Press release –
For over a half a decade, Elephants and Stars have occupied a distinctive space in Canadian independent music: literate without pretension, political without sloganeering, and melodic without sacrificing urgency. Across a catalogue of emotionally-charged records and high-energy live performances, they built a rep as one of the country’s most compelling underground rock acts – earning devotion through relentless songwriting, word-of-mouth momentum, and songs that hit both the gut and the conscience.
That evolution reaches a new peak with “Philistine Vulgarity”, their latest full-length album, produced by Ron Hawkins, the legendary frontman of The Lowest of the Low. Hawkins brings sonic clarity and emotional intensity to the project, sharpening the qualities that have always defined this band: passion, confrontation, humanity, and melody. Hawkins also created the album artwork.
The title itself speaks volumes. “Philistine Vulgarity” confronts political violence, alienation, economic anxiety, and emotional exhaustion while refusing to lose sight of empathy, connection, and survival. Echoes of classic punk, heartland rock, post-hardcore, and alternative rock run throughout the record, but the songwriting remains rooted in storytelling and emotional truth rather than genre exercise.
Band founder and frontman Manfred Sittmann has this to say about the record “I loathe pretentious music or anything too precious. These songs are just honest rock songs played with feeling and will never be mistaken for high art and I couldn’t be happier about it”.
ABOUT – Elephants and Stars:
Manfred Sittmann – Vocals, guitar
Adam Seed – Lead guitar
Michael MacMillan – bass
Stewart McKinney – drums
keyboards by: Simon Head
Singer-guitarist Manfred Sittmann and bassist Mike MacMillan have “never not been in a band together”. In the early 2000’s they formed Soap Opera, which was signed to Bullseye Records releasing two albums, Poised and Welcome to the Tangiers. Then came The First Time, whose 2004 debut It’s On, a faster and heavier take on Soap Opera’s pop-punk sound, produced by Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, Matthew Good). It’s On was named Best Punk Record at the 2005 Toronto Independent Music Awards and received rave reviews, as well as mainstream US radio play and TV network licensing for the singles “Goodbye Harlowe” and “New Day Dawning.”
