been troubled by the analogy, but perhaps its gender-specificity is fitting. Most girls probably wouldn't be stupid enough to attempt the things that we say a man who has "balls" does, but nonetheless the possession of this trait is revered among cudgel-wielding, communicate-by-way-of-grunt set.



Someone in the Elephant Band was probably looking for a high-five, a slap on the ass or whatever means these cretins use to communicate approval when they titled their latest album Lessons In Songwriting. After all, the act of writing a song seems to be the one area of fine art that resists a traditional teacher-student type of relationship. You can take a class on painting, you can take private guitar lessons, you can do short story writing workshops but I've rarely, if ever, heard of someone offering to teach another person how to write a song.



Seriously, who would dare? Whereas many people will shrug their shoulders in confusion, refusing to give a value judgement on a piece of modern art or classical music, everyone has an opinion on pop music. Whether it's a blanket condemnation or a learned appreciation of the form, there's nary a person on the planet who doesn't feel qualified to give his or her opinion, and I wouldn't want to be the teacher who told a kid that his song was crap and then had to justify the existence of Limp Bizkit in the top ten.



What the Elephant Band seem to be asserting with the title of their album, ironically or not, is that one could learn a thing or two about songwriting from this ramshackle band of Canucks, which I find funny because the Elephant Band apparently learned a few tricks from cheesy 1970s pop-rock like Elton John, Jackson Browne and Fleetwood Mac. Don't get me wrong, these guys have heard Weezer just like every other indie band on the planet (just listen to "Failure," which is as close to a dead ringer for the big =w= as the Impossibles ever wrote), but there's something about the vintage-sounding keyboards on "Can't Buy Her Love" just scream Elton.



After spinning Lessons In Songwriting one time in its entirety it's this influence that sticks in my head for the longest time, but going back through the record track-by-track there seems to be three distinct songwriting forces at work, each accompanied by its own unique style of production. There's the singer-songwriter ("Preface"), the Elton John-esque crooner-songwriter ("Not For Radio") and the broken-hearted pop-punker ("Mir"), and if you're thinking that this probably doesn't make for a very cohesive listening experience you're probably right.



It's a shame, too, because for all of the Elephant Band's bravado they're damn talented performers and, yes, songwriters as well. When the singer's not going off on Whitney/Mariah-esque histrionics on "So Good 2 C U" he has a voice that is both unique and competent, immediately giving them the upper hand over 9/10 of the bands in the indie scene, and even when the band drifts off on a Clarity-esque tape loop tangent on "What Did You Think of My Essay?" they remain interesting.



Individually, any song on Lessons In Songwriting might be your favourite song, but I really doubt that, collectively, they will be your favourite LP. Right now the Elephant Band doesn't sound like a band at all, rather just a bunch of dudes who play backing tracks on each others' songs. It's like Husker Du toward the end of their career or Sebadoh before Eric Gaffney left, the difference being that the Elephant Band's different styles of songwriting don't compliment each other as well as the aforementioned bands' did. Having several different kick-ass songs that don't fit well together is an enviable problem, though, and as EB learn to work out the kinks and develop a cohesive sound they could easily become one of the biggest bands on the planet.

Posted by Daniel on July 12th, 2002 12:00 AM - Deep Fry Bonanza


Discography

Autobus - 1998 (LP):

-charted #1 at numerous College/University stations in Canada
-songs received airplay on Canadian local Corporate Rock stations as well as College/University stations throughout Canada.

London EP - 2000 (EP):

-single "Ruth" received substantial airplay on Sudbury College/University Radio station.

Lessons in Songwriting - 2002 (LP):

-charted at #1 on Laurentian University Radio and in the Top Ten at various other Colleges/Universities throughout Canada

the vince ep - 2004 (EP)

-charted at #1 on Laurentian University's CKLU
-After finding it's way into the hands of various promoters, the songs on the vince ep garnered enough attention to land them an opening slot for Kim Mitchell in August of 2004.

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Bio

A Northern Ontario music scene staple since 1997, Elephant Band has released two full-length CDs, "Autobus" (June 1998) and "Lessons in Songwriting (April 2002), as well as a CD single "The London EP" (December 2001) and is the most promising musical contribution from Sudbury, Ontario to date.

Elephant Band consists of Patrick Rhéal (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Eric Soini (drums, vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Vincent Therrien (vocals, bass, guitar). Patrick Rhéal and Vincent Therrien have been writing and performing music together since the early 90's, and Eric Soini, a welcomed addition to the band, joined in 1996.

All three artists take part in the songwriting, both lyrically and musically. P. Rhéal's intrepid approach to songwriting with experimental sounds and nostalgic themes adds honesty to their music. The single "Ruth", which garnishes "The London EP", is Therrien's personal contribution, citing Shakespeare and George Jones as influences and inspiration. Soini's exceptional vocals and percussion skills round out the trio, adding to the ever-escalating complement of well-crafted songs.

Released on Barcode Records in April of 2002, the Elephant Band's Lessons in Songwriting is the result of the band being together for so long, all-the-while continuing to enjoy the simple art of writing songs. The new album has a much more definitive "sound" to it, which Patrick describes as "progressive pop".

The Vince EP, the latest offering from the band, finds Vincent exploring his vocal prowess on 4 new songs dealing with themes of friends, families and long-distance relationships. Recorded sporadically over the summer of 2004 at Easter Island Studio, The Vince EP marks a new chapter in the Elephant Band's evolution.

But with so much change and growth in their lives, it wasn't long before the band headed back into the studio with a new batch of songs. Currently hard at work with long-time friend and producer Billy Bruhmuller at his Easter Island Studio, the Elephant Band are hoping to release an album later this year.