Elephant Quiz

From the bedroom to the Bluebird, Elephant Quiz has come a long way in the six years (April 13th will mark their 6 year anniversary) that they have been playing together as a band. In high school, the original members of the band began playing in guitarist and vocalist Andrew Pickel’s bedroom. The scene was chaotic to say the least, with drums balanced on a pool table and amps resting on the bed and furniture.
Named after an elementary school gang, Elephant Quiz is now a well-known entity in the Bloomington music scene. Along with Andrew Pickel, four other talented men make up the musical smoothie that is Elephant Quiz. Jake Kowalczyk, once the guitarist, now speaks quicker than you can think and doubles as the MC and FX. Kevin Hinnefeld brings the funk with his bass riffs. Dan Wood keeps the beat and brings the heat on the drums, working along with Hinnefeld to create stellar dance beats. Finally, Zach Fraiser, once the MC, now shreds on the guitar with an unforgettable smile.
Many bands fit into a specific genre, whether it is hip-hop, indie rock, electronic, reggae, etc. However, Elephant Quiz cannot be tethered to a genre. They think of their style as more conceptual than genre specific. The group picks a concept, writing lyrics and creating music around that concept. Each song seems to operate in its own world; it has a unique vibe and truly showcases the group’s creativity.
Elephant Quiz has come a long way from their first show at Rhino’s. The band is now playing shows at popular bars such as the Bishop, The Video Saloon, and the Bluebird. However, while bars have proven to be a great place for EQ to showcase their music, playing at house parties seems to be a unanimous favorite with the band.
“House shows are the most impactful out of all of the shows that we play,” says Pickel. It is obvious after watching Elephant Quiz live, that the group feeds off of the energy that the crowd and their fans put forth. Elephant Quiz’s fans not only provide them with fire and energy during shows, but help in getting the band’s name out in the public eye. After a competition via Facebook, Elephant Quiz saw an overwhelming amount of fan support that eventually led them to play at Wuhnurth Music Festival in September 2010, an opportunity that the band will surely remember as a milestone for Elephant Quiz.
While they have never officially sat down and verbalized their visions for the group collectively, both Fraiser and Pickel made it clear that they hope to be self-sustainable as a band, writing and producing new material, and like most artists, eventually making a decent amount of money.
“The next steps that we plan on taking are getting on a status of headlining at small venues and then filling the opening slots at larger venues,” says Pickel. In addition, Elephant Quiz hopes to hit the studio soon, looking at the release of an EP in Fall 2011. - Bloomington Area Music

Pulsing with painted faces, neon lights and screaming amps, the basements of Bloomington disguise themselves under ordinary houses amid the college town.

Unorthodox venues prove the local scene is active, as hundreds of music enthusiasts trek down basement staircases to the underground scene — a secret of Bloomington.
“Dancing is all I want to do in my leisure time, and in this scene, I never have to leave the front row,” said junior Aubre Jean, Live From Bloomington’s assistant director by day and basement dancer by night. “Bloomington basements have been my life for the past three years.”

In these dwellings are the often sweaty dancing devotees, but their eyes are all fixated on a particular guest — the bands, which are responsible for transforming these dark, damp basements into a stirring mix of passion every weekend. But one band has been relentlessly creating a unique kind of hype in the basements of Bloomington since its start in 2006. It has come to be known as Elephant Quiz, and it is famous for its extreme presence.

“They’re such a good representation of our generation and what music is to us,” Jean said. “By expressing our generation, they’re said to take all of these raw ingredients and create their own flavor of smoothie with their own special talents.”

Jean, who has been a host to an Elephant Quiz show at her house before, said she had shows to support the music she is passionate about. She said part of
creating that intimate atmosphere has been booking Elephant Quiz as the night’s headliner.

“For me, Elephant Quiz is one of my favorite local bands, and the crowd thrives off of them,” Jean said. “Basement shows are about living in the present moment, and this band is all about creating that moment and pulling people in, and their energy is only higher because they’re a multidimensional attraction.”

The band’s “multidimensional attraction” includes a laser light show, strobe lights, projectors, additional sound equipment and, on occasion, fog machines.

“We insist on pushing the limits,” lead vocalist Andrew Pickel said. “We take our music, and we take that energy in a dynamic sense to create an extremely loud, trippy, really flavorful show.”

The band, whose members are all natives of Bloomington except one, has its roots in Pickel’s sophomore year in Bloomington North High School’s jazz band. Now, with bass player Kevin Hinnefeld, lead guitarist Zach Frasier, emcee Jacob Kowalczyk and drummer Dan Wood, the band continues to gain popularity with its “just let go” multi-genre sound.

“I say we’re still searching for a genre, because we’re that music that tends to pull out the inner rage and encourage people to let go, dance, get crazy, get funky and boogie,” Pickel said.

Jean said she feels that Elephant Quiz intertwines a wide variety of genres, and Kowalczyk said the members are able to do this through their instrumentation and different vocal styles.

“It’s really something when the band is playing on more of a funk or jazz, hip-hoppy, groove dimension and Pickel is singing and then all of a sudden there’s rapping,” Kowalczyk said. “It turns people’s ears on in a way they’re not used to. It’s fun.”
Kowalcyzk said it’s about communicating emotion and motion to a crowd. While emceeing he said he feels like he is on autopilot directing a wave of energy.

