Local band Elephant in the Living Room on stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Photo courtesy of Dave Forrest).

Bay Village, Westlake teens perform at rock hall
By Charles Cassady
Insights
Published Jan. xx, 2007

“Well I don’t care about history/
Rock, rock, rock’n’roll high school/
‘Cause that’s not where I wanna be/
Rock, rock, rock’n’roll high school.”

Those famously defiant lyrics by the Ramones simply don’t apply, sorry, at Bay Village High. This is a learning institution that is especially prominent every year around this time because of the bands and solo artists it sends to the annual High School Rock Offs in Cleveland.

The 11th Annual Mountain Dew MDX High School Rock-Off “Final Exam” heats took place on Saturday. Among the competitors, drawn from approximately 200 high-school rock bands appearing before a judging panel of music-industry professionals, were Elephant in the Living Room. The quartet is made up of three Bay Village juniors - Robert Rossman (guitarist, vocals), Jon Rieke (bass) and Jonathan Miller (drums) joined by Andrew Forrest of Westlake High on guitar.

Their indie-rock sound is influenced by groups such as the Talking Heads, Modest Mouse, the Pixies, Radiohead, the Flaming Lips and the late jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, and their repertoire has been almost always originals. This report card has earned Elephant in the Living Room enrollment in the Rock-Off finals for two consecutive years.

“Last year we were just kind of sophomores,” said Robert Rossman. “We were just getting into the swing of things. We were awkward standing on stage.” Over the past 12 months, he said, Elephant in the Living Room members polished their live presence and audience participation via numerous live gigs at such local clubs like The Phantasy in Lakewood, the Beachland Ballroom, the Grog Shop, the Agora and the now-departed Odeon. This year, the more seasoned Elephant joined 17 other Rock Off finalists over the weekend.

“The nature of this competition - in my mind, it’s we’re competing almost for a business proposition,” said Rossman. “The judges are making an investment in only one band. So we’ve got to put on the most entertaining show possible.”

And although the band did not place Saturday, Forrest said the band was positive about their performance.

“I thought it went very well,” Forrest said.

Rossman, 16, said he had been playing in various bands with Jon Rieke since seventh grade, and they knew the other band members from assorted projects and collaborations. “We all came together in March of 2005 for the Green and White Revue,” he said, referring to the annual Westlake High School talent show. Initially, the four eighth graders performed under the name The Bottlecaps.

“’The Bottlecaps’ didn’t stay because we all thought it was stupid,” said Rossman. “Then it evolved into ‘Karma Combat,’ which we also thought was even more stupid.”

The tag ‘Elephant in the Living Room’ was derived from a lecture in a Bay Village history class about the policy of the Andrew Jackson’s presidential administration toward Native Americans, referring to something too big and obvious to ignore. The name stuck. “I like it a lot, personally. Some people think it’s kind of long. You can’t please everybody,” said Rossman.

More importantly, perhaps, it proves they DO care about history. So much for the Ramones’ philosophy.

Rossman said that the climate at Bay Village High School is different from the stereotypical “Mean Girls” American school, where athletes and cheerleaders rule pitilessly at the top of the social ladder, and band kids are regarded as ‘dorks.’ Instead, as a place that has produced eminent music talent on the local scene such as Kate Voegele, Victor Rasgaitis and Electric Funk Banana, student musicians find themselves well supported by their peers and faculty.

Rossman, in fact, is both a football player for Bay (so is Rieke) in addition to performing in the school symphonic band and singing in the choir. If this were a stereotypical high school of lurid teen-movie fiction, he’d have to chase down and beat himself up every day after class.

Rossman said he plans to major in music and business when he goes to college, while Rieke wants to be an engineer. Graduation may send members of Elephant in the Living Room along divergent paths, but “we’re only juniors this year. There’s still lots and lots of times to see how far we can get,” Rossman said.

Those opportunities include entering the Parma High School Rock-Off this May. You can also find Elephant in the Living Room performing at the Barking Spider on the Case Western-Reserve University campus this Saturday at 8 p.m.; at the new Bay Village cafe Mojo’s, at 600 Dover Center Rd., on Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.; and at the high school itself next weekend, for a Feb. 9 benefit called “Jungle Boogie,” a Project Earth fundraiser.

At their shows you’ll have an opportunity to buy the group’s debut CD of all originals, “We Speak,” released in July 2006. It can also be purchased via CDBaby.com and iTunes.

For more information and updates on the band, check out their online profile at www.myspace.com/ELEPHANTINTHELIVINGROOM.

On The Net:

• High School Rock-Off
• Elephant in the Living Room
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame