Digital images of of Montreal by Kurt Swanson and Soulful Impressions
E-mail: kurtswanson@juno.com

Of Montreal is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontman Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance with a woman "of Montreal." The band is one of the bands of the Elephant 6 collective. Throughout its existence, of Montreal's musical style has evolved from vaudeville and Beatles influenced psychedelic twee pop to a mixture of electronica, funk, glam, and afrobeat music influenced by Prince and David Bowie.

Kevin Barnes founded Of Montreal, allegedly naming it for a failed romance with a woman from Montreal, Québec.[1] Barnes was the only member of the "group" prior to his relocation to Athens, Georgia. There, he met Derek Almstead (Circulatory System, M Coast, Elf Power) and Bryan Poole, who also performs as The Late B.P. Helium. Together, they recorded their debut album, Cherry Peel, and subsequent releases The Bird Who Ate the Rabbit's Flower and The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy.

After production on The Gay Parade, the band's third album, began in 1998, Poole left the band to focus on his duties with Elf Power, another Elephant Six band.[1] Barnes then recruited James Husband and Dottie Alexander, who had been performing together as Lightning Bug vs. Firefly.[2] Derek moved from drums to bass, and Marshmallow Coast's Andy Gonzales joined soon after. Prior to the release of The Gay Parade in 1999, of Montreal released a number of singles and a re-release of The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower.
of Montreal website: http://www.ofmontreal.net/

Kevin Barnes
Bryan Poole
Davey Pierce
Dottie Alexander
Clayton Rychlik
Thayer Sarrano
Nicolas Dobbratz
K Ishibashi