‘The Elephant 6 Recording Co.’ Unravels The Mystery Behind Famed Indie Rock Collective

What’s better than one hip new band? A whole freakin’ town full of ‘em, playing together and living together and bouncing ideas off each other. Scenes are the lifeblood of indie rock but even within this construct, the Elephant 6 collective were and are a singularity. The bands didn’t all put out records on Elephant 6 Recording Company label or live in the same city but still managed to share members and collaborate around a common aesthetic, filtering 1960s psychedelic pop through the DIY pragmatism of 1980s indie rock. 

During its brief late 1990s flowering, the Elephant 6 collective drove music critics to new heights of hyperbole and sent collector nerds scurrying to the record store to pour over liner notes and connect the dots. The 2022 music documentary The Elephant 6 Recording Co. attempts to unravel the riddles and myths surrounding the scene and pays homage to its adventurous spirit. Directed by first-time director Chad Stockfleth, it is currently available for rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. 

Though myriad artists would affix the Elephant 6 Recording Co. logo to their records over the years, in the beginning they were a mere gang of four. Robert Schneider, Jeff Magnum, Bill Doss and Will Hart met in high school where they obsessed over music and began making home recordings on cheap 4-track cassette recorders. They grew up in Ruston, Louisiana, home of Louisiana Tech University, which, as a college town, attracted touring indie rock bands and was a magnet for other creative weirdos in the Deep South. 

In the early 1990s, Schneider moved to Denver, Colorado, where he founded The Apples in Stereo and opened Pet Sounds Recording Studio. Named after the landmark Beach Boys album, the studio would serve as a creative incubator for Elephant 6 artists. Meanwhile, the other three participated in a mass migration of Rustonites to Athens, Georgia, the jewel of Southern college towns and home to R.E.M. and a thriving music scene. There they started The Olivia Tremor Control before Magnum split off to make music under the Neutral Milk Hotel moniker. 

Though the name had appeared on demo cassettes before and after, the first release on The Elephant 6 Recording Co. label was The Apples’ 1993 debut 7-inch EP. 4-track recording was essential to the early records and put them in line with fellow lofi adherents like Sebadoh and Pavement, an admitted influence. Despite its sonic limitations, 4-track recordings have a warm crunchy texture, which in the hands of the Elephant 6 bands evoked a homespun charm as well as the pop music of the past, particularly ‘60s psychedelia, another key inspiration. 

Schneider’s mastery of the 4-track was such that he’s called “the Brian Wilson of the scene,” by Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes. Home recording also allowed the Elephant 6 bands to “indulge a lot of crazy ideas,” according to Andrew Reiger of Elf Power. “I know those guys were just trying to record Sgt. Pepper’s or Pet Sounds on their cassette machines. And they did,“ says Kevin Sweeney of The Sunshine Fix.

Throughout the first half of the 1990s, Elephant 6 released a slew of 7 inches and cassettes while bands’ full-lengths usually came out on larger independent labels with better distribution. By the time of The Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control’s debut albums, the Elephant 6 logo began to show up on affiliated bands’ releases regardless of who put the record out. 1998’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, the sophomore effort from Neutral Milk Hotel and a critical hit, firmly established the collective’s legend and mystique but it would also mark the beginning of the end of its golden era.

Whether due to the pressures of touring or industry expectations or some other demon, Magnum withdrew following his breakout success. He has performed sporadically since and does not appear in the movie besides in archival footage. Olivia Tremor Control would split up, with Doss and Hart pursuing their own music, but later reunited and appear in interviews together. However, Doss would tragically die from an aneurysm in 2012, an event which shook the collective to its core. Though Schneider is still active musically, most of his focus is now dedicated to teaching math at the university level.            

Typically, when profiling an obscure artist, music documentaries can either spend their time explaining their greatness via talking heads or use performance footage to show them in action. The Elephant 6 Recording Co. chooses the former and falls a little short, creating a film that may only appeal to those already fans of the bands. It’s a pity since the scene’s self-reliance and indie pop sound is still being emulated.  Still, the film has much to recommend it, covering the proceedings with affection and effectively capturing the participants’ offball charm.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician.