Contact CU Independent Multimedia Managing Editor Xandra McMahon at xandra.mcmahon@colorado.edu and follow her on Twitter @xanmcmahon.
The five-piece, genre-defying band Elephant Revival returns home to Colorado this Friday and Saturday to play two shows at the Ogden Theatre. The shows are officially billed as the band’s “Winter Ball,” or “homecoming shows” as they like to call it, and audiences can expect to hear completely different sets each night.
Banjo, guitar and double bass player Daniel Rodriguez spoke with CUI Multimedia Manager Xandra McMahon about the Winter Ball, new music, new tours and the best part about coming home.
“We used to play in Colorado all the time but we seldom do now,” Rodriguez said. “We’re always traveling about the country, sometimes out of the country, so it’s our homecoming show. We’re finally coming back after our yearly travels.”
Elephant Revival made it onto NPR’s “10 Artists You Should Have Known In 2013” with their harmonious blend of a variety of instruments ranging all the way from a washboard to a fiddle to a musical saw. But diversity in instruments isn’t the only thing that makes their shows unique.
“We have some aerialists who are going to be dancing along these really long silks that are going to be hanging from the ceiling,” Rodriguez said. “So that’s always exciting.”
The band typically closes out their fall tours in Colorado, last year’s being at the Boulder Theater where they recorded their most recent live album “Sands of Now (Live at the Boulder Theater).” It was a similar setup with back-to-back shows and dazzling acrobatic dancers that performed alongside the five of them.
With the band’s 10-year anniversary coming up in 2016, they’re no strangers to being on the road. From sold out shows in New York and at Colorado’s own Red Rocks Amphitheater all the way to Scotland and Wales, Elephant Revival continues to refine their well-crafted stage presence.
“On our last tour we traveled the East Coast and played New York City and that was quite a thrill,” Rodriguez said. “We had like a near sell-out crowd in New York City. That’s a tough market to crack and man, we had some people who were pretty thrilled to be there.”
But, according to Rodriguez, nothing beats coming home.
“I just can’t wait to get back into my kitchen,” Rodriguez laughed. “But most of all just to sit down and write songs. You know, the home time is what kind of helps feed the touring and the albums.”
The band plans to release a studio album April 1, 2016. But concert-goers this weekend will get to hear the new music before anyone else. The quintet will play the whole album, split up between the two nights.
The upcoming album includes 11 brand new tracks featuring new talents from the band members, including Bonnie Paine on cello and vocals.
The Winter Ball at Ogden might be the end of this year’s tour for the band, but Elephant Revival will hit the road again in 2016 with Josh Ritter.
For tickets to this weekend’s shows in Denver click here and here.
