Interview: Andrew Rieger of Elf Power
Interview: Andrew Rieger of Elf Power
JL: Hi Andrew, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I’ve been following Elf Power for about 20 years, but I don’t know much about you or the band, which I understand you formed in Athens, Georgia. Were you attending college there?
AR: Yes, the band formed in Athens in 1994, and I had attended college there previous to the band forming. It started as a recording and songwriting project. The first album “Vainly Clutching at Phantom Limbs” was mostly recorded by myself on 4 track cassette, with help from a few friends on some tracks. I pressed a small run of records which got a good response, so I formed a live band in order to play the songs from the album live, as we started getting offers to play.
There was a certain stylistic continuity coming from each player’s personal style being expressed on multiple projects.
JL: Elf Power is considered a part of the Elephant 6 collective. How did you get to know the folks in that?
AR: I met the Olivia Tremor Control guys at a party where they were playing, and we exchanged our first records, and realized that we both had an affinity for home recording and 4 track cassette recording, which was not a common method of recording in Athens at that time, so it was nice to find kindred spirits who shared a love of home recording.
JL: Was there an articulated musical concept inherent among the Elephant 6 bands? I mean, was it explicitly stated that you were all going to do your own take on psychedelic pop?
AR: No, but as we all collaborated on each other’s recordings, there was a certain stylistic continuity coming from each player’s personal style being expressed on multiple projects.
JL: Neo-psych has become such a popular sub-genre in the past decade or so. Has the collective been given proper due as an influence by these acts?
AR: I often meet folks all over the world in bands who say they were inspired by it.
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JL: Apart from Of Montreal, the collective seems to be relatively dormant now. As an insider, what can you say about that? Have the personalities simply grown apart?
AR: Many of the original bands involved like Music Tapes, the Minders, Essex Green and Elf Power are touring and releasing albums. Many of the members of the bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control have other projects like A Hawk and a Hacksaw and Mind Brains as well, and some are focusing on other things, like Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo is a college math instructor, though the band still plays live on occasion.
JL: It’s been about four years since the last Elf Power album and that’s as long as the band has ever gone without releasing new material. Will there be a new record any time soon?
AR: Yes, probably in 2022. We’ve been recording a writing a lot, but are waiting to release an album until the pandemic has hopefully subsided.
JL: It seems like shows are starting to happen again. Do you have any idea when Elf Power might tour?
AR: We’ll be doing outdoor shows starting this summer. We hope to be able to tour again when it’s safe and feasible to do so.
JL: Thanks again, Andrew!
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