Phil Elvrum

Phil has used his green Burns Double 6 frequently live since the transition from "The Microphones" to "Mount Eerie".

Based on this video, this is a 1940's Kay Archtop.

Phil can be seen in this photo using a Gibson SG.

In 1999 my great uncle Bill Lowman was dying and my family was gathered around at his house in Anacortes, Washington. He knew I was a musician so he wanted to pass on some of his instruments and amplifiers. His house was full of amazing an peculiar things and he was a total “character”, not enough space here to really get into it. I don’t think he knew that this Chamberlin was as rare or as historically significant as it is, and I don’t know how he came to possess it. He was an amateur musician (piano and violin), but mostly he was a commercial fisherman. At that time I was 21 years old and living in Olympia, Washington and recording music as “the Microphones” for the K label at their Dub Narcotic Studio. This Chamberlin Rhythmate came with me and became a part of the studio. For years we gave the machine the nickname “Karl Blau” (and it’s credited on Microphones albums that way, in quotes) because my real human friend Karl was supposed to be the drummer for a show, opening for Stereolab in Vancouver, but had to bail at the last minute, so we used the Chamberlin and called it Karl Blau. Pointless digression... this machine has been used on countless albums recorded at Dub Narcotic in Olympia (Microphones, Mirah, Mount Eerie, the Blow, etc.) and also at the Unknown in Anacortes from the early 2000s on. I even took it on tour with me once, a solo “Microphones” tour. While getting it adjusted at a guitar shop in Santa Cruz, the tech knew what it was, made some phone calls, and offered to buy it from me for “Neil Young’s studio”. Apparently he’d been looking for one. I said no thanks because I was in the middle of a tour and needed it.