The Elephant 6 Recording Company

The Elephant 6 Recording Company (or simply Elephant 6) is a collective of American musicians who spawned many notable independent bands of the 1990s, including the Apples in Stereo, the Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Beulah, Elf Power, of Montreal, The Minders, and Circulatory System. They are marked by a shared admiration of 1960s pop music.

History

Foundation

The collective was officially founded in Denver, Colorado by childhood friends Robert Schneider, Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart and Jeff Mangum, along with founding Apples in Stereo members Jim McIntyre and Hilarie Sidney. Schneider, Doss, Hart and Mangum grew up making music and sharing cassette tapes in Ruston, Louisiana while attending high school together. They started several bands and pet projects; Doss and Hart with the Olivia Tremor Control (then called Synthetic Flying Machine), Mangum with Neutral Milk Hotel, and Schneider with the Apples in Stereo. Together, they held a mutual admiration for the music of the 1960s, especially the Beach Boys, considering the unfinished Smile project to be its "Holy Grail".