Elevator Division

Although born into a musical family, Elevator Division’s James Hoskins didn’t immediately take to the craft. When his father, who’d had a brief recording career in the 1960s, sat him down with the guitar, the son did the proper rock ‘n’ roll thing and resisted. “I thought, ‘This would actually require practice,’” Hoskins jokes and admits that he “grew up with an interest in movies” and felt, even at an early age, that he wanted to pursue a career in visual - not aural - arts.

In fact, the critical moment - the one that placed Hoskins on the path toward Elevator Division - came not from hearing a particular song, but while watching a film - and a surprising one at that. While some might claim that they caught a spark from watching the whimsy in one of the old Beatles movies, witnessing the scope of allowable rock ‘n’ roll excess in Tommy, or being wowed by footage of Hendrix at Woodstock or Monterey, Hoskins admits his inspiration, his light opening in the heavens, came from a distinctly unlikely place – Michael J. Fox’s performance of “Johnny B. Goode” in Back To The Future.

Hoskins offers this treasure of a fact without a hint of irony, then adds, “After watching that movie, I picked up the guitar again. I wanted to be Marty McFly. My dad taught me a few things and I fell in love with music.”

But fate has also heaped on the adversity, most memorably on the disastrous U.S. tour that led to the naming of the 900 Miles of Fucking Hell EP. Where one observer may see more than one band’s fair share of easy breaks in this story, another might see hard work and perseverance.