Great Lakes (band)

Great Lakes is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1996. They have been based out of Brooklyn since 2002. The group's original lineup consisted of Ben Crum, James Huggins and Dan Donahue. Huggins' involvement dwindled over time, and Donahue and Crum split acrimoniously in 2008. Crum is the only original member remaining, and he continues to perform and record as Great Lakes, with various supporting members. Donahue and Huggins are both currently releasing new material with various groups as well as their principle songwriting outlets, Dream Boat and James Husband respectively. Donahue has contributed lyrics to several other bands' albums, including Of Montreal's City Bird, Elf Power's The Taking Under, and Bear In Heaven's Space Remains. Donahue has designed art, album covers, and videos for the bands MGMT, Pavement, Belle and Sebastian, and R.E.M.

The group started as a songwriting partnership between Dan Donahue and Ben Crum. With James Huggins III, the band officially formed in 1996. The original lineup also included bassist/vocalist Craig Ceravolo and performed one show at The Nick in Birmingham, Alabama, under the name Cherry Valence (not to be confused with The Cherry Valence). For a time the band was also called Wheelie Ride, before it changed to Great Lakes.

In their early days, Crum, Donahue, and Huggins collaborated in songwriting, occasionally aligning individual pieces into one full song. From 1996-2008, Crum wrote the music and Donahue wrote the lyrics. Huggins became heavily involved as a multi-instrumentalist who only occasionally participated in songwriting; he contributed "Virgl," which was featured on the CMJ magazine CD included in the publication's US circulation in 2000; the short instrumental "Free Scene"; and the bridge to "Parachutes." Donahue considers himself to have been the conceptual center of the group during this period, but Crum considers the claim to be wildly untrue. According to Crum, he and Donahue wrote the songs collaboratively, and Donahue wrote none of the band's music—only its lyrics. Donahue claims he added many psychedelic soundscapes and other effects to the band's recordings, but according to Crum, Donahue's role in the band was limited to writing lyrics, making visual art, and playing synthesizer and organ during the band's live appearance pre-2005.

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