Elephant Quiz brings party, love of 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.”