Elka Park is the musical brainchild of film auteur Tom Krueger, who’s worked with a wide range of artists such as - U2, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, REM, and Bob Dylan to name a few. In addition, his original films have been official selections at Cannes, Sundance and beyond. “While filming GIMME DANGER (Jim Jarmusch’s film about Iggy Pop and the Stooges) I became so deeply moved by Iggy’s relentless drive to get the music out of his head and into the world. He had no choice in the matter. …And he wasn’t happy unless he bled doing it!” And with that, Krueger knew it was time to get his own music out to the world - hence Elka Park. "All my life I’ve gotten so much from the music of others, I thought it was high time I gave something back.”
With Belly of the Beast, Elka Park's debut album, Tom has distilled some of his most intimate life experiences into songs that reflect who he has become, as well as the road he has traveled. Elka Park has a sound that is vast, energetic, and entirely unexpected, steeped in the kaleidoscope of his own, unique American experience.
Krueger’s life reads like a twisted fairy tale. He grew up in an alternative (aka hippie) family in Berkeley, CA, with the self-given mantra, “Don’t be afraid to try anything… once.” That mantra led to many wild experiences in one of the most experimental epicenters of American subculture. But it also, in his words, “got me into a shit ton of trouble.”
At nine, Tom and his brother, Matt, moved into a VW Van with his mother and her partner, Sid, and drove from Berkeley to Brazil. “It took a year, and we pretty much went from commune to commune, while my mom and Sid shared the wonders of Gestalt therapy with the southern hemisphere. I wish I knew at the time how special that trip was, but back then it was just another day on the bus. I guess that’s true for my entire childhood. It was a wild ride all the way through high school, often terrifying, usually dangerous, always radically independent, yet just another day in Berkeley.
At nineteen, the walls of Berkeley were closing in, so Tom headed for New York. “I bought a van and drove across the country. After five days of sleeping in Denny’s parking lots, I finally rolled into what seemed like downtown Beirut, a city on fire in the best possible way. New York City before the millennium was a pretty cool place, where artists could afford to live and thrive in the margins, when making money wasn’t a primary concern, you just had to be doing something… For a kid like me it was heaven!”
Since then Tom has dedicated himself to making films and music. As a filmmaker, he soon became a camera assistant, then moved up to cinematographer, then director. “I’m obsessed with filmmaking and always will be, but fortunately, I’ve had music as an outlet to satisfy a more immediate need for creative action. Music is such a joyous experience, especially to share and play with others. I don’t know what I’d do without it. I’ve written and played on the scores of all my various filmmaking projects, which at times seemed like the best part of the process. But now, finally recording and sharing my own songs has been absolutely cathartic.”