By Mark Harris of Behold, A Weary Mosquito's Dark Alley
(Editor's Note - 2004: This encapsulation was written several years ago, but much is applicable. Some information, when known, has been changed to the past tense for bands that have moved and/or broken up.)
So, how did this all come about, then?
Well, at high school in Ruston, Louisiana, four childhood friends, Robert Schneider, Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart and Jeff Mangum all enjoyed a love of music. As 9th graders, they were in various bands (Robert played in a Beatles & Velvet Underground-inspired band called Fat Planet with Bill (who also had a solo recording project called The Sunshine Fix); Jeff and Will played in various outfits at the same time, including a "white noise" band named Maggot, which Jeff describes as having "no socially redeeming value"); Robert would record their 4-track output.
Things only started to get going when Robert moved to Denver, Colorado in late 1991 and attended University at Boulder. On a commuter bus between the two, he met Jim McIntyre, who also studied there. Robert: "I asked him what kind of music he liked, and in the heyday of grunge he thought a safe way to end the conversation would be to tell me his favorite band was the Beach Boys. Little did he know I was a certified lifelong Beach Boys nut and the conversation picked up after that..."
Jim was room-mates with Hilarie Sidney, who also loved Beach Boys and the Beatles. Jim played bass and Hilarie drummed in a band called Von Hemmling (begun in junior high school by Jim and his cousin) with various friends. At about the same time, Robert met Chris Parfitt who had also moved to Denver. Chris played guitar in a band which had advertised for a bass player - Robert answered the advert. The rest of the band didn't like Robert, but Robert and Chris got on well and decided to write songs together.
Jeff and Will had moved to Athens, Georgia and were in a band called Synthetic Flying Machine (formerly known as Cranberry Lifecycle). Robert was impressed by their band: "I wanted to have a band too, and it seemed easy the way they did it: friends making friendly music."
By the winter, Robert and Chris had asked Jim and Hilarie to join them and The Apples In Stereo were formed. They had finished recording their first EP by April 1993 and by June, 500 copies of it had been pressed, including a twelve-page illustrated booklet, poster, and stickers. This became the first record to be released by the Elephant 6 Recording Company.
Bill Doss moved to Athens after playing on New York band Chocolate USA's second (and final) album, Smoke Machine and joined Synthetic Flying Machine, which, in turn, became The Olivia Tremor Control. The California Demise EP was the Olivias' first and Elephant 6's second release. Jeff then left to pursue Neutral Milk Hotel, his solo recording project which he had named back in high school. And the rest, as they say, is history!
So what is The Elephant 6 Recording Company, then?
It's a recording company, innit.
No, what is The Elephant 6 Recording Company?
Hmmm... good question. Not even some of the members of E6 know the answer to that one! I would attempt to put it thusly: as well as being a label in the sense that bands record albums and release them, it's also a concept concerning "a collective vision of artmaking and musical cooperation that is at once hippie-like in its laid back sharing vibe and at the same time staunchly indie rock courtesy of their DIY flavour" (quote taken from an article by Gil Kaufman). Bill Doss of The Olivia Tremor Control, in the same article, says "It's more of a group of bands with similar ideals that like to work together" - in other words, it's not really anything, and you shouldn't necessarily assume that it exists at all.
Does that answer your question? Probably not...
What's the relationship between all the bands of the Elephant 6?
Well, the "big three" Of E6 are/were The Apples In Stereo, The Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel, the bands of Robert Schneider, Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart and Jeff Mangum, the friends since school days who basically set up The Elephant 6 Recording Company.
You can basically split the others into 3 groups:
E6 East - Based in Athens, Georgia, where The Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel were based. This part of E6 is/was, to be honest, pretty incestuous, with many different people playing/making guest appearances in the same bands. As well as The Sunshine Fix and Always Red Society (Bill & Will's excursion into solo recording projects respectively), there was also The Black Swan Network (The Olivia Tremor Control's experimental side-project), The Music Tapes and The Gerbils (both containing Neutral Milk Hotel members), Elf Power (friends of all), and more enigmatic combos like Major Organ And The Adding Machine, Dixie Blood Moustache and Clay Bears.
E6 West - Based in Denver, Colorado, where The Apples In Stereo resided. Bands included Marbles (Robert's solo recording venture), Von Hemmling (which includes ex-Apples member Jim McIntyre), Secret Square (Hilarie of The Apples' side project) and Dressy Bessy (of which John of The Apples In Stereo is also a member). The Minders also were based in Denver for a time.
Others - Beulah are from San Francisco. Robert & Hilarie of The Apples heard some of Beulah's music and liked it so much, they agreed to release the first single and album by the band. As for The Essex Green... er, don't know, actually. I think, like Beulah, their recorded output was heard and liked - hence the release...
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