So far 2015 has produced some solid rock/noise rock/post rock records. The new Cherubs, Implodes, and Rectal Hygienics are fine examples and now we have Elephant Rifle’s, Ivory. Not your traditional noise rock, but more of your post rock/post hardcore- along the lines of Old Wounds era Young Widows and Wires On Fire. The songs range in tempo and dynamic from noisy, slow-builders like “Clones & Clones” and “Rasputin”. To pummeling rhythm sections and coated guitar work that morphs from jazz-damaged swagger into lumbering rock riffage- “Red Shirts” and “Bone Voyage”. Other songs are just plain vicious, “Dogs Wolves Wolverines” and “Gold Standard”.
If your in the mood for savage, distorted, hook laden, “rock”, check out Ivory or check these guys out if they head to your city! In the meantime we caught up with the band to ask them a bunch of random questions. Enjoy!
Tell us a brief history of your band. How did you settle on the name Elephant Rifle?
BB: We’ve been a band for five years. “Elephant Rifle” arose out of the usual back-and-forth among band members followed by is-it-already-a-band? Google searches. If I recall, we had tossed around the words “Elephant” and “Rifle” separately before putting them together realizing that “Elephant Rifle” is the name of an actual thing. Anyway, it’s loud, ugly and hypermasculine—since both words are phallic symbols. And we like that—pushing masculinity to the point of parody. On the new record, the band members are Brad Bynum, Mike Mayhall, Clinton Neuerburg, and Ty Williams. We have called Reno home since the very beginning.
Your new album is titled Ivory. There is an obvious tie in to the band name, was this intentional?
BB: No, that’s just a weird coincidence.
Just kidding. It resonates with the band name because an actual Elephant Rifle is designed and aimed to obtain ivory, which is this beautiful substance that’s harvested through a very inhumane and obscene process—murdering or mutilating magnificent, endangered animals. We liked the combination of beauty and horror. It’s also associated with music, because of the historical connection to pianos.
What inspired the song themes on Ivory?
BB: For some reason—maybe getting older—I’d been writing lyrics about mortality a bit more than usual. (I’d previously written mostly about sex and drugs and food.) And animals. Once we noticed the trend, we started tailoring lyrics and song titles to the themes a bit more—the connection to death and animals was another reason why the album title made sense.
During your writing process do you focus on an overall concept for the record or is it more of an organic process from song to song?
BB: If you use the same method every time you write a song, you end up writing a lot of the same kinds of songs. We like a lot of different kinds of music and a lot of different kinds of songs. So, we write a lot of different ways. Some songs come out of collective improvisations. Sometimes, any one of us might show up to rehearsal with a song almost entirely written. Sometimes, it’s just a riff or two or a loose idea. So, most of our songs were written one at a time without a larger concept. But once we started putting together this album, we started noticing some recurring themes and wrote a couple of things specifically to tie together some of those threads. “Skeleton Keys” was the last song written for the record, and it was an effort to tie all the themes together. That song title again refers to the white keys on the piano—made of ivory.
I read that China is buying Ivory like crazy! Any plans on a tour there anytime soon?
CN: If it means bringing back lost knowledge that results in a decent Dim Sum place in Reno, I think it would be well worth the airfare.
Tell us about the Humaniterrorist Record Collective.
CN: The new record is a joint release with Humaniterrorist Record Collective and Gentlemen Friends. Gentlemen Friends is a new label started by a couple of our friends, and we are stoked they wanted us to be their first offering. Humaniterrorist Record Collective is a collectively run label I started 10 years ago to release a record by the band I was in and a couple records from my friends’ bands. It was initially supposed to be this sort of G7 Welcoming Committee-type thing, but mostly what it means is all the bands are the same groups of dudes reformed in different ways and 100% in control of how their record is created. Collective probably wasn’t the right word to use, but fuck it, we’re stuck with it now. Almost every Elephant Rifle record has been released either whole or in part by Humaniterrorist.
If you had to pick the top 5 bands that have influenced you collectively as a group what would they be?
BB: Jesus Lizard: After years of knowing each other, Clint and I actually decided to finally start a band together on the drive home from a Jesus Lizard concert in San Francisco, and it’s a pretty audible influence.
Iron Lung: One of the best bands to ever come out of Reno, and they’re personal friends of ours. The guitarist, Jon Kortland, is a real big brother/mentor figure for us. He’s made various mixtapes and musical recommendations over the years that have been really influential. We were really honored that he and his visual art partner, Nic Schmidt, did the design and art of Party Child, our first full length. Plus, Iron Lung is just a fantastic band.
CN: Fugazi: This is probably my favorite band and the common denominator with everyone I’ve played music with for the last 15 years. It’s definitely the one thing we all agree on being a huge influence stretching back to way before this band. All four of us were at the same Fugazi show in 1999 and it routinely comes up at band practice.
ODB or Wu Tang to a broader extent: Return to the 36 Chambers is our load-out music every time we have to move our gear from the practice space for a show. Something Brad has brought up a few times that resonates with me is how the sort of self-promotion and bravado that is typically associated with hip hop artists can kind of be frowned upon in underground rock world but really shouldn’t be. We like to think of ourselves as having some sort of that hip-hop entrepreneurial spirit. Also, “Rawhide” is the fucking jam.
