Deadboy & The Elephantmen

• Genre: Garage Rock Revival
• Hometown: Houma

About

Deadboy & the Elephantmen are a "new blues" duo who stringently maintain they aren't siblings, married or otherwise involved with one another, and who produce convincingly fuzzy R&B featuring occasional (and wholly unexpected) flashes of early David Bowie. Former death metaller Dax Riggs and New Orleans orphan Tessie Brunet played a one-off gig together in 2004 prior to Brunet returning to New York after a trip to see her adoptive parents in Houma, La. Two years later she found herself on the road promoting debut album We Are Night Sky as support for the Fiery Furnaces. Riggs' musical past includes being part of Louisiana outfit Acid Bath, whose problem-fraught, if successful, time together came to an abrupt end when bassist Audie Pitre was involved in a road accident. Riggs set up Deadboy & the Elephantmen soon afterwards, in 2000, as a vehicle for a fresh interest in guitar and piano -- and, it seems, songwriting with a decidedly dark bent.

- Jamie Dolling