Make You Say 'Yeah'

The first decade of the new millennium has, in regards to its oft-admired status as the reviver of rock ‘n’ roll, been almost an exact mirrored opposite of the last great rock decade, the 1960s. In the ‘60s, shaggy haired, denim-clad British rockers crossed the Atlantic in droves, their rocking antics inspiring America to embrace rock ‘n’ roll as a bona fide cultural phenomena. Fast forward 40 years. Shaggy haired, denim-clad rockers are once again crossing the Atlantic in droves, but this time in the opposite direction. Although the rock revival has finally seemed to catch on stateside, the British have been jocking our rockers for years; The Strokes and The White Stripes were hallowed names in Mother England long before anyone cared about them in the States. It seems that the British are one step ahead us Yanks in the rock department, even when it comes to our own bands.
Case and point: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Although still decidedly underground stateside, the New York band — vocalist Karen O, drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner — are veritable rock stars across the pond. According to Zinner, the reasons behind this phenomena are quite mysterious. “Man, English people are crazy. We can’t understand it, but we're very flattered.”
However, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ underground status shall very soon be no more. Despite previous comments to the effect that the band would be very hesitant to sign to a major label, the band recently signed to industry giant Interscope Records.
“I think it was a matter of carpe diem,” says Zinner. “We contradict ourselves all the time — it’s only human. Our development process has been so accelerated and abstracted anyways since I said that. With signing, we agreed it was a good thing, as long as we felt in control. Also, we only signed after we had completed the mastering of the record — it was on hearing it back in its entirety that we felt it should have the best home with the most options.”
Rumor had it that the band was subject of a somewhat heated bidding war, a claim Zinner denies somewhat half-heartedly.
“There was never any bidding war — that would imply we're only in it for the flash cash, which we are of course,” he jokes, adding, “I think at zero hour some other companies offered us more money, but they were really scary people. Interscope seemed to offer the most freedom — and they have Sonic Youth and Dr. Dre.”
The album Zinner is referring to is Fever to Tell, the Yeahs Yeah Yeahs’ forthcoming Interscope debut. Fever to Tell was culled from the same sessions that produced the band’s previous one-song EP Machine. However, as Zinner points out, Fever to Tell is an altogether different animal from Machine.
“The crucial difference is that Dave Steik and I mixed Machine, and Alan Moulder and I mixed Fever. The ‘Machine’ single was never meant to be anything more than a collector’s item — its not a very accessible song, and we didn’t expect many people to get it. We wanted to hint at the ‘direction’ we were headed towards.”
This “direction” is a more refined version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ unique brand of eclectic, sexy, art rock. “The first EP was done in two days, but this one was a lot more thoughtful and also more playful. We fucked around in the studio, at the behest of our producer Dave Sitek. All the guitars and drums were done in two days, and about three weeks on and off were spent with vocals, overdubs and late night retarded dance remixes,” recounts Zinner.
Despite being lumped together with the rock revival crowd, both in terms of musical style and overall aesthetic appeal, Zinner doesn’t really feel the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are necessarily members of the neo-garage rock fraternity.
“We don’t really consider ourselves part of that thing, except historically,” declares Zinner. However, the guitarist is optimistic that the same cultural phenomena that has made revival rock bands commercially viable will allow the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to spread their gospel. Says Zinner, “I'm not expecting this record to go platinum or anything, but if it reaches the right people, I’m happy. We worked really hard, and are very proud of this, so I do hope it inspires some kids to start their own thing, or make this their favorite humping record.”
Regardless, the members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have their calendars filled for quite some time.
“We have videos to make, and more shows to play, but all we really want to do is write new songs, and find the headspace to do exactly that,” says Zinner. “Brian has his other band, The Seconds, that he'll record and tour with. Karen wants to make paintings and draw, and I'd like to make a book of all these photographs from the past three years. I'm also planning to write a song with Har Mar Superstar, and hopefully collaborate with some other rockers.”
All said, it’s been a rather expedited trip from hobby to career for this odd trio of art rockers. Asked if he ever expected to get this far, Zinner is sincerely shocked. “Fuck no! For a band that just started to play some shows in New York City clubs, we're pretty overwhelmed with what’s happened. It’s great and we're very thankful, but it can be a bit of a mind-fuck.” Yeah.

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