The Elephant Family Tree
The origins of the Elephant 6 Collective lie in the childhood friendship of Bill Doss,William Cullen Hart, Jeff Mangum and Robert Schneider, who grew up together in Louisiana. Mangum, Doss and Hart later moved to Athens, Ga., and Schneider headed to Denver, Co. where he started the exuberant So. Cal-inspired pop quartet The Apples in Stereo and the Elephant 6 Recording Company in the early 1990s.
Doss and Hart formed the experimental psychedelic group Olivia Tremor Control, and Mangum created Neutral Milk Hotel, whose surreal fuzzed-out folk made him one of the most beloved independent musicians of the 1990s.Though both Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel have been largely inactive for nearly a decade, these bands numerous offshoots have formed the foundation of E6 in Athens, where a vibrant network of collaborating musicians has exponentially increased the size of the E6 collective. For the Holiday Surprise Tour, 14 players will appear, and possibly more will be gathered along the way, including Schneider.
But dont anticipate Mangumwho rarely performs these daysalthough he has been invited to play. Most of the featured musicians are affiliated with the following Athens groups:
Circulatory System: After Olivia Tremor Control went on a hiatus in 2000, Hart launched this expansive psychedelic pop troupe that includes former Olivia Tremor Control members John Fernandes (bass, violin and clarinet) and Pete Erchick (organ and bass).
Elf Power: When Neutral Milk Hotel went dormant in the late 90s, multi-instrumentalist Laura Carter formed Elf Power with Andrew Rieger, and together theyve been crafting exuberant, dreamy folk rock with a rotating cast of musicians ever since.
The Gerbils: Scott Spillane turned his attention to this distortion-happy pop group, built around his high-pitched voice and decidedly lo-fi sensibilities, with cohorts John DAzzo and Will Westbrook after his stint in Neutral Milk Hotel.
The Music Tapes: In the early 1990s Julian Koster began this fantastical pop project, which relies on unusual and elaborate instrumentation including a singing saw choir,The Seven-Foot Tall Metronome and The Clapping Hands, and focused on it post-Neutral Milk Hotel. AK