12 Rods


12 Rods was an American indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group was formed in Oxford, Ohio in 1992, later relocating to Minneapolis in 1995 where it was based until its disbandment in 2004.
Aside from a one-off reunion show in 2015, the band remained inactive until 2021, when frontman Ryan Olcott announced on Facebook that he was making a new album under the 12 Rods name. He released If We Stayed Alive and toured with a new line up.
In June of 2025, Olcott posted to Instagram announcing the band had disbanded again, stating that the members were fired due to insubordination.

History

1992: Formation

An early incarnation of 12 Rods was formed in Oxford, Ohio in May 1992, initiated by Talawanda High School student Ryan Olcott. Friends and fellow students Christopher McGuire, Matt Flynn, and Daniel Perlin were members of the band. At this time, the group was known as Ryan'z Bihg Hed, a name coined by Flynn in reference to Olcott's purported behavior during their rehearsals. The band prepared numerous songs for a performance early in the summer of 1992 at a local high school graduation party named "Field Fest 3". A cassette recording of this performance, titled Helikopter Hundrid Dolurz, was their first release before the group disbanded until July 1992, when Olcott was invited to join a new group formed by McGuire, Flynn, and Daniel Burton-Rose at a performance at the end of the summer. Olcott accepted and they name themselves 12RODS, a title Flynn discovered in a passage from a children's Bible.

1993–1995: Career beginnings and relocation

The group independently released Bliss in 1993, their first album as 12 Rods, which was recorded in Minneapolis while the members were still living in Oxford. In 1996, one year after relocating to Minneapolis, the band released the EP gay?, which brought the group publicity following a review by Pitchfork where it received one of the few 10.0 ratings given in the publication's history. Former Pitchfork columnist Jason Josephes spoke of gay? favorably in his "Three Blocks from Groove Street" column after he and Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber saw 12 Rods' first Minneapolis concert and bought the EP.

1996–2000: V2 Records era

In 1996, 12 Rods became the first American act to sign to V2 Records, then a part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, where gay? was reissued, making it the group's first major label release. The band's next album, Split Personalities, was released in 1998 and named in Pitchforks first list of the best albums of the 1990s. Minneapolis musician Bill Shaw joined the group around this time, serving as its bassist until the end of the band's career.
12 Rods released its next album, the Todd Rundgren-produced Separation Anxieties, in 2000. Band members say Rundgren didn't do much during recording:
The band was dropped by V2 Records following the album's release, which was a disappointment critically and commercially. Local Minneapolis drummer Dave King became the group's drummer for most of the remainder of its career after McGuire's departure following the recording sessions for Separation Anxieties.

2000–2004: Independent era and disbandment

Jake Hansen joined the band in the summer of 2002 as an additional guitarist, and in 2003 George Marich took over drums due to King's touring conflicts with The Bad Plus. The group recorded and released one more album, 2002's self-released Lost Time, then broke up in 2004.

Post-disbandment

Following the band's first break-up, Ryan Olcott performed solo as Foodteam, with a band as Mystery Palace, and is a record producer in Minneapolis. Ev Olcott played in Halloween, Alaska and The Few Nice Words, and co-founded audio software company Audiofile Engineering. McGuire played with Kid Dakota, John Vanderslice, The Mountain Goats, Quruli and gives drumming lessons. Flynn currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and performs in a group called the Queen City Silver Stars and The Matt Flynn Jazz Trio, where he plays upright bass. Shaw reformed Post Mortem Grinner and also plays in The Few Nice Words and Halloween, Alaska. King plays actively with Happy Apple, The Bad Plus, Halloween, Alaska, and Dave King Trucking Company.

2011–present: ''Lost Time'' reissue and first reunion, documentary, and second reunion

On September 7, 2011, it was announced on the website for Justin Vernon's record label Chigliak that 12 Rods had an album awaiting release in the label's "first year of vinyl releases", which began on May 22, 2012, with Amateur Love's It's All Aquatic, produced by Ev Olcott.
On October 8, 2014, 12 Rods announced via Facebook that Chigliak would be reissuing Lost Time on January 20, 2015, and the band would be playing a reunion show at First Avenue in Minneapolis on January 16, 2015 with Ryan Olcott, Ev, Christopher McGuire, Matthew Foust, Matt Flynn, Tal Tahir, Bill Shaw, Dave King, and Jake Hanson.
James Francis Flynn filmed the reunion show as part of a documentary about 12 Rods. Throughout the summer and fall of 2015 he completed gathering the interviews and additional footage for the documentary titled "Accidents Waiting to Happen". The film, modeled after Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz," was funded by a Kickstarter campaign and was shown at the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Film Festival in April 2017.
In September 2021, Ryan Olcott announced via the band’s Facebook page that he was making a new 12 Rods record with “zero help, zero support and zero financing”.
On June 20, 2023, a new 12 Rods lineup was announced on the artist's Facebook page, along with a new single, "Twice," the third from new album If We Stayed Alive announced for release on July 7. The album was released on the distribution platform Bandcamp.
In July 2023, 12 Rods performed their first show with the new lineup: Lars Oslund, Adri Mehra, Alec Tonjes, and Efren Maldonado. The show took place at First Avenue and marked the announcement of a U.S. tour.
In June 2024, Efren Maldonado, who had joined the band in 2023 died unexpectedly at the age of 49.
In April 2025, Ryan Olcott announced the launch of a Patreon page to host exclusive 12 Rods content.
Ryan also spoke about writing new music.
On June 14, 2025 It was posted on the 12 Rods social media accounts that all the members were fired for "insubordination" and 12 Rods is over for now

Members

Current members
  • Ryan Olcott – lead vocals, guitar
Former members
  • Alec Tonjes – Drums
  • Lars Oslund – Guitar
  • Adri Mehra – Bass
  • Efren Maldonado – Keyboards
  • Ev Olcott – synthesizer, guitar, backing vocals
  • Daniel Burton-Rose – guitar
  • Matt Flynn – bass guitar
  • Matthew Foust – bass guitar
  • William Shaw – bass guitar
  • Christopher McGuire – drums
  • David King – drums
Former touring members
  • George Marich – drums
  • Jacob Hansen – guitar
  • Alejandro Urzagaste – bass guitar
  • Tal Tahir – bass guitar

    Discography

Studio albums
  • Bliss
  • Split Personalities
  • Separation Anxieties
  • Lost Time
  • If We Stayed Alive
EPs
Compilations
  • Unreleased Vol. 1–6
Live albums
  • Helikopter Hundrid Dolurz
  • Last Show: First Avenue
  • Reunion Show: First Avenue
  • ''2004-05-29 Big Wu Family Reunion''