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Indie Outing: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Indie-Jam Connection: In many ways Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s rise through the blogosphere—and subsequent blogger backlash—has become symbolic of the New Millennium indie generation as a whole. But long before they formed in Brooklyn circa 2004, the members of CYHSY were students at Connecticut College. Like many Northeast liberal arts schools in the late ‘90s, the excitement surrounding the young jamband scene was in the air and several members of the group checked out Phish and their peers in their prime. The Sargent Twins was even spotted at a New York-area Slip show not to long ago.

Notable Jam Moments: Though he was probably the least jam-loving member of CYHSY as a young music fan, frontman Alec Ounsworth recently recorded with New Orleans jamband heroes Stanton Moore, George Porter, Jr., Robert Walter and the Bonerama Horns for his 2009 solo album Mo Beauty. Ounsworth met Moore and the album’s producer, Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin, at a benefit show in New Orleans and asked the Galactic drummer to put together a band for his New Orleans-centric album. Before CYHSY took off, drummer Sean Greenhalgh also moonlighted in the Guns ‘N Roses cover band Mr. Brownstone. The group played the always eclectic—but still hippie centric—rock venue Wetlands and was managed for a spell by the club’s booking agent Jake Szufnarowski.

Lot Talk: “[Los Lobos’] Steve Berlin and I met Alec at a similar benefit and, after he saw me play, he asked me to get the band together for this record, so I chose Robert Walter and George Porter Jr. I got George Porter because I did another singer/songwriter project for Diane Birch. They had requested someone who could play “mean-ish, Meters-style bass” and I said, “How about George Porter Jr. himself?” They said, “He’s still playing?” and I said, “Sure, he’s still gotta earn a living.” So when it came time for the Alec record George said, “Alright, I trust you,” Stanton Moore, Relix