OWEN THOMAS never expected the excitement that erupted when he and his bandmates from The Elms announced they were getting back together one more time.
“Yeah, that was really humbling,” Thomas tells Indianapolis Monthly. “It just seemed like a good time to celebrate the work that we did together and jump up on stage one more time and have a laugh. It was really about doing this show to celebrate this thing.”
“This thing” is The Elms 25: A Celebration of 25 Years—back-to-back shows coming September 20 and 21 to the Hi-Fi.
Originally only scheduled for one night, the reunion—which quickly sold out—garnered such massive support that the band decided to add a second show, with indie rocker Frank opening the first night and Britain’s The Molotovs opening the second. “People are coming from all over the world to be there with us,” Thomas explains. “And so, we plan on playing lots of music for them and then spending lots of time with them. It’s going to be a night of a lot of little triumphs in a lot of different ways.”
The triumphs are many for The Elms, who originally formed in 2000. But perhaps the most important one has been the enduring friendship between the bandmates.
“The friendships are, to me, the most special part about our band,” says Thomas. “In a lot of the purest ways that a rock band can come together, we did that, and we’re really proud of that. It took us to some really special places.”
The Elms’ career saw plenty of traditional successes as well, with national and international tours, a top 20 spot on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, and critically-acclaimed releases in 2006’s The Chess Hotel and 2009’s The Great American Midrange.
“The amazing thing about music culture today is that there are people still discovering our band even 15 years after we formally ended it,” says Thomas of the band’s continued popularity. “There’s plenty there for people to dig into—four albums that we’re really proud of. We’re just very honored that people let this music keep them company.”
While the music and friendships remain, the guys’ lives have been busy since they disbanded in 2010. Thomas founded Indy-based creative agency and artist management label Absorb., while the others, Thomas’ brother and drummer Christopher, guitarist Thomas Daugherty, and bassist Nathan Bennett, went down other paths—though all of them still show up on tracks by artists on Thomas’ label.
“The other three guys in the band have kids now, and their kids never got a chance to see their dads do what they used to do,” says Thomas quietly. “So we are going to line the kids up on the side of the stage, so that they can see what their dads spent all that time running around the world doing.”
Along with the 25th anniversary reunion, their first official performance together in a decade, the magic for The Elms has materialized again in additional ways. This past summer, they put out a timely new single, “What a Time to Be Alive.”
“I always thought it felt like a song that was meant for the rock and roll treatment,” says Thomas, who wrote it back in 2020. “I thought I would put it in my pocket and at some point, if we ever record again, that it’d be a good one to start with.”
While the first show is sold out, you can still catch The Elms on September 21 at the Hi-Fi.
