"Hello, Bloomington," Daniel Ellsworth said to the crowd of eager music lovers.
Ellsworth is the leader of Daniel Ellsworth and the Great Lakes, a new upcoming indie band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band was recently framed in the mainstream, accompanying Nick Lachey on NBC's The Sing Off, however last night they settled in the cozy stage of The Bishop. Last night the band kicked off their winter tour promoting their album Civilized Man. The album has brought the young band quite a bit of success, ranking in Amazon's Top 100 albums of 2011. In addition, their single "Shoe Fits" was named # 7 on Amazon's Top Singles of 2011.
"We just beat out Kanye and Jay-Z, but we weren't enough to take out LMFAO," Ellsworth joked while they were on stage.
On stage they all seemed to fit nicely together. Ellsworth was in the middle of the stage switching between guitar and the keyboard. He had the bassist, Marshall Skinner to his left and guitarist Timon Lance on his right with drummer Joel Wren behind, smiling with every beat as they perform. They were as suave as the typical indie band would, with henleys, cardigans, vests, blazers, and plaid, lots of plaid. Located in Nashville, the band wasn't used to the harsh snowy weather Bloomington brought last night.
"We all just got winter coats for Christmas," Ellsworth said with a smile, while performing in his snow boots.
Three of the band members met in Nashville and formed the band until just recently adding Lance four months ago when their previous guitarist left to attend graduate school. It all seemed to work out though.
"We have good chemistry together and I couldn't imagine a better group of guys to tour with," Wren said.
Ellsworth said as a group they write all their own songs in which they come together and trade ideas then they hope for the best.
The band struggled for a long time searching for the perfect album title when Marshal's fiance suggested that a lyric from one of their songs, 'civilized man' should be the title.
"As we thought about it, it seemed like the perfect title because we felt that most of our songs come together as the idea 'civilized man.'"
"Shoe Fits," their successful single, according to the band is about "forgetting everyone else and owning what you got."
Ellsworth said that he usually thinks of musical ideas, such as a melody, before lyrics, and places more importance on whether the music sounds good than whether the lyrics make sense. The group stressed the importance of lyric interpretation.
"Don't try to put a too fine a point on a lyric per say because everything is open to interpretation anyway," Timone said.
What is a civilized man? The question brought silence when I asked. But according to the band they will hopefully someday be civilized men.
According to Ellsworth, the band owes its success to "lots of elbow grease and perseverance."
"In a year from now I just want to be in a place where we can do this successfully and independently, said Ellsworth. "I want to take the good that has come from last year and push it to become a machine."
Personally, I think nothing is going to stop Ellsworth and the Great Lakes from the "machine" of success. Their sound is fresh, yet their lyrics pertain to timeless ideas. What doesn't a person love more than a band of promising and well-dressed musicians?
Post by Shelby Rizzi
