Elephant and Castle

### Members

Original: Kenny Auerbach, Reuben McLeodLater additions: Arlene Harlow, Jason Jones

Elephant and Castle were an American Folk Rock/Folk Psych band originally formed in 1965 by Screw Kathy Records as a combination of two of the label's less commerically successful solo artists, Kenneth 'Kenny' Auerbach and Reuben McLeod. They released two albums as a duo, Elephant and Castle (1966) and Early Mourning Light (1967), before recruiting Arlene Harlow (bass guitar) and Jason Jones (drums) to form a four-piece band. The group released two more albums, Desert Highland (1969) and Did You See That? Up There? (1971) before amicably disbanding in 1972 to pursue other interests and careers, with Harlow going on to form another Screw Kathy outfit, The Lilliput Footsoldiers. A renewed interest in the band in the early 90s led to a series of remastered releases of their albums and a subsequent North American reunion tour, before the band returned to permanent retirement. A compilation of early demos and takes from the Auerbach/McLeod early years, titled *Elephants One and Two,* was released in 1999 to critical acclaim.

## History

### Formation

Auerbach was a solo artist and session musician prior to Elephant and Castle's formation, and had been affiliated with Screw Kathy Records since their inception: one of the co-founders of the company, Lucas Albright, was a childhood friend. Auerbach has acknowledged that this was "probably how [he] stayed on the label for so long even though [he] wasn't making a single cent in profit. At least not from record sales anyway." This mix of personal connection and commercial failure was what finally led to the creation of Elephant and Castle – Albright, not wanting to outright kick his friend from the label, proposed the formation of a duo, combining Auerbach's songwriting and guitar playing with the vocals of another Screw Kathy small-timer, Reuben McLeod. McLeod had joined the label as an assistant in its early days, before being allowed to perform backup vocals on a number of tracks. He had one minor hit as a solo artist; 1965's *Bring Yourself Along,* which was written by Auerbach himself. This success was what gave Albright the idea to combine the two as a permenant fixture. The band's name came from McLeod's year living in London, England, where he rented a room a short walk from the Elephant and Castle tube stop.

### 1965–1967: Early years

McLeod and Auerbach were initially not pleased to be working together, and both have said that the early days of the duo were not especially productive or even amicable. They knew, however, that it was most likely their last chance to make something work at SK before needing to move on elsewhere, and so a few months into working together they began to try in earnest to write some material, eventually resulting in their debut self-titled album in late November, 1965. Despite mixed reviews on the album's coherency, it managed to pull in some much needed revenue for the pair, even without a stand-out single. This resulted in a small tour of Southern California in the spring of 1966, alongside some supporting gigs for bigger local bands. The pair have stated that this is when they began to properly bond as musicians and as friends. One write-up from this time stated that their sound was 'nothing too different from the wider scene," but that there was a "definite sense of bigger things to come, plus a sweetness and a vulnerability not typically seen in a male double-act."

Their status somewhat renewed within the company and on surer footing as a duo, they quickly began work on their second album, 1967's *Early Mourning Light*, which featured the hit single *Turquoise*, written by Auerbach. In a Mojo interview in 1999, the song was revealed to have been inspired by Auerbach and McLeod's burgeoning relationship at the time. The single reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100, a position it held for three weeks. The pair embarked on a larger tour in the wake of the album's release, visiting several major US cities in the winter of 1967. This included their famous November 16th NYC show, where McLeod publicly fought with Art Garfunkel when, after the singer was spotted in the crowd, fans tried to convince him to take the stage and sing a Simon & Garfunkel number. According to Garfunkel, McLeod apologised for the outburst privately, and the two remain on civil terms. The album brought them additional notice within the LA music scene and solidified them as a fixture in the Screw Kathy artist roster.

### 1968–1971: Peak and later years

After completing their tour in February of 1968, McLeod and Auerbach moved into an apartment together on LA's Fairfax Avenue, close to recording studios on Sunset Boulevard. Here they began formulating the next steps for the band, which involved expanding their sound outwards from the acoustic one-guitar-and-vocals set-up which, by that point, had fallen away somewhat in favour of folk rock. They also wanted to rely less on session musicians, Through enquiring with aquaintances, putting out open calls, auditioning existing session musicians at SK Records and even through handing out flyers, many of which McLeod simply threw from their apartment window to the street below, they found Arlene Harlow and Jason Jones; Harlow, an LA native and accomplished local musician, was brought in as bassist for the newly expanded outfit, and Jones, originally from St Louis, became their drummer.

Throughout the summer of 1968, the band practiced constantly to perfect their sound and record Auerbach's newest compositions, along with a few of Harlow's which, in Auerbach's words, "were like a breath of fresh air" after writing alone for so long. The resulting album, *Desert Highland,* was a resounding success in terms of developemnt and creativity, and its release at the beginning of 1969 would mark the high-point of the band's fame and critical acclaim. "Desert Highland," one outlet wrote, "is a masterclass in experimentation and cohesion – the addition of Harlow and Jones has built upon the solid foundation laid by Auerbach and McLeod, bringing Elephant and Castle truly into the 'new sound' defining the LA scene." The record sold just over two million copies, making it their best-selling release to-date. In the aftermath of this sucess the band undertook their first tour as a quartet, accompanied by various SK session musicians to aid with performing songs in which Auerbach had overdubbed his own piano playing as well as various extra instrumentation. The tour covered all of North America and several cities in the UK, including a visit to McLeod's hometown of Glasgow where they played to a sold-out crowd at Kelvingrove Bandstand, the city's famous, and oldest, outdoor ampitheatre.

fpurth album here

## Auerbach and McLeod

In 1997 in an interview with Mojo Magazine, McLeod confirmed rumours that he and Auerbach were in a relationship, revealing that the pair had been a couple since late 1968, a year after they had first moved in together in LA. The few scant rumours at the time were quashed by their label, Screw Kathy Records, and once the band fell thoroughly out of the spotlight in the mid 70s McLeod and Auerbach left the industry and were rarely heard from until a highly anticipated reunion tour in the early 90s, which renewed interest in the rumours of a relationship within the band — though with fans searching in the wrong place this time. “It’s funny,” McLeod said, “and we can laugh about it now, but at the time it was almost distressing for Kenny."

> "The fans all started asking if I was with Arlene because she came up and licked my face on stage one night as a joke. I don’t even remember what show it was now. […] He’s a bit of a jealous guy, Kenny, in a sweet way, though, don’t get me wrong, and it wasn’t so much that she’d licked me as much as it was that the crowd then assumed it meant I was with her! Took a while for that rumour to die down, but me and Arlene got a great laugh out of it.”
>
>

After the tour ended and the band returned to their retirement, rumours again died down. The Mojo interview came as a companion piece to a recently released compilation album of early takes and demos from Elephant and Castles early days, *Elephants One and Two,* and both Auerbach and Reuben spoke at length about the formation of the band and their relationship through the years. Regarding their romance, Auerbach, a typically reserved man, stated that McLeod was the "love of his life," and had been since "the year after [he] met him, since he was f\*cking annoying at first." The two were praised by various LGBT rights organisations for the interview, and for helping to "dispell pervasive notions of toxic heteromasculinity within music history," something which the two were reluctant to take credit for. There have been no more interviews or public appearances since, but it is known that the pair now live together just outside of Big Sur, California.