Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Genre(s)	Indie rock
Years active	2005 - present
Label(s)	Wichita Recordings
Website	Official website
Members
Alec Ounsworth Robbie Guertin Lee Sargent Tyler Sargent Sean Greenhalgh

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (often abbreviated CYHSY) is an American indie rock group founded in New London, Connecticut based in Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania whose members include Alec Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, and Sean Greenhalgh. Their debut album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was self-released in 2005.

Background

The band, whose members met at Connecticut College, started out by playing weekly shows at Pianos in Manhattan.^[1] They are notable for achieving their initial fame and commercial success via the Internet rather than through a record label. Shortly after the release of their first album, they received attention from numerous MP3 blogs and a favorable review from Pitchfork Media, who gave the band a "Best New Music" commendation. The ensuing demand for the album was so great that the band was forced to repress the CD, as the initial production run was too small. They garnered even more press after David Bowie and David Byrne were spotted at some of the band's shows in 2005. ^[2] ^[3]

They received praise from Rolling Stone as the 'Hot New Band' for 2005. On October 3, 2005, they were signed to Wichita Recordings in the UK.

The band members live in Brooklyn, with the exception of Ounsworth who lives in Philadelphia.

Ounsworth has a solo project, (Flashy Python and the Body Snatchers), and is said to be forming an "indie rock supergroup". ^[4] Meanwhile, Greenhalgh moonlighted as the frontman for Mr. Brownstone, a Guns N' Roses tribute band, until their breakup in June 2006.^[5]

The band has a fairly extensive repertoire that extends outside their two-album parameter. Several non-album songs are frequently performed at live concerts, most notably, "My Papa's Waltz" (also known as "Cigarettes" or "We Met at the Cemetery"), "Me and You Watson", "The Sword Song", (available on iTunes only) and "Wet Dynomite" (also known as "Pass Along This Way"). They have also been known to cover the ballad "Helpless", written by Neil Young.

The band released their second album, Some Loud Thunder on January 29, 2007 in the UK, and January 30, 2007 in the United States. Alec Ounsworth has said that he plans to professionally record some of his older songs for a solo release before moving CYHSY onward.

On September 18, 2007, Live at Lollapalooza 2007: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was released on iTunes. It features the band's complete live set from Lollapalooza, professionally recorded on August 4, 2007.

Members

Alec Ounsworth - Guitar, vocals
Robbie Guertin - Guitar, keyboard, backing vocals
Lee Sargent - Guitar, keyboard, backing vocals
Tyler Sargent - Bass, backing vocals
Sean Greenhalgh - Drums, percussion

Discography

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Robbie Guertin and Lee Sargent playing at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC.

Albums

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
2005

#26 UK

2. Some Loud Thunder
2007

#45 UK; #47 US

3. Live at Lollapalooza 2007: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
2007

iTunes release

Singles

"Is This Love?" 2005 #74 UK
"In This Home on Ice" 2006 #68 UK
"The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" 2006 [UK limited vinyl - 1500 copies]
"Satan Said Dance" 19 February 2007

Trivia

The third album by Long Island DIY collective Bomb The Music Industry! Goodbye Cool World! had the working title Clap Your Hands Say Shut the Fuck Up, parodying Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The album title was later changed because, according to Jeff Rosenstock, BTMI frontman, "a band selling 50,000 records without a label, regardless of hype or bad music, is kinda dope".
The song "The Skin of my Yellow Country Teeth" is featured in the ninth episode of the second season of The Office (US TV series) entitled "E-mail Surveillance".
In 2006, band member Robbie Guertin contributed a t-shirt design to the Yellow Bird Project on behalf of the band to raise money for Art for Change.
On November 11, 2006, the group partook in a tribute show for "The Music of Bob Dylan" at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. They performed the Bob Dylan song "Love Minus Zero / No Limit" from the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home.
In Australia, the song "Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud)" can be heard as the backing track to a Mcdonald's Commercial.
In Spain, the song "Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud)" can be heard as the backing track to a Evax's Commercial.