Yeah Yeah Yeahs
are a New York City-based indie rock band. The band consists of lead singer Karen O, drummer Brian Chase, and guitarist Nick Zinner. In 2000 they formed a trio, and were later joined by second guitarist Imaad Wasif in 2006 for touring purposes. According to an interview that aired during the ABC network's Live from Central Park SummerStage
series, the band's name was taken from modern New York City vernacular. The band has recorded three studio albums; the first, Fever to Tell
, was released in 2003. The second, Show Your Bones
, was released in 2006 and was named the second best album of the year by NME
. Their third studio album, It's Blitz!
, was released on March 31, 2009 in the USA and on April 6, 2009 in the rest of the world.
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YEAH YEAH YEAHS TICKETS
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History
Formation and first EP
Karen O and
Brian Chase first met as students at
Oberlin College in Ohio in the late '90s, where Chase was a
jazz student at the conservatory. Karen then transferred to
New York University, and while in New York met
Zinner in a local bar, where they formed an "instant connection". The two formed an acoustic duo called "Unitard", but they went electric after being inspired by Ohio's
avant-punk scene. After the drummer they recruited initially bowed out, Chase joined the line-up and decided to form a punk band similar to the "trashy, punky, grimy" art student groups that Karen had left behind in Ohio.
[1]
The band wrote a slew of songs at their first rehearsal and soon wound up supporting
the Strokes and
the White Stripes, earning a significant buzz for their arty and garage punk scene. In late 2001, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their
self-titled debut EP, which they recorded with
Boss Hog's Jerry Teel, on their own Shifty label.
[2] Early the next year the band stepped into the international spotlight, appearing at
South by Southwest, touring the U.S. with
Girls Against Boys and Europe with
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and headlining their own U.K. tour.
Wichita Recordings distributed the group's EP in the U.K. and
Touch and Go reissued it in the States.
[3]
Fever To Tell
In 2003, the band released their first complete album,
Fever to Tell
, which received several strong critical reviews and sold more than 750,000 copies worldwide. The album's third single, "
Maps", received significant airplay on
alternative radio. The video for their 2004 single "
Y Control" was directed by
Spike Jonze. In October 2004, the band released their first
DVD,
Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow
. The DVD included a
concert filmed at
The Fillmore in
San Francisco, all of the band's music videos to date, and various interviews.
Show Your Bones
Their second album,
Show Your Bones
, was released on March 27–28, 2006. The album's producer, Sam Spiegel – who had previously collaborated with
Karen O on the song "
Hello Tomorrow" for an
Adidas commercial directed by Sam's brother Jonze – told
MTV News that it was a concept album about Karen's cat, and would be titled
Coco Beware
. However,
MTV was forced to retract the story, noting that Spiegel had failed to mention that he was joking.
[4] Karen O told
online zine Drowned in Sound, "
Show Your Bones
is what happens when you put your finger in a light socket," crediting "9 year old antigenius wonder-kid Drake Barrett for the insight."
[5] The first single from the album, "
Gold Lion", was released on
March 20,
2006, reaching 18 in the
Official UK Singles Chart. It has been noted by Leah Greenblatt that "
Gold Lion" sounds startlingly similar to "No New Tale To Tell" from 1980s alternative band
Love and Rockets.
[6]
The band toured throughout
Europe and the
United States during much of 2006, and also helped to curate an edition of the British
All Tomorrow's Parties festival.
In December 2006, the album was named the second best album of the year by
NME
magazine, as well as "Cheated Hearts" being voted the 10th best song.
Rolling Stone
magazine named it the 44th best album of 2006, while
Spin
magazine ranked it number 31 on their 40 best albums of 2006.
Is Is
EP
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' most recent EP, titled
Is Is
, was released on July 24, 2007. It includes 5 previously unreleased songs and a short film, which was recorded and filmed at the GlassLands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The songs were written in 2004, during the Fever To Tell tour, and performed live often.
[7] Three of the five tracks were featured on the "
Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow" DVD.
[8] They are also going to be releasing a DVD of a performance on
May 7 in New York directed by
Patrick Daughters. However, the DVD of the performance is yet to be released. The
iTunes Store added all the performances in video form.
[9]
It's Blitz!
The next album by the band was released in March 2009 and is called
It's Blitz!
.
[10] The band says the album sounds different from their previous ones but "still [sounds] like Yeah Yeah Yeahs". The album was originally set to be released April 13, but following the
leak to the Internet on February 22
[11] the band's label, Interscope, pulled the release date forward to reduce the impact of the online leak.
[12]
Artistry
Their style has been described as "an art-rock trio who made an edgy post-punk, dancefloor-friendly racket that mixed up
Blondie with
Siouxsie and the Banshees."
