Smash Japan
The indie rockers’ self-titled debut won them many fans, including David Bowie.
It’s tough being a “buzz band.” One minute, the entire world is looking at you; before you know it, the world’s on to the next thing.
Few people understand the experience better than Alec Ounsworth, frontman for Philadelphia-based indie rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. In 2005, the band was one of the most buzzed about on the Internet, as their self-titled debut spread from blog to blog, garnering almost universal acclaim and winning them fans as high up as David Bowie.
Since then, a lot has changed. Band members have come and gone, as have fans, who expected more of the same from the group. But Ounsworth says he’s fine with that. “I was not going to pander to a fickle audience,” he says. “I’ve never really been attracted to any musician or artist who doesn’t try to challenge himself. Or his listeners.”
And challenge he has. The band’s subsequent releases have embraced a fuller, grander sound, much different from the lo-fi stylings of their debut. Last year’s Only Run could easily be mistaken for a completely different band, were it not anchored by Ounsworth’s instantly recognizable vocals.
“I’ve set my sights purely on the material. For me, the music’s been getting better,” says Ounsworth, who has become more self-assured and trusting in his own intuition: “You to try to move forward, despite what people might or might not think.”
In spite of the new direction, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has been embracing its past on their most recent tour, which includes a stop at the Majestic Theatre on July 24. They’ve been revisiting their 2005 debut, playing it front to back, in order, every night. Says Ounsworth: “It’s almost like a thank you to the people who have hung with us for this long.”
Ounsworth says the band actually began the tour playing the album in sections — three or so songs here and there, with newer material in between. But a conversation with Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, who played a record front to back, changed his mind.
“He would do the A-side, then newer songs in the middle, and then the B-side. And it occurred to me that these songs on our first album, the order was very, very precise,” says Ounsworth. “It was supposed to have that flow; the instrumentals and everything were supposed to fill each gap.”
Ounsworth says the tour has been going well. “I think a lot of people being familiar with the album usually helps,” he jokes.
And even though this record laid the foundation for his career, Ounsworth admits that some tracks are more challenging to relearn than others. “I’d put [the instrumentals] on the album to create a certain sense of flow, but not necessarily for posterity or to redo.”
Meanwhile, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah isn’t slowing down. When the current tour wraps up this fall, the band will head into the studio to begin work on a new record.
