The Olivia Tremor Control
The Olivia Tremor Control originated in Louisiana around 1988 as the trio of Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Jeff Mangum. They ended up in Athens, Georgia around 1992 and recorded the "California Demise" EP which they released themselves on seven-inch vinyl.
After a while Jeff Mangum left to focus on his band Neutral Milk Hotel, and another Louisiana native, John Fernandes joined the group to play bass, clarinet, and violin, and they recorded the prelude to their first album called "The Giant Day" EP.
Soon the band convinced Eric Harris, who had played with Bill in Chocolate USA, to move to Athens to join the band as drummer, thereminist, electronics expert and recording engineer. In 1996, their debut double album "Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle" was assembled in the Denver-based studio of childhood friend Robert Schneider.
After it's release, Peter Erchick, who had grown up with Eric in New Jersey, joined the group to play organ and piano, and they exhaustively toured North America and Europe opening for the Super Furry Animals, Beck, Stereolab, R.E.M. and Derek Bailey, as well as many tours with Elephant 6 comrades Neutral Milk Hotel, the Music Tapes, the Apples, Elf Power, etc.
Following the tours for their 1999 album "Black Foliage: Animation Music", the band went on hiatus with members concentrating on various solo projects. Bill Doss formed The Sunshine Fix, Will Hart formed the Circulatory System, Peter Erchick formed Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't, and Eric Harris briefly joined Elf Power & the Late BP Helium. John Fernandes joined Circulatory System and started the record label Cloud Recordings which released records by Circulatory System, A Hawk and A Hacksaw (Jeremy Barnes from Bablicon and Neutral Milk Hotel), Icy Demons (Griffin Rodriguez from Bablicon with Chris Powell from Need New Body), as well as reissuing all The Olivia Tremor Control albums.
Artists own bio.
