Elbow Beach Surf Club was an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band from

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada.

History

The band was formed by Michelle Doucette, Lindsay Roe, and Kevin Barnhorst in the summer of 2006, following several jam sessions Roe and Barnhorst had held in the backyard of the "Grange House"; at that time the place of operation for

's Burnt Oak Records. Fueled by the musical activity around them, the band finalized its roster by the end of the summer and began playing shows, with Doucette departing the group to pursue other projects, and Kirsten Palm, Brad McInerney, and Dave Bazinet entering into the fold. Elbow Beach's initial performances were well-received, and witnessed the group's tacit blending of both surf and

. Enthused by this success, the group released its first self-titled EP ''Elbow Beach Surf Club'' 14 February 2007 on Burnt Oak Records. On this release, Helen Spitzer of

Eye Weekly ''Eye Weekly'' was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the ''Toronto Star'', and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The followin ...

and

Brave New Waves ''Brave New Waves'' was a Canadian radio program which aired on CBC Stereo, later known as CBC Radio 2, from 1984 to 2007. Airing overnight five nights a week, the show profiled alternative and indie music and culture, including film, comics, ...

stated: :''...This debut EP rushes forth under the momentum of the three opening tracks: the red-hot economy of opening salvo "Surf Theme"; the sweet melodicism of "The Letter" (folding the tartness of

SS Cardiacs SS Cardiacs was a Canadian indie rock band, briefly active in the early 2000s.Sarah Liss"Cardiacs Attack" ''Now'', May 26, 2005. It consisted of Jessie Stein on vocals and guitar, Andy Lloyd on bass and Dana Snell on drums. History SS Cardiacs ...

into Republic of Safety's crunchy centre); and the sweet, skronky sax on "The Waltz" that might remind certain old-timers of '80s Can-rockers Condition. The ground EBSC cover on the remaining 10 minutes shows they're no one-trick pony, though you can't help but hope they'll kick out a few more short, sharp and instantly gratifying hooks. Instead, you make do with the group channelling

J. Geils Band J, or j, is the tenth letter of the English alphabet. J may also refer to: * Palatal approximant in the International Phonetic Alphabet * J, Cyrillic letter Je Astronomy * J, a provisional designation prefix for some objects discovered be ...

's " Freeze Frame" and make your own plans for the beach. A quick and tasty morsel that more than proves they have the necessary chops. ''Review of Elbow Beach Surf Club EP by ''Eye Weekly''. Retrieved 21 February 2007 Following the release of ''Surf Club'', Elbow Beach played a handful of shows in support of it, earning them broader exposure than they had previously enjoyed, and culminating in a performance at

Pop Montreal POP Montreal is an annual List of music festivals, music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 bands are scheduled to play in more than 50 ve ...

alongside their Burnt Oak labelmates. Their sound also began to diversify as a seeming result of their improved chemistry, taking on a more visceral and experimental quality, and embracing previously unexplored musical genres. This was acknowledged in Sarah Liss' November review of their 29 October 2007 Burnt Oak Records follow-up EP ''Billy Club'': :''Don't be thrown off by their far-out Sex-Wax-a-delic name, or by the snarly tangle of echoing reverb guitars that ride the wave of the Billy Club EP's lead track "Turf Dream"—Guelph's Elbow Beach Surf Club are definitely not the

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a Region, primary region of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada, with approximately 13.5 million people, approximately 36% o ...

answer to

The Surfaris The Surfaris are an American surf music band formed in Glendora, California, in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the record chart, charts in the Los Angeles area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" and "Wipe Out (instrume ...

, or even

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

. Rather, the energetic collective take a handful of standard genres that could fall under the indie-rock umbrella—

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

math-rock Math rock is a style of alternative and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatur ...

, garage-pop—and devote themselves to experimenting with style and texture, adding layers of scratchy distortion to muted femme vocals, burying subtle sax (courtesy of satellite Republic of Safety member Martin Eckart) at the bottom of the mix and smashing together contrasting guitar tones. The songs here occasionally threaten to blow apart at their seams; not coincidentally, some of ''Billy Clubs best moments come when the group comes together in choral harmonies, as on "No Volume" and "The Nest"''.Review of Billy Club EP
by ''Eye Weekly''. Retrieved 21 February 2007 In September 2008, after a lengthy hiatus due to an injury incurred by drummer Dave Bazinet, Elbow Beach Surf Club broke up. Following the band's dissolution, several of EBSC's former members discussed publicly the possibility of reuniting as "Billy Club", a new group named after the

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

album and reprising the band's final line-up minus Roe; however, this did not happen.

Members

Former members of the band include: *Lindsay Roe –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*Kevin Barnhorst –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, vocals *Kirsten Palm – keyboards,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Brad McInerney – bass, guitar, backing vocals *Dave Bazinet –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, backing vocals *Michelle Doucette –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Discography

EPs

*''Elbow Beach Surf Club'' (2007) *''Billy Club'' (2007)

References

External links

Elbow Beach Surf Club
on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Elbow Beach Surf Club
on

Hype Machine Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin. History Hype Machine was originally a music database created in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin, then a sophomore computer science major at Hunter College.Heilemann, JohCapturing the ...

Elbow Beach Surf Club
on ''i (heart) music''

on ''publicbroadcasting.ca''
Review of Elbow Beach Surf Club EP
by

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

Magazine
Review of Billy Club EP
by Exclaim! Magazine
Interview with Brad McInerney about EBSC
by ''Wave Length Music Series''
Interview with Lindsay Roe and Kirsten Palm about EBSC
by

The Cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elbow Beach Surf Club Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Canadian indie rock groups Canadian surf music groups Musical groups from Guelph 2006 establishments in Ontario 2008 disestablishments in Ontario

History

Members

Discography

EPs

See also

References

External links