{"id":9196,"date":"2014-07-07T12:41:06","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T12:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=9196"},"modified":"2014-07-07T12:41:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T12:41:06","slug":"elephant-revival-where-words-failmusic-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/07\/07\/elephant-revival-where-words-failmusic-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant Revival: Where words fail\u2026music speaks."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"elephant-revival\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0by Brittany Hobson<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Where words fail\u2026music speaks.” Visit Elephant Revival’s\u00a0official website and you are greeted with these words. These sentiments certainly ring for the group consisting of Sage Cook (banjo, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, bass, fiddle), Bridget Law (fiddle, octave fiddle), Bonnie Paine (washboard, djembe, musical saw, stompbox), Daniel Rodriguez (guitar, banjo, bass), and Dango Rose (double-bass, mandolin, banjo). Hailing from Nederland, Colorado these gypsy-like souls tell tales sure to be a favourite among the \u201cgranola culture.\u201d Their latest album<\/em> These Changing Skies is sure to have something for everyone including the Celtic inspired instrumental piece \u201cThe Pasture,\u201d a gradual, cinematic explosion of folk goodness that encompasses \u201cDown to Sea,\u201d and the whirlwind of djembe infused rhythms that take over \u201cRogue River,\u201d a song akin to the sounds of drumming circles found in the wee hours of the morning on Pope\u2019s Hill. Gearing up for their time at the Winnipeg Folk Festival,<\/em> Stylus chatted with Daniel to discuss summer plans, their latest album, and the juggernaut that is the Winnipeg Folk Festival.<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylus: How\u2019s your summer been going?<\/strong>
\nDaniel Rodriguez:<\/strong> The summer\u2019s been going really well for me and for Elephant Revival. We\u2019re about to play Red Rocks which has been a kind of premier venue out here. It\u2019s such a beautiful place and we\u2019re all really really excited to be playing it. I have been producing a hip-hop record which is unusual for me and that\u2019s been going really well, so, the summer thus far has been going really well.<\/p>\n

Stylus: You guys released your latest album, These Changing Skies<\/em>, last year, what\u2019s the reception been like from critics and fans since the release?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> I think the reception has been really wonderful. I haven\u2019t heard one bad critique yet. Radio has been picking it up and our fans really love it and luckily our fans love all of our albums but even the band members like it so that\u2019s a good testament too. I can listen to it from front to back and not have to skip a song so that\u2019s a great sign for me too.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Do you think a sense of cohesion has formed between you guys as a group the longer you play together?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> Yeah, I think there is an element to that. Our first album, we were so fresh as a band and I have very little critique of my own to say about that album in terms of I wish we did this or I wish we did that. But it\u2019s on a later album where I feel I could have spent a little more time on certain things or done this or done that. So, I have been thinking about this lately where it\u2019s not the fact that the cohesion wasn\u2019t there, it was just maybe variables\/elements that were happening in the studio that weren\u2019t healthy or something like that, where on this newest album we recorded it at Bear Creek and we lived out there. We ate and we slept and we breathed the album and I think it really shows when I listen to it that we just put all that time and energy to making a beautiful album.<\/p>\n

Stylus: I know that you guys like to incorporate a sort of environmentally conscious tone into your music, is that something you intentionally incorporate?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> I can speak for me personally and I<\/em> can speak for the whole band, it\u2019s something we all talk about and it\u2019s something we are constantly thinking about and I think it\u2019s something that is unavoidable. These days I think everybody should be thinking about it and it\u2019s just natural to be talking about it, thinking about it, and singing about it. It\u2019s no longer the elephant in the room it\u2019s the elephant that\u2019s staring everybody in the face. If you can reach an audience that is more than just yourself then I think it\u2019s worth talking about and unfortunately sometimes that turns people away but those who have ears shall hear.<\/p>\n

Stylus: I\u2019ve read your music described as \u201ctranscendental folk\u201d, \u201cexperimental folk,\u201d or \u201cmusic with a progressive edge\u201d but how would you best describe your music?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know\u2026 It certainly has with, Bridget on the violin,\u00a0a Celtic element to it and of course us traveling around and playing folk songs it adds kind of a gypsy element to it because we are living our lives on the road. But if I had to sum it up in like a phrase I\u2019d have to say, \u201cCome out to our show and you tell us how it sounds.\u201d It\u2019s so hard to pinpoint exactly what we\u2019re doing and put words to it because it\u2019s all so vastly different. It\u2019s so many styles coming together from five different people just blending in to this new sound and I don\u2019t really know if there are words to describe it yet.<\/p>\n

Stylus: So, I know that we just talking about the live recording that took place at Bear Creek, have you guys ever thought about recording a live album and if so any ideal locations?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> We talk about it all the time and we\u2019re going to do that I just don\u2019t know when. There\u2019s a beautiful place in Boulder, Colorado called Chautauqua House that\u2019s a really old, huge barn. A lot of music has been played there and it just sounds wonderful. Maybe we\u2019ll get a good recording at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Perfect segway into my next question then. Is there anything you are excited about hearing, seeing, doing, or performing with at the festival?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> The line-up is just amazing. I think this is one of the most amazing line-ups of a festival that we\u2019ve ever played. I\u2019m hugely excited to check out all the bands that have been people I have looked up to my whole life. We got to hang out and meet Bonnie Raitt\u2019s guitar player and he was talking about hanging out with us at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, so we really look forward to that. Something we really love about the Canadian festivals, in particular, are the workshops. That\u2019s something that\u2019s really been fun and enlightening for us. In the States we don\u2019t really have that and it\u2019s kind of like a separatism sort of thing. With the Canadian festivals it just seems equal, everybody\u2019s equal, and you can be in a workshop in the morning and be playing with someone that you\u2019ve loved your whole life and you\u2019re intermingling with all these musicians. It\u2019s just so much fun and we really enjoy being at these festivals.<\/p>\n

Stylus: I want to thank you for chatting with us today and any parting words for our readers today?<\/strong>
\nDR:<\/strong> Be aware of your passions. Live life to its fullest. Sounds so clich\u00e9 but gosh if we could all do that then we\u2019d be on our way.<\/p>\n

Elephant Revival will be playing Main Stage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Sunday July 13th<\/sup> from 7:25 to 8:30 pm.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0by Brittany Hobson “Where words fail\u2026music speaks.” Visit Elephant Revival’s\u00a0official website and you are greeted with these words. These sentiments certainly ring for the group consisting of Sage Cook (banjo, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, bass, fiddle), Bridget Law (fiddle, octave fiddle), Bonnie Paine (washboard, djembe, musical saw, stompbox), Daniel Rodriguez (guitar, banjo, bass), and Dango […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1105],"class_list":["post-9196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-winnipeg-folk-fest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}