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May 16, 1999
The Yell Leaders
The Yell Leaders make their most definitive statement to date with Cornelia Street. Joe Vent and Bobby Tanzilo tell how the pop/soul band did it.
By THE GROOVEBLASTER
"It's been three years since we last heard from the Milwaukee pop/soul combo the Yell Leaders (the 1996 CD EP Up For Steam). Over those three years the group changed labels, had the opening track from Up For Steam, "Windchill," appear in an episode of Party of Five, had another song appear in the film Beach House and appeared on the Bruce Springsteen tribute CD One Step Up/Two Steps Back. A pretty eventful three years, but it all worked as a solid foundation for their recently released and best CD Cornelia Street.
With Joe Vent's guitar blending the punk soul of Mick Jones with the punk sonic blast of Dave Davies and Bobby Tanzilo's rock steady (making Chris Frantz look like a arhythmic coke fiend) drum blasts, the Yell Leaders are a rare combination of pop sensibility and punk soul sincerity. Add to the mix the fine bass player Paul Biemann, heavenly vocalist Mary Schmid and guest backing vocals from Del Amitri's Justin Currie, and you have the Yell Leaders at their finest. Cornelia Street features their best song to date, "Beautiful Thing" and they have finally mastered and settled into their own sound, aided by producer Mike Hoffmann. I recently had the opportunity to speak to Vent and Tanzilo, getting an up close look at the how and why the Yell Leaders have gotten to this stage.
Mary Schmid, Bobby Tanzilo, Paul Biemann and Joe Vent
The Yell LeadersCheck This Out!: First of all, what is the significance of the CD title?
Bobby Tanzilo: The title comes from the chorus of "Roses," which was originally written about my grandmother and the street in Greenwich Village where she spent almost her entire life. When we were throwing titles around we had a ton of jokey ones and loads of non sequitors, but we decided it would be good to extract something from the record, a little more obscure than a song title. Maybe people will dig a little deeper to figure it out.
CTO: How did you hook up with Justin?
BT: We have been friends with him for about 14 years. I had helped them set up Milwaukee dates and stuff when they did a grass roots U.S. tour in '86 and we've kept in contact ever since. We asked him if he'd like to do it, because he always takes an interest in what's up with us, and he said, "yeah."
Joe Vent: We sent him two stereo mixes on 8-track ADAT. He filled the remaining 6 tracks on each song with heavenly vocalizin' and sent the tape back.
CTO: What type of reaction have you gotten from having "Windchill" played in a Party of Five episode and having your version of "I Wish I Were Blind" appear on the Springsteen tribute project?
BT: Those things were definitely good for us, but I'm not sure if they were as good as we thought. The Party of Five injected some cash when we really needed it, helping us to record and things. But the whole Party of Five as an advertisement for major label records happened right after that and now labels pay money to have their artists featured so TV shows don't really need to spend money on bands. It's sort of sad that another outlet for indie bands has dried up. I mean, the Party of Five people were pretty cool giving bands like us a shot, but I understand the economics of where it is now. It just doesn't make sense to turn down cash from MCA to play Semisonic so that they can cut us a check! But all of those things: winning the VH-1 regional thing, the Springsteen tribute, Party of Five, all go a long way in showing that you're out there and you're trying and you're turning a few heads. So, I think they've been good in that way. That's especially important in Milwaukee where people only appreciate hometown things that outsiders tell them are good.
CTO: How has your songwriting process changed over the years?
JV: Bobby and I co-write just about everything now. In the beginning, I wrote pretty much all the music and lyrics. Now Bobby does most of the music and I do the lyrics and final arrangements.
BT: I think it's become very cooperative. We've learned to capitalize on our strengths. We have two ways of doing it nowadays. Joe writes some on his own, like "I Didn't Have," or else I put a bunch of guitar stuff on tape: chord progressions and some melodic ideas. Now we have a four-track mini-disc recorder, so I usually do a 3-minute track with drum machine, bass, some guitars, maybe a little keyboard. I build a structure and Joe adds words and rearranges parts, etc. Maybe adds a bridge or a break. Sometimes he finds he can use the verse but can't use the chorus section I've come up with and alters it to fit his needs. It's very much a collaboration. I think all of our collaborative songs are better than our non-collaborative ones because they feel a little more three-dimensional to me, like there's a depth that would be missing on songs written individually.
