Last December, four friends came together in Banff to jam and play shows. Seven months later, they’ve emerged as Elk Run Riot, the town’s new indie darlings.
Having won the recent Tommy’s Battle of the Bands, Elk Run Riot is set to be the opener at the Shaw Amphitheatre in Banff on June 30 – opening for Classified and Zeus. Their next show is at the Canmore Legion, June 8.
Andrew Cotter did most of the talking for the band in an interview with the Outlook Thursday (May 23).
“We sat around and slit our wrists and said ‘We’re not going to play covers, or only a few, and we’re going to write all original songs,’ so that’s the foundation of the band,” he explained. “It’s something hard to do these, days, but yeah – original songs and a lot of practice – and really relentlessly playing shows in the Bow Valley, trying to get tight.”
It began with the group playing every Saturday night at the Elk & Oarsman in December.
“That was our wrench to tighten the screws a bit,” he explained. “Now we play monthly here (Melissa’s), we won Tommy’s battle of the bands, and we’re playing at The Banff Centre this summer opening.
“We’re really building towards that – that’s going to be our big show on a big stage.”
Joining Cotter are three other long-time residents, Brian Bailey and Ryan Schepens – previously known for their participation in the band 30 Day Benders – and Marc Frappier.
“Ryan and I did a stint in Nelson and then came back here, thinking it was time to put some more pieces into the sound,” said Bailey. “I’ve been playing a lot of open mics around town, and I’ve done a lot with Gary Gonis, local legend.”
Frappier echoed these sentiments.
“We’ve played open mics together, just for fun, and that’s how we knew each other,” he said. “For my part, what’s amazing is most of how our sound was forged was by playing shows, and that’s pretty special.
“A lot of bands will just jam, jam, jam and try to write, and we came in the band with a few songs already written, and it was amazing. We played shows in the beginning and that’s how we got to jam and have fun and feed off each other.”
What their songs are about, said Schepens, is based on the experiences they’ve had.
“They tend to be songs about the Bow Valley and things that have happened, the experiences and past relationships and forest fires – everything from A to B,” explained Schepens.
“It’s all about playing the shows – there’s no two shows that are exactly the same. We’re putting together what we’re all good at and feeding off each other.”
Earlier this month the band played seven shows in 14 days, noted Cotter.
“That’s a pretty busy schedule for a bunch of working-class folk,” he said. “We’re very passionate about the sound we have now and we’re pretty proud of that.
“We don’t have a recording yet, but what we do have are some great songs, and that’s really the starting point of any great band, and that’s what we’re focused on right now.”
Among those shows was a gig opening for Scott Cook at the Banff Coffee House two weeks ago.
“The Banff Coffee House they did at the church was an amazing place to play,” he said. “It was one of those gigs that was such a treat to play, a real honour, and to have a listening audience.”
While several of the members contributed songs to the band when it formed, what they’re writing now shows the connections they’ve formed with each other, said Cotter.
“The great thing about this band is that the songs that were there already are great, but the songs that we’re writing as a group are just as good, if not better, and that’s always another good sign of the chemistry between musicians,” he said. “We can go from a folk shuffle beat sound to an indie sound with some electric guitar, and then back again and we slow it down.
“A bit of country too and a lot of folk – we’re not scared to play different genres – with us we’ve got a lot of different influences and we’re not scared to write songs that are completely different from the last one.”
With lots of shows planned for the summer around the valley, this band hopes to make its name known, said Frappier.
“We all work a lot and playing shows is our way to have fun,” he said. “If shows in places like Calgary and Nelson come up we’ll go play them, but for now we’re concentrating here – we have a few great venues in town.”
