The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a Grammy Award-nominated New York City-based rock band.
The band members are: lead singer Karen O, drummer Brian Chase, and guitarist
Nick Zinner. They formed in 2000 as a trio, and were later joined by second
guitarist Imaad Wasif in 2006 for touring purposes. According to an interview
that aired during the ABC network's Live from Central Park SummerStage series,
the band's name was taken from modern New York City vernacular. The band has
recorded two studio albums; the second, Show Your Bones, was released in 2006
and was voted the second best album of the year by NME magazine.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' debut release was a self-titled EP, released in 2001. They
followed it with another EP, Machine, in 2002.
In 2003, the band released their first complete album, Fever to Tell, which
received several strong critical reviews and sold more than 750,000 copies
worldwide. The album's third single, "Maps", received significant airplay on
alternative radio. The video for their 2004 single "Y Control" was directed by
acclaimed director Spike Jonze, who was involved with the band's lead singer
Karen O for a period.[citation needed] In October 2004, the band released their
first DVD, Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow. The DVD included a concert filmed at
The Fillmore in San Francisco, all of the band's music videos to date, and
various interviews.
Their second album, Show Your Bones, was released on March 27/28, 2006. The
album's producer, Sam "Squeak E. Clean" Spiegel – who had previously
collaborated with Karen O on the song "Hello Tomorrow" for an Adidas commercial
directed by Sam's brother (and Karen's then-boyfriend), Jonze[citation needed] –
told MTV News that it was a concept album about Karen's cat, and would be titled
Coco Beware. However, MTV was forced to retract the story, noting that Spiegel
had failed to mention that he was joking.[citation needed] Karen O told online
zine Drowned in Sound, "Show Your Bones is what happens when you put your finger
in a light socket," crediting "9 year old antigenius wonder-kid Drake Barrett
for the insight."[2] The first single from the album, "Gold Lion", was released
on March 20th, 2006, reaching 18 in the Official UK Singles Chart. It has been
noted by Leah Greenblatt that "Gold Lion" sounds startlingly similar to "No New
Tale To Tell" from 1980s alternative favorites Love and Rockets. The band toured
throughout Europe and the United States during much of 2006.
A rare song the band often played live,[citation needed] though not released on
any albums, "Sealings," was released on the Driver: Parallel Lines, Vol. 1
Official Soundtrack and recently featured on the Spiderman 3 Official
Soundtrack.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new EP, titled Is Is, was released on July 24, 2007. It
includes 5 previously unreleased songs and a short film, recorded and filmed at
the GlassLands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The songs were written in 2004, during
the Fever To Tell tour, and performed live often.[citation needed] Three of the
five tracks were featured on the "Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow" DVD.[4] They
are also going to be releasing a DVD of a performance on May 7th in New York
directed by Patrick Daughters.[citation needed]
Karen O and Nick Zinner both appear as guests on Tiny Masters of Today's album
Bang Bang Boom Cake. The song was written via email and features Karen singing.
The band became one of the first western rock acts to play China when they
headlined the Modern Sky Festival in Beijing in 2007.
