Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are one of the most idiosyncratic bands to come from mid-2000s indie rock. And, in the era of Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, and Arcade Fire, that’s saying a lot. While all those other bands would go on to tame their sounds in later years (to varied success), CYHSY have made few compromises. On the group’s new album, Only Run, singer and chief songwriter Alec Ounsworth still sings with the same desperate yelp that made songs like “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” so affecting in 2005.
Currently on tour in support of Only Run, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will play the Majestic Theatre this Thursday night. Opening the show is Indiana’s Stagnant Pools. They’re a fairly recent sign to Polyvinyl Records and a must listen for fans of Disappears, Sonic Youth, or any late-’80s/early-’90s British indie rock. In advance of Thursday night, we chatted with Doug Enas, one half of Stagnant Pools.
What are you guys up to?
“Not too much! Driving in North Carolina, headed down to South Carolina. Hanging out and listening to music.”
So you were on tour with Jimmy Eat World and just recently you hopped on tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. How have those dates been going thus far? Have the two tours been a bit different from one another?
“The few shows that we’ve had with CYHSY have been pretty good! And, yes, they are a bit different. Jimmy Eat World shows were at bigger venues with really nice sound systems. Between the two bands musically, one [Jimmy Eat World] is more…pop music and the other [CYHSY] is more indie rock music, I guess. So there’s that difference also.”
With regards to being an opening act, I’ve talked to certain bands, especially those with less experience touring, who say they prefer opening shows. Do you guys feel the same, or do you prefer headlining your own shows?
“Well, statistically the vast majority of our shows have been opening for bigger acts so it’s hard to say because we’re not really at a point where we could do a national tour and have enough ticket sales. But, that being said, we do enjoy playing local shows, you know, in Indiana. When we headline, those are really great because we’ll get a crowd of friends and family. If we get to the point where we could headline a tour, that’d be great.”
So your second record, Geist, is out today. You guys signed with Polyvinyl Records to put out 2012’s Temporary Room and you’ve stuck with them for the new record. How has support from the label helped you guys?
“Well, we got to record the new record at a really nice studio, which is tough to do when you don’t have someone helping to fund the record. It’s also nice to have the professional input from the label, in addition to the financial help.”
There seem to be some changes in production from your debut to the new record. It sounds a bit more stripped down, with less effects on the guitars and vocals. What sort of differences do you hear in the records?
“On our first record [Temporary Room], there was definitely some overkill delay and reverb on a lot of things. For the new one, we wanted the songs to be as close to their original form, how they were when we made them in our house. We wanted the vocals to be more mature sounding, and also more upfront in the mix. We put a lyric sheet as an insert with the vinyl, so hopefully listeners will read along to some of the words.”
Were there any other things you set out to do differently on Geist?
“We wanted to have it sound like two guys bashing things out in a room. We focused on capturing the ‘moment’ more than anything else, hoping that things would still sound fresh in five or ten years. We wanted the record to sound personal to the listener, whether they listened super deeply or not.”
You guys are set to embark on your longest tour yet. How do you prepare and what things do you most look forward to? What sort of things do you perhaps dread?
“You have to be sure to plan for the downtime on tour. Gotta pack some snacks and pack lightly. I bring a chessboard for something to do. I forgot my baseball mitt this time but that’s a good one to bring.
“On a more serious level, we’re playing a ton of shows this summer and you have to be ready to bite the bullet. Sometimes things aren’t as great as you had hoped. Maybe you overpay for parking or you have to sleep on a random person’s couch. But ultimately we have fun doing it.”
What tops the list of weirdest things that have happened to you guys on tour?
“Oh man… the one that comes to mind is: we were driving on a highway somewhere in Wyoming or, I don’t know, North Dakota or something. We were driving by one of those trucks that carry livestock, horses and what not, and something in there must have had explosive diarrhea. We were driving past the truck and horse diarrhea spilled out alllll over our van. The smell started coming through the vents and, well, that sucked.
“Bad situation all around — we were tired, in the middle of nowhere and our van had just been shat on by horses. We were like, ‘What are we doing and why are we doing this?’ But we gathered ourselves. Pretty much everything is uphill from there.” (laughs)