3 piece rock band from Montreal, Canada, Telephant Graveyard is nostalgic of the 90s & 2000’s alternative rock music, as well as hard and classic rock influences. Drawing from a diverse group of rock influences, Telephant Graveyard has etablish their own authentic sound from the ground up. Comprised of three members, Erik on vocals and lead guitar, Phil on drums and John on bass, Telephant Graveyard has a brand new EP that we’re stoked to feature on BuzzMusic. “3’s a Crowd” was released June 22, 2019 and we can’t get enough. “Jump” was the only single to be released from their debut EP; which was recorded and produced entirely by the band and mixed by good friend Nic Gaumond.
The EP “3’s a Crowd” begins with a literal “Broadcast”, Bootleg Jake introduces the first track “Jump” as “a tune that will get you dancing our f*ckin ass off”. With that, the EP explodes into the previously released single “Jump”. Hard-hitting guitar riffs and thunderous bass start the track off to an incredible launch. The contagious melody blends perfectly with Erik’s heavy rock vocals. Elements of heard contemporary rock blend with elements of classic rock in a brilliant musical chaos. “Jump” moves into screaming vocals and a pummeling guitar solo to melt your face off. We love what we’re hearing so far and so do Telephant Graveyard’s listeners.
As the EP “3’s a Crowd” transitions into the next track, “Black Widow” we get a taste of a darker and melancholic side of Erik’s vocals. The haunting song explodes into surf rock vibes reminiscent of the early 60’s. High energy all the way through, Telephant Graveyard showcases their undeniable chemistry on this track. Next on the EP is “Lipstick on a Pig”, a groovy track that bounces through infectious melodies and catchy riffs. With more of a storytelling element, Erik delivers powerful and quirky vocals. The boys lay down some tight grooves to move into “The Nobody”, a folky-roots laden song. Fresh and ground-breaking sound arrangements in Telephant Graveyard’s track “The Nobody” have me blown away. The band members have inspiring and special ideas when it comes to creating music. The whole band’s chemistry is evident through the speakers. The next track “Liverworst” is about life after a major surgery, and was written to make light of and honor Erik’s recent liver transplant. The timing and tempo of everything is flawless and finely-calibrated while the vocals remain rich and transcendent. I love the detailed lyricism and effortless delivery of every word. The alluring acoustics at the beginning of the track are the perfect intro to a hard hitting rock hit. Dedication to craft in the detail is admirable while the infectious and vivid music fused together is awakening. Telephant Graveyard brings raw energy and an indefinitely loud testimony to the magic of the underground scene with “Liverworst”. Layered guitars, ground breaking vocals and emotive lyricism give the last track on the EP a transporting feeling. “Curves” paints a soundscape in your mind, Telephant Graveyard allows the listener to escape into an alternate reality and live in the music. The heavy music breaks are the true highlight of this track. I highly recommend you give “3’s a Crowd” a listen for yourself to fully experience every genre-bending layer.
Check out “3’s A Crowd” here and read more below in our exclusive interview with Telephant Graveyard!
Hi guys! Can you start by introducing yourselves to our readers?
ERIK: Hey! We’re Telephant Graveyard, and we’re a 3 piece rock band from Montreal, Canada!
There’s myself; Erik, on guitar and vocals; John, who plays a guitar/bass hybrid that he created with his bare hands (he mostly covers the bass parts of the songs) and sings backup vocals; and there’s Phil, who plays the drums, some percussion and also sings backup vocals!
How did you come up with the band name Telephant Graveyard?
JOHN: The idea of the name dates back to around 2010, when my brother and I lived in the NDG area of Montreal. We noticed that between our apartment and the grocery store there was a street corner where broken CRT televisions would consistently be left. Every week there would be a new broken television left behind. We eventually began to joke that this corner was clearly where Televisions came to die, kind of like an ElephantGraveyard, therefore it was a “Telephant Graveyard
What’s the overall theme of your EP “3’s A Crowd”?
ERIK: Though a lot of the songs on the record deal with some darker or angsty topics, the inspiration, and general theme behind the namesake is the idea of unity and team work. It sounds like there’s a lot more going on with this record - sonically and production-wise - than there actually is. We don’t have a manager nor on a record label, it wasn’t 4-5 musicians working with a bunch of producers and engineers in an elaborate and costly studio, it was just the 3 of us having to share the load and putting in the work to make the project become a reality. So, we recorded, produced, and put it all together in my parent’s basement completely by ourselves with just our buddy, Colin, engineering, and our good friend Nic who mixed it. Essentially, Phil got all the recording gear and edited each all our takes when we put the tracks together. John helped with a lot the pre-production in fleshing out the songs as well as with making the click tracks and counting/conducting during drum tracking. He also assembled all the booklets for the physical copies of the CD’s. I basically wrote all the songs (except The Nobody) and put all the artwork together, including the “broadcasting” concepts and segues for record.
What’s the meaning behind your track “The Nobody”? How do you want the listener to feel when they hear it?
JOHN: The lyrics to The Nobody are inspired by the Jeff Lemire graphic novel of the same name, which itself is loosely adapted from “The Invisible Man.” They’re written from the perspective of the books protagonist, a chemist who has accidentally turned himself invisible. To not let other people see this he must remain “under wraps”, does not want people to “see right through” him etc… There was no specific way I wanted the listener to feel, but I had the idea of being under water in mind when I wrote it.
What’s your writing process like as a group?
ERIK: How the writing process has been working since we wrote this batch of songs is I would write the basic chord progression and skeleton of a song with lyrics and a rough idea of a vocal melody. Then I would demo it, usually with shit quality on audacity or my iPhone in my bedroom or something, then I would show it to the guys and we’d work it out in a live setting. Phil writes his drum parts best with repetition when we all jam the song and repeat each section until we have it down, then we piece it all together, but usually not before John and I have worked out the bass and guitar parts (usually acoustically) so the song flows and makes sense.
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