Ella Riot - Career

Career

Ella Riot, originally called My Dear Disco, evolved from founding member Tyler Duncan's 2005 instrumental endeavor, Toolbox. Duncan who plays bagpipe, with percussionist Aaron Gold, guitarist Theo Katzman, and bassist Christian Carpenter, all undergraduate students at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, developed experimental tracks using Irish bagpipe as the lead instrument and a laptop to mix bass music and techno drum beats. Later guitarist Robert "DJ Body-Rock" Lester and keyboardist Joey Dosik joined the group. Michelle Chamuel, a classmate of Duncan, recorded a track with Lester independent of the Toolbox project. The band was impressed with her vocals and asked her to join. My Dear Disco was officially founded with her inclusion in 2007.

The line-up changed when Mike Shea took over for Gold on drums. Duncan switched from bagpipe to synthesizer, but occasionally played bagpipe during live performances. The band members' area of study at the University of Michigan ranged from classical drum to jazz to performance and technology.

Named one of the most promising bands in the nation by the American Eagle New Music Union, My Dear Disco was invited to perform at the 2008 A.E. Music Festival hosted by Anthony Kiedis. In the summer of 2008, the band performed at BlissFest, Hoxeyville, Dunegrass, Feel Good Festival, and Jazz Aspen Snowmass.

The band’s debut album, DanceThink LP, was produced by Grammy-nominated Mark Saunders, and released in January 2009. The newly released techno-pop tracks earned the band a spot on the rosters of 2009 Wakarusa Festival, 10,000 Lakes Festival and South by Southwest, where they performed alongside Dave Matthews Band, Wilco, Galactic, and Widespread Panic, among others. In 2009 the band performed live in over 150 occasions.

In September 2009 Dosik left the band and relocated to California. Soon after bassist Christian Carpenter and guitarist Theo Katzman both left to pursue solo careers. Joe Dart filled in for Carpenter and played bass on the 2011 Love Child LP. After Dart's departure from the group, in 2011 Matt Henninger became the next bass player.

As of July 2010 the band had performed live in over 250 occasions in a two year period. In August 2010 the band performed at the Lollapalooza music festival. In December 2010, the band completed work on their second album. It was engineered by Oliver Strauss and recorded at Mission Sound studio in New York.

In March 2011, My Dear Disco changed its name to Ella Riot, citing legal reasons. The new name was meant to be a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, and a tribute to the goals of the band: "In Greek, Ella means 'bright light' or 'torch.' Then riot: a crowd, a revolution, chaos, a party, or something hilarious. Add this all up and you get an elegant, rebellious, brightly shining torch, moving with crowds of people, spinning out of control, ending in hilarious party chaos." Shortly after the name change, the new album Love Child LP was released in March of 2011.

In September 2011, the band announced the decision to put Ella Riot on an indefinite hiatus. Since then, three of the band members, Duncan, Lester and Chamuel have continued to make music as independent artists.