The Ellis Collective

LIVE @ WOODFORD 2009 - 'MEANS WHAT IT MEANS'

If ‘Bloke Folk’ were a genre – The Ellis Collective would be it. Traditional acoustic sensibilities with contemporary stylings - simple and unpretentious tales of an ordinary Aussie male, masking a broken heart with big talk, a 6-pack and a smoke.

At first listen, your musical compass might point in the vague direction of John Schumann, Paul Kelly or Tim Rogers, but if you simply followed the trail of breakfast beers, black coffee, cigarettes, broken teeth and busted dreams, confessionals, apologies, simple tunes and soft harmonies, you'd find the true north of The Ellis Collective's music.

“heartbreaking intensity... a melancholy that offered glimpse of beautiful despair”
Andrew Galan (Fasterlouder)

The Ellis Collective met by absolute accident through the fateful collision of fortuitous podcasts, impromtu blackboard performances and coincidentally buying beer next to each other at The Phoenix one Monday night. Fate rather than accident perhaps, as you couldn't have organised a better bunch of musicians had you tried...

Their musical pedigree speaks for itself - a formidible group of troubadours whose other musical endeavours have included The Spooky Men’s Chorale, The Fred Smith Band, The Cashews, One Night Jam, Dahahoo, Dubba Rukki, The Von Trolley Quartet, Mr Fibby, The Secret Lunch, The Andi & George Band and Fire On The Hill.

In early 2008 - a short 6 months after their first gig, The Ellis Collective found their way into festival programming, but they have remained as comfortable busking on a street corner as they are on The Grande at Woodford.

“The pick of the festival...Canberra’s own The Ellis Collective. These bloke-folkies take the crown for local talent and top-shelf festival performances... I was blown away”
BMA Magazine (Review of The National Folk Festival)

The Ellis Collective have become festival favourites based solely on word of mouth and the conviction of their live performance - to this point without an album or subsequent airplay. These missing pieces have arrived in 2009 - thanks to generous funding from the government and significant Independant support from the Longhaul Records crew, they are currently bunkered down in Infidel Studios developing their debut album due for release in late 2009. If the reviews of their throw-away demo are anything to go by, it should be a corker.

"The Orange EP is a prime example of the ability to blend sincere folk of with a myriad of styles and musical virtuosity"
Riot Records (The Riot Act)

Save a page in wikipedia - The Ellis Collective is putting 'Bloke-Folk' into the modern musical lexicon.

“The Ellis Collective is probably one of the finest groups to ever come out of Canberra - the cream of Canberra’s acoustic musicians, this is an act that you need to hear to believe.”