Search - Elephone :: Canister

Elephone began when two Los Angeles experimental indie rock artists, Terry Ashkinos and Ryan Lambert, became bored of the LA rock scene and moved to San Francisco to explore a new music scene in 2003. At that time San Francisco was brimming with amazing bands, like Rogue Wave and The Velvet Teen, who finally found their way back into the clubs after the dot-com bust and the DJ takeover. In 2006 Terry and Ryan started working with Dan Settle on bass and keys hitting their stride with The Camera Behind the Camera Behind the Camera released on Three Ring Records, notable home to Rykarda Parasol and Boyscout. After college radio stations nationwide discovered Elephone's new gem, The Camera Behind the Camera Behind the Camera charted number 14 on CMJ and became a staple on Internet stations like Bagel Radio and Soma FM and received play on commercial radio in various markets including San Francisco, LA and Portland. After extensive do-it-yourself touring, Elephone was featured several times on Live 105 as one of the San Francisco s finest new acts and Camera remains in regular rotation on LA s Indie 103. Elephone went on to play some of the largest venues in San Francisco including The Shoreline Amphitheater, Mezzanine, The Independent, 330 Rich (home to Aaron Axelsen's Popscene ), Café Du Nord, The Bottom of the Hill and others. They have played with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Stills, The Kills, The Dandy Warhols, The Posies, Rogue Wave, Film School, and Every Move a Picture. Elephone has been featured in the SF Chronicle, The Onion, The SF Bay Guardian, The SF Weekly and virtually every San Francisco music-related publication online. In 2007 Sierra Frost and Lily Faden from the local sensation, Two Seconds, joined the band. Bringing in Sierra as an edgy vocalist and keyboard player and Lily as a ferocious drummer has given Elephone a new musical prowess and pop sensibility that was not as present on past records. Elephone's live shows are often a spectacle of energy and emotion with that loud/soft and then louder dynamic that crawls under your skin and keeps you begging for more. The boy/girl vocals and swirling guitars and synths have drawn comparisons to a Pixies meets Radiohead mongrel. But the stage as a village and intellectual emotion that comprise the songs and live shows seem closer to The Arcade Fire or The Talking Heads. The new album, Canister, is slated for release on Talking House Records on July 15th. It promises to be far and away their most ambitious and relate-able record to date. Having the freedom to create music in the Talking House studio has given these recordings an otherworldly quality; they have truly found a home at Talking House whose vision is to build an artistic community on their own terms. The west coast may no longer have Elephone all to themselves after the anticipated July release.