‘We Move’ band opens first night of Homecoming Week
For most artists, the prospect of change is akin to an unwelcome shadow, darkening the doorstep of creative boundaries and looming heavy over the true path to musical nirvana.
They shy away from it and take off running tail tucked between legs. Elliot Root, on the other hand, greets it like an old friend with a warm embrace and an offer to stick around for a little while longer.
“Our current lineup has come about on a progressive level, and we’ve gone through many different band members to get here,” drummer Sean Truskowski said with a laugh. “But we’ve really strived to find the right elements and the right people who are going to stay dedicated to the project.”
Truth be told, Elliot Root has only been an “official” band for the past year and half. However, several of the band’s members grew up together in Wisconsin, even attending the same high school — albeit some years apart.
Just a few years ago, Truskowski was realigned with now-frontman Scott Krueger through current band member Jake Nelson. Now the boys are fixated in a permanent jam session, taking cues from artists handpicked throughout the earliest decade to the latest.
Members Truskowski, Krueger, Nelson, Eddie Whitelaw, Warren Whitten and Justin Smith are all cut from different cloths of the musical patchwork; they thread and rethread gritty textures served up from indie rock and Americana into soulful vibes and subtly sewn-in electronic rhythms. What’s even more impressive is that the band manages to do all this professional work right from within Elliot Root’s own environment.
“What sets us apart as a band is that we’re self-produced, engineered and we write all of our own songs,” Truskowski said. “We’re able to achieve that mainstream-level sound quality possessed by artists like Coldplay, but everything’s done completely independently.”
It was SGTV Director of Public Affairs and close Root pal Chance Edwards who made the case for the band to take the stage at this year’s Cockfest. After being volleyed between a number of other musicians, Elliot Root was invited to jump on the homecoming bandwagon for the week’s kick-off event Monday.
Their ability to roll up feel-good vibes with catchy, ear-pleasing tunes are sure to draw in fans of Jason Mraz, John Mayer and the slightly more seasoned Fleetwood Mac and Journey. Truskowski said students can expect to get all the “impact” of a pop music setting while still breathing in the natural organics of an improv jam session a la the Dave Matthews Band (or just “Dave” to you die-hard fans). In short, it’s a mainstream music model with a few tattoos.
“We draw from a lot of different areas,” he explained. “So a lot of what you see is going to be mainstream. But it’s always important for us to push our music creation abilities.”
Change and artistic intervention also come into play when Elliot Root hits the studio, in a process that Truskowski jokingly described as “not normal.” Krueger, who possesses a distinct talent for flowing, harmonious lyricism sits at the helm, churning out emotion-based concepts that each member builds upon with innate instinct. Typically, cuts are still in the odds and ends stage until the band starts recording, and it’s not uncommon for them to let a song finish itself in its own sweet time.
Root relies on the equal parts raw creative energy and tailored engineering skills provided by their individual skill sets. It comes as no surprise that the they’ve been shopped around to major labels, but after a name change and move to Nashville, Krueger said they’re still “redoing the groundwork.”
“I think the hardest thing has been that it’s shifted now to where music isn’t all it takes anymore,” he said. “There’s this whole ecosystem of social media and we lost some of that when we changed names and lineup. The energy shifted.”
Having been told by record labels that they needed to take their show out on the road to gain a little more exposure, Krueger said the band has been working hard to do just that. They’ve been touring around the country, meeting new fans and just enjoying the feeling that comes from playing a great live set.
“We had some labels tell us that if we’d come around three years ago, we would have been signed already,” Krueger said. “Right now, we’re just on a fresh start and trying to re-establish ourselves in the music world.”
But the band hasn’t lost hope — they’re living off the feeling.
“It’s really good to be able to do this within an industry that is struggling with sales and whatnot,” added Truskowski. “It’s a great feeling knowing that you’ve got people working in your corner and that we’ve got time to make good music.”