The Relevant Elephants

The Relevant Elehants consists of Zack Hankins (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Taylor Knox (Lead Guitar/backup vocals), Adam Khalil (bass), and Mack Suhre (Drums). Taylor and Zack started writing songs in January 2011, and had their first gig scheduled in April, realizing they didn't have an actual band set, they burst into Taylor's roommate's (Adam Khalil's) room, and simply said "Adam, do you own a bass? You do? Great you're in the band." and shut the door. However the first gig in April got canceled and Taylor, Zack, and Adam resumed writing songs in Fall 2011 and played their first gig in Medford, MA with a friend (Elton Charles) filling in on drums.

Still nameless, the three got free tickets to "The Colbert Report in New York City. Before the show, Stephen Colbert was taking questions from the crowd, still desperate for a band name they raised their hands and simply asked "Do you have any good ideas for a band name?" Without skipping a second Stephen Colbert replied "The Relevant Elephants", and that was the end of that, he named them. January 2012 they resumed playing shows, still with random drummers filling in, it wasn't until February of 2012 they finally came across Mack Suhre, an insanely talented drummer from Chicago, who joined The Relevant Elephants.

Other than the shows, The Relevant Elephants like to build up their fan base through busking (street performing). They can be found on the red line at the Park Street Station in downtown Boston almost every weekend. Or as they like to call it, the Park Street Theatre.
There is no set writing style for the band, each member is always open to new ideas, so they don't like to limit themselves to one genre. If anybody asks, the simple response is "rock" because if you listen there is a big difference in style between songs like "Hot Air Balloon" and "Devil on my Shoulder". They still have the band's flavor, but one is clearly different than the other, and that's the way they like to keep things interesting and fun.

Zack Hankins comes from Dearborn Heights, MI, a town just outside of Detroit and was bouncing around with different bands there until he moved to Boston in August of 2009, and once again tried writing songs with other people until he started working with Taylor in January of 2011.

Taylor Knox comes from Bethany Beach, DE, a very small town in Delaware and has had much experience playing in bands, especially over the summer on the beach playing gigs almost every night until he moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music.

Adam Khalil comes from Pittsburgh, PA, and originally moved to Boston to study guitar as his primary instrument at Berklee College of Music, but plays bass in the band.

Mack Suhre comes from just outside Chicago, IL, and has been studying at Berklee as well. He's worked with several musicians in the past and has been playing gigs for a couple of years.

Coming from 4 very different cities and coming together in Boston, this is where The Relevant Elephants plan to stay for the future.

By the grace of Sir Stephen Colbert, the band's goal is to make it back to the Colbert Report as his musical guests, of course. The Relevant Elephants have also played live on WTBU radio back in May of 2012, and have done several live radio sessions around Boston. On December 1st, The Relevant Elephants won a battle of the bands at The Palladium in Worcester, beating out 45 other New England bands. For the future, improved recordings are scheduled as well as bigger, better shows to keep getting the music out to people.