BYT favs Yeasayer will once again grace DC with their stellar live show tonight (12/3/2008) at Sixth & I.

Details and tix here: http://www.sixthandi.org/Events.htm

Grab some before they sell out.

They took a few minutes to answer our burning questions:

BYT: Your MySpace page describes your sound as “Enya with bounce”. What the hell?

Anand Wilder:If I remember correctly, we were in Stockholm doing an interview with an Italian magazine or blogger, and they brought us all these Swedish delicacies to taste and comment on, like salty licorice called Jungle Scream. I think once the Swedish interviewer understood that we were open to all sorts of influences, and were comfortable making fun of ourselves, she told us that she tells her friends that we sound like Enya with Balls. We thought that was hilarious and a totally appropriate description so Chris modified it a bit and put it on our myspace page. Orinoco Flow is the shit.

BYT: Personally, I am in love with Sunrise. I haven’t been able to take it off of repeat since I first heard it. What do you feel is your best song from the first album and which is the most fun to play live?

AW: I think Waves/worms is the best song, it’s just really dynamic and I love the words and pauses and all the different parts. It’s probably a little too long on the album but the way we’ve modified it live it’s more succinct and fun. After a year and a half of touring the same songs it’s hard to still be excited by them. I still really love playing Wait for the Summer, and Final Path because it’s heavy and tight, and I get to shred a killer guitar solo.

BYT: Have you ever had sex while listening to your own music? I think Prince does that.

AW: I have never had sex to anything but my own music. Is that weird?

No actually I can’t even have sex to any music by any of my friends either. Too creepy. My good friend told me he had sex to All Hour Cymbals because it just came up on his iTunes, and he said it was really awkward whenever he heard my voice, but he couldn’t exactly stop what he was doing to get up and change the music.

BYT: Last January you played the backstage of the Black Cat, despite the pleas of many to move upstairs. As a band do you prefer the smaller spaces over larger venues?

AW: I try to make the best out of every type of venue. There are practical and aesthetic reasons why I don’t really like playing festivals in the middle of the day; I can’t see the lights on my equipment, and you just feel corny and un-mysterious. But at the same time those daytime festivals like Lollapalooza won us a lot of fans, especially in the Midwest. But I definitely prefer small bars with good sound systems, so people can get drunk and dance, and it always looks packed from the stage.

BYT: This time around you are taking over the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, which is (maybe?) fitting due to the somewhat religious undertones of your music. Is this your first gig in a religious bldg? Will it effect the way you play? Is religion or spirituality an important part of your life or music?

AW: I’m an atheist and I think organized religion is pretty dumb, spirituality can be even dumber. We’ve played at several religious colleges, also dumb, and I’m always inclined to be more irreverent at those colleges than if we were playing a secular venue. For me, Religious Education is an oxymoron. I’m glad our music appeals to people from all walks of life, and religious nuts are free to misinterpret our message just as much as the similarly clueless secular blogger.

I have reservations about financially supporting any kind of religious venue without knowing what they’re about. But then again we’re playing shows at bars where people are getting wasted, and booze is probably responsible for just as much death and destruction in the world as religion so I can’t really be all that self-righteous . Hopefully next album we’ll be able to control our career choices a little more carefully- this album was more about doing whatever we had to do to get ahead, ambition at all costs.

(I love this guy! -cale)

BYT: How did you sync up with Chairlift? Did you get a free iPod out of it?

AW: I met Caroline through my friends in MGMT, at a Bright Black Morning Light show (which sucked). I didn’t even know she was in a band until I ran into her again in Montreal at the Montreal Pop Festival in October 2007. That festival was such a joke, so many bands didn’t show up and it was totally disorganized. We got lucky and got on a bill opening up for Grizzly Bear, which was really well attended. Chairlift was playing at a small bar and we all went to see them and I was really impressed with their sound. Actually at that very first show I told Caroline I thought that their frozen strawberries song was cheesy pop drivel, while the rest of their songs were so atmospheric and powerful. Then Bruises ended up on an iPod commercial, so obviously I don’t know what’s good for a band! That recent tour when they opened up for us was probably the most fun I’ve ever had on tour. They’re gonna be huge though, I hope we can open up for them in Japan sometime, they’re like Japan iTunes number 1.

BYT: From MGMT to Beck, you guys have shared the stage with some killer people. Who’s currently at the top of your tour van music rotation?

AW: We never listen to music together in the van.

I feel extremely fortunate to have toured with some of the best bands out there right now. And Beck is one of my idols so that was especially amazing for me, although his current touring line up is pretty boring, and actually made us look good!

BYT: What products are at the top of the tour van snack rotation?

AW: I was eating a lot of Clementines, making nettle tea, and lots of Annie’s frozen vegetable lasagna and cup of noodles. It’s hard to get good food in most parts of America, except the coasts. West Coast produce is especially delicious.

BYT: Which band member is on top of the if we got stranded in the tundra who would we eat first rotation?

AW: Everyone’s scrawny, probably would be very tough meat, and might taste like whiskey or kombucha.

BYT: When will we get to hear some new tunes?

AW: Well we have a recording of Tight Rope coming out sometime soon on this Red Hot compilation The National are organizing. It’s a song that we’ve been playing live for a year now, so we’re glad to put it out on something other than an album.

BYT: What should we expect on album #2?

AW: We haven’t made it yet so I can’t really say. I’d like to have shorter songs, fewer but more interesting sounds per track, vocals higher in the mix, increased sophistication in the instrumentation, more meaningful lyrics, more beautiful melodies.

BYT: Ok, why are the people of DC total fools if they miss your show?

AW: This will be our best show in DC this year, mainly because of our amazing lighting artist Ben Phelan, who’s built an awesome light show for us. It’s basically this computer controlled LED lighting system contained inside a weather balloon, and smaller white orbs which are affixed to 4 flexible tube apparatuses that he places around the stage. Then he uses the computer to tell the LEDs what colors to produce, or has the LEDs interpret the color on preexisting video. With enough orbs on stage, he could produce recognizable imagery. Ben’s helping us present a more dynamic and compelling stage show visually,and I’m grateful to him because I’m not a very visual person. We don’t want to bore people when we play live. Ben also designed our stage setup for our appearance on Conan ‘O Brien.

BYT: Thanks guys… DC is excited to have you back again!

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Yeasayer
http://www.sixthandi.org/
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
7:00 p.m. (Doors open)
8:00 p.m. (Show)
Opening acts: Chairlift and Fang Island. Tickets are $16.00 in advance and $18.00 the day of the show. Tickets can be purchased here or by calling the Sixth & I box office at 202/408-3100.

http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer

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