This afternoon, the University Philosophical Society (the Phil) welcomed British rock band Elbow to award them the gold medal of honorary patronage. Hailing from Ramsbottom in Bury, England, Elbow comprises of lead vocalist Guy Garvey, bassist Pete Turner and brothers Mark and Craig Potter who play guitar and keys respectively. The guys formed and have being playing together since 1990, adopting the name Elbow in 1997.
With over 20 years experience together, the band boasts an impressive repertoire, having released seven studio albums from 2001’s Asleep in the Back to 2017’s Little Fictions, all of which have garnered both critical and commercial success. Notably, 2008’s The Seldom Seen Kid took home the revered Mercury award for album of the year. Furthermore, the band have received multiple accolades including Brit and Ivor Novello awards, composed the theme for BBC’s coverage of the 2012 London Summer Olympics and have toured extensively, being a staple on the festival scene. With these achievements, Elbow have truly consolidated their role in British Rock since the new millennium.
With the event beginning at 1pm, the Graduate Memorial Building (GMB) was alight with enthusiasm for the band’s arrival. After being welcomed in by the President of the Phil, Matthew Nuding, the event centred on a short and lighthearted but personal discussion regarding the band’s accomplishments and insights so far. Garvey in particular, was keen to give insight about the band’s humble genesis. Reflecting on their initial artistic vision, he humorously quipped: “I think we started trying to do what we do now, it just wasn’t very good.” It was clear the band’s humility is well intact, and despite the gravity of their success they were still quick to acknowledge that everybody starts somewhere.
On that note, Garvey also briefly pondered the current state of the music industry in comparison to the time when Elbow were first emerging. He was critical, on the whole, of the industry’s monopoly on the visibility of creative content from new artists, proposing, somewhat wittily, a tax exemption scheme for emerging artists. Despite his criticisms, he remained adamant that despite the drawbacks of the digital age and its consequences for the music industry at large, new platforms such as streaming services can still be considered a good, at least in terms of accessibility: “Ultimately, you want your music heard.”
Throughout the discussion, the band also shared what they considered to be some of their greatest personal achievements. These ranged from playing the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, an experience described affectionately as “absolutely fucking mental”, to recanting tales of landmark Glastonbury performances and finding out their track “Switching Off” was included in Velvet Underground legend John Cale’s Desert Island Discs curation. Considering the excited delivery of these anecdotes, it was more than apparent that nothing of their success had been taken for granted, making them all the more endearing.
Garvey also extended his compliments to Elbow’s Dublin audience, to whom they had played a sold out gig the previous evening, playfully adding that the drinking culture here “suits us down to the ground”. On a slightly more serious note, he commended the Irish education system’s focus on music within its curriculum, expressing a desire to import that model commenting it’s “something we’d love to help with at home”.
Elbow’s passion for the promotion of music in its truest form and impressive musical contributions over nearly two decades make them more than worthy recipients of the Phil’s gold medal of honorary patronage. Elbow kicked off their latest tour with sold out dates in Dublin’s Olympia for last night and this evening. However, if you missed out on tickets this time around, they will playing the Marquee in Cork on June 21st this coming summer.
