H+P Redux Residency Week Two: Elim Bolt + ET Anderson

Gritty rockers Elim Bolt opened with Johnnie Matthews III on vocals/guitar, Jess Oliver wailing on drums, Brett Nash on bass, and Joe Chang on guitar and keys. Johnnie began his music career as one of the founding members of Florence's pop-rock group Sequoyah Prep School in the early 2000s and played bass for local indie rock band Company shortly after moving to Charleston. He formulated Elim Bolt in 2011 after realizing his talent for songwriting and debuted Nude South in 2012 under the Hearts & Plugs label. The Dingy, Slimy, Scummy! EP followed a year later in 2013 with the addition of Jess, originally of Columbia-based Can't Kids and People Person, as well as feminist-punk quartet HAUSWERK. "I'm constantly trying to expand and change the sound of the band," Johnnie says about Elim Bolt's progression over the past four years. He acknowledges how important it is to revel in the process of creating an album: "Currently I'm recording our third release and have been experimenting with some different sounds. Some of the tracks I've recorded with Wolfgang Zimmerman [at The Space] and others I've been doing in my home studio. It's been nice to be able to spend all the time I want in the studio and let the songs kind of work themselves out. I'm excited for [the album] to be done, but I'm definitely not rushing [the process]." 

Mr. Bonetangles during his intermission performance

Tyler Morris of ET Anderson

 

 

Mr. Bonetangles entertained the crowd during a brief interlude for the second week in a row, leading into a high-energy performance by ET Anderson, one of the newest additions to Hearts & Plugs. Bespectacled frontman Tyler Morris originally hails as a songwriter and guitarist of Octopus Jones but elected to break away from the band in 2014 to focus on growing his newest endeavor, ET Anderson, with pals Alex McCollum, John Fowler, Bobby Hatfield and Michael Crawford.  Et Tu, ____?, the band's first full-length release, is a collection of chillwave songs with a nod to the psychadelic, similar to the likes of Grizzly Bear and Of Montreal. The themes range from a tone of straight vengeance ("It Don't Even") to unbridled honesty with a touch of vulnerability ("It's Not the Same") to the just plain gnarly ("Acid Earlier"—yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Don't do drugs, kids.) Although slightly bizarre and, at times, tongue in cheek, Morris's form of self-aware eccentricity both in his stage presence and song-writing style is a breath of fresh air in a scene that sometimes takes itself too seriously.