For the better part of the last decade I’ve done my best to ignore the small town whispers concerning this or that artist – the weakling game of Nothin’ Doin’. Inevitably, childish rounds of telephone slip through to the place where intrigue digs down below the frontal lobe, off towards the temporal place of frightened emotion. “Punk” was the word used to describe The Elky Summers singer/songwriter Kay Gregg. A real punk, I was told by some forgotten buffoon who spoke with a strange fear. Middle fingers and attitude. I ignored the mixed review trash talk of peers – some fawning, some frightened – despite my simultaneous urge to both investigate and hide. Hey, I like “real punks,” if they exist. Yeah, I knew Gregg’s old punk rock band, The Beautys, and I’d seen her screen-printing work here and there over the years, most of which I’ve quite liked. I’d also seen her drum for the now-defunct post-rockers All Nite Skate – and maybe even Rockefeller 4 – and I knew other bits of information, all from afar, mostly speculative.

And then, finally, I met the mysterious rocker/artist on a fluke. Whip-tired and possibly delirious, I approached a small and smiling Gregg at a gas station in North Manchester following a Damien Jurado and John Vanderslice show at The Firehouse. I said something insipid and watched as she played nice, saying “Okay, Greg” in a way that sounded like an internal punchline, pumping her gas loudly, possibly to avoid the flaming odor of my beef jerky dinner. Well, good enough.

Some weeks and an e-mail or two later, Gregg let me watch her band, the above-mentioned Elky Summers, as they practiced two songs for an upcoming recording session with Detroit producer Jim Diamond, known worldwide for his sessions with bands like The White Stripes, The Ponys, The Go, Left Lane Cruiser and so on. Later that night, back at my cave, I told my girlfriend that I’d finally seen a proper bandleader in action, describing the way Gregg led the Elky practice with poise and humor. The next day I woke up with two songs circulating in my temporal lobe, taking up the space of former lore. Two great songs.

For two or more weeks I watched the Elkys off and on as they prepared for not just their upcoming Detroit session, but for what they called “Elky Season” – or maybe it was “Elky Summer.” I can’t recall. I watched bassist Jana Johnson talk with Gregg about ordering new merch and picking out outfits to wear on stage. I sat in keyboardist Ooona Hackbush’s rock n’ roll basement as the band jammed, practicing vocal harmonies and downing beers; I watched drummer Jackie Davis pound away in the back corner of Gregg’s basement studio. Two or more weeks well spent.

Along the way I fell for a band. The more I learned about Elky Season, the more excited I became. The plan was to practice, record, mix, master, package and promote. Then, on Friday, August 5, play an EP release show at CS3. A big summer-ending blow-out sort of show. The band’s biggest to date, no doubt.

“Part of what makes playing in a band so much fun is that you are able to see the tangible results of your work. You learn songs, practice, record – all that stuff is foundation for shows and events,” Gregg explained. “I look at it as an arc. The story is: we work hard; we overcome obstacles; we strive towards a destination. Our intent was to record a two-song EP and release it with a big party.

“So much planning has to happen to pull this off. The party on August 5 is the ultimate deadline. Not only do we have to make a good-sounding disc, but we also have to design, manufacture and package the final project, all the while collecting the merch, promotional items and event decorations. Then we throw this big party where all our friends are invited to come and help us celebrate.”

Down in Gregg’s basement studio I watched as she hand-printed the artwork for the new Elky Summers EP. While showing me shirts and posters she’d designed, Gregg also gave me a quick introduction to the art of screen-printing, next elaborating on her above-mentioned “arc” and later sharing with me an incredibly detailed and impeccably organized recording itinerary. With all of that planning, as well as her solid band leading, in mind, I had to ask about the band’s so-far success.

“Success is a subjective concept. If you look at the sorts of yardsticks bands are usually measured by, we are not particularly successful by that standard,” Gregg said. “We are not signed to a label. We don’t have an agent to book us. We have not played a national tour. We have not recorded nor released a full-length album. There are bands in this town that have done all of these things. I wanted a yardstick that reflected what we could realistically do. It is important to me to set goals that are attainable. It is one thing to dream. Dreams can happen in the quiet moments at night, but pragmatism must rule the day if you ever want to get anything done.

“We are solid because we work together to attain goals we can achieve. I want the women working with me to feel proud of themselves for having the skill and perseverance it takes to do what we set out to do, because we have and we will. We also have very talented and giving friends like Kendra Johnson, who helps us with our hair and makeup, and Steve Linsenmayer, who helps us with our photos. We are lucky to have such supportive families too.”

Success, as subjective and relative as it is, is something The Elky Summers have had. From what I’m told, they’ve sold every copy of their first EP that they’ve printed thus far. Not a small feat in 2011.

