I recently interviewed Elf Power guitarist/vocalist Andrew Rieger shortly before he and the rest of the band left for a tour in support of their new album, Elf Power, released earlier this month.
Elf Power was founded in 1994 in Athens, Georgia and was part of the Elephant 6 Collective, a group of musicians, as well as friends. Bands from the 60s such as Love, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Zombies and The Kinks influenced the musical output of the Elephant 6 Collective. Elf Power's early records were marked by a lo-fi psychedelic pop sound. Later records would feature more ambitious production but maintained the hook-filled psych-pop style.
Elf Power will be playing alongsideArrah and the Ferns and will be showing a screening of the short film Major Organ and the Adding Machine at The Bishop (18+) on September 26.
Tickets are $8 advance/$10 door and are available at The Bishop, Landlocked Music, The Buskirk-Chumley and www.spiritof68promotions.com
Andrew: What inspired you to start playing music, was it a certain song or artist?
Andrew Rieger: In high school I got into hardcore punk music and skateboarding. I had a big skate ramp in my backyard, so all the neighborhood kids would come over and skate and listen to music. I started playing guitar around this time, and at the time I listened to a lot of different music; Misfits, R.E.M., The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, The Pogues, Violent Femmes, so all of that music influenced me as I was growing up.
Andrew: How would you say the sound of the band has changed over the years?
Rieger: The band began as a recording project. The first album, Vainly Clutching at Phantom Limbs was an album of songs that I recorded on a cassette four-track with the help of friends. It sounds very primitive in a really cool and crude way. We later formed the live band in order to play these songs live, so that was a major evolution of the band.
Andrew: What do you like best about playing live and touring?
Rieger: Visiting cool and foreign places, meeting the locals, eating squid on a stick in Japan, and walking through a bizarre sculpture park in Finland, having adventures.
Andrew: How has your vision of the band changed over the years?
Rieger: We've done some different projects in the last several years to keep things interesting. In 2008-2009 we recorded and released a collaborative album with Vic Chesnutt, the late great songwriter, called Dark Developments. It was a really unique and wonderful partnership, and we were lucky to tour the world with him before he died. Our drummer, Eric Harris, directed a short film Major Organ and the Adding Machine that we will be screening before our performance each night on this tour. It's a surreal and strange children's story, and I'm one of the stars, playing Francisco, a swashbuckler.
Andrew: The Elephant 6 Collective was dormant for about five years and has been more active within the last three; do you see any chance for a resurgence of the collective or do you feel that the moment has passed?
Rieger: People have always liked the music of these artists. We're gearing up for another Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour in 2011. The last one was a big success, so the people are digging it still.
-Andrew Crowley
