Elizabeth Elmore hasn't exactly followed the regular career arc for an indie-rock musician. After forming the pop-punk band Sarge in 1995, she achieved moderate success, with Sarge being named by Rolling Stone as the Hot New Band of 1998. In 1999, though, Elmore enrolled in the Northwestern Law School and Sarge imploded soon after. Now on a leave of absence from school, Elmore has formed a new band, Reputation, who plays at Club 770 tonight. She discussed her new musical compatriots and other matters with the Cardinal.
The Daily Cardinal: So this is the same band you used on your solo tour last year?
Elizabeth Elmore: Yeah, it is. The first tour that I did with a full band was last spring break, and I grabbed three guys on two or three weeks notice. Two of them, Joel Root who plays bass and Shawn Hewitt who plays guitar, worked really well. Since then, we've been having one drumming nightmare after another ... actually they haven't been nightmares. It's mostly that we've been able to find friends who could help us out for a few months. We've been playing with great drummers but nothing permanent, so it's been kind of wearing on us having to relearn the songs with new people. But except for the drummer position, it's been the three of us for the past year. We were playing under my name because it came together so loose and it seemed temporary at first. When we started to be a band and record a CD, I didn't want to do it under my name because it is a band, not just me.
DC: You worked with Jay Bennett [formerly of Wilco] on the new album. How did that happen?
EE: I've known Jay since I was about 18. He used to live in Champaign, [Ill.], and we got to know each other down there. He actually really liked Sarge a lot. I didn't really listen to Wilco a lot, I just knew him as this really nice guy in town who was friends with friends of mine. We wanted someone to play keyboards at this show at the Double Door and ... Jay offered. That's when we started hanging out more. I've wanted to cover [Elvis Costello's] \Almost Blue"" for probably four years and I asked him a long time ago if we did it, he would record it. So I called a few months ago and said ""I'm holding you to it."" He's easily the most talented musician I've ever personally known and such a nice guy.
DC: With Sarge, you often talked about how you had trouble writing songs. Has this changed at all?
EE: I guess I'm under a little less pressure since I've been in law school. Nobody's expecting me to churn them out. I guess this set of songs, for me, came really quickly. Sarge toured six months a year, which made it hard to find that mental space to go to write. The fact that I got nine songs together in a year and a half is really good for me.
DC: A lot of the stuff I've read about The Reputation is saying that your songwriting has matured. Do you think that's true?
EE: I hope it has. There's a conscious effort in this band to not play all the songs at warp speed. There are rock songs, but there aren't bar-chord, pop-punk songs. I think I've matured in my ability to arrange the production of it. I think there's a lot more going on with some of the songs. Hopefully, I haven't gotten worse.
DC: What inspires you to write?
EE: I tend to write out of frustration. It's kind of selfish and passive-aggressive. A lot of times it is directed at a specific person, which again is pretty passive-aggressive. Like ""if you're not going to listen to me, well fuck you: If I write a song you'll listen to me.""
DC: Have you ever toured while you were in school?
EE: I actually did tour first semester of law school. Sarge did a really quick tour with like seven dates. They were all mainly Midwest dates. They would pick me up from class, we'd drive to the show, drive back and get home somewhere between four and nine in the morning and I'd go straight to class again. We just crisscrossed back and forth because I really wanted to do the tour. I did all my homework in the van. Beyond that, all the touring was during summer and spring break.
DC: Are you planning on being a lawyer when you graduate?
EE: Yeah, I only have a year left. I worked in a law firm all summer.
DC: So when you graduate, you're done with the rock business?
EE: I don't know. I doubt it. Everybody says you have to make a choice, you can't do both, but I'm probably too contrary for my own good. I don't really accept that I can't have them both, because I think I can have anything I want as long as I work hard enough. I have to find that law firm that will hire me six months a year and let me rock the other six months.
DC: Have you been looking to form a band since Sarge broke up, or were you happy to go solo for a while?
EE: You know, I wanted to form a band but I wasn't ready. Right when Sarge broke up, I called a bunch of people I wanted to work with and I'd always cancel right before. It was almost like I dated someone for five years and I wasn't ready to go on another date. I got a lot better at playing solo, but especially at the beginning I really sucked. It was better than not touring at all, though, because touring is what I do when I have free time. So it took a while.
DC: The Reputation album doesn't come out until April. Could you describe your sound so people know what to look forward to tomorrow?
EE: Oh my God. I don't know. We're a rock band playing pop songs with a punk conscience. I think people who like Sarge will like this. You know, Sarge played shows for 15-year-olds and 30-year-olds. I think this is for an older audience. If I'm 25, I'm not sure I want my music to be appreciated most by 16- year-olds. I would kinda like my music to be appreciated by my peers. I'm not 19 any more.
