Elephant 6 Crew React to Hearing Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘Aeroplane’ for First Time in Doc Clip
The Elephant 6 crew talk about hearing Neutral Milk Hotel’s landmark In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for the first time in this exclusive clip from the upcoming documentary about the storied indie rock label.
The long-in-the-works The Elephant 6 Recording Co. documentary hits theaters on August 25, telling the story behind the psychedelic collective that featured renowned bands like Apples in Stereo, Of Montreal, Elf Power, Olivia Tremor Control, and Neutral Milk Hotel.
More from Rolling Stone
Bikini Kill, Neutral Milk Hotel, Snail Mail Demand Musicians' Unemployment Benefits
R.E.M., Neutral Milk Hotel Donate Items to Save Iconic Church Steeple
The collective, stationed in their homebase of Athens, Georgia, would often gather at vegetarian potlucks and share the new music they’d been working on. During one of these potlucks, Jeff Mangum and company brought the album they had just recorded in Denver, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
“Within 120 seconds, everything went silent,” Elf Power’s Dave Wrathgabar says in the documentary. Someone suggested that maybe Olivia Tremor Control’s Bill Doss adds some electronics to the album, but that idea was quickly shot down: “This is the record,” Wrathgabar said.
Within years of its 1998 release, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea would be recognized as a cult classic and a high water mark of both indie rock and the Elephant 6’s output. Aeroplane, Neutral Milk Hotel’s second (and, to this day, final) album, ultimately landed on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
The Elephant 6 Recording Co. was directed by C.B. Stockfleth and produced by Lance Bangs, who also provided much of the never-before-seen footage to the documentary. Nearly a decade after the film was in the crowdfunding stage, and following a seldom-seen secretive VHS release, the documentary will finally hit select theaters on August 25.
Best of Rolling Stone
