Thee American Revolution

Proving that the pop-obsessed members of the Elephant 6 collective like to turn up the amps and kick out the jams sometimes, Thee American Revolution are a loud-and-proud rock band led by Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo and Craig Morris of the Ideal Free Distribution and Terrapin Pond. Schneider and Morris are brothers-in-law, and after discovering they had a shared fondness for classic psychedelia and vintage hard rock, they began to collaborate, writing and recording material in the studio Morris had built in his home (primarily using gear he designed himself). Schneider and Morris were soon inviting friends to the studio to work on the songs, and percussionist Otto Helmuth of the Blueberries became a key member of the group's floating lineup, while Bill Doss of the Olivia Tremor Control and John Ferguson of Big Fresh and the Apples in Stereo often appeared with the band in its periodic live performances. The group also has a secret behind-the-scenes contributor, one William Shears, who the band claims is the pseudonym for a British expatriate and once noted figure on the U.K. pop-psych scene who is now serving as the Revolution's mentor, having settled in their hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. (Schneider and Morris refuse to divulge Shears' identity, but have stated for the record he's not Andy Partridge; this presumably means Colin Moulding cannot be ruled out.) Schneider and Morris first began creating material for the group in 2004, and they played occasional live shows and posted a few songs online, but it wasn't until the fall of 2008 that Thee American Revolution finally released physical product, when the album Buddha Electrostorm was issued by Morris' Garden Gate Records.
© Mark Deming /TiVo