Continued from page 16
IE : The Jukebox Game? That's great!
Yes, bring your legal pad with and pass
it around the audience! So are you finding that you're digging way back to
songs you haven't played in years? Are
there going to be surprises?
PY: Oh we're deep! Rarities, well-known
stuff, not well-known stuff…Like last
night, a song got picked called "Always"
from the Black record, and it's a pretty
heavy song. I look down the list I see it,
and I was like, "Oh I don't feel like play-
more new stuff. It was fun to play, and I
want to do more of that. I'm working on
a new solo record now, so…
The Olms: Yorn (left) with J.D. King
IE : It's interesting looking back at your
catalog and who you worked with, like
Chicagoan Brad Wood, and R.E.M.'s
Peter Buck, and Scott McCaughey and
Butch Walker and Scott Litt, some of
IE's favorites. How would you describe
the experience of working with each of
them?
PY : Every single one of those guys is
10•2014
ing it." But I was like, "No, you just gotta
play it." So I grabbed the guitar and started playing it. And the cool thing was
that it has one sound with the full band-very heavy, but right away I was like,
"Wow"… It forces you to figure out a
way to make it work acoustic, and I did,
and it seemed really interesting, and I
was like, "Oh, I actually want to play
this!" So you surprise yourself a bit if you
find a way to make things work. But naturally these songs come from that place
and lend themselves nicely to these different stripped-back arrangements.
IE : Are you playing any new material?
It's been a while since your last new studio release…
PY: Yes, a lot of new material. On the first
leg of this I only played one new song, so
on this leg I want to break out some
very talented in different ways, and they
bring different things to the table. I like
to surround myself with people who I
think are very talented, because it makes
me want to do better; it triggers something in me to rise above my own limitations. I will say, I've done cool work with
all of them, I'm proud of all the work I've
done with them, and definitely they've
all taught me something new--and that's
the biggest thing. You go into these
recording experiences, or any experience
in your life, and you want to learn something new, you want to push it ahead.
And I think for sure, with every one of
them, I was able to take away something
that will help me in my next recording or
songwriting process, and I think that's a
great thing.
IE : Any idea when you go into the stu-
dio again who you might want to work
with? Or have you begun working on
your next record already?
PY : Yes. I've been in [the studio], and on
this round I've been working with
friends. The guy who produced my first
record, R. Walt Vincent, I worked with
him on Music For The Morning After,
and through that process we met Brad
[Wood], and brought him in to help us
do some finishing touches, and then I
also worked with him again on Day I
Forgot. Then I didn't work with Walt for
a long time until this past year we got
together again and started recording. So
I've been having a good time working
with him. I've always preferred little
home studios and garages to the big
fancy studios. I don't like being on the
clock in a studio; I don't need a big space;
I just like doing it DIY. Even with the big
producers; we always worked that way
except maybe once in a while experimenting in a big studio. So most of the
stuff is kind of homespun-homegrown
with friends. I like working with my
friends. My old drummer Scott Fever
also has a little home studio and I did a
song with him… I just [like working
with] people who I have a good relationship with and I respect and they bring
something to the table… We record
something and hopefully it turns out
good.
IE: Cool. How would you say your songwriting process is now than when you
started? Has it changed at all with all
you've learned?
PY : The songwriting process is always
kind of mysterious with me. Most of the
time I call it "channeling." I just kind of
Continued on page 63
october
2014
illinoisentertainer.com
57