Famous Louisiana Band Faces Serious Allegations

In the late 1980s Ruston found itself as the birthplace of the Elephant 6 Recording Company, a musical coalition that would go on to spawn famous bands like The Apples in Stereo, Of Montreal, The Olivia Tremor Control, and most notably Neutral Milk Hotel. Julian Koster was a member of the aforementioned Neutral Milk Hotel, joining the band in the late 90s for the recording of their cult classic album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Koster recorded the banjo and singing saw on the album, then transitioned to the band's touring bassist after the album's release. Earlier this week Koster came under fire after serious allegations were levied against him.

Anna "Nesey" Gallons was a fan of the Elephant 6 and in the year 2000, at age 15, she came into contact with Julian through email, claiming that each exchange became more and more intimate until they began a relation ship in April of 2001 at the age of 16. Nesey took to an Instagram post to go public with her allegations against Koster, claiming he assaulted her twice in 2005. Nesey claims in 2020 she attempted to reconcile with Koster but according to her claims she was "erased" by his PR team.

After these allegations caught wind with fans of the musician Koster took to his current project's Instagram page to post his own statement, addressing the allegations. Koster admits that the relationship did start while she was 16 years old and himself 28 years, he apologized in the post claiming "...it was wrong to allow the relationship to happen at all and I’ve apologized to Nesey many times for that." Koster denies all other claims made by Nesey and states the relationship ended in 2008 when he realized he "...was trapped in an abusive relationship with her."

Koster states that he has spent the last few years, presumably since 2020 as Nesey had preciously mentioned, trying to build a friendship with Nesey and to allow himself to acknowledge the pain that she has felt. Koster claims that these attempts at a friendship have failed and that Nesey and her current hudband have harrased him for years, demanding things like a romantic relationship between the couple and Koster, for Koster to move in with them, to finance Nesey's family, and to let them have control over his life. Koster also stated that he is looking into an order of protection against the couple due to their continued harassments.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, founding member of Elephant 6 and Ruston native, Robert Schnieder had this to say, "I am shocked by Nesey’s account. I don’t have personal knowledge of the details of her account since we met later and Elephant 6 had dissolved by the time of the events. There is no place in the Elephant 6 community for abuse." While in an Instagram comment left by Nesey she claims that Elephant 6 founding member, Neutral Milk Hotel front man, and Ruston native Jeff Mangum was aware of the relationship from the beginning.