JV: Mary co-wrote lyrics on one song on Cornelia Street ("Anyway") but I've been working her lyrics into a lot of the newer stuff. So far, she trusts me to rework and reshape her words and still keep the original intent intact. Paul is more influential over the live sound. Of course the live versions of the songs have influence over the recorded versions. Mary's vocal style already has input over the end results. Not to mention that we can put a female perspective on lyrics.
click here to order Cornelia Street BT: Paul is very forceful about noodling with arrangements, which we alternately welcome and struggle to thwart. He's a musical handyman, always looking for a project and he's got a good mind for that stuff. Sometimes that's great and we avoid a massive leak in the basement, but sometimes we spend hours breaking things that didn't need fixing. Mary has been contributing lyrics lately and always has good ideas for harmonies and vocal parts. I hope Mary will sing more lead. I had originally thought she'd sing lead on "Beautiful Thing," but somehow it didn't work out that way.
CTO: How much guitar did Bobby play?
JV: A lot, which was great. It allowed me to concentrate more on vocals, lyrics, and more guitar. He's a good guitar player and he co-wrote most of the chords and changes anyway, so it was real natural and made the record much better.
BT: I play at least something on every track. I played the sort of '60s solo-y thing in the break in "Roses" and loads of acoustic guitars on others. I'm good at doing the acoustic strum to match the hi-hat, so Mike (Hoffmann, producer) called on me to do that a lot.
CTO: The intro to "Roses" sounds as though it could have come right off of a Kinks album from the mid 60s.
JV: Yes it does. Or Petula Clark or Herman's Hermits. It should be noted that Paul came up with that intro. He arranged the chords and played the loud piano part. That was his baby.
BT: Paul arranged the intro and Joe's the Kinks fan
CTO: Are you influenced much by the Kinks?
JV: Very much so. Mostly lyrically, but Dave (Davies) is one of my biggest guitar influences. Sweet throbbing six string muscle in your fucking face!
CTO: Same thing about "Right as the Rain" and Paul Weller?
JV: Yep. Or the Atlanta Rhythm Section!!
BT: I wrote the basic musical structure of "Right as Rain" and have loved Paul Weller since I was 12, so I'll assume he's influenced it. I wrote it on a Rickenbacker, so there you go (laughs). Actually, I'm never sure where stuff comes from. I know what I like but what I write doesn't always seem to come from those places. I'm a big reggae fan and someone asked the other day when the band will do some reggae songs and it just doesn't feel right. I don't think I'm actively compartmentalizing my tastes, but when I sit down and play guitar, that just doesn't come out.
CTO: How have things changed in the music business since you started? Has the fact that there are basically only five major labels had any influence on the band and the choices that are being made.
JV: We've never been on a major label, (except for the Springsteen cover) so that hasn't effected us at all. When we started this band we wanted to get our music out to other ears, period. The fact that Seagrams, Disney, and David Geffen own all of the major labels now is no deterrent. The real frustration has always been that we are much better than most of the shit out there of the radio and MTV, but so what. That will never change. Major labels will always eat their own tails and bad indies will try to eat the major's tails and good indie labels will either go bankrupt or have the opportunity to be co-opted into the mess of the others. God help the music. We make music and we would love to have someone else's money to market it. We won't/can't change what we do just to hope to fit in with the ridiculous system that's already in place.
CTO: The new LP has many more subtle textures and production values compared to the previous CD.
BT: Oh yes, I think that's credit to Mike Hoffmann. In the past we could sit and do track after track, adding the kitchen sink and maybe we'd get good results that way. But Mike hears what he wants at the beginning and only does what he needs. He's thinking of the mix already when he's tracking so you end up not doing lots of stuff that gets axed. It's a very wholesome approach. He knows what he hears and he knows how to get it on tape.
CTO: If you could take one quality from your former bands, the Squares and the Blowtorch, and add it to the Yell Leaders what would it be?
JV: Naiveté
BT: That's a tough one. I guess I think we've done that. If I could take one thing from the Squares it would be Joe and I'd take me from the Blowtorch (laughs). I did like that the Blowtorch was willing to fly by the seat of its pants sometimes. We're a little less willing to do that, but that's me as much as anyone. I've started to like the feeling of having arrived prepared!
CTO: Are you satisfied with the album?
JV: Yes, for now
BT: I'm very pleased. I am always pretty satisfied with stuff we do at the time that we do it, but I really think this is a good record and I hope people get a chance to hear it. It's not perfect, there's little things I'd like to change, but not many and they're piddly things that only I hear.
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