“The Elkys have a solid foundation. I am the one with no prior experience, and it has been fascinating watching everything come together,” Davis told me. “The other girls really know what they’re doing; they have contacts all over, good reputations, knowledge of what it means to be committed to a band and the desire to make this happen. We all work really well together and get along great.”

Next, naturally, I had to ask about the Diamond known as Jim.

“Jim came about through a friend I had made in Chicago, Sheldon, who owns a unique and fun store in Wrigleyville called Strange Cargo,” Johnson told me. “I gave him an Elky Summers EP right after they had come out and he had asked me if we had ever thought about recording outside of Fort Wayne. He said he had a buddy who had a studio up in Detroit – Jim Diamond.

“He started telling me about the studio and how Jim was in a band called The Dirtbombs and had recorded a lot of girl bands and how he had the best studio ever. He showed me pics of him and the guys in The Dirtbombs. So I brought the idea to Kay and she went to Jim’s website. On Jim’s website all Kay found was his name and phone number, so she called him up and the rest is history.”

Thus far, Gregg feels the band’s plan has been going according to schedule, including Elky Season/Summer.

“We’ve hit every mark we’ve set for ourselves,” she told me. “Every six months or so we have an impromptu band meeting where we sit down and free-form about what we’d like to achieve, then we set those ideas down as concrete objectives. We cross off stuff that we’ve done as a reminder of how far we’ve come. Seeing that list pile up is a great way to keep myself motivated.

“When we started out we wanted to have eight songs that were presentable enough to play in front of an audience. That was it. That’s all we were working towards. We did it, we pulled it off. Then we added more wishes: record two songs; play a show out of town; get some press; write a few more songs; record out of town; make over the Brass Rail into a fairyland. All those things we did by working together. The challenge right now is that we have these two weeks to record, master and manufacture enough EPs for the party at CS3. We’ve really set a high bar and nothing can go wrong between now and then. So, no stress there.”

One element of the Elkys not yet discussed is, as Hackbush puts it, the set design at their shows.

“Kay is an artist who brings the CD and poster designs, as well as the T-shirts and buttons, screen printing it all,” Hackbush said. “We have had shows where we all contributed to set design. Glitter, lights, fabulousness.

“And we are girls who like fashion. [Shows are] an excuse to wear fun clothes you don’t have the opportunity to wear day to day, so getting girlie is a fun aspect of this thing, and I think it adds a fun twist to the show.”

During these Elky days, it seems, the girls are certainly all finding fun in the busy times.

“My pre-Elky Summers life was not as busy as Elky life is now,” Johnson said. “Now I have a band practice every Monday and one to four shows a month. We are traveling out of town and meeting new people, playing with awesome bands. I have the three best friends in the world ever now. We have all formed a special bond with each other. Before I was playing bass alone while drinking beer.”

Davis, too, has taken much from these busy days of Elky Season.

“In my pre-Elky days I was a stay-at-home mom who had never been to The Brass Rail before!” She joked. “I was completely unaware of the whole band world of Fort Wayne. I was just someone who was taking drum lessons without a thought in the world of ever joining a band. My life is completely different now. I see it as a wonderful, wonderful gift.”

As the good times roll, most definitely to a new high on August 5, the band seems to know that someday the arc will end.

“May it never be so,” Davis joked. “No, really, I think we are all aware, sadly, that one day all this fun will end. I’m certain I will cry and will probably do a lot more air drumming in my car to music. I will really, really miss getting together with the girls on a regular basis. I didn’t know any of them when I joined the band, and now I am crazy about them. They made me feel a part of their group from the start. The thought of not having them in my life on a regular basis makes me tear up even now.”

For now, and until whoknowswhen, we have this great, all-female indie-garage-pop band, fronted by one of Fort Wayne’s all-time great creative talents. They remind me, at times, of classic-era Guided by Voices, but with touches of The Breeders/Amps, Throwing Muses and early Liz Phair. All bands who were – aside from The Breeders – gone too soon. Here’s hoping that’s not the case with The Elky Summers. But, even if it is, we’re not there yet. We still have this big show to look forward to, as well as a new EP, some cool merch and even some more shows in the near future. So, you know, don’t fret.

In closing, as it had many times before, fashion once again came up.

“We joke that 65 percent of the band is talking about what we are going to wear onstage, and only 35 percent is playing shows and writing music,” Johnson said, rather seriously. “Sometimes you’ll find Kay and I running around the mall or Jefferson Pointe, trying to find a new outfit or accessories. We see every show as an excuse to buy a new outfit. I have quite the polka dot dress collection, and I’m always looking for an excuse to buy another. Oona and Jackie and I will text back and forth our ideas on what to wear with each show we play.”

Bands that have fun, accomplish their goals, record with killer producers, get along, look good and play great songs don’t come along every season/summer, you know.