Elefant was an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

that released two albums in the 2000s.

Background

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

parents in the late 1970s, Diego Garcia immersed himself in the sounds of

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

and

MC5 MC5, also commonly called The MC5, is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The original line-up consisted of Rob Tyner (vocals) Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred "Sonic" Smith (guitar), Michael Davis (bass), and Dennis ...

at an early age. Music carried him throughout his tenure until his cardiologist father moved the family back to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

when Garcia was a young teenager, and by age 14 he got himself an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and started writing songs. As Garcia approached college life at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1996, music was still calling him despite his course load in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. During his junior year, Garcia realized he wanted a career in music instead. He left for

upon his 2000 graduation and began to look for musicians, eventually playing with the band Circus for a brief time. A year later, Garcia formed Elefant with bassist Jeff Berrall, guitarist Mod, and drummer Kevin McAdams.

Career

Along with bands such as

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

, Elefant was involved in the indie rock scene in New York City in the 2000s. They signed with Kemado Records in 2002. Their debut EP ''Gallery Girl'' was released on February 4, 2003. Their full-length debut, ''

Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid ''Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid'' is the debut full-length album by American rock band Elefant. Originally released on April 8, 2003 by Kemado Records, it was re-released in October 2004 on Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American reco ...

'', was released on April 8, 2003, and included the single "Misfit". After the success of ''Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid'', Elefant signed with

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...

. The album was re-released on Hollywood in October 2004. The band's second album, ''

The Black Magic Show ''The Black Magic Show'' is the second and final album by the American indie rock band Elefant. It peaked at #14 on the ''Billboard'' Top Heatseekers chart. The third track, "Lolita", is based loosely on the novel of the same name by Vladimir Na ...

'', was released on April 18, 2006. It was made with a bigger budget than their first and signified a change in the band's style, featuring dance rhythms and hard rock guitars.

Breakup

After recording ''The Black Magic Show'', the band went on a hiatus. They officially broke up in June 2010, as announced on their MySpace page. No reason was given for the breakup. Garcia then embarked on a solo career. Jeff Berrall went on to play in Caveman. Mod went on to playing and producing in projects such as Ape Fight.

Discography

*''Gallery Girl'' (EP) (2003) *''

'' (LP) (2003) *''Now That I Miss Her'' (7") (2004) *''Misfit'' (7") (2004) *''

'' (LP) (2006) *''Lolita'' (7") (2006)

References

External links

Elefant MySpace page

Elefant discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elefant Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Hollywood Records artists Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from New York City Post-punk revival music groups