"I can't artificially supply energy you just have to win. And right now people don't really know us, so you'll see tonight, it starts off very cold...it starts off at one temperature and hopefully just heats up, and by the end of the show I think we've got more fans," Diego Garcia, lead singer of the breaking band Elefant declared with unfailing certainty before going to sound check, and to tell the truth, by the end the room was a lot warmer.
One of many fresh-faced, captivating groups to overflow 'Lake Music's' New York City tributaries and make the big splash, Elefant is on its first nation-wide tour supporting "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid," an ode to everything Black Francis and Robert Smith. Fronted by Garcia, who far and away has the award for most charismatic and alluring front man in the scene-tall, dark, handsome and sporting an Antonio Banderas accent-Elefant is set on a sojourn and not just a tour. "It's all about long term here. I'm not just making this record for one tour, and that's it, I'm not going to go get a job tomorrow. You know this is what I do with my life. I'm going to be writing songs forever. And I guess it's a long road and we'll see what happens after the next record" said Garcia.
For Garcia, music comes first it's not image. He is not a 'bling-bling' rock star; he's a Skynyrd-esque 'Simple Man' of words from the heart. 'Ultimately I think, [image] doesn't matter, said Garcia. "I mean if you have good songs you can do anything...so if I didn't have good songs I think people would hate me, period," but "I think we're getting a lot of attention because the music is good. I could be 3-foot 4-inches with a big wart on my nose singing these love songs, and I'd be just as cool if the music is good."
The importance of music over image came up again on the subject of the new Outkast record (Eagle Sept. 25) . The double album allowed listeners to juxtapose emcee Big Boi's focus on standard fare hip-hop with Andre 3000's funk approach to hip-hop. "I think it's refreshing that they finally started being honest, like hip-hop got boring. They started doing something that's just a little more musical, it's full of life, it's fresh, and God-bless them," Garcia said of the approach towards rewriting the current scene. Ultimately, I think it's the fullness of life and the freshness of sound that Garcia's sojourn is focused on.
Concluding a tour with Interpol at the 9:30 club on Saturday, Elefant, along with opener's The Occasion, symbolized something greater than just good music. The pairing of these three bands embodied what Garcia described as a necessary kinship. "You know, we're doing music in a time when everybody said it was dead...we need that kinship to survive. I need them to do well. I need the Stroke's record ["Room Of Fire" comes out Oct. 21] to sell well. It's important for good music that we all do well and support each other ... It's all positively correlated." True to his words Garcia, and the rest of Elefant, Mod (guitars), James Berrall (bass) and Kevin McAdams (drums), finished its set with a rousing addition of "Bokkie" featuring back-up percussion and vocals from the entire cast of The Occasion this kinship was made real.