[13]
Touring
Alongside performing headlining tours across the world, the band has supported bands like
The White Stripes,
The Strokes,
Liars, and
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
The band became one of the first western rock acts to play in China when they headlined the Modern Sky Festival in Beijing in 2007.
[14]
After
Adam Yauch of the
Beastie Boys announced he had
treatable cancer and the Beastie Boys canceled several appearances including a headlining spot at the 2009
Lollapalooza Music Festival, it was announced that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be taking their place on the schedule for Saturday, August 8, 2009. They will play opposite of
Tool as the headliners of that evening.
[15]
References in popular culture
- An acoustic version of the song "Gold Lion" is included on the Mississippi Studios Live, Vol. III
compilation. [16]
- The band's song, "Maps," is a playable track in the music video game Rock Band
, with "Date with the Night" being available for download.
- Their songs "Runaway" and "Zero" featured in the CW's Gossip Girl
, season 2, episode 21, "Seder Anything" and episode 25, "The Goodbye Gossip Girl" respectively.
- The song "Date with the Night" appears on the Season 1 soundtrack of the E4 television series Skins
.
- An episode of the Canadian television show Instant Star was named after their song "Date With The Night".
Side projects and collaborations
Karen O and Nick Zinner both appear as guests on
Tiny Masters of Today's album Bang Bang Boom Cake. The song was written via email and features Karen singing. In addition, Karen co-directed and all three band members were featured in the video for the group's Hologram World video.
Soundtrack work
In 2005, Karen collaborated with MC
Kool Keith on the track "Teaser", which was said to be on the porn film
Deep Throat vs. Lialeh
soundtrack.
[17] However the soundtrack was never released but recently started circulating on the web.
[18]
For the movie
Jackass 2
, Karen O collaborated with electronic artist
Peaches and
Johnny Knoxville to record a track entitled "Backass". In 2007 Karen contributed vocals to a version of
Bob Dylan's "
Highway 61 Revisited" for the
I'm Not There
movie soundtrack.
[19] She also appears on the soundtrack of the forthcoming film
Where The Wild Things Are
, directed by former boyfriend
Spike Jonze.
[20] Their song "Runaway" was also featured on the April 20, 2009 episode of
Gossip Girl
. "Sealings" appears on the
Spiderman 3
soundtrack.
The K.O. At Home
Demo Leak
On December 10, 2006, a home-recorded album titled
KO at Home
was leaked via an invite-only
BitTorrent tracking site. The album, originally a personal gift to
Dave Sitek of the NYC band
TV on the Radio, was discovered inside a suitcase Sitek left behind in a New York City apartment. The disc's 14 tracks and scan of the cover — a photograph of Karen O with a poem written by
Oscar Wilde on the back — quickly spread. The music news site
Stereogum broke the story of the leak
[21] the following morning and continued their coverage
[22] when Sitek lashed out at the fan who leaked the demos.
[23] Eventually Sitek followed up his comments with an apology letter.
[24] Karen O's response to the leak was "
shit happens" and although she was somewhat "grossed out," she offered advice on which of the mp3s she liked the best,
[25] namely the tracks "Pumpkin" and "Snakes and Worms".
Head Wound City
Nick Zinner also collaborates in a
mathcore/
thrashcore supergroup Head Wound City. Other members of the group are
Jordan Blilie (
Past Lives, The Blood Brothers),
Cody Votolato (
Jaguar Love,
The Blood Brothers),
Justin Pearson (
Holy Molar,
The Locust) and
Gabe Serbian (The Locust, Holy Molar). Their debut
self-titled EP was released in 2005.
Discography
- Fever to Tell
(2003)
- Show Your Bones
(2006)
- It's Blitz!
(2009)
References
- Lynsey Hansley talks to Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Jerry Teel
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/35524-yeah-yeah-yeahs-title-new-feline-concept-record{{De
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs LP and single details, yeah
- Did The Red Hot Chili Peppers copy Tom Petty?
- http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/43606-yeah-yeah-yeahs-to-release-new-ep-of-old-songs{{Dea
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs to release new EP
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs videos
- New Yeah Yeah Yeahs Album: It's Blitz
- diditleak.co.uk
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs to release album early due to leak
- The Times, Yeah Yeah Yeahs: why fans of the art-punk trio can't say no, Craig McLean,June 13, 2009
- For All the Rock in China
- Title Unavailable
- Everybody sing 'yeah'
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O Tackles Folk Music, Porn
- Leak Of The Day, Part Two: Karen O, Kool Keith Lick It Up
- New Karen O - "Highway 61 Revisited" (Stereogum Premiere)
- Karen O is Where the Wild Things Are
- Karen (Dem)O
- The Story Behind The Karen O Demo
- Blogpost about Karen O's demo leak
- Apology letter
- Karen O on Demo Leak: 'Shit Happens'