Ella Riot

Ella Riot is a musical group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 2007 by Tyler Duncan as My Dear Disco, the name change came in March 2011.

The band first released the eponymous EP My Dear Disco in 2007, releasing its first album DanceThink LP in January 2009. The album fused electro-pop, funk, rock, and techno into a distinctive sound the band members have dubbed "DanceThink". The band released in addition two more EPs in 2010 and a second album Love Child in 2011, before going into an "indefinite hiatus". in October 2011. In 2013, band vocalist Michelle Chamuel auditioned to the fourth season of The Voice.

Career
Ella Riot, originally called My Dear Disco, evolved from founding member Tyler Duncan's instrumental endeavor, Toolbox, developed while he was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. With percussionist Aaron Gold, guitarist Theo Katzman, and bassist Christian Carpenter, all fellow undergraduates studying in the music department at University of Michigan, Duncan developed experimental tracks using Irish bagpipes as the lead instrument and a laptop to mix bass music and techno drum beats. Toolbox grew into a sextet as guitarist Robert "DJ Body-Rock" Lester and keyboardist Joey Dosik joined the group. Michelle Chamuel, a classmate of Duncan's, recorded a track with guitarist Lester independent of the Toolbox project. The band members were impressed with her vocals and asked her to join. My Dear Disco was officially founded with her inclusion.

Named one of the most promising bands in the nation by the American Eagle New Music Union, My Dear Disco was invited to perform at the A.E. Music Festival hosted by Anthony Kiedis and rounded out the rest of their summer of 2008 schedule playing at BlissFest, Hoxeyville, Dunegrass, Feel Good Festival, and Jazz Aspen Snowmass. The buzz generated by their electric stage shows and newly released techno-pop tracks earned the seven-piece ensemble a spot on the roster at 2009's Wakarusa Festival and 10,000 Lakes Festival, where they performed with Dave Matthews Band, Wilco, Galactic, and Widespread Panic, among others.

This line-up changed when Mike Shea took over for Gold on drums, Dosik left the band for his relocation to California, and soon after again when bassist Christian Carpenter and guitarist Theo Katzman both left to pursue solo careers. Joe Dart filled in for Carpenter for several tours with the band and played bass on the Lovechild EP. After Dart's departure from the group, Matt Henninger became the next, and current, bass player. Duncan switched from bagpipes to the synthesizer, but occasionally picks them up again during live performances. The band members' areas of study at the University of Michigan ranged from classical drum to jazz to performance and technology.

In December 2010, My Dear Disco completed work on their second album, recorded at Mission Sound in New York. The new album was engineered by Oliver Strauss.

In March 2011, My Dear Disco formally changed its name to Ella Riot, citing legal reasons. The new name was meant to be a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, and a tribute to the goals of the band: "In Greek, Ella means 'bright light' or 'torch.' Then riot: a crowd, a revolution, chaos, a party, or something hilarious. Add this all up and you get an elegant, rebellious, brightly shining torch, moving with crowds of people, spinning out of control, ending in hilarious party chaos."

In September 2011, the band announced the decision to put Ella Riot on an indefinite hiatus.

Style
Ella Riot refers to its sound with the original term "DanceThink Music," meant to stimulate the feet and the brain. The band enlisted Grammy-nominated engineer Mark Saunders, who has developed albums with Shiny Toy Guns and The Cure, to help hone their debut album in his REEQ Studios in New York City. There, Ella Riot developed their first full-length album, fittingly entitled DanceThink.

In popular culture
In November 2009, the song "My Dear Disco" was used in a promotional commercial for Episode 9 of the latest season of Melrose Place.

Discography
(All releases as My Dear Disco except for 2011 album Love Child as Ella Riot)

Albums

 * 2009: DanceThink (as My Dear Disco)
 * 2011: Love Child (as Ella Riot)

EPs

 * 2007: My Dear Disco (as My Dear Disco)
 * 2010: Over the Noise (as My Dear Disco)
 * 2010: The Remixes (as My Dear Disco)