Great Lakes (band)

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The group started as a songwriting partnership btw Dan Donahue and Ben Crum & officially formed as a band with James Huggins III as a song writing trio in 1996. Crum, Donahue, & Huggins are the 3 founding members who formed a live band to tour & record with in Athens, Ga. The original line-up included bassist/vocalist Craig Ceravolo and was temporarily billed under the name "Cherry Valence" (Birmingham, Al). While all 3 collaborated on songwriting (often aligning individual pieces into one full song) the group effort produced a sound greater than the sum of its parts with Ben Crum handling most lead vocals, guitars, bass & piano, James Huggins on drums, various keyboards/synths, harmony vocals, & a variety of 'other sounds' while Dan Donahue operated as the lyricist, art director, & conceptual center of the group also adding many psychedelic soundscapes & other 'effects' to the tracks. After officially relocating to Athens, Ga., the first 2 albums and international tours saw the group swell to around a dozen or more live & recording members. Their lineup has at times included (Dottie Alexander, Bryan Poole, Kevin Barnes, Derek Almstead, & James Huggins) from Of Montreal, members of Elf Power (Andrew Rieger, BP Helium), The Essex Green & Ladybug Transistor, with major studio & live contributions from Heather MacIntosh {cello}, and Scott Spillane {horns} Neutral Milk Hotel.

Great Lakes released their self-titled debut album in 2000 on Kindercore Records and a 7" single on Happy Happy Birthday to Me. The debut LP included a psychedelic "3-D" cut-out mobile meant to sit atop the vinyl record & spin as it's played (designed by Donahue with Chris Bilheimer)...[(*notably, all of the group's art design and album sleeves were done by Donahue (except 2010's 'Ways of Escape')]. Dan Donahue has also designed art/album covers/video for the bands MGMT, Pavement, Belle and Sebastian and R.E.M. The Great Lakes song "Vrgl" (the only solo Huggins vocal) was featured on the CMJ magazine CD included in the publication's national circulation in 2000. After releasing a number of singles, including a split 7" with Elf Power, they released their second album, The Distance Between, on Orange Twin in 2002. Their sophomore effort was conceived, recorded, and mixed by all 3 Crum, Donahue, & Huggins in the Athens, Ga. home studio engineered & recorded by Crum. The Distance Between was selected as one of the top ten overlooked albums of that year by Magnet Magazine, which noted the bands' ability to "spew out a fuzz-laced garage assault" and complimented their "knack for fusing melancholy with feats of ballroom levitation." The extended live band toured extensively in Europe at the time focusing on Scandinavia & the UK for several months. A highlight stateside found them supporting Belle & Sebastian to a sold out crowd at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Ga. Around this time, both Crum and Donahue relocated to Brooklyn, NY & continued writing while Huggins continued to tour with the band 'of Montreal' while remaining a recording & arranging core contributor to the band. Their third album, Diamond Times, came out in 2006 on Empyrean Records. "Diamond Times" is the last recording of the original members of Great Lakes and the past members of the live/recording band ensemble with numerous contributions from other musicians overdubbed in NYC under Cum's direction after the initial 'live' band tracking with Huggins, Donahue, Alexander, Barnes, & Poole in Athens, Ga. 2005-06 recorded by Jason Nesmith. With their 3rd LP, Diamond Times, the band's sound evolved into what Uncut magazine called "powerful, accomplished pop music", and "utterly great". Some time after, Crum temporarily joined the band 'Ladygug Transistor' as a touring/recording member & co-wrote some of their material at the time. Donahue has contributed lyrics to several other bands including Of Montreal's "City Bird", Elf Powers "The Taking Under", & Bear In Heaven's "Space Remains". From 2008 the live band has seen numerous rotations in line-up & often performing as a solo act for Crum in and around Brooklyn, NY. The fourth album "Ways of Escape" [2010] is the first release in the Great Lakes catalogue to feature Crum as sole songwriter and band member. Donahue & Huggins are both releasing new material currently with various groups & their principle songwriting outlets, Dream Boat & James Husband respectively. Since 2010, the band has become a solo recording project for Crum, who continues to write & perform under the name GREAT LAKES. Discography[edit]

Discography

Albums

Great Lakes (CD/LP) - Kindercore/Track & Field Organisation - 2000
The Distance Between (CD) - Orange Twin/Track & Field Organisation - 2002
Diamond Times (CD) - Empyrean/Track & Field Organisation - 2006
Ways of Escape (CD) - Orange Twin - 2010

Singles and EPs

"Happy Happy Birthday to Me singles club: March" (7") - HHBTM - 1999
"Kindercore singles club: May" (split single with Elf Power) (7") - Kindercore - 2000
"Come Storming" (CD) - La Suprette - 2001
"Sister City" (7") - Hype City - 2001
"A Little Touched" (7") - Track & Field Organisation - 2002

v t e The Elephant 6 Recording Company

Members of the collective	Bill Doss Jeff Mangum Robert Schneider Will Cullen Hart Hilarie Sidney Laura Carter John Hill Jeremy Barnes Jill Carnes David Barnes Kevin Barnes Eric Harris Peter Erchick Julian Koster Derek Almstead Scott Spillane John Fernandes Bryan Poole Lisa Janssen

Bands in the collective	The Apples in Stereo Beulah Black Swan Network Chocolate USA Circulatory System Dixie Blood Moustache Dressy Bessy Elf Power The Essex Green Frosted Ambassador The Gerbils The High Water Marks The Ladybug Transistor Major Organ and the Adding Machine Marbles The Minders The Music Tapes Neutral Milk Hotel of Montreal The Olivia Tremor Control Orchestre Fantastique Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't Secret Square The Sunshine Fix Ulysses Von Hemmling

Other notable bands and side projects	Thee American Revolution Bablicon Casper & the Cookies Echo Orbiter Fablefactory Great Lakes A Hawk and a Hacksaw Icy Demons The Instruments Kingsauce The Late B.P. Helium M Coast Marta Tennae Calvin, Don't Jump! Midget and Hairs My First Keyboard Synthetic Flying Machine Thimble Circus Visitations The Diminisher Eyes and Arms of Smoke Perry Weissman 3

Projects subsequent to the E6 disbandment	The New Sound of Numbers Guignol Ham1 Lorkakar Folklore Supercluster Andy From Denver James Husband The Observatory Faster Circuits Nana Grizol Nesey Gallons Madeline

Related articles	Pet Sounds Studio Orange Twin Records HHBTM Records

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