Give us your names and what you do in the band?
Taylor: Hi, I'm Taylor, I play lead shredding guitar and I also sing a little bit and Zack and I write the songs.
Zack: I'm Zack, I sing and play rhythm guitar, I enjoy long walks on the beach, my favorite color is green. We also have Mack Suhre, he plays drums for us and Adam Khalil plays bass.
How did you guys all meet to form the group?
Zack: Taylor and I met up in 2008 when we both visited Boston for the first time cause we were doing a little summer class thing at Berklee, and then we just kept in touch through that, and when we both ended up moving back here, in 2010, Taylor and I started writing songs together, we got Adam in on it later, and Mack joined the group later cause Taylor jammed with him a few times and we were in need for a drummer and he's filled in great.
How did the name "The Relevant Elephants" originate?
Taylor: We have to give credit to Stephen Colbert. We went to go see his show last November and before the show started, he comes out 5 minutes beforehand to interact with the studio audience and Zack stood up and asked him, "What are some good band names?" and without hesitation he said, "The Relevant Elephants!" So we were like, "Thank you, Stephen Colbert!" and thus, the birth of the name The Relevant Elephants.
What other bands do your fans most commonly liken you to in concert?
Taylor: Well, I haven't asked enough people that, I would think that alot of them like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus, 311, Porcupine Tree, some prog stuff, we have a pretty eclectic mix of rock, funk, reggae, and a little but of country too, bluegrass style.
Can you describe the atmosphere of your live shows, what they're like, and the one thing you love the most about performing?
Zack: Our live shows, we always like to do a little bit different each time, we just like to go along with a joke, we played at The Palladium in Worcester on December 1st, and I don't know what the deal was, but it was absolutely freezing in there, I could see my breath when I'm singing. So everyone on stage was bundled up, and at the last second when we all went backstage, we took our shirts off and did the entire show topless even though we were freezing, and we did another Battle of the Bands at the Hard Rock Cafe, so we covered ourselves in warpaint, stuff like that, and just made it look like were about to go into actual battle, just little things like that. I mean when it comes to live shows, it's just the energy and having everybody in there, and getting to show off what you do best and just really gets you amped seeing that.
Taylor: We're really all about the energy, we try to put alot of energy into the show, alot of crazy movements and stuff, a little choreography, and something we'll always be working on is trying to get the crowd involved as much as possible, clap alongs, shouting, little stuff like that. We need to get trampolines on stage and stuff, kind of feel like we're headed in that direction.
Recently, you guys have been making the rounds performing at subway stations around Boston, could you describe what those performances are like?
Zack: It's pretty cool, I mean obviously it's annoying when you have a train going by every few minutes, but the thing is it's a really great way to build up a new fanbase and just have little things like this happen because the thing is on the street as much as nice days like this, you can still get alot out of good out of it, but on the subway people have to stay there, and you have alot of people finding it that way and on the subway you will run into other funny experiences, like people wanting to take pictures with you, we've had breakdancers go by and just start breakdancing, we had some kid find us and said he couldn't pay us so what he did is, he took pictures of us on Facebook, and cartooned us and those are our profile pictures now, he went to art school. And you have all these random things that can happen from it, and also you run into some unpleasant experiences like sometimes you'll have some homeless drunks say, "Hey, give us your money!" And overall, it's just a fantastic way to promote and get the name out there, because they get just a little taste, we can't bring our full drum set down in the subway or full amps or anything like that so it's "Ok, well these guys in the subway, now when I see them live, it's going to be bigger and better."
What are some of your favorite songs to perform live, do you guys do any covers that fans seem to take a shine to?
Taylor: We have done some covers, not too much lately, not in our later shows, we have more original material, so we tend to fill up our set with that, but covers we have done in the past people really seem to enjoy, we do a cover of a cover actually of 311's cover from The Cure "Love Song", that's a really fun one to do. We've also done "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder, we changed that one up a bit, we kind of rock it out, made it heavier as if almost Rage Against The Machine did it.
Zack: Sometimes we'll improvise in the subway, this kind of comes into play where someone will come up with a request and say maybe we know it, on the subway we've done "Sweet Home Alabama" and stuff like that, don't expect to see that in shows too much cause we're getting more original material now and obviously that's what we want to put out, so that's what we want to play.
In your spare time away from making music, what do you guys like to do to pass the time? Any activities or hobbies?
Taylor: I play more music. I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to music, I'm always just playing music or drums or something. In the summertime when the weather starts to get nice like right now, I enjoy going to the beach, I surf, boogie board, skimboard, I spend alot of time there. I also skateboard outside alot. In the winter, I'm kind of a recluse, like to sit and watch movies.
Zack: As for me, I also DJ sometimes around town here. When I'm hanging out with friends or whatever, it's always about Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart, and lots of beer involved because that's what you do with friends. That is my Friday night typically, video games and beer, but I wouldn't have it any other way right now.
What's coming up next for you guys this year, any more new music or live performances to look forward to?
Taylor: We've got a couple performances coming up, we'll be performing May 1st at Radio in Somerville, MA for a Marathon runners benefit. Next one, we'll be playing Church, right now it's scheduled for May 6th, but that's subject to change, check in with us on Facebook about that. And we might be playing Johnny D's on May 14th as well. And then, we're going to take a month break.
Zack: And then we're playing a benefit at the South Shore Music Hall. If you're familiar with Deftones, their old bassist named Chi Cheng, he was in a coma actually for awhile unfortunately, and he recently passed away, and they're doing a benefit and his mother is choosing the charity it goes to. They're doing benefits all around the world, so we're doing that in June. We're always working on new music, cause the way alot of our practices go it's like if someone else is getting ready either Mack will just start playing a beat or two or start playing a riff, we just kind of roll with that for awhile, and "Ok, let's just get this a bit more structured." So we have a couple of songs that we are in the process of finally getting finished and we have about 100 half songs, it's just a matter of putting those pieces together. There's going to be a couple of days where we're going to sit down and take care of them. If we did, we would have 2 albums!
Lastly, what do you guys enjoy the most about performing together?
Taylor: I think it's going to have to go back to the energy. After every show, even if we do a terrible show which we have done in the past where everything goes wrong, I just almost get a high from doing it, I just enjoy it so much. For about an hour, people have to pay attention to you. You're in the spotlight, and I'm not usually the kind of person that is trying to be out in front all the time. (Laughter) But definitely the energy, that would be it.
Zack: With me, it's once again the energy, and also the thing is it's nice to have this group that I know I can trust them completely each show, that they can do their part which gives me the freedom to do whatever I want to without any worry, like I know Taylor knows his part down, I know Mack, I've never had to worry about him, and Adam has always been the same way too. Every show, day in and out they're going to do it right, they're going to play their best and say if something goes wrong with the equipment, sometimes that's out of our hands. But I know what whenever we go to a show, we're the most prepared to give them the best show possible. I know Mack, Taylor, and Adam feel the exact same way.
Thanks once again to Taylor and Zack for being so kind and gracious enough with their time to do this interview out in the glorious weather as you can clearly see from the picture above! They're really humble and funny guys, and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with them in a truly peaceful interview locale. You never know what bands you'll encounter while you're waiting for the subway in Boston, and I'm so glad and honored I stumbled across these gents to catch their performance, even if it was just for a few seconds. For more info on The Relevant Elephants, visit their Facebook page here and follow them on Twitter over here.
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