“With each song we try to convince people of a concept or a state of mind,” Pickel said. “With notes and chords and lights we bring them from the very bottom to the very top.”

Since their popularity has been growing, Pickel said the band members have reached a place where they can cut out and the crowd leads them to the next hook. He said they set their music up for the crowd to interject and tell them what they want.

Freshman Megan Bruggman was at an Elephant Quiz house performance last weekend along with her friend, Emily Carew.

“Lights were going off, and I thought I was freaking out,” Bruggman said. “People in the basement scene appreciate music, and you don’t have a choice when everyone is singing along but to dance.”

Pickel said the lights don’t create the energy but accompany the sounds, evolving it to a texture that is an all-at-once throw only possible at a basement show.

“The bands that are noticed and appreciated in the house venue scene are weird and unique because they do something strange, whether it’s with their songwriting or instruments, which make conventional venues afraid to risk a night on them,” Kowalcyzk said. “We’re one of those wacky groups, but we’re about the music, and that’s what people care about.”

Pickel said it is important to emphasize that the underground scene is bigger than people think, and its bands are serious about the profession. Jean said too often people have negative stereotypes toward house parties because of the assumed alcohol and drug intake.

“I never leave the front. I’m always there because I love the music,” Jean said. “Though there’s always going to be those few ignorant people that take things too far, a lot of us, we go strictly for the music.”

Pickel said he wants people to recognize the professional side of the party-oriented scene.

“If you’re there, you know it’s about the music,” Pickel said. “The best reward of that is to hear people say during the week, ‘So I went to this basement show this weekend and there was this awesome band.’”

Pickel said the next plan of attack is to expand into playing the festival scene. Until then, the band will continue to introduce the people of Bloomington to the music of the underground scene.

“The local scene is kind of a secret because otherwise it would be overwhelming,” Carew said. “But I think we discovered it that night.” - Indiana Daily Student

Elephant Quiz is a jamband fanatic’s weirdest, most fantastic dream come true. Their music is self-described as “funky drums and bass with Kurt Kobain guitar-freakouts” and “gypsy punk-metal thrashing into a crunkass beat”. Wuhnurth 2010 attendees may already recognize the B-town band’s name; they were a last-minute addition to the Friday lineup after winning an intense online contest. Rumored to have excitingly passionate live shows and un-matchable dynamism, Elephant Quiz is creating quite a stir in the south and central Indiana music networks.

Elephant Quiz has been circulating the Bloomington music scene for nearly four years but have yet to officially release a debut album. Nonetheless, they’ve got a robust, eclectic repertoire of songs that range from reggae to hip hop to grunge to art rock. “Dream Fever” opens with a tantalizing lick that harmoniously bends up to create the song’s distinctive twang. Cue Soundgarden-era Chris Cornell vocals and drop in some mega-heavy guitar for the only song of its kind in the Elephant Quiz catalogue. A live recording of “Don’t Stop” features guest performers on saxophone, trumpet, and keys- a formula that effectively emulates Galactic’s powerful and brassy big band sound. “After Dark”, my favorite, gets strange and nefarious as the band sings over sparse instrumentation, “You better watch yourself after dark; that’s when evil things like to play.” The vocals are rapped, but at a much slower and groovier pace than others. “Raven” sees the band venture into the limitless realm of experimental rock and roll; six minutes and twenty five seconds of stoner-rock guitar melody and Of Montreal-esque falsetto nonsense.

Although Elephant Quiz has not released an album, a generous song selection resides on their MySpace and they plan to release a live DVD soon that features footage from a house party at which the band provided entertainment. They’re also in the process of arranging a small summer tour and are striving to hit as many festivals as possible in 2011. But the band’s first priority, according to management, is “maintaining the church bus the band bought a couple years back that they travel in. It is falling apart, so we are trying to find companies who may be willing to pay a couple bones to help maintain the beast. In return, we’ll allow them to place advertising for their organization on the side of the bus.”

Catch Elephant Quiz live in Indy on Friday January 21st at Birdy’s. They will share the stage with Greenwood-based Midwest State of Mind and Indy blues rockers Kyros.
- NUVO: Indy's alternative voice

"One of the most exciting parts of reviewing music is coming across something fresh … something unexpected. It’s what keeps me tuned up. And that’s what I got with Elephant Quiz.

This Bloomington, Indiana band might best be described through their own their list of influences: Rage Against the Machine, Umphrey’s McGee, Radiohead, Gorillaz, Sublime, The Meters … the list goes on and continues to weave in and out of genres and decades. To toss in a couple of my own, I hear some Alice in Chains and Red Hot Chili Peppers from time to time, too. Funk, jazz, reggae, metal … nothing is out of bounds and everything intertwines. One minute Elephant Quiz is bobbing along carelessly through an easy beat then suddenly they smack you with a devolving jam of face-melting metal … only to turn around ease you back into a groove with the smooth and talented delivery of hip-hop infused vocals.

Elephant Quiz is fresh and young. And they are raw. They will only get better as they continue to refine their sound. But let’s hope it doesn’t become too refined – their edge and the willingness to experiment; to mash together whatever the hell they see fit is the draw here. And they are not going unnoticed." - Mike Phillips, SoundCitizen.com
- Sound Citizen

This link is a live performance of Elephant Quiz at Bloomington's Blue Bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g2KwCUgXgM - Youtube