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To cut
a short story even shorter, Yeah Yeah Yeahs formed in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, two-and-a-half years ago when Karen O
(vocals) and Nick Zinner (guitar) stumbled upon one another in a
New York bar. They wrote some pretty acoustic folk songs
together before the lightening bolt realization struck that they
could, conceivably, be the best rock-n-roll, art-punk,
disco-sleaze whatever-you-wanna-call-it band in the city. They
called Karen’s old Ohio college pal Brian Chase (drums) to bring
the thunder and backbone to the party. With Nick playing through
two amps, there would be no need for a bass player The UK’s first taste of live YYYs was in late March 2002 when
the band came over to tour Europe with Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion. Yeah Yeah Yeahs played their debut London headline
gig at Metro on Oxford St before supporting Jon Spencer at
Brixton Academy. The EP had been picked up earlier by
Wichita Recordings and was given a UK release in April 2002.
Later in the year it was picked up and re-released in the States
by Touch & Go. Despite the tongue-in-cheek declaration “as a
fuck, son, you suck!” repeated over and again in the chorus,
“Bang!” slipped past the censors and landed daytime radio play.
At the end of 2002, NME voted the EP No. 2 in their
Singles of the Year.Back in Brooklyn, YYYs had started recording
sessions for their album. Faced with making their first record,
the process took longer than anticipated which led them to make
the hard decision of canceling their appearances at the Reading
and Leeds festivals. They were to be back on tour in America
with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Sleater-Kinney in
September/October, and then re-united The Liars for more US
dates and a stint in Australia in December. Credit to the fans,
the success was largely due to word of mouth and those
ever-present raving reviews.
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