about ely

Q: So who the fuck are ely then?
A: Glad you asked. For one thing, you’re saying it wrong – it’s pronounced Eee-Lie

Q: So why aren’t they called Eli then, like that shitty film with the bloke in the apocalypse?
A: Well, we liked the sound Eli, but in writing it looks a bit crap. We prefer Ely.

Q: But Ely is a really dull place/river in Cambridgeshire/Cardiff/Ireland/America/wherever…?
A: Yeah, but they pronounce it Eee-Lee; not Eee-Lie.

Q: You’re just being pretentious really, aren’t you?
A: Possibly.

Q: Right then. So who or what is this “Eee-Lie”?
A: I won’t tell you if you carry on like that.

Q: Ok, Ely then. Who or what?
A: Ely is a hypothetical band, who -

Q: Now you ARE being pretentious! Hypothetical band!? Have you heard yourself?
A: Hold on, we really are hypothetical.

Q: How so?
A: Well, we haven’t actually played a gig in about ten years, but we’ve made ten years worth of music in that time.

Q: So you’re a studio band then?
A: Not really, we love playing live.

Q: So why don’t you?
A: Time and money, space and logistics, drummers.

Q: Ah yes, those drummers can be a bitch.
A: That wasn’t even a question! Anyway, will you let me finish?

Q: Yes, but in future please refrain from asking me questions; I don’t like to answer them.
A: Who are you, the CIA?

Q: Stop it.
A: Ok. So anyway, we’re a hypothetical band formed more than ten years ago out of the ashes of several throwaway school and college bands. The three of us (Thomas, Richard and Robert, or Bish, Kenni and Marsh; depending on whether you’re our mothers) got together over a shared love of making loud noises, drinking and smoking our body weight in illicit plant stuffs. We shared a house at Uni and plotted our Big Plan to Save Music.

Q: How’s that working out for you?
A: We’ve got em right where we want em.

Q: …
A: Yeah. Anyway, ten or so years have passed, with us working on our tunes via telepathy and the internet, since we’ve now scattered ourselves across the country and tend to see each other but once in a blue moon. We’ve assembled a vertiable selection of quality tunage, but we’re yet to unleash them on our unsuspecting public, because we all have day jobs and responsibilities and stuff to worry about.

Q: Not very rock and roll.
A: No, it’s not; but that’s life, I guess. We can’t all be Keef. And because we’re not irresponsible rock-n-rollers, we can’t very well drop everything to rehearse and gig…

Q: So what’s all this about then?
A: Well, basically we’re in limbo at the moment. There is a long term plan, but we don’t want to share it, in case you make fun of us.

Q: I won’t make fun of you. Tell me.
A: No.

Q: TELL ME.
A: Ok, calm down. The long term plan is for Bish to get a little bit of attention from persons and/or organisations with money, drawing them in with his solo stuff (we like to think of it as ‘music that’s not quite good enough to be Ely music’) and then pitch to the persons/organisations the concept for Ely.

Q: Concept?
A: Ah, we won’t go into that here. It’s all part of the Big Plans to Save Music, and if we wrote them up here, someone might Save Music using our Big Plans before we’re even a blip on the radar, and while that might well be for the Greater Good, we’d all like to do a little Basking in The Glory, so no go.

Q: Even if I shout at you?
A: Even if you shout at us. Our lips are sealed.

Q: Ok then… So you’re a hypothetical band, with Big Plans to Save Music so that you can Bask in The Glory, but whose Time Has Not Come, and are Biding Your Time before Taking Over The World having Established A Niche thanks to the Not Quite Good Enough tunes of Mr Bish?
A: Yep, in a nutshell.

Q: But what do you actually sound like?
A: Ah, now there’s a question that’s easy to ask but difficult to answer.

Q: And don’t be pretentious about it; name some bands.
A: Really? Do we have to?

Q: NAME SOME BANDS!
A: Er. No. We’re very influenced by Radiohead, like any other band that grew up with Ok Computer on the stereo. That said, we don’t sound much like them at all; we like to plunder a little less of the English prog back catalogue (although we are quite prog) and more of the post-rock, trying to counterbalance that with elements of Soul, Blues and Dub, with a healthy dose of warped electronica as garnish. We flit about from style to style and instrument to instrument. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we all sing and swap instruments.

Q: So you’re like a more electro-rock version of Mumford and Sons?
A: Interesting comparison, but not really. We’re more like Animal Collective working in reverse – by the end of our recording career, we’ll probably have regressed to psychedelic freak-out folk, but for now we see ourselves as a few albums after Merriweather Post Pavillion.

Q: Them’s bold words.
A: Yeah well, we did tell you we were going to Save Music.

Q: That you did.
A: That we did. Right then. Put the kettle on.