Short and Sweet YEAH YEAH YEAHS REVIEW and PHOTOS
(R5 Production at the Unitarian
Church on 22nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, PA - December 16, 2001)
By Bullette (photos copyright bullette@bullette.net
- please do not use without permission)
Go, go, go see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs when possible. Playing out since September 2000 this Brooklyn based trio renewed my hope in today's music. For all of you that didn't click onto the Strokes before "Is This It" ranked Number #1 album on NME, Time Magazine, New York Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly Albums of the Year lists, now is your chance to catch a good band that will hopefully get to keep being good and raucous despite eventual media hype. Maybe they won't do an "At the Drive-in" disappearing act.
The YYYs' Karen O. is a rockette with a big R and a little r. Death mask smile on her face, Nestle Tea Plunge hair cut, and a better outfit each time I see her. A little X-ray Spex in there too.
Nick Zinner is petite, has an extra 3 inches of shocked black hair, and uses an extra amp instead of a bass player. He takes some nice photos too - he's credited for shots for "No Seats on the Party Car" featuring poetry by Zachary Lipez (The Candy Darlings) - plus he took a few photos of the buzzing Philly crowd.
Brian Chase holds down the middle with a 2 tom set and a determined jaw.
The YYYs acted surprised at the appreciative Rainer Maria audience. Seems the NY audience doesn't move as much. The reviews below will give you an idea about the sound. Take it for granted that it is dirty filthy stuff and with a confident stage show like this there isn't much more to ask. For the adventurous amongst you, they are opening for Foetus in NYC on New Year's Eve.
[written 12-26-01]
See their website for free MP3s and more photos and
information - www.yeahyeahyeahs.com
CD's
available at http://www.insound.com/
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More reviews:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0151/sotc.php - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
After watching the Yeah Yeah Yeahs work for 30 minutes last Wednesday at the Mercury Lounge, a jealous young Williamsburger groused that singer Karen O "had learned a lot from Pat Benatar," which is only true if you think O's white leather boots and black leather belt mean more than the band's songs. They don't, even if the songs owe Eight-Eyed Spy and the Cramps a buck each. Guitarists Nick Zimmer and Brian Chase keep it simple, switching sounds moments before you need them to and making sweet ruckus when the art gets too thick. O leads with her smile and never shakes it. She's smiling as she tugs her tank top back into place, shoulders a mic stand like a beast of burden, or high-kicks into the chorus. The smile is an involuntary guarantee that whatever mileage the outfits and references get them, it's gravy on top of how good it feels to make a small band sound huge and shout about life. In their debut EP's hit, "Bang," the lyric "As a fuck, son, you sucked" comes off like a complaint, but live, with the smile and the stutter-step, it's just another bad memory erased by rock music. The Ronnie Spector-Sonic Boom duet (not really) "Our Time" was the penultimate tune, but the emotional closer: "Well, it's the year to be hated, it's our time, our time, to be hated." Now it reads like a 9-11 anthem, but I didn't think that watching the band. I thought, "Right—you know how good you are, and you know you're gonna get big and feel the backlash." On cue, the guy made the Benatar crack. But you'll be milking that night for all it's worth soon enough, son. —Sasha Frere-Jone
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http://www.nypress.com/14/29/music/livedates.cfm - Live Dates - Lisa LeeKing
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Polish National Home, Brooklyn (June
29)
Max Fisher exists in real life. We spotted a late-20s version of the lead from Rushmore tearing it up on the dancefloor at the Polish National Home. White Members Only jacket, thick black-rimmed glasses, slicked-back dark hair and checked Vans. As songs by Salt-N-Pepa and Peaches, and Madonna’s "Burning Up" played on the sound system, Fisher rocked moves we hadn’t seen since Breakin’ came out in 1984. But the move that stole our hearts was when he magically appeared adjacent to us to light a beautiful blonde’s cigarette–before she could even think about finding her own lighter–then returned to dancing without exchanging a word or missing a beat. We gazed in admiration, just happy to know that a guy like that existed.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner says the Polish National Home is the best venue in the entire country–hope it remains that way after Village Underground’s Steve Weitzman gets in on the deal and renames it Warsaw, as he plans to do this September. Upon entering the mammoth space I understood why Nick loved it so much. The building is equivalent in size to the Bowery Ballroom or Irving Plaza, and sports Renaissance-style paintings on either side of the stage, marble covering the bottom portion of all the walls, gold trimming and chandeliers. Plus there’s the disco ball spinning lights across the room while 70s B-movies and other shifting images, including a blowup of the show flier, flicker across the walls.
So the scene itself was enough to occupy me during the two hours we waited to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play. The ambience reminded me of the high school prom I never attended because I was too bombed to enter.
When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs hit the stage just after 11 the place was more than halfway full, a good-sized crowd for a local band that recently self-released its first EP. Though only a guitarist, drummer and singer, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on a show like they were a much bigger band. They create sexually charged songs that address sensory extremes. Karen O, one half Siouxsie Sioux, the other Holly Golightly, sings in a sultry voice: "My skin tonight is a-blazing/But I don’t think you’re my type/What I need tonight is the real thing/yeah, I need the real thing tonight… As a fuck son you suck…the bigger the better." She kicks her leg into the air and flashes evil smiles at the audience. Her eyes are wide and she moves like a wound-up toy while Nick and drummer Brian Chase remain stationary. Karen wears acid-washed jeans halfway unzipped down her leg, holding the mic in one hand. Sometimes she even wraps the cord around her neck to be more dramatic. She could be singing about men, but it’s the women in the audience who really grasp what the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are conveying, as we hear cries of "Fuck yeah" and "She rocks."
It’s only a 20-minute set, but it sure is a powerful one. Karen mimics an animal panting, then the drums kick in, Nick’s right hand quickly manhandling the length of his guitar’s neck and back; Karen’s vocals strengthen before the song climaxes with: "And you’re more beautiful than ever/Looking in the car’s rear-view mirror." We’re standing at full attention, overcome by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as the set comes to an end with Karen O on her knees crooning "eeewww." We got our money’s worth without even sticking around for headliners the Gossip.
