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You’ve always got to be careful who you ask for directions because suddenly you’re putting your arrival in someone else’s hands. Will they try and have you over by callously sending you off in the wrong direction? Or will they do the noble thing and give you helping hand to cross the road? Luckily for Gigwise, the taxi driver at the nearest kerb is all too happy to assist us in our quest to find tonight’s rather well hidden ‘secret’ location. “Yeah, just up that way mate!” And so, with that detailed route ingrained into our memory, we do just that.
London’s can be an intimidating place, and as the back streets shrink down to a squeeze – like a cashmere jumper fresh out of the wash – this evening is no different. Welcome to the London’s Soho, where the florescence of the surrounding neon signs looks dim in comparison to the streets fascinating inhabitants. After finding the venue for tonight’s ‘secret’ gig – which is the launch party for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s sophomore album, ‘Some Loud Thunder,’ Gigwise is greeted by a contingent of Drag Queens - dressed from top to toe (or rather, strategic places in between) in striking burlesque attire - all pouting for a photo shoot. In fact, if it wasn’t for the band’s roadies, who were busy setting up the petit stage, you’d have thought CYHSY was the new name for a rather sinister couture club night, as opposed to the band name of one of this century’s most encouraging success stories.
Luckily, it’s not long before Tyler Sargent, the band’s timid bassist appears and causes a welcome distraction. Feeling decidedly underdressed we head for a quiet dose of reality in a nearby café.
Ironically, reality’s not a word you’d use to describe the meteoric rise to fame of American band CYHSY either. Just over two years ago they were a new band like any other - still undiscovered, unsigned and as far a way from the media spotlight as a z-list celebrity. Then, not for the first time in recent years, the internet took hold. Within days CYHSY became one of the most talked about bands in music blogs across the world. It was a formidable, life changing event - although listening to Tyler talk about it, you wouldn’t think so. “It’s not something that we found remarkable at first (he laughs). We just did it ourselves thinking eventually we would get a label,” he continues. “We just said let’s just do this on the internet and then we really started to do well, and all of a sudden it just kind of worked out and kind of became a big story.”
‘A big story,’ is a big understatement. After generating copious levels of internet buzz, the band released their self-titled debut album independently via their website in the summer of 2005 - with all copies being burned in Tyler’s Park Slope apartment. When a run of 2,000 suddenly became 10,000 even the band couldn’t hide from what was happening. Eventually they shifted 40,000 copies of the album using their own manpower. The might of the corporate empire appeared powerless in comparison.
Now, two years on, and with their new album, ‘Some Loud Thunder,’ just in the shops, the band, by choice, are still not attached to a label in the US. So, is it still as much hard work as it used to be? Well not exactly. As Tyler explains, now they have ADA distributing their CD’s, a press office and a booker - so that they don’t forget their live commitments amongst all the madness. Although they’ve got assistance he says that it’s still a very close group, “There’s people working with us but it’s not like a big label or a big group, so we still have some control.”
Therefore, unlike their debut album, with ‘Some Loud Thunder,’ all the band had to think about for a change was the music. The result is an indie-rock album that’s packed with more complex, compelling melodies – that sounds strangely more experimental than their raw edged debut. Tyler believes its “grittier” sounds have come from working in producer Dave Fridmann’s (Flaming Lips) secluded studio. “When you go to a studio there’s a limited palette available to you. It sounds like Fridmann because we’re playing instruments that are in his studio. It’s not like it’s his big influence over us. We’re just playing what he has.”
Tyler, like the rest of his coy band mates, is in his element when the conversation revolves around the music (he talks passionately about how the Juno 60 is the band's important piece of equipment.) Since the album's release a lot has been made about singer Alec Ounsworth’s darker lyrics – particularly on the album’s title track. Is there really a subtle undertone about the events of the last two years? “No. Some of them existed before,” Tyler laughs. “Someone said something about the lyrics of Some Loud Thunder and how they are very much like what has happened over the last year – but the track was written when we were still unknown and no one knew about us.”
Because their eponymous debut came out of nowhere, CYHSY were always going to have impatient and critical eyes watching over their follow up, just to see if they really warranted such an infamous reputation. Although the band were aware of this during recording, Tyler’s refreshingly honest when he says, “We were always pretty confident that we were making a good job of doing it.” Understandably perhaps, whereas their debut was recorded in studios in Brooklyn and Providence, for ‘Some Loud Thunder,’ the band chose to record exclusively in Fridmann’s mountain hideaway. Tyler admits that the location provided a welcome escape from reality because, “Every once in a while it creeps into your head that you’re making something that a lot of people are waiting to listen to.”
Indeed, tonight’s album launch is the warm up for an intense period of touring that’s fast approaching on the horizon for CYHSY that will put them directly in front of the people they’ve been subconsciously conscious about during the albums recording. Their live reputation however, has always been one of their strongest assets, so justifiably they’re rather looking forward to the impending European leg – even if it is with a bit of their trademark trepidation. “Yeah, we’re still trying to put a lot of the songs together to play live because it was very much a studio album. So we have to kind of re-work a lot of the songs.” Experimenting is something they’re also renowned for. The band often throws non-album tracks into performances, along with cover versions to keep the audience - which claims to know them so well – guessing.
Two albums in, and with a ‘tour-heavy’ 2007 on the cards, maybe we should just admit that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah might just be one of those unconventional success stories - one of those bands who unassumingly congregate in the void between illusion and reality that means putting your finger on them is about as easy as finding your way around the dark streets of Soho.
