With the fickle nature of the music industry, it’s always nice to see bands get back in the game, whether they’ve been out of it for 30 or 3 years. For a band like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah that got the old meat-grinder treatment after their spectacular debut, it feels extra good. Out touring and creating music under the CYHSH moniker again, the band has really bounced back from a few years in the wilderness. We were able to catch up with them (electronically) to ask them a few questions before their upcoming European tour.
Andrew Tape (SCENE): So you guys are headed to Europe, touring in support of your third LP, Hysterical. To a lot of us, it was a pretty pleasant surprise that this album got made. What was the motivation to get back at it?
Alec Ounsworth (CYHSY): The timing was right. Enough time had passed and we were again ready… Of course I can only really speak for myself but I was fortunate to find that everyone else was also ready to make another record…
SCENE: When do you head out for your European Tour? Where are you most excited to play?
Alec: I’m in Dublin right now. The tour begins tonight. There is no one place I’m most excited to play but Ireland is certainly a great start.
SCENE: Between this record and Some Loud Thunder, there seemed to be a lot of creative output from members of the group. What was the most enjoyable non-CYHSY project you worked on?
Alec: I worked on two records, Flashy Python and Alec Ounsworth’s Mo Beauty, which were equally enjoyable and challenging but very different experiences. Flashy Python was essentially a home recording done with friends and took a long time to put together and Mo Beauty was done in 10 days in New Orleans mostly with musicians from New Orleans who I didn’t meet until I got there. With Flashy Python, I had to try to balance some different approaches among individual players who were, by and large, standouts in their own right. This proved more challenging than I had anticipated but I think finally successful. In New Orleans, the musicians knew one another pretty well for the most part before going in and so had a certain sense where each was going. Because of these musicians, this record turned out as I had hoped — a snapshot of the enduring spirit of New Orleans …
SCENE: Do you think doing your own things respectively helped reenergize CYHSY?
Alec: I think any creative project taken on at any given time will inform what comes after it in one way or another.
SCENE: What are the best and worst things about being part of a popular indie band living in Brooklyn?
Alec: I can’t answer this for sure as I have not lived in Brooklyn for the life of the band. I know plenty of people from New York and, like Philadelphia, there is a community of like-minded creative people which you can draw on for support, even if indirectly. The worst thing? I don’t care so much where anyone is from so I imagine there is no worst thing…
SCENE: Something that was really admirable about CYSHY was how you originally broke out, using what seemed to be a mix of old school DIY tactics with a seemingly deeper (especially for the time) understanding of how to spread something digitally. You were kind of forerunners of how things in the music world have ended up. Were you aware of that at the time or were you just kind of scrambling to get heard anyway you could?
Alec: We were aware and scrambling just like everyone else. What might have been more unique to this project is that are able to take on the tasks that a record label would traditionally be called upon to perform (e.g. website development, record design, artwork, etc.). In that sense, we didn’t really need anyone’s help. It’s not precisely that we didn’t want anyone’s help at the time but simply that it was easier and finally more beneficial to rely on ourselves than anyone else, as is often the case. We also were in the position where there were was really nothing to lose so some ostensibly reckless, uncompromising decisions were being made which helped us in the long run. Lately, it seems more and more important to try to hold on to this reckless, intuitive feeling for better or worse (even if it means going down with the ship)…
SCENE: How do you think developments in digital distribution and copyright law (SOPA, the death of Megaupload, etc.) are going to impact the musician if at all?
Alec: I think certain laws which prevent the free dissemination of original material are inevitable. Maybe these laws will alleviate a certain diffusive and somewhat overwhelming number of options which seems at first liberating but may be finally alienating… It’s a very hard subject to discuss. I don’t (think) things are perfect now. I don’t think these new laws are perfect. These issues will take quite a while to resolve…
SCENE: I read a recent interview where a couple of you were vaguely asked about this topic, and you seemed to be cautious in regards to the topic of piracy/online distribution. Do you see anything that could help build a more balanced model?
Alec: It’s a peculiar balancing act at the moment.
SCENE: What was the best live act you saw last year?
Alec: The Walkmen at the End of the Road Festival in Dorset.
SCENE: I know you’re not playing Coachella this year, but it’s kind of so huge and omnipresent right now, I have to ask a question. I’m just curious what a band, who’s played it before, thinks of the double weekend schedule?
Alec: I don’t know what that is but sounds like fun, no?
Interview by: Andrew Tape
