Interview
Updated 5th September 2011
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Unpeeled: See that you're on tour in the US just now, any plans to play Europe?
Yellow Ostrich:Hopefully soon.
Unpeeled: What kind of people do you like to meet on tour?
Yellow Ostrich:Boring people.
Unpeeled: What kind of people do you dread getting stuck with on tour?
Yellow Ostrich:Interesting people.
THE END FOR YELLOW OSTRICH?
Unpeeled: Name and shame time... what's the worst track you've heard recently?
Yellow Ostrich:"WHALE" by Yellow Ostrich.
Unpeeled: Which band would you happily do away with?
Yellow Ostrich:Yellow Ostrich.
GADAFFI IS A FAN
Unpeeled: Can you still listen to The Velvet Underground now that Moe Tucker is taking tea?
Yellow Ostrich: Seventeen.
Unpeeled: Is MTV a force for good?
Yellow Ostrich: No.
Unpeeled: Is real, non X-Factor style, music a niche market?
Yellow Ostrich:Sure.
Unpeeled: What's the demographic snapshot for a Yellow Ostrich fan?
Yellow Ostrich: Depressed loners and manic dictators. No room in between.
Unpeeled: Is a laptop actually an instrument?
Yellow Ostrich: It's a tool.
Unpeeled: If you get swallowed by clouds tonight, who will miss you most?
Yellow Ostrich: My pet fish. They'd probably die.
NOW, THE REALLY DOPEY ONES...
Unpeeled: What's the best Radio Show in the States?
Yellow Ostrich: Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.
Unpeeled: Nice one, just tuned into a podcast thingy and hear Chuck Berry doing a home spun, but clanky version of "Roll Over Beethoven", it's a shame the world forgets that America has it's own BBC. American Public Media. Why don't you people get proud and snotty?
Unpeeled: What's the most trustworthy news outlet in the States?
Yellow Ostrich: The Onion.
POLITICS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
Unpeeled: What are you doing to reduce the deficit, sorry, THE DEFICIT.
Yellow Ostrich: I'm spending less money. I'm also making less money.
Unpeeled: Is Obama any good?
Yellow Ostrich: Sure.
Unpeeled: Is Michelle Bachman as much of a loon as she appears?
Yellow Ostrich: If by loon you mean the birds on the lake that makes awesome noises at night, then yes.
Unpeeled: Would you make a good President?
Yellow Ostrich: Not yet.
YELLOW OSTRICH - SOME FACTS
They're from Wisconsin or New York. They used to be a tidy one-piece outfit, but have now grown into a sprawling three man combo.
The UK label for Yellow Ostrich is Barsuk Records. Lyrics for Yellow Ostrich songs can be found here and "The Mistress" can be bought here.
Every day we listen to a few random records, these are trawled from a variety of sources, including Spotify and that's where we found Yellow Ostrich and their current album "The Mistress". We liked the album and by way of thanking them for it, we arranged to bother their founding father, Alex Schaaf, with some daft questions...
Unpeeled: Hallo Yellow Ostrich, we like your "The Mistress" album, bet you're pleased with it too, eh?
Yellow Ostrich: It's not bad; I've heard better.
Unpeeled:: Bearing in mind that "They're all my children and equally wonderful in different ways" is both vomit inducing and a lie, which is your favourite track from "The Mistress"?
Yellow Ostrich: They're all my children, and equally wonderful in different ways.
Unpeeled: And what one is your favourite?
Yellow Ostrich: Yes.
EMOTIONAL RACKETEERING
Unpeeled: We would have said "Whale", the way you open that out for a bit of soulful shakedown is very neat and, dying for the addition of serious strings, what do say, get the strings in?
Yellow Ostrich:I think strings are too often used as emotion gangsters, where you have no choice but to feel a certain way, because they pound a certain feeling "big dramatic sadness" into your brain. I like leaving space so that you can make up your own mind.
LEGAL OBLIGATIONS DISCHARGED
Unpeeled: We are
obliged by law
(subsection nine,
paragraph two of
the Interviewing
Bands Act 1927) to
ask you about your
influences. So who
and what are they?
Yellow Ostrich:
Aaron Rodgers,
Nyjer Morgan, and
Neil Young.
Unpeeled: When
you listen to "I'll Run" can you hear "All Good People" by Yes?
Yellow Ostrich:I am unfamiliar with that song.
THE ANTI BOREDOM BONUS
Unpeeled: Why is "Bread" (it's boss, all Terence Trent Darby chopping into unwary backing vocals) only a 'bonus' track?
Yellow Ostrich:It's an older song that had been released on the Fade Cave EP, before the Mistress. It's a bonus track because we liked how it sounded with the new three-piece band.
Unpeeled: What's the idea of bonus tracks anyway? Do you sell more units with those tracks on, or what?
Yellow Ostrich:From our perspective, the bonus tracks were really important because we wanted to have something on the re-release that represented the "new" Yellow Ostrich, with Jon and Michael and myself. We have a different sound now, and so we wanted to have something out there that represented this sound, rather than people only hearing the old sound and getting bored with it.
TOAST Vs SUCCESS
Unpeeled: We can stream "The Mistress" for free, why should we buy it?
Yellow Ostrich:I'd like to someday purchase a toaster, it's been a long time since I had some good toast.
Unpeeled: Now, with the music industry allegedly collapsing around our ears, what are you hoping to achieve by releasing albums? Please place in order of preference.
Yellow Ostrich:I hope to achieve inner peace, and freedom for the people of Tibet.
Unpeeled: How would you define success for "The Mistress"?
Yellow Ostrich:If one person hears it and decides not to get a divorce because of it.
Unpeeled: How would you define success for Yellow Ostrich?
Yellow Ostrich:If one person hears YO and decides to file for divorce because of it.
