Yard-Sale was formed two years ago as an excuse to get into the local Variety Show. The three founding members, guitarist/vocalist Scott Barkan, vocalist Todd Seyfarth, and fellow vocalist Chris Nicolas didn't even have a song until 10 minutes before auditions. Under this intense pressure, the trio produced our first song, "Babalou." In retrospective, it was probably the worst song we have made since, but for the simple reason that it was our first, it will remain close to our hearts (though VERY, VERY seldom will it EVER be played again). As bad as it was (by our standards), it easily made it into the Variety Show and was an instant success. So they were thinking to themselves, "Uuhmm, you know, I really like vanilla. Oh yeah, and I think we might be on to something here." So they set out to record their first album. "Call Us Anything But Late For Dinner" was made with heavy folk influences present and more filler material then actual "songs". But it was something. And that something found its way into 4th period health.
It was there that Scott met drummer Gregg Zehentner, who after listening to their album over Scott's walkman quickly fell in love with their quirky style and shelled out the $2 for a copy. This would have future implications that no one could have forseen. Questions were raised among the band members if more musicians were needed to raise them to the next level from "sideshow" to "fancier sideshow". With the next Variety Show looming, the decision was made. And after a small tussle with a few border guards, Gregg and basist Ian Smith were added to the band. Now, with a solid rhthym section, Yard-Sale was starting to appeal to more then just the chimps (which were in no way hurt during our experiments). The next Variety Show we brought the crowd to its feet with a now wildly popular classic, "All Whoppered Out". Unfortunatly, the judges (obviously under some outside influence), awarded us only third place for our standing O, the only one of the night mind you.
But being the stand-up musicians we are, we dusted ourselves off and got right back on that donkey. After playing a few parties, Yard-Sale realized their was something missing from our band. A missing ingredient. A special sauce* if you will. And then it hit us. Topless dancers! An ugly court debacle followed and all we can say is HUNG JURY are the two sweetest words in the world. After that, we realized what we really needed. Flutist Kyra Kenwood and Saxophonist Brian Fort gave us exactly what we lacked to become "the featured sideshow". After four fourteen hour-a-day recording sessions, we had created what we thought was the best possible album we could make. That was three months ago, and our rate of evolvement is staggering. We now look back at our new album and think, "THAT was the best we could do?" Not that it is by any means a crappy album, it's just that our songs have and are continuing to become more and more intricate/involved/awesome. But since that is the only recorded document of this incarnation of the band, it's the best of what's around. For a real sample of Yard-Sale, check us out at one of our next perfomances which will be listed on this page as often as possible. Or better yet, hire us for your party before we get too big. If you are interested, call 516-633-1234. Leave a message there pertaining to acquiring a tape or hiring us. And that is how Yard-Sale was born. Now if you want to find out how Yard-Sale reproduces . . .