Eyes on the Elders

they started as five, got tighter as three, and now, charlotte’s favorite hip hop collective, eyes of the elders, is celebrating a head count of ten.

in order to appreciate how this all came about and to gain a lucid understanding of a one legged man knocking out mules and shit, you must begin at the beginning.

eddie vegas, kris kringle, and the gweezy graduated appalachian state circa ought ought. eventualy and separately, all three ended up in charlotte. inevitably, they began making music, initially with a third emcee and a second producer, but the lineup was quickly whittled to three. ricky radar then took the helm on production. their first release, disconnected babble, came out in 2004.

they followed up with multiple single in 2005, and later that year babylung moved to manhattan to pursue a career as a diehard yankees fan.

eyes of the elders were steadily building a reputation as charlotte’s livest show. vegas and kringle gained the support of dj zdub on the ones and twos, but had lost their vocalist, and thus began a period of musical chairs.

during this time elders released 7 headed dragatron. despite troubles with singers, the elders continued to persevere and build.

the cousin and ricky clicked with joshua panda, who was playing with humans at the time, and settled on a vocalist.

as the elders got bigger, and began drawing more attention in the southeast, it was inevitable that the haters would show up. enter the poetasters.

hailing from the wrong side of the tracks, jim jank and timmy tazer were relentless in their attacks on all things eoe.

as before, the elders maintained focus and continued on, undaunted.

in the spring of 2007 the imperial penguin approached eyes of the elders about forming a band. having been on the scene for over four years now, bearcat and uncle fox had heard this before. the penguin can sell ice to eskimo, however, and in november, disguise of the welders rocked smokey joes.

dozens of shows and several lineup changes led to the current roster, aligned in the summer of 2008.

stump dickens was formed on the assumption that herbie hancock, not john hancock, signed the declaration of independence. their presence was first made public at a south charlotte house party. faces were rocked, lives were changed, the police showed up.

named after an ancestor of nestore naesmyth, the legend goes as such: dickens was working with a mule to pull tree stumps out of the ground, clearing land for farming. a snake slithered up and bit the mule. spooked, the mule took off running. the chain tied between the mule the tree stump wrapped around dickens' leg, ripping it off at the knee. dickens grabbed the chain, reined in the mule, and punched him in the face, knocking him out. dickens was henceforth known as stump.

the five piece band is composed of the following: a classically trained musician with perfect pitch on the keys; a classically trained music instructor who cut her teeth in a travelling gypsy band in romania on violin; a guitarist who plays with credit cards, uno cards, lighters, beer bottles, cell phones, and whatever the fuck he wants; a badger, that’s right, badger on the thundercock six string bass; and the imperial penguin holding it all together on the drums.

prior to the finalizing of stump’s lineup, innerstellar rubberkarma holdingcell was released. the album received rave reviews, from fans and critics alike. the elders circus was running wild at this point. at the helm of highly charged energies, uncle fox and bearcat inspired motivated and dedicated fans. the elders were taking no prisoners.

around this time, panda moved up north. zdub was retired. the elders began to work with dj justin aswell from mr. invisible, and went back to searching for a singer.

the elders starting playing more shows with stump. in november, bearcat, uncle fox, aswell, the imperial penguin and turtle went up to dc and annapolis to play a couple shows. they played the whiskey in annapolis with skribe, who had first come across the elders at the off the grid festival in tennessee several years earlier.

also that november, babylung returned from new york, cured of her desire to live in the city, though unfortunately still a diehard yankees fan.

shortly after the first of the year, babylung settled in once again as the elder’s singer. stump continued to join the elders more frequently. infrequentlly, panda would visit.

in march stump dickens took to the road. nine shows in ten days started in charlotte then returned to annapolis to play with higher hands and skribe, then took to new york, philadelphia, richmond, and ended in blowing rock.

streets was hard, but brooklyn was harder; r.i.p. gloria powers smith.

in the spring, after returning from tour, the stump dickens ep was released to an enthusiastic snug harbor crowd.

in the year they played together, stump dickens with eyes of the elders destroyed the scene