Elephant Gun

Elephant Gun formed in London in 1995, with Ben Rowlands on vocals and guitar, Neil Sullivan on bass, and Dave Morgan on drums. They put out three albums: 'Safari' in 1997, 'Lore of the Land' in 2000, and 'Undercard' in 2003. The sound shifted a bit over those records, moving from straightforward heavy guitars to some folk and electronic touches before circling back to something heavier.

A song like 'Cataract' gives a fair sense of what they were doing. It's built on a heavy riff, but Rowlands' vocals carry a kind of haunted, detached quality that keeps it from being just another rock track. The lyrics tend to circle themes of alienation and internal conflict, which suited the music's push-and-pull between weight and melody.

They were active for about eight years, and then stopped. There isn't much dramatic story attached to it in the available notes, just three albums that showed a band working through different approaches to loud, moody rock music.