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Biography All Music GuideWikipedia
Group Members: Alec Ounsworth
All Music Guide:
In the middle of 2005, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were being touted as the hottest unsigned act in America. The band's self-titled debut -- a collection of off-center indie rock songs and quirky pop tunes -- was self-produced, self-released, self-promoted, and self-distributed, with a great deal of help from a wide network of bloggers and Internet supporters. There was so much online interest in the band that NPR even did a feature on the emerging phenomena of Internet band buzz, using CYHSY as the prime example. Although the band eventually signed with a label, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah continued blazing their own arty trail, releasing albums that were unconventional but still accessible.
Bandmembers Alec Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, and Sean Greenhalgh coalesced into a group after co-founders Ounsworth and Tyler Sargent laid the initial groundwork in Massachusetts. After the band moved to Brooklyn (with Ounsworth remaining in nearby Philadelphia), songwriting sessions began in earnest. A four-song demo introduced the band's sound, and a debut full-length appeared in 2005, with the subsequent Internet hoopla following hot on its heels. Rolling Stone championed the cause further by heralding the group as a "Hot New Band" later that year. By the end of 2005, CYHSY had signed with the U.K.-based label Wichita Recordings, which released the group's debut overseas in January 2006.
Ounsworth dabbled with his side project, Flashy Python and the Body Snatchers, while Greenhalgh's Guns N' Roses tribute band Mr. Brownstone packed it up in June 2006. The rest of that year found the group leaking out a few EPs before a second full-length record, Some Loud Thunder, hit shelves in 2007. The band continued to play shows and pursue other interstes amidst rumours that they had gone on hiatus, with Greenhalgh producing records for bands like Takka Takka while the Sargent brothers did some soundtrack work. In 2011, CYHSY confirmed they were still together with the release of their third album, Hysterical.
Wikipedia:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (often abbreviated CYHSY) is an American indie rock group based in Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their debut album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was self-released in 2005.
History[edit]
The band, whose members met years earlier at Connecticut College, formed in the beginning of 2004 and played shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn. 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.
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.
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.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah appeared in the 2008 film The Great Buck Howard. On January 21, 2009, it was reported that CYHSY abandoned plans to head to the studio to record their third full-length album, and are "taking a break" while the band members pursue side projects. The public hiatus was to take official effect after the band performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on February 13, 2009, however, on March 4, they performed a new song on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, titled "Statues". The hiatus was later disproved when the band was signed on to headline the University of Texas in Austin's 40 Acres Fest in April 2009. It was reported the band were working with producer John Congleton at Water Music in New Jersey on the long awaited third album.
Alec Ounsworth released his solo debut, Mo Beauty, in late 2009 while concurrently releasing Skin and Bones, the debut album with his other band Flashy Python. Robbie and Tyler have been playing in another project called Uninhabitable Mansions, along with Annie Hart from Au Revoir Simone. They have released a 7 inch and also an album, titled Nature Is a Taker. Robbie also plays drums in another band, Radical Dads.
Recently drummer Sean Greenhalgh has been producing records for a number of bands including Takka Takka, Conversion Party, Gabriel and the Hounds, Radical Dads, and Tom McBride.
In 2008, Lee and Tyler Sargent performed on James Lavino's score to the Alex Karpovsky film Woodpecker. The soundtrack also featured performances by Radiohead bass player Colin Greenwood.
May 2011 brought news the third album, reassuring fans that they had not broken up. The band released Hysterical, produced by John Congleton, on September 12 in the UK, Europe, Japan, and Australia, and on September 20 in the United States. It was announced via a post on the band's official website with a video of the band rehearsing a few new songs from the album in the studio. A vinyl reissue of a remastered edition of the first album, released on June 14, 2011, was also announced.
A music video for "Maniac" was made by Belgian director Pieter Dirkx. It was released on September 14, 2011.
An email from the groups website, dated July 3, 2012 stated that Robbie was leaving to pursue other interests and to focus on his other band, Radical Dads.
A subsequent email from the website dated July 6, 2012 stated that Tyler's last show with the band would be on Saturday July 7, 2012 as we was "currently in the process of forming a presidential exploratory committee for 2016."
Their song "The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth" became the theme tune of Sender productions "First Ascents" rock climbing DVD.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
