Yeah Yeah Yeahs | |
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Background information | |
Origin | New York City, New York, United States |
Genres | Garage punk,indie rock, art punk,dance-punk, post-punk revival |
Years active | 2000 | –2014 (hiatus)
Labels | Interscope, Fiction, Modular, Polydor |
Associated acts | Head Wound City |
Website | yeahyeahyeahs |
Members |
Karen O Nick Zinner Brian Chase |
Yeah Yeah Yeahs is an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring member in 2009 and replaced Imaad Wasif who had previously held this role. 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 four studio albums; the first, Fever to Tell, was released in 2003. The second, Show Your Bones, was released in 2006 and was named the second best album of the year by NME. Their third studio album, It's Blitz!, was released on March 31, 2009 in the US and on April 6, 2009 elsewhere. All three albums earned the band Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Music Album. Their fourth album, Mosquito, was released on April 15, 2013.
Karen O and Brian Chase first met as students at Oberlin College in Ohio in the late 1990s, where Chase was a jazz student at the conservatory. Karen then transferred to New York University, and while in New York met Zinner in a local bar, where they formed an "instant connection." During this time they also shared a loft with future members of the band Metric. The two formed an acoustic duo called Unitard but soon decided to "shake things up a bit" by forming a "trashy, punky, grimy" band modeled after the art student, avant-punk bands Karen O was exposed to at Oberlin. After the drummer they initially recruited bowed out, Chase joined the line-up.