The Elephant Six Collective
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The Elephant 6 logo, which appears on many releases, created by Will Cullen Hart |
The Elephant Six Collective were a group of American musicians who spawned some of the most notable independent bands of the
1990s, including
The Olivia Tremor Control,
Neutral Milk Hotel,
The Apples in Stereo and
Of Montreal.
The collective was officially founded in
Denver, Colorado (but figuratively in
Athens, Georgia) by childhood friends
Bill Doss,
Will Cullen Hart,
Jeff Mangum, and
Robert Schneider. The four grew up making
music and sharing cassette tapes in
Ruston, Louisiana. They started several bands and pet projects; Doss and Hart with
Olivia Tremor Control (then called
Synthetic Flying Machine), Mangum with
Neutral Milk Hotel, and Schneider with the
Apples in Stereo. Several Elephant Six projects began to find commercial success in the late
1990s, including
Beulah,
Elf Power,
The Music Tapes, and
Of Montreal, as well as the founding bands mentioned above.
It was Schneider who created the E6
record label when he moved to
Denver, Colorado in late
1991 to attend the
University of Colorado at Boulder. There, he and new friends started up
The Apples (which eventually became
Apples in Stereo). Recorded by April
1993, the "Apples" EP was the first E6 release.
Back home, Doss had moved to
Athens where he joined Hart and Mangum in
Synthetic Flying Machine, which became
Olivia Tremor Control. They released
California Demise as their first recording, and E6's second.
Most of the bands subsequently signed with major record labels; E6 as an entity slowly deteriorated until the collective called it quits — due to recording difficulties and lack of organization — in
2002. The collective's bands all moved on to various labels and projects of their own, though many band members are still friends and even tour together under various guises. Many live together on the
Orange Twin Conservation Community in
Athens. The Elephant Six mantra has become a symbol for the circle of friends sharing similar ideas and goals.
The most characteristic trait of an Elephant Six recording is the eclectic and exotic instrumentation: along with the guitars and drums you can hear, for example, the
flugelhorn,
singing saw,
wandering genie, and one-note
piano on Neutral Milk Hotel's
In the Aeroplane over the Sea; the
euphonium,
selemintan, and
magnus organ on Olivia Tremor Control's
Black Foliage; the
sitar, "magic
robot voice", and
Nepalese copper shawm on Elf Power's
When the Red King Comes; and everything from
sarangi to
clarinet played by eighteen backup
musicians on Beulah's
When Your Heartstrings Break. This was the ostensible nature of the Elephant Six collective: instruments, players, and space are divided among and shared among many projects.
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Indie rock*
Psych folk*
Post Rock*
Elephant6.com – An unofficial site about the collective.
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Elephant 6 blog – Another unofficial site with almost daily postings of current E6 happenings.
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E6 Townhall – An official Elephant Six message board.