Rush: We did a 9+ minute cover of “Working Man” on a demo a couple of years ago. It has something like 3 saxophone solos, a Theremin solo, a couple of noisy guitar solos, Beastie Boys lyrics, and a Fugazi bass line all shoehorned in there. Who would have thought a hardcore band from Reno could make something more excessive than the masters, but there’s the proof.
What are your go-to karaoke songs?
TW: In Japan like 5 years ago Mike did a brilliant “Overkill” by Men at Work
CN: I’m a sucker for “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates.
Anyone ever busted out their rendition Dramarama’s “Anything Anything”? I could see it being a thing.
TW: No but … I finally found it. I’m feeling my way all around it. I’m gonna surround it. Soon everything is going to be fine. Hey hey. I can do what I say. I’m lost in a sweet dream. I’m living on chocolate ice cream. I’m letting off my steam. Now everything is going to be fine. High high. I think I’ll learn how to fly. I went for the rental. Those costumes were so coincidental. They said everything would be fine. Ho ho. I think I’m ready to go, go, go
I won’t lie, I literally heard someone call Reno “The armpit of America.” I haven’t been there long enough to form an opinion. What would you say in defense of your hometown?
TW: Man, that’s rough… but doesn’t America have quite a few armpits these days? My family moved from the Bay Area to Reno in 1989. I called Reno my home for a long time. I currently live in Brooklyn, where it’s really expensive to make a living. A place like Reno is really comfortable for artists to settle and cultivate their art because it’s cheap to live and there’s enough of a scene to thrive on- I mean just because there’s a lot of something doesn’t make it good. Reno is a wonderful city with a great community and beautiful surroundings. I will admit Reno is a pretty sketchy place in some spots but what city isn’t it. It’s not New York where a dude last week cat-called a woman and when she ignored him, he slashed her in the arm on the subway. I think a city is where the ideas are not the populous. You just need to get out and meet the right people… and try to be a kind person. I feel very fortunate to know the people I do.
BB: We love being from Reno. The negative national perception of Reno is very creatively liberating. The fact that people from other places have a bias against you just because of your hometown is great because you don’t have to worry about being cool. Artists and musicians here just do whatever we want because we’re not trying to conform to anybody else’s tastes, because we know people are already dismissive of Reno. And there’s a lot of unique, weird, rad things in Reno because of that. Everybody who lives here in Reno loves it. The forthcoming video for our song “Gold Standards” is great because it both conforms to wider prejudices about trashy Reno and demonstrates how fun it is to live in a place where nobody gives a fuck.
MM: Anyone who talks shit on Reno either hasn’t been here, hasn’t been here long enough, or is a lame-ass motherfucker. Reno is a great place with a lot of talented and hilarious people. I left a good job and great bands in Seattle to move back to Reno. Besides, everyone knows that Fresno is the armpit of America.
What have you guys been listening to lately? Any Reno locals that you want to give a shout out to?
MM: I’ve been listening to a lot of bands on the Daptone and Truth & Soul record labels: the Budos Band, Sharon Jones, Lady, Lee Fields, etc. I’m also really feeling Myron and E from the Stones Throw label.
BB: No joke, I’ve been obsessed with Steely Dan for the last year or so. There are a lot of great bands in Reno right now: Post-War, Marion Walker, Spitting Image, The Future Criminals of America, Pelvis Wrestlies, Yelsa, Sisters Doom, Priscilla Ford, Plastic Caves, Alphabet Cult …
CN: The Reno scene ebbs and flows. Right now it’s in a spot where there aren’t a ton of bands, but there are some real good ones: Spitting Image, Hate Recorder, Yelsa, Sisters Doom. We’ve got a bunch of homies up and down the west coast that are doing it right: Stickers and VHS in Seattle, Gaytheist and Drunk Dad in Portland, Pins of Light in SF is fucking killing it. I’ve been pretty into that new Pile record lately, and I think that new Viet Cong record is flawless.
Have you ever thought about playing a show dressed up as the cast of Reno 911!? If so you would definitely have to rock the short shorts!
MM: No.
Do any of you guys have any other side projects or anything else going on that you want to plug?
CN: Mike and Ty play in another band called My Flag is on Fire, and Mike also plays in Keyser Soze.
What is the meaning behind all the glorious colorful goo going on in your video for “I Can’t Believe You Are Still Alive”?
BB: That’s my sweat. It’s magical.
What have been some of your favorite cities to play so far?
TW: Seattle. Portland. San Francisco. Santa Cruz. Reno. Tempe. San Diego. El Centro. I have very fond memories of these places and Elephant Rifle. I can’t wait to play those places again.
MM: Bay Area. Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco are always the jam.
CN: Seattle and Portland always seem to treat us very well. Those kids get rowdy up there.
Any plans for a full U.S. Tour?
CN: Yeah, we would love to, but it’s not always in the cards. A couple of us are dads. One of us is in grad school. One of us lives on the other side of the country. We still manage to trot our dog and pony show out a few weeks a year, though, and we’re working on some east coast shit in the not-too-distant future.
If you had to choose between Elephant Rifle’s world domination or world peace, what would it be?
MM: Neither. Drastic times call for drastic music.
BB: Why do they have to be mutually exclusive? I’m sure we’d be benevolent overlords. Mostly